A San Francisco family grieving the loss of their beloved dog was stunned to learn that their newly adopted pup was more than just a lookalike; he was family.
Jillian Reiff and her husband adopted Ziggy from Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in April, just days after their longtime companion, Rufus, passed away.
Rufus had been with the family since 2016, appearing in their wedding photos and curling up by Reiff’s belly during her pregnancy. His sudden death at age 16 left a gap that the family didn’t expect to fill anytime soon.
Couple accidentally adopts their late-pups father
But after spotting Ziggy on a rescue’s Facebook page, Reiff and her daughter were struck by how much he resembled Rufus. They adopted him on the spot — and quickly noticed that Ziggy shared the same behaviors, from back-sleeping to “warbling” noises.
Reiff decided to run a DNA test to settle a debate about Ziggy’s breed. When the results came in, she screamed. Embark, the company that processed the test, listed Rufus as a “child match,” showing 68% shared DNA.
Ziggy had arrived at Muttville as a stray just weeks earlier. Despite being adopted nine years apart from different shelters, the two dogs turned out to be directly related — a fact that stunned Reiff, her family, and the staff at Muttville.
“In three months, he basically made us feel like he was here with Rufus the entire time,” Reiff said. “It’s more than a good ending. It’s the craziest ending you could possibly script.”
Muttville called the discovery one of the most extraordinary reunions they’ve seen. Embark described it as “a DNA discovery that defied all odds.”
Content shared from www.dexerto.com.