In a previous life, Rebecca Murphy, RN, was a self-described “animal cop,” or animal control officer. And a veterinary technician.

Today she’s a travelling nurse who coordinates care for stroke patients at the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center. Those two worlds melded recently when she combined her animal cop superpowers and nursing skills to help rescue and then adopt an Australian shepherd named Zeus.

The rescue drama-turned-love-story unfolded when Zeus’ 80-year-old owner left the dog in his Sierra Nevada foothills home and drove to Oakland, California — over 2 hours away — in search of reading glasses, said Murphy.

The fact that he was looking for reading glasses is about the last thing Zeus’s owner was able to communicate to paramedics, or anyone else, since he was found disoriented at a gas station. He was taken to the Kaiser Permanente emergency room in Oakland.

From the get-go, he just seemed to belong with me. It was meant to be.

— Rebecca Murphy, RN

“I encountered the patient in our stroke rehabilitation service, and it was clear that he would never go home because his stroke was so debilitating,” said Murphy. “He has no family, and he can’t communicate.”

As Murphy read through his chart and discussed the patient with colleagues, she noticed something. The patient had been seen a week before with a fractured wrist from tripping over his dog.

“I used to be an animal cop,” said Murphy. “So, I’m thinking, ‘Wait a minute. He has a dog, no family, and he left his home 4 days ago? Where’s the dog?’”

Sensing a canine in distress, Murphy jumped into action, calling all the veterinary clinics near the patient’s town of Cool to see if they knew Zeus or his owner. She was looking for a contact who might have checked on the dog.

“I got nothing so, I called the county animal control and asked if they do welfare checks,” said Murphy. “They went to the patient’s house with the sheriff and found Zeus inside where he had been for 5 days. He had torn into a dog food bag to eat and was drinking water from the toilet.”

Zeus was taken to a local shelter where he was groomed and checked out.

“Not everyone would have figured out a patient’s dog was probably trapped in a house and taken those extra steps to find it,” said Pat Ann Zrelak, Kaiser Permanente’s regional stroke program manager. “Rebecca’s commitment to patient care and animal welfare are truly commendable.”

Falling in love

Two weeks later Murphy got a call telling her Zeus would be put up for adoption if nobody claimed him.

“I knew nobody would come for him now,” said Murphy. “So, I said to the lady on the phone, ‘Let me come up and meet him.’ And we all know what that means.”

Murphy drove to the animal shelter and immediately fell in love.

“We already had 2 dogs and 4 cats on our 5 acres in Florida,” said Murphy. “But I introduced my husband to Zeus on FaceTime.”

After seeing Zeus and sensing the gravity of the situation, her husband didn’t waste any time. He got on the road from Florida to Oakland right away, driving 6,000 miles round trip to bring home a new member of the family.

“From the get-go, he just seemed to belong with me,” said Murphy. “It was meant to be.”