Written by Elmé Coetzer
Professional photography by André Coetzer
The young gold-and-black pup’s leg and paw had been severely injured in a brutal attack. Her journey begins on the 1st of November 2022 in a rural area in Gauteng when she was gravely hurt during an attempted burglary. The intruder must have hacked at her with a panga or long knife, causing severe damage to her leg and foot, and utterly traumatising this gentle soul.
Alone in the rain
Catharina, as she was named, lay alone in the rain, stunned, bleeding and hurting. Her owner made an attempt to bandage her leg but, as is often the case, left her outside.
A local security company was contacted for help and they, in turn, immediately contacted Mama Kasi Rural Rescue NPC for assistance. Helga Tsoumbris, CEO, sprang into action and rushed to collect the injured pup, with only a pin drop location to guide her.
Helga described the scene, in which she discovered the bleeding dog huddled on wet bricks, as “Just a bloody mess! A serious, bloody mess!”
A local man helped get Catharina into Helga’s car, and then Helga headed off with the traumatised dog.
A long road to recovery
Catharina was rushed to Muldersdrift Animal Clinic where Dr Michael Sutton sedated her, cleaned her wounds and prepared her for surgery. Helga visited her later that evening and found that she was stable and pain-free, but she had a very long road left to recovery. Catharina couldn’t go back to her old home in the informal settlement.
Her bandages needed frequent changing, and, although very painful and uncomfortable for her, Helga described her as a “thankful girl” – she could see it in her eyes.
Helga did a very good job of keeping us, MKRR’s Facebook followers, up to date on Catharina’s progress and condition. On the 22nd of November, she shared that Catharina’s healing was very slow and, although healing in the elbow and the majority of the wound took place, a major complication had set in: all the skin on her elbow had sloughed off due to necrosis setting in. This left the bone and tendons fully exposed, and skin couldn’t grow back.
Dr Michael performed another surgery on her in which he created a skin flap to cover the area. Her leg needed to be splinted in a straight position to facilitate healing, as any movement could have sent her back to square one. This position was very uncomfortable and unnatural to her, but Helga said she remained kind, sweet, and submissive.
The skin flap worked and, with a few more weeks of cage rest and restricted movement, Catharina’s leg healed beautifully. The decision was made to put her up for adoption as it wouldn’t have been fair to her to send her back to less-than-ideal conditions, in an environment that wasn’t safe for her, especially considering how much had been done to save her leg and give her a second chance at life.
By this time, Catharina had been at the vet for two months.
Social skills needed
She still had a long road to recovery ahead and her adoption had been put on hold shortly after she was released from the vet, as her social skills weren’t great – a result of prolonged confinement. She was taken to a kennel owned by a friend of Helga’s, where they started assessing her socialisation skills.
Being young, clever, loyal, and incredibly cute, it didn’t take long for a loving family to adopt her. Unfortunately, she was a tad overeager and decided to bite her way in (literally), instead of just crawling underneath their skin. Even when playing, she bites hard, and it’s quite challenging to know when she’s playing or biting for real, as she sounds like a grizzly bear on full attack either way. Due to one of the family members suffering from a medical condition, they were forced to make the very difficult decision to surrender her back to Helga, as the risk and consequences of a bite were too costly.
Meant to be
I followed Catharina’s story on Facebook, and although we weren’t looking to adopt another dog at the time, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I discussed the option of fostering a dog with my husband, André, and after weeks of debating, we decided that fostering wouldn’t work as we’d end up adopting anyway.
I was set on adopting Catharina, so I contacted Helga on the 20th of January 2023. She called me back and said that Catharina had been adopted. My heart sank, but then Helga said she needed to rehome her again. I was so excited I could have jumped out of my skin. Helga explained that she may have a bit of an “aggressive”, biting streak. I remember telling her that we help out with wildlife rescue on occasion, so we’re quite used to getting bitten. We had a long chat and decided we’d give her a chance and see how she’d get on with our two Border Collies and our other animals on the smallholding. We went to meet Catharina on the 22nd of January and introduced her to our two Collies, Cokie and Jazz. Everything went well and we got to take her home.
It took her all of 30 seconds to decide she was home. She just fit into our routine as if she’d been here for months. She’s playful, but respectful of the two slightly older Collies. She loves going on walks, playing ball (even if it requires some patience waiting for her turn to fetch), snuggling on the couch, passing out next to a braai. She couldn’t have been more perfect! She’s since gone on her first family holiday, and we found that our newest member loves bush walks and the smells of the great outdoors. She even enrolled for canoeing lessons – a skill not many dogs possess.
What we realised is that we got her on my late mother’s birthday (she would have been 50), and Catharina was wearing a pink collar – the same pink as the breast cancer awareness pink, and I’d lost my mom to breast cancer a few years ago. It made us even more certain that she belongs here.
We’ve since renamed her Minka, meaning “strong and resolute”, but the name also ties in with “My Catharina”, and “My Klein Carla” (after my mom). She’s a proper mommy’s girl and follows me everywhere. She’s such a blessing to us and we’ll forever be grateful to Helga for bringing her into our lives.
Thank you for saving her, Mama Kasi! It just goes to show that not all heroes wear capes… Some run a charity shop in Muldersdrift.
About Mama Kasi Rural Rescue
Mama Kasi Rural Rescue is a tiny but mighty volunteer-run organisation aiming to help the animals of Muldersdrift’s impoverished small rural areas and informal settlements. For more information, follow them on Facebook at Mama Kasi Rural Rescue, email ntsoumbris@icon.co.za or call 082 333 8431.
