Written by Bianka Lerm, founder of Die Honnemense
Professional photography by Boland Weddings
Little white Maltese Poodle Tasha’s owners had moved away several months before and, heartbreakingly, had just left her behind to fend for herself. This was the message we received in late October 2021 by a concerned resident of Scottsdene, Western Cape.
She was deteriorating
Although she’d been taken in by a kind neighbour, they couldn’t afford to care for Tasha and, sadly, her condition and general well-being began to rapidly deteriorate, most likely due to the mourning of her owners and lack of proper care or good-quality nutrition. Little Tasha barely had an appetite and was constantly hiding away.
We swiftly uplifted her and had her vet-checked; she was struggling with a very inflamed, raw skin condition, and her teeth were in extremely bad shape. However, we knew she had a chance at a better life, so we got her first vaccinations and microchipping done (luckily, she was already sterilised), and then she got a soothing and much-needed bath, after which we attempted to cut out most of the knotted clumps of fur that were really bothering her.
As we didn’t have a suitable foster home yet, we took Tasha to the Klipheuwel Kennels, near Durbanville, Western Cape. She shared a kennel with another of our other uplifted dogs, Blackie, as they already knew each other from Scottsdene.
She got better by the day
Tasha almost immediately started to come out of her shell! Later that same week, we had her properly groomed, and the following week we were thankfully able to raise enough funds to have her dentals done. Shockingly, 10 of her teeth had to be extracted.
We were so relieved when, out of the blue, we received a message on Facebook from Lindsay enquiring about Tasha! The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, as the other potential foster homes were either too far or not suitable for her.
We were heartbroken to find out about Lindsay’s dog, Suzi’s, sudden passing, but at the same time so thankful that Tasha was there to love and help mend her new family’s broken hearts. The rest, you can say, is history. We couldn’t have dreamt of a more perfect home for our special little girl.
Tasha will always have a very special place in our hearts, and we’re so happy that she’s healthy, safe and loved.
Lindsay Platelli, Tasha’s owner, shares…
I was scrolling through my feed on Facebook and came across Bianka’s post about Tasha. She looked so helpless, sad and uncared for, and her story of her owners just leaving her behind really touched me. I immediately got in contact with Bianka and told her I was prepared to foster her if she needed someone. The reason for applying to foster and not adopt was that I already had a 14-year-old Maltese named Suzi who wasn’t socialised with other dogs, and I was worried about her not enjoying having another dog around.
We decided to do a meet-and-greet with Tasha and Suzi and, to our delight, it went much better than expected. They didn’t seem to mind each other at all! Bianka left Tasha here for two weeks to see how well the dogs would get along, and Tasha quickly became part of our family. We just fell in love with her.
In the third week, Tasha developed a bit of a cough. I was worried about her and Suzi, so I took them both to the vet; Tasha was treated with antibiotics for the cough but, unfortunately, further testing on Suzi showed that she was in the end stages of liver and kidney failure. We got a few more nights with Suzi, but then she tragically suffered a seizure and passed away.
The passing of my precious Suzi was heartbreaking but having Tasha with us really saved us. She’s so lovely, gentle and kind, and she just knew that something was wrong. She showered us with love and got us through such a hard time – I really believe she was sent to us for this reason.
We’ve had Tasha for four months now and it’s like she’s been with us always. She’s very kind and very protective over the house and her new family. We just couldn’t imagine our lives without her.
