Karnallie – Found Against All Odds

Written by Allan Perrins, Animal Welfare Society of South Africa

Professional photography by NeedOutdoors

This is the story of a little dog who never gave up and the kind souls who refused to give up on him!

Most weekends at the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa are a bit like riding a rollercoaster – full of twists, turns, ups and downs. But this past Sunday brought an especially unforgettable experience for us and for one very special little dog – a 15-year-old stray Miniature Schnauzer named Karnallie.

Karnallie was found wandering down busy Koeberg Road, terrified and disorientated. A kind passer-by spotted him and, seeing the dog’s panic, quickly ran home to fetch a dressing gown and a laundry basket to safely catch him. At first, Karnallie tried to escape and even attempted to bite his rescuer. It took the better part of the morning to earn the little dog’s trust, but eventually, Karnallie sensed he was in good hands. He calmed down enough to be gently groomed and finally accepted some food and water.

The rescuer took Karnallie to Forest Drive Veterinary Surgery in Pinelands, who then contacted us to take over his care. Before arriving at our facility, Karnallie underwent a thorough veterinary examination. It was discovered that he was completely blind from cataracts, had severely neglected teeth, was extremely anxious and had a badly matted coat. He looked like a castaway – forgotten, frightened and frail.

It took Karnallie’s rescuer several hours to cut away the matted hair weighing him down and causing him immense discomfort. Whilst trimming off the “dreadlocks” he found a piece of wire embedded in one of Karnallie’s front legs that must have added to his years of pain and suffering.

But Karnallie had two things going for him – a kind stranger who’d gone out of his way to help him and a microchip that could trace him back home.

When we contacted the number linked to his microchip, his owner was stunned. Karnallie had been stolen from his home in Oranjezicht thirteen years ago. His family had spent months searching for him, eventually coming to terms with the painful loss. In the years since, they’d adopted three rescue dogs and, heartbreakingly, were no longer in a position to bring Karnallie back home.

But the story doesn’t end there.

When the rescuer heard of the family’s situation, he didn’t hesitate – he offered Karnallie a loving home. He insisted that this brave little dog would know love, comfort, and the gentle touch of a kind hand in his final days.

We don’t often witness miracles like this – a reunion over a decade in the making, a life saved, and a second chance granted just in time. Though Karnallie’s years of neglect have taken a toll and his time may be short, we take comfort in knowing that the days ahead will be filled with warmth, love, and dignity.

For Karnallie, the long journey home ended not where it began, but exactly where he was meant to be.

Tim Shaw, Karnallie’s new owner, shares...

It’s now been just over a month since Claire and I spotted a poor helpless Karnallie wandering between cars at one of the busiest intersections on Koeberg Road.

As most of your readers will know the backstory already, I won’t spend too much time focusing on what happened immediately thereafter. However, a week later when we collected him from AWS the real journey of Karnallie, now named Rufus, began.

We knew from our time with him on the day of his initial rescue that he was very blind, but in the weeks that have followed we’ve realised that he’s also almost completely deaf, and relies mostly on scent to make his way around. As a result, we’ve had to be quite mindful of positioning furniture in places that it won’t move so as to allow him to really get the lay of the land.

Rufus now lives on a smallholding just outside of Hopefield, West Coast, where he spends most of his days sunning himself on the porch alongside my three other rescues. He now knows his way around the farmhouse and takes himself in and out for his wees and poos, though sometimes (read: all of the time) he gets confused and “lost” and stands for ages in one place staring into the abyss.

His diet consists of only soft foods due to his advanced arthritis and lack of any teeth. He’s still in a lot of pain from the arthritis, but we have him on a series of supplements and natural remedies. Thankfully, he makes his discomfort quite known so we’ve been able to slowly experiment with the dosage and combination of the above to find a happy point where he isn’t in clear discomfort.

There’s an old saying that goes something along the lines of “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”, and I think the same could be said of loving this wonderful little gentleman. If you’d asked me a month ago if I wanted a fourth dog that I’d have to take in and out to the toilet, feed a specialised diet, and who couldn’t see or hear well, I probably would have said no. But all of the above isn’t a chore when it comes to seeing him slowly relax and cast off the stresses of the hard life on the streets this boy clearly had.

As far as the dog dynamics are concerned he’s fitted right in. Whilst the other dogs jostle him around at feeding time, and whilst he doesn’t have any of his other senses, he still manages to hold his own when it comes to food. It’s easy to see when he gives it back as good as he receives it how he must have managed to hold his own on the street.

As far as the name is concerned, I’d usually never rename an older dog, so when we discovered the microchip and the previous name we tried it out on him to see if there was any recognition to it – there wasn’t (potentially due to the lack of hearing). We’d jokingly named him “Toothless the Ruthless” when we’d first rescued him and he was trying to bite me continuously.

Throughout the day the Ruthless part got changed to Rufus as he slowly learnt to trust us, so when Dr Mac from Forest Drive told me he indeed didn’t have any of his teeth, the name just felt right.

In terms of health, his coat is growing back brilliantly, his body weight is starting to fill out, and depending on the feedback from our vet, we’re considering starting a crowdfunding page for his cataract operation (if Dr Mac feels it has a good chance of working), as we feel giving him his sight back would be a wonderful way for him to end his time here on earth.

In our minds, we’d seen this time with us as purely hospice for his final days, but I have a sneaky feeling young Rufus may be with us for a few years yet!