GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - "I think we saved each other that day." So says Ilanya Bonthuys about finding Lowla, a little black puppy that turned her world around.

At the time Ilanya and her boyfriend were driving on a farm road between Paarl and Wellington in May last year when she saw something small and black from the corner of her eye.

Realising it was a puppy, she immediately pulled over.

"After a huge struggle to get her out of a pipe that she ran into, my boyfriend got her into the car. She was covered in ticks and fleas, her rib cage was showing and she had a bad skin condition. I promised her that I would get her healthy," says Ilanya.

The owner of the farm they lived on bred with ridgebacks, and fearing that the big dogs would attack the little pup, Ilanya decided it would be best to put the puppy up for adoption once she was healthy.

"I wasn't prepared for a puppy at all and had to buy her everything she needed. We decided not to name her as it was already going to be hard to give her up."

However, two weeks later the no-name puppy was dubbed Lowla and she had unknowingly stumbled into her forever home, possibly saving Ilanya's life as well.

"I fell in love with her and couldn't give her up. At that stage I had just been retrenched and had no income. I was very depressed and even considered suicide. She was the light of my life and I think we saved each other that day. 

"She also made me take some hard decisions that I should've made a long time ago. You see, now it was not just me to think about."

Today little Lowla is a healthy bundle of joy and energy that continues to make Ilanya smile every day.

"I really can't imagine my life without her."

Best friends for life.

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