Dog abandoned on busy bridge finds happiness

Under cover of darkness, a sweet, fluffy dog was dumped like rubbish at the side of a road bridge inside a small, rusty cage.

When a passerby discovered what they thought was a dog crate, they pulled over to take a closer look.

Inside they found the chow chow, without food or water, sitting in her own faeces and urine.

The cage was padlocked shut and the poor bewildered abandoned dog had itchy, weeping eyes, and sores on her face.

Thankfully, the quick-thinking passerby brought the dog to our Blue Cross Victoria animal hospital in central London for help, where we named her Bridget and gave her the emergency treatment she needed.

“Poor Bridget was in such a state,” says Amanda Rumball, Blue Cross Welfare Officer.

“She was suffering from dehydration when she arrived in our care so we got her on fluids straight away.

"Her body was very thin beneath her matted fur and her skin was very sore, so we’ve been giving her medicated baths to soothe her painful patches.

“It’s really upsetting to see a dog that’s been treated in this way and then dumped at the side of the road like flytipped rubbish. Bridget is such a sweet girl, despite what humans have put her through.”

Bridget was found in the small hours of the morning on Kew Bridge in West London. As we do with any stray dog brought to us, we informed the local dog warden that Bridget was in our care.

Although she was microchipped, there were no contact details registered to her chip. Investigations into her abandonment are ongoing.

Because of Bridget’s health problems, she spent her seven stray days in our animal hospital undergoing treatment while the dog warden searched for her owner. No one came forward to claim her.

Bridget was soon transferred to the care of our Hertfordshire rehoming centre, in Kimpton.

When dogs with an unknown history come into our rehoming centres, it’s important to let them take the lead with settling in.

Without judgement, our team observed Bridget’s behaviour and let her take her time getting used to her new surroundings.

“We never know what abandoned dogs have been through and how they’ve been treated by people in the past,” says Kirsten Findlay, Rehoming Supervisor at Blue Cross Hertfordshire, who oversaw Bridget’s rehabilitation.

“Bridget was found with sores that needed veterinary treatment and she’d been abandoned with no water or food, and was covered in her own faeces so she must have been locked inside the crate for days. It’s a clear case of neglect.

“When we first met she didn’t know she could trust me, so it's up to me to earn her trust. I started by letting her sniff around the centre and choosing where she wanted to go.

"Once she’s more confident here we will introduce her to other dogs; again, we’ll take this slowly as we don’t know what her experience of other dogs is.”

Bridget was placed in a foster home where she got used to a loving home environment, before being adopted and starting the next chapter of her life.