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Bradley - Santa Ana, CA ESRA # 2003-373CA Age: 4 years Gender: Male Color: Tri-Color Weight: 31 lb. Variety: Bench/Show-Bred

Bradley came into ESRA's care on July 17th when Bill Ray pulled him from Riverside, CA, Animal Services. Bradley is estimated to be four years old. Bill and Karen Ray told Suzanne that Bradley was in rough condition. That was an understatement! He was transported to Suzanne Dilts to clean him up so he could be placed in a foster home. Brad was infested with flea, ticks and foxtails. He had bleeding and oozing sores all over his body.

Suzanne called me, as I also have experience with lancing and pulling foxtails. I have never seen a dog in this bad a condition. The foxtails were buried deep into him. Most of them were over an inch long. Some longer. I don't how some of the foxtails missed vital parts of his body. Suzanne stripped him of his severely matted fur and found a mess in his front under arm that would turn most normal stomachs. The infection had been going long enough that some parts of his under arm were starting to rot. I'm very glad Suzanne and I have strong stomachs. The smell was terrible. When we would pull a foxtail what came out behind was a combination of puss and blood. We quickly realized we had a very sick boy on our hands. The infections had been going for some time. We worked on him for over three hours. Kim, who owns the kennel that we were working at, also provided us a lot of support. She even offered to wipe our brows as it was also hot that evening. All through this Bradley was suffering. Occasionally he would cry out when we would touch a particular painful spot, but he let us work on him even though he was in pain. Bradley would even give me a kiss and wag his tail every now and again. He seemed to know we were helping him for probably his first time.

It also looked as though Bradley hadn't had much to eat lately as he is so very under weight. He only weighs 31 lbs. The next day Suzanne took him to Dr. Tiffany, DVM to see if she could extract the remaining foxtails. Tiffany removed several more. Some were found deep in Bradley's ear canals. But she couldn't put Bradley under for the required surgery as he was too sick. Bradley has to become stronger before he can have surgery to remove the remaining foxtails.

Bradley has the sweetest disposition of any Springer I have ever met. He freely wags his tail. When he was getting his twenty minute soak in Epsom salts this evening he even wagged his tail while is was underwater. This worked out great and I didn't have to agitate the water in his tail area. Nothing like helping out some! He has been getting these baths every evening since coming into ESRA care. His condition is improving and soon he will be ready for surgery.

More later.

Contact: Don Osborne ozbow@sbcglobal.net

Click Here To Sponsor Bradley

BRADLEY'S GENEROUS SPONSORS:
Bill & Vicki Wingo
Palma Friery	For all the wonderful work ERSA does
Steve and Lori Griego	Honoring the efforts of rescue workers, especially those fostering a dog with Special Needs
Jamie and Ed Balazs	In honor of Mickey, Zack, and Baby Audrey
Cathryne Slaughter	In honor of Maggie, my best friend
Vickie Wallis	On behalf of Casey, our 6 mth old Springer Girl, who cares about her fellow doggies in need
Jan Simon Gardner	In honor of Nikki and Kimmi
Wendy-Marie Teichert	In memory of Wendy Downey Teichert
Katherine Wilson	In memory of Manchester Darby Wilson
Marjorie McCamey	In loving memory of Macgyver McCamey, who provided my sister with 12 years of love and companionship
Tim, Dawn & Shelby Ochal	In loving memory of Maggie Doodles
Kenneth Schmidt & Deborah Cooke	From Dudley, with a helping paw for his fellow Springer
Lee & Meredith Miller	In memory of Mr. Jerry Popke
Tammy Pascarella Baker	In memory of Paddy Cake Baker