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Dog Eats Man's Toe and Saves His Life

Have you ever been so drunk that you passed out and your dog ate your toe? I haven't either, but luckily for Michigander Jerry Douthett, he has. It turns out Jerry has type 2 diabetes and a wound on his toe had becoming dangerously infected. After a night of drinking Jerry passed out in his chair and the family dog Kiko decided to do a little doggy doctoring. From the article: "'The toe was gone,' said Douthett. 'He ate it. I mean, he must have eaten it, because we couldn't find it anywhere else in the house. I look down, there's blood all over, and my toe is gone.' [Douthett's wife] Rosee, 40, rushed her husband to the hospital where she's a gerontology nurse — Spectrum Health's Blodgett Campus. Kiko had gnawed to a point below the nail-line. When tests revealed an infection to the bone, doctors amputated what was left of the toe."

38 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    As seen on Gladiator and from the US Army Survival Manual (FM 21-76) page 40:

    4-97. If you do not have antibiotics and the wound has become severely infected, does not heal, and ordinary debridement is impossible, consider maggot therapy as stated below, despite its hazards:

    *Expose the wound to flies for one day and then cover it.
    *Check daily for maggots.
    *Once maggots develop, keep wound covered but check daily.
    *Remove all maggots when they have cleaned out all dead tissue and before they start on healthy tissue. Increased pain and bright red blood in the wound indicate that the maggots have reached healthy tissue.
    *Flush the wound repeatedly with sterile water or fresh urine to remove the maggots.
    *Check the wound every 4 hours for several days to ensure all maggots have been removed.
    *Bandage the wound and treat it as any other wound. It should heal normally.

    By no means a pleasant option but an interesting way to remove infection.

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by DarkKnightRadick · · Score: 2, Insightful

      *Flush the wound repeatedly with sterile water or fresh urine to remove the maggots.

      Might I just be the one to say "EWWWWWWWWWWW!"

      --
      "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
    2. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by mad_ian · · Score: 5, Informative

      This is still done in hospitals, particularly for bad burns. The Green Bottle Fly is most often used, as the maggots will only eat dead flesh, and do not excrete waste. Only after they pupate and metamorphose into flies do they excrete, thus the larvae are essentially sterile.

      The pharmacy at the local hospital grows such larvae in sterile environments just for such use. In the field you won't have all those advantages, but it's absolutely an option.

      --
      ~Donald / Just RTFM
    3. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Informative

      Those are usually specially raised, sterile medical maggots, often in a dressing designed to keep them from escaping; but the principle is the same.

    4. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by gorzek · · Score: 4, Informative

      Human urine is quite sterile, believe it or not.

      And, for some reason, this is my second post about urine today. What the hell?

    5. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by gorzek · · Score: 2, Funny

      Shit is another matter entirely. ;)

    6. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by igaborf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Human urine is quite sterile, believe it or not.

      Yet, I stand by my belief that it's better to be pissed off than pissed on.

    7. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by Gilmoure · · Score: 4, Funny

      Here on Urine Talk today we have frequent caller Gorzek...

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    8. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Apparently, if you pick the right species, they are surprisingly discerning about only eating necrotic tissue; but I suspect that you Do Not Want to get the bill from somebody who did years and years of med school just so he could pick maggots out of your horrid wound...

    9. Re:Sounds Like Maggot Treatment by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2, Funny

      Saying "wholly sterile" implies that something can be partially sterile. It can't.

      Yes, it's very unique in that regard.

      ...

      (if uncertain, please mentally append a wink to that sentence.)

  2. Re:wow by Chris+Tucker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Coming up next, on Sick, Sad World!

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  3. gerentology nurse? by singingjim1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm just wondering how it could have gotten so bad with a nurse in the house?

    1. Re:gerentology nurse? by confu2000 · · Score: 3, Informative

      From the article, he had been hiding it from his wife for a while. After she saw it, she suspected diabetes, but he had resisted seeing a doctor due to the fear of a diagnosis. Lots of stupid stuff on his part. Not so many on the wife's.

    2. Re:gerentology nurse? by H0p313ss · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There are some shitty nurses out there.

      There are shitty husbands out there too. Honestly my wife never knows about my minor medical issues, if she did I'd never hear the end of it. Now I say shitty husbands because deception is a terrible way to deal with problems and I'd probably be better off if nothing was hidden.

      Whats more this guy has diabetes, anyone with diabetes knows to take special care with any kind of wound or infection. He didn't take care of himself, how is that his wife's fault?

      --
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  4. Moron by grub · · Score: 4, Funny


    Diabetic and drinking like a fish. Smooth move, retard.
    .

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Moron by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Diabetic and drinking like a fish. Smooth move, retard.

      We were standing in line at the Starbucks one morning behind a woman with a diabetic wrist-band thingie and she ordered a Vente Mocha Frappuccino.

      But then again, I've seen people so fat that they had to ride those little scooter/shopping cart things and it looked like they were buying one of everything in the frozen dessert case.

      If you want to see why the US is headed toward total collapse, go look at the pictures on the "People of Wal-Mart" site.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Moron by MBGMorden · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I've never understood the whole bit about being afraid to go to the doctor to get a dianosis. It's not like you don't actually get the disease until the doctor tells you.

      It's similar to girls who won't step on the scale for fear of seeing her weight. It ain't changing, scale or no.

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    3. Re:Moron by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 4, Funny

      Just think of all the fatties as a reserve, slow moving meat supply for the apocalypse.

    4. Re:Moron by thesandtiger · · Score: 4, Funny

      Some time ago I saw a person who looked to be about 35-40 years old riding around in a Little Rascal motorized scooter.

      She had a cigarette between her lips, a bottle of soda in a beverage holder, and a couple of donuts on a tray that was right under the steering yoke. I'd say she probably weighed in at 350, minimum.

      I kind of admired her for it... Lots of people *say* "fuck it all" but she was really doing something about it!

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
  5. Re:How drunk do you need to be... by Jogar+the+Barbarian · · Score: 2, Informative

    If it was necrotic, he would have lost all feeling in the tissue. Same deal with destructive frostbite.

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  6. What am I reading again? by jmizrahi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Here I thought I was reading Slashdot, when all of a sudden I find out that I'm reading Fark.

  7. Re:wow by molnarcs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hungry dog saves man's life by eating a toe.

    Wow.

    No, not really. How much do you have to drink to pass out so badly that you don't feel your dog eating your toe?? I mean there could be several more plausible explanations than the one he came up with after waking up from his drunken stupor. At that kind of alcohol abuse, you can bet that the man has no idea what happened before he passed out. Besides, the man is a retard - he was urged to check for diabetes, but resisted "fearing the diagnosis" while his brother died of diabetes complications earlier! And he had this sliver in his toe and tried to remove it with a knife cutting away skin. Then when it got worse and started to both swell and SMELL, his solution was to use loose sandals instead of going to the doctor. Major fail. Oh, and his wife is a certified nurse.

  8. Re:wow by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 4, Funny

    An acquaintance of mine once fell into bed dead drunk, and his pet rabbit chewed the ends of his fingers (it's nae ordinary bunny!). Next day he checked into rehab, which probably saved him from drinking himself to death.

    OK, not quite the same, but what do you expect from a rabbit, an intervention?

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  9. Re:wow by MozeeToby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How much do you have to drink to pass out so badly that you don't feel your dog eating your toe?

    How much diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage caused by diabetes) do you need before you can have a severe bone infection without noticing it? It's entirely possible that his toes are completely numb, especially after a night of drinking (which further screws with your blood sugar).

    Besides that, his wife brought him home (you'd think she would have noticed if he were bleeding profusely) and the only blood in the house was on the bed where he was sleeping. I've got to say, their theory doesn't sound as far fetched to me as so many others seem to think it is.

    As for the being too afraid to go to the doctor because you're worried you might be seriously ill... yeah that's retarded. "If I don't put a label on what my bodies doing them I'm not really sick." Yep, brilliant logic.

  10. Re:wow by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How much do you have to drink to pass out so badly that you don't feel your dog eating your toe??

    Maybe not much if the toe is rotting and the nerves are damaged by diabetes and infection.

    Besides, the man is a retard - he was urged to check for diabetes, but resisted "fearing the diagnosis" while his brother died of diabetes complications earlier!

    It's really easy to point to someone acting out of fear and say "That's irrational: that's stupid." All of us have procrastinated out of fear on smaller things than "You could die." It's a universal human failing, and very common when it comes to scary medical things. Yes he should have done many things different, but we don't know the full story.

    Let's reserve terms like "retard" for people who aren't behaving irrationally out of fear for their lives.

  11. Re:wow by elysiana · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can just see that conversation...
    Husband: "Holy cow, where's my toe? What happened?!"
    Wife: "I finally lopped off that death-threat."
    Husband: "What? That... that don't even make SENSE!"
    Wife: "Yep, I've just been waiting for you to pass out drunk so I could take care of it. Smell was gettin' too bad."
    Husband: "But... that ain't even possible! You can't just cut off my toe! Why are you lying?"
    Wife: "*sigh* Okay, you're right, you're right. It was the dog. The dog actually bit it off and ate it. It completely ignored the rancid smell of rotting flesh, and ate your toe."
    Husband: "Oh! Well that makes sense, that dog always was loyal! Good boy! Have some more Jack Daniels, boy!"

  12. Good thing... by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...he didn't have the clap.

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  13. Re:The dog... by Nadaka · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's what the cat said.

  14. Re:wow by xigxag · · Score: 4, Informative

    The reason he didn't feel his dog eating his toe is not just that he was drunk, but because diabetes causes peripheral neuropathy. When you have severe untreated diabetes, you often can't feel pain in your extremities, and untreated sores become gangrenous. So his being drunk was the least of his problems, his bigger problem was that his toe was decomposing and he couldn't feel it.

    --
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  15. Re:wow by mlts · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't forget that few people have decent health insurance, so it is understandable why some people would put it off, because of fear that it would result in complete loss of coverage, as well as bankruptcy, loss of job. In this economy, one bad injury or illness can get a person's family on the streets.

    This may be one reason why he put it off so long. Regardless, it is tragic.

  16. It is technically possible by stimpleton · · Score: 2, Informative

    It is technically possible for this to happen, There probably was little feeling in his foot.

    This is what a foot looks like in a diabetic patient (warning - gross).

    This is a moderate case. This can occur to the ankles.

    --

    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
  17. Re:wow by oldspewey · · Score: 3, Funny

    They should name the dog HMO.

    --
    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  18. Re:wow by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well, we really have to know his political leaning before we can use words like "retard". If he voted the wrong way in the last election, then sure he's a retard. If he voted the correct way, then he's a victim of the imperialist capitalist system.

    --
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  19. Re:How drunk do you need to be... by JWSmythe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... partly from nerve damage, but primarily because he was in an alcohol induced coma.

        I've watched dogs eat, and they aren't exactly polite nor careful. That dog was probably yanking and biting. He would have noticed something if he wasn't out cold from the booze.

        The dog didn't save him. He just smelled like rotting meat, which for some reason dogs like. We've all read reports where the owner died and the pets had no other source of food, so they went for the large but slightly rotting corpse.

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  20. Re:wow by sjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In a hostile environment, hiding illness or injury is a common strategy to avoid predation. In this case, the jackals would be health insurance companies.

    When we prioritize providing decent healthcare over welfare for rich bankers, blowing up brown people and looking under people's clothes in the airport, we'll see less of this sort of thing.

  21. Re:wow by molnarcs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The reason he didn't feel his dog eating his toe is not just that he was drunk, but because diabetes causes peripheral neuropathy. When you have severe untreated diabetes, you often can't feel pain in your extremities, and untreated sores become gangrenous. So his being drunk was the least of his problems, his bigger problem was that his toe was decomposing and he couldn't feel it.

    Yeah, but he could SMELL and see it - that might have been a clue that something's not right...

  22. Re:How drunk do you need to be... by ArcCoyote · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just a bit past the point where you blow chunks.

  23. Re:wow by hey! · · Score: 2, Funny

    Luck has nothing to do with it. They bought the dog to do their income taxes.

    I understand they've got special breeds for that now, like the wire-haired deduction hound and the tax haven terrier.

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