Another danger attributed to diabetic neuropathy. We've all heard of maggot debridement, now canine debridement?

Miniature dachshund gnaws off diabetic owner's toe
"ALTON, Ill. _ An Illinois woman says her beloved miniature dachshund gnawed off her right big toe while she was asleep.

Linda Floyd told the Alton Telegraph for a story Wednesday that her beloved Roscoe was euthanized because of safety concerns.

The 56-year-old says she has no feeling in her toes because of nerve damage from diabetes. She discovered the toe missing after waking from a nap Monday. She called her daughter, who phoned 911.

A veterinarian says the toe had been bandaged because of a healing hangnail. That might have somehow attracted the dog."
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=214844&src=109

This is going around! David Armstrong, speaking at the APMA meeting in Toronto, recalled the story about a San Antonio pooch that not only ate his owner's hallux but went back for seconds when he found his way home after being given to a another family member who lived in a nearby town. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on whose side you were on) the cannibalistic canine was put down after he went back for seconds.

The best part of the story though (at least from the storyteller's point) was that the doting "parent's" of the dog were most worried about the dog and took him to the doggie ER before the family member was taken to the University Hospital ER. The dog was feeling ill until the vet pumped his tummy and recovered portions of the toe, which the family hoped could be reattached. Regrettably, no.....

Thanks for reviving this story (so to speak).  I posted it a while ago.  But forgot that I wrote it here.  Since that time I've had a case of my own, about 2 weeks ago a middle-aged lady with diabetes presented to our ER with a gnawed off toe from a Jack Russell terrier.  As I assume is common in these cases, she refused rabies treatment or quarantining the pooch.

It is a danger that needs to be explained to patients if their pet sleeps with them and they have a diabetic foot ulcer - which just might smell delicious! 

The story grows or groans......my husband, Tim, upon hearing your story reminded me of our first date about 36 or so years ago. We saw the sci-fi movie "Soylent Green." It was a futuristic tale where food and water were scarce and people could choose to euthanized. People were fed protein rich wafers. Only at the conclusion of the film did we learn that the wafers were made from people! Is that what the dogs are telling us?!  Dog food of today is people food of tomorrow? Oh, I hope not!

Thanks, Lee, for sharing another Dog Bites Man story. I hope we don't reach the point of Soylent Green where Man Eats Man. I'm just not ready for that. Not even with Ketchup!

My own bunion surgery was done in my private surgical suite ,so I was able to take my bone  fragments home.  My 3 dogs, 2 poodles and an ex- street dog, loved me.  This story usually disgusts people, so I  plead that I was still goofy from the Halcion and Demerol.