Dog bites man. Again and again. And, in doing so, saves his life.

Over at the Submitterator, mistergog points to this totally disgusting and weird news story and summarizes for the squeamish: "A dog bit off a man's long-infected big toe while he was passed out from a drinking binge. Upon waking, he goes to the hospital, where he is told he has diabetes. The dog apparently ate only diseased tissue. Only one thing smells like bacon...and it's gangrene!"

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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social_maladroit

What’s interesting is that we’re taking Mr. Douthett’s word for what happened. In the story in the Grand Rapids Press, he says, “He [Kiko, their JRT] 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.”

And yet, he admits getting drunk in order to get his courage up to go to the hospital. He also practically admits to being a diabetic with a drinking problem. So, what about the possibility that he’d stubbed his toe earlier that day while under the influence and had unknowingly left a little piece of himself behind?

Or, what if what really happened was that the Human Centipede crawled through his window while he was passed out and had a bite to eat?
OrcOnTheEndOfMyFork

If you’re attempting to cure my love for bacon, this could very well do it!
oyvinja

So he had the infection for a long time, and his wife suspected he had diabetes? And he still wouldn’t go see a doc?
Honestly, that kind of pigheaded ignorance qualifies him for natural selection, IMO.
The dog is no hero, the guy is a complete idiot.
dculberson

From the article: “Now that he knows he is diabetic, he has given up drinking.”

Yeah, and I’m going to quit wasting time on the internet now that I know I’ve got other stuff to do. Right.
sg1969

I thought most animals will avoid eating rotten/infected meat? (with a few exceptions, of course)
So was this dog just as stupid as his master, or waaaay smarter, smart enough to know that this toe was life threatening to him, as well as where to stpop? (or he probably stopped when the guy started screaming…)
- Anonymous
  
  Actually, dogs are known to seek out diseased tissue as a way of helping the entire pack stay healthy. Dogs of course often see humans as part of their pack…
- dculberson
  
  Dogs will eat anything.
Chris Tucker

You know, there are people in Ghana who could have USED that toe, but no. It was eaten by a dog.

I hate Western Civilization and it’s “Oh, let’s just feed it to the dog” consumerist throwaway culture!
nanuq

Cats are smarter. They would have ignored the diseased toe and eaten one of the healthy ones instead.
pattycakes

I hope the dog will be alright after eating the gangrene.
Marcel

Shame about that toe. There’s folks around who know how to put one to good use.

http://atlasobscura.com/place/sourtoe-cocktail
- I less than three mermaids
  
  ew. Just… Ew. But on the flip side, the internets linked to a cool tube of dudes walking on water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe3St1GgoHQ
  (what’s up with the submitterator not working?)
Prufrock451

If only that dog had then eaten the dude’s intestines, which are still full of awful Western gut microbes.