Bulldog puppy 'saved owner's life' after chewing his toe to the bone while he slept

Any dog owner will know: puppies will chew everything in sight.

Furniture, shoes, doors - you name it, they'll chew it. Given the chance, they might even have a taste of your own body parts.

Usually, this is just a cautious nibble of a finger when they get too excited about a treat, but David Lindsay learned the hard way that they might not stop there.

David is the proud owner of a bulldog named Harley; a cute, floppy-faced pup that looks like he could do no wrong.

It's this angelic appearance that probably left David confident that he could fall asleep on the sofa without anything bad happening, but he probably shouldn't have been so trusting.

He recalled: "I was asleep on the couch when my wife walked in and shouted, 'Dave, the puppy's chewing your toe!'

"My puppy had near enough chewed my big toe off! It chewed down to the bone and cracked it."

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Now, I imagine most people would wake up if a dog started sinking its teeth into your foot, but the fact that David didn't was a sign of something more concerning.

"Because of all this, I discovered that my foot is completely numb, I can't feel anything," David explained.

The dad-of-five, from Cambridge, rushed to Addenbrooke's Hospital after waking up to find his toe in bits, and was put on intravenous antibiotics to stop an infection caused by the dog bite from spreading to his bone.

While there, doctors also conducted CT scans for his fractured toe and discovered that David had not one, but two blocked arteries.

The revelation meant David's entire leg could have been in danger of needing amputation if the blood supply wasn't returned, but thankfully Harley's decision to chow down on his foot meant doctors could get to work.

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Doctors began to assess David for stents which would open up the arteries and allow the blood flow to return to his leg, and the whole ordeal has only left him more grateful for Harley.

Recognising the dog had 'done [him] a favour' by chewing his toe, David made clear he has no plans to get rid of the young pooch.

"I'm waiting to find out if they can put stents in. I'll be keeping the dog," he said.

"I'll try to keep my toe too, but if not I told the doctor to cut it off and I can take it home for him!"

David remained in hospital for more than a week after Harley chewed his toe, but at least he had a cute pup to go back home to!

Topics: Animals, UK News, Health

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.