A Michigan man’s Jack Russell terrier is being hailed as a live-saving hero for chewing off his part of his diabetic owner’s infected toe.
Jerry Douthett, 48, of Rockford had been unaware of his type-2 diabetes and had put off medical treatment for the toe’s festering condition, according to an account in the Grand Rapids Press. As he slept in a drunken stupor, Douthett’s terrier, Kiko, gnawed off most of his right big toe, apparently detecting the infection’s odor.
Douthett finally did go to the hospital when he came to, alerting doctors to his dangerously high blood-sugar level of 560. Surgeons then amputated the remainder of the toe.
Following the initial press account, Douthett had been inundated with interview requests from around the world, including the U.K.’s Telegraph. Douthett is now on diabetes medication, and Kiko is home after a stint with county officials to ensure he had not contracted rabies.
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