While pet owners see dogs lick their own wounds to help them heal, Rogers warns against dogs licking the owners’ wounds.

“I think dogs are just attracted to the wound,” he said. “They smell dying flesh. Dogs eat all sorts of rotten stuff. But a dog’s saliva contains several bacteria pathogenic to humans. Dogs carry staph and strep and can cause infections in humans. Licking their wounds is fine; licking yours is not.”

While Rogers said an Internet search found five or six credible stories of dogs chewing off digits, there are only two cases — including his — written in medical literature and peer reviewed published in medical journals. The only other case report was published in 1994 by Ballard and Cooper. Coincidentally, that case also occurred in Iowa.

The cases Rogers came across involved mostly small dogs — not all Jack Russells. It makes sense, since smaller dogs tend to sleep in bed with their owners and, as Rogers said, “If a big Lab were to take a bite out of your foot, you wouldn’t have much of a foot left.”

Yes, I originally got a chuckle out of the fact this sort of thing has happened nearly a year after the case in Rockford, and both involved Jack Russell terriers (I’m the proud owner of one). But after speaking with Rogers, it quickly became a cautionary tale.

“It’s an interesting story, and we caution patients at intake if they have pets,” said Rogers, the associate director of Valley Presbyterian Hospital’s Amputation Prevention Center. “People with diabetes need to take extra precautions, because they’re at the highest risk of amputation. People have pets because pets make people feel good. They want their pet around them, and they want their pet to stay in bed with them. They just have to be cautious about it.”

E-mail Mary Ullmer: mullmer@grpress.com and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/PressUnleashed^[7][8]