Alexandra Ross’s finger was left hanging by a thread after she was bitten by three-year-old rescue dog Aries – but she still insists the animal wasn’t dangerous.
She was taking the dog around to look at potential new homes – because he failed to get on with her other dog after being adopted – when the horror attack happened.
The canine attacked its potential new owner’s cat, grasping it in its muscular jaws.
Alexandra intervened, desperately trying to pry its mouth open to save the animal – but to no avail.
The cat died as a result of the horrific mauling and Aries bit halfway through her finger, leaving it dangling by a thread.
The 22-year-old, of Battle Creek, Michigan, said: “I was hysterical. I was crying and screaming, ‘My finger is gone!’
“Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt at first because of the adrenaline. But I could hear him biting through the bone. It sounded like crunching and I knew it was bad.
“Everything happened so fast. It burned for a split second but I couldn’t feel it after that because I was in shock.”
Imagine what the poor cat felt...
The cat’s owners came to her rescue, prying the dog’s mouth open with a broom handle before driving her to hospital.
When the dog trainer arrived she began hyperventilating and vomiting before she was sedated by staff.
They then gave Alexandra a series of 17 excruciating vaccinations in her shoulders, thighs and hand, The Mirror reported, before operating on her hand in front of her eyes after numbing it with anaesthetic.
“I could see hair, blood clots and bone fragments, as they cleaned up,” she said.
The young dog lover believes Aries was put down by police after the cat’s owners said officers came and took him away.
But despite her horrific ordeal, Alexandra – who nursed the balding and flea-bitten dog back to health after finding him at a rescue centre – still insists he was safe.
“I don’t blame Aries. He just wasn’t used to seeing over-stimulating behaviour from cats,” she said.
Alexandra added: “I cried more about him than about my finger because he was a good dog.”
Her hand is almost healed now although the tip of her finger is still numb and she experiences zapping sensations when she touches things.
No charges were brought over the incident and Alexandra says she still works with dogs – even aggressive ones.
“It’s my passion,” she said.
(The Sun UK - Jan 23, 2017)
