Child's bitten-off fingertip reattached

PASADENA - A 2-year-old boy had the tip of his finger reattached by surgeons after it was bitten off by a neighbor's pit bull, officials said Monday.

Workers at an animal shelter induced the dog to vomit, recovered the missing piece of finger and rushed it to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, where doctors reattached the digit, Pasadena Humane Society spokeswoman Ricky Whitman said.

The ordeal began late Friday night, when the child stuck his arm through a fence into a neighbor's yard in the 400 block of Mountain Street, Whitman said.

The neighbor's pit bull bit off the tip of the boy's finger, she said.

Animal control officials and emergency responders arrived at the home, including Sgt. Derek Hensel of the Pasadena Humane Society.

"At about 10 p.m., we received a call of an animal bite," said Hensel, who responded with Humane Society Officer Vannessa White.

"Apparently the child had put its arm through the fence and the dog bit the child's hand, severing the index finger at the first knuckle," he said.

The child was transported to Huntington Hospital, while dog was taken to the Humane Society for quarantine, Hensel said.

"Just after midnight a nurse called and said they were unable to recover (the fingertip) and suspected the dog had ingested it," Hensel said. "She asked if there was any way we could induce it to vomit and get the finger."

The officers called a 24-hour veterinarian, who successfully removed the finger and returned it to the hospital. Prognosis is good.