A 6-year-old Georgia boy is recovering in Dayton Children's Hospital after being attacked by a dog Monday in Springfield.
The boy received more than 200 stitches and plastic surgery and was in stable condition Tuesday, according to his mother, Ashley Fellows.
"So, my son could have lost his eye. He had a gash, a huge gash on the right side, under the right side of his eye," Fellows said.
She said her son has a stent in his nose to help him breathe and, “They had to reconstruct his lip back together,” Fellows said.
Few details about the attack, including how the dog got into the house, were available Tuesday. The boy is in Springfield visiting family.
“His godmother called me around 1:13 a.m. …and woke me up and let me know he was in the hospital,” Fellows said. She said a physician got on the phone, said her son had been bitten by a dog and he needed consent to have the boy seen by a plastic surgeon.
The dog that bit her son is described as 10-year-old, white and gray pit bull named Onyx according to a Clark County Combined Health District Animal Bite Reporting Form.
Fellows said she spoke with the dog’s owner and was told the dog should not have been around children.
The dog is quarantined at the Clark County Dog Shelter and will remain there for the next 10 days.
Clark County Dog Warden Sandi Click said after that period, the dog will be evaluated. It will not be available for adoption to the public due to its bite status. If the shelter can not find a rescue to take the dog, it could be euthanized, she said.
Fellows said this is a scary situation and it has affected her family.
“He has to go through therapy and he will probably have to see a psychiatrist,” Fellows said.
Her son thinks it’s his fault, although she has explained to him that it is not, Fellows said. All she keeps thinking about is she could have lost him, she said.
This publication made an attempt to contact the dog’s owner, but a call was not returned.
The dog bite is being investigated and no charges have been brought against the owner.
This is the second case of a child being attacked by a dog in the Miami Valley in recent days. An 8-year-old girl is recovering after being attacked by a pit bull in Miamisburg over the weekend.
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