A mother-of-four has had three limbs amputated after being bitten by her pet dog.
Christine Caron, 49, had both her legs and an arm amputated after her mixed breed Shih Tzu called Buster gave her a small bite on May 22.
She dismissed the injury and allowed one of her three other dogs to lick the wound.
But three days later, Christine, from Ottawa in Canada, went into septic shock after her wound became infected with Capnocytophaga canimorsus - a bacteria common in dog's saliva.
Christine's extreme reaction to the bacteria left doctors fighting to save her life. The medical team at Ottawa Hospital were forced to put her into an induced coma for six weeks.
The septic shock caused blood flow to be restricted to her limbs and left doctors' with no choice but to amputate.
Christine told CBCNews: "When I woke up my legs were black and my arm looked sort of mummified."
Doctors are unsure if the infection spread from the bite or from a dog licking the wound. To make matters worse, single mum Christine does not have health insurance.
Her family have set up a fundraising page to help pay for her prosthetics, which has so far raised $13,000 of the $100,000 needed to pay for medical bills and renovations to her home.
She is expected to spend another six months at the rehab centre. Her four dogs are believed to be being looked after by family while she is in hospital.