"He almost took my pinky off my hand and then he wouldn't let go of me," said Luis Cisneros. The 15-year-old was hooked up to an IV and morphine at San Francisco General Hospital Sunday night after getting attacked by a dog. Cisneros says he was walking near Oakdale Avenue and Griffith Street in Bayview around 7 p.m. Saturday, when he saw the dog about twenty feet away, "it just came rushing at me and it bit me."
Cisneros says he was with a group, walking to a friend's house when he was attacked. One of his friends who tried to help fend off the dog was also bit and treated in the SF General's emergency room.
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The dog bit Cisneros multiple times on his hands, arms and legs. "It was the worst pain I ever had," he said. Cisneros says he eventually escaped from the dog and made it inside his friend's house after which he was rushed to the hospital. He says the dog did not have a leash, collar or an owner in sight. He's never seen the dog before but says his friends have. "People call it Chop. People say that it's a person's dog up the street." He says the dog was light tan or grey in color, "like the big face, you could tell it was a big pit bull."
Cisneros' family was by his side in the hospital Sunday night, including his mother, Magali Garcia. "Someone could come forward and let us know where can we find the dog," she said. Like any Mother, she doesn't want to see her child in pain. Luis had surgery Sunday to clean the puncture wounds and will have to go through a series of painful injections near his injuries, if police or animal control don't find the dog who bit him quickly. "We just want to observe the dog for 10 days, they want to make sure the dog doesn't have any rabies. My son has to go through pain again if we don't know if the dog has rabies or not."
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"Clinical rabies is actually almost always fatal," explains Dr Eric Wohlford, who is one of the doctors treating Luis in the pediatric unit. If police or animal control don't find the dog that attacked Cisneros, then they will have to treat him for rabies to ensure he doesn't contract the virus. "The important thing about rabies is actually treating patients before they have any kind of symptoms."
San Francisco police are investigating the dog attack.
The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for medical costs. Click here for more information.