6-Year-Old Girl Attacked By Stray Dog In Neighborhood Near Keystone Lake

A Green Country mom said she's frustrated after her 6-year-old girl was bit on the face by a stray dog.

People abandoning unwanted animals in rural areas is a huge problem, but Thursday evening, it turned from a frustrating nuisance into an even bigger and dangerous problem for one innocent little girl.

Kaitlyn is a beautiful, sweet 6-year-old girl who loves dogs.

Even though Mandy Holt has told her daughter not to play with strays, like most kids, she did it anyway. The dog ended up biting little Kaitlyn on the face.

"[She was] uust screaming and crying and took her in the bathroom, and [I] just immediately stuck a wash cloth on there, because it was bleeding," Holt said.

Kaitlyn suffered two wounds to her face, requiring nine stitches. The dog is a stray that's been hanging out in their neighborhood near Keystone Lake.

"It looks terrible, and I know it hurts. And I can feed her Tylenol all day long, but it's still painful," Holt said.

A family member found the dog later and chained it up, so animal control officers could come get it for testing.

"It needs to be tested for rabies," Holt said.

Kaitlyn will have the stitches for at least a week, and doctors say she will likely always have a scar.

"She said she didn't want to see it, because it was ugly, [she said] she looked ugly now and she would never be pretty again," Holt said. "I told her it wasn't true."

Holt said the dog was likely dumped in the rural area, like so many other unwanted pets.

"We've all had pets that haven't worked out in our homes, I assume, and that's a hard thing, but bringing it to somebody else's property and dropping it off is just making another problem," Holt said.

Holt said, instead of the dog, she blames whomever owed the dog.

She's left with doctors visits and unexpected medical bills, plus the tough challenge of encouraging a sweet little girl left scarred and scared.

"[I was] just terrified, absolutely terrified. When you see your baby's face laid open, it's pretty scary," Holt said.

Not only is Holt now facing medical bills, she also has to pay for the rabies testing for the stray dog that bit her daughter.