CHRISTIAN Petracca has revealed he risked having his finger amputated if he played in Melbourne's win against Essendon on Sunday.

Petracca was discharged from hospital on Tuesday morning after five days, having undergone two surgeries for an infected finger he suffered from a bite from one of his pet dogs.

The midfielder played in the Demons' loss to Richmond on Anzac Day Eve with his finger strapped before missing the clash with the Bombers.

"Obviously I wasn't a chance to play against Essendon at all. If I was, it a was a potential chance of doing serious damage," he said on Tuesday.

"I'd rather miss a game or two than potentially lose my finger."

"If I didn't see the doctor at the same as what I did and let it grow for a bit more then that (amputation) was an option."

Petracca says he's 50-50 to play this week. "I really want to play." More soon @AFLcomau pic.twitter.com/Qm8PPfAg9u — Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) May 1, 2018

The 22-year-old said he called his doctor on Anzac Day as the finger worsened before taking himself to emergency and being operated on the following day.

After more surgery on Monday to have it patched up, Petracca insists he's a chance to play against St Kilda on Sunday. However, his finger is still in a brace five days out from the match.

"I'm 50-50. I really want to play, I want to play every game and it's up to the docs and the medical and the physio staff to see what they think," he said.

"At the moment it's just all about doing everything right, being diligent with my antibiotics and having that every day."

"That's the probably other problem, that I haven't done much for five days.

"I've been for a fair few walks around Vic Gardens but I haven't really done much solid running.

"Hopefully (I'll) do a light jog tomorrow and a light running session and a bit of leg weights and we'll see how I pull up and from there see what happens.

And while his dog could potentially cost him two matches, Petracca said he had no grudge with the canine in questions.

"We're still friends, I saw him today, both of them. They have no idea what's happened, that's the good thing about dogs," he said.