A drug-riddled pot belly pig and a turtle-sniffing golden retriever are among the 12 most unusual claims nominated for Veterinary Pet Insurance’s 2012 Hambone Award. The award, named for a dog that ate an entire Thanksgiving ham while stuck in a refrigerator, will be determined by a public vote at www.VPIHamboneAward.com from Sept. 12 through Sept. 25, 2012. Previous winners include Ellie, a Labrador retriever that ate a beehive filled with bees; Lulu, a bulldog that swallowed 15 baby pacifiers, a bottle cap and a piece of a basketball; and Harley, a pug that ate and subsequently passed more than 100 rocks. Nominees for the pet insurance company's 2012 award include: Ginger, a golden retriever from Rocky Hill, Conn., that was bitten on the nose by a snapping turtle; Gavee, a Havanese from Pompton Plains, N.J., that was run over by a vacuum cleaner; Kei, a shiba inu from Wadsworth, Ill., that got a paw caught in escalator grates; Peanut, a dachshund-terrier mix from Sicklerville, N.J., that was buried alive following a run-in with a skunk; Baxter, a domestic longhair cat from Seattle, that fell from the 11th floor of a building; Crispy Bacon, a potbellied pig from Las Vegas, that overdosed on human medication; Tomis, a cocker spaniel from Sacramento, Calif., that required surgery to remove an almond it snorted; Major, a Labrador retriever from Minneapolis, that rank into a rock after mistaking it for a fetch toy; Nathan, a miniature dachshund from Pittsburgh, that received a bite wound from a muskrat; Bayley, a Labrador retriever from Lothian, Md., that received a two-inch gash on its chest after plowing into and shattering a 55-gallon aquarium; Beretta, a Labrador retriever from Bryan, Texas, that caught its collar on a barbeque grill; Pebbles, a domestic shorthair cat from Rio Linda, Calif., that received lacerations and a broken jaw after getting stuck in a car engine and taken for a 15-mile trip. “Now in its fourth year, the VPI Hambone Award continues to remind us of how unpredictable our pets can be,” said Carol McConnell, DVM, MBA, vice president and chief veterinary medical officer for VPI. “While incidents like a cat falling out of an 11(th) story window, or a Lab shattering a 55-gallon aquarium certainly aren’t everyday occurrences, they show that unusual accidents do happen and how important it is that pet owners are prepared for the unexpected.” <HOME>
