Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews DOVELEWIS EMERGENCY ANIMAL HOSPITAL The Great Dane who ate 43 1/2 socks has taken the Internet by storm. I woke up this morning and turned on the radio. The Kevin & Bean morning show on KROQ was sharing a news story, as the show does every morning. But this time my ears perked up and a smile spread across my face. The morning show hosts were talking about a story from Veterinary Practice News. Bean, one of the deejays, shared our They Ate WHAT? contest results, mentioning the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital in Portland, Ore. entry. This annual contest is sponsored by Trupanion, a pet medical insurance company in Seattle. The DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital submitted a radiograph of a Great Dane who ate 43½ socks. The 3-year-old male was brought in for retching and vomiting. The radiographs showed a great deal of foreign material and a distended stomach. Exploratory surgery resulted in the removal of all the socks. Apparently this wasn’t the first time the Great Dane tasted socks. The owners, who wish to remain anonymous, had no idea how much he liked them until he became ill and the veterinarian pulled out one sock after another. VETERINARYPRACTICENEWS.COM Shawna Harch from DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital told Veterinary Practice News, “We’re really happy that everything ended well and the dog was able to go home right away. It’s by far the most socks our vet has ever seen a dog eat.” The fact that he ate so many was impressive, and the animal hospital entered the images into our annual "They Ate WHAT?" contest, resulting in the hospital being named our third-place winner. In second place was a German shorthaired pointer who swallowed a shish-kabob skewer, submitted by Gulf Breeze Animal Hospital. The Paws & Claws Animal Hospital in Plano, Texas was the grand prize winner, with radiographs of an exotic frog who had eaten rocks from his cage. VETERINARYPRACTICENEWS.COM “We’re really excited and grateful to VPN and Trupanion for holding the contest and naming us one of the winners," Harch said. "It’s just fantastic that we’re able to highlight some of the work we do in the hospital, and we look forward to putting the contest earnings toward helping low-income families facing veterinary emergencies." DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital's win has definitely gotten the word out about its work. Not only was it on the radio this morning, but it was also a featured story on CNN and BuzzFeed, as well as Good Morning America. Check out all of our 2014 They Ate WHAT? contest winners.
