Your chance to vote for the ‘Hambone Awards’
By Gina Spadafori
September 8, 2009
A cat with a needle in her tongue, a dog who ate gel bra inserts – if you thought your pet has a nose for getting into trouble, you better check out the winners of a pet-insurance company’s contest for the craziest claims.
Veterinary Pet Insurance, one of our Pet Connection sponsors, calls the contest the “Hambone Awards” in honor of a dog who helped himself to an entire Thanksgiving ham, cleaning it done to the bone – while trapped inside the refrigerator. (The dog was escaped with a mild case of hypothermia. The family, one presumes, ate dinner out that holiday.) The clever “awards” are picking up a lot of attention — we’ve heard from from ABC News and others asking for comment.
VPI, of course, is one of more than a dozen companies in the growing field of pet health insurance. The options available to pet-owners in treating their pets nearly rival those in humane medicine. Although the costs for pet care is a fraction of what the same procedures cost in human medicine, the high-tech choices and well-schooled specialists can be beyond the means of many. Veterinarians have a term for the intersection of a sick pet and a tight budget: “Economic euthanasia.”
No one likes to put down a pet who could be helped, which is why pet insurance is prospering, which a variety of companies offering a variety of plans to help cover the costs.
The Hambone Awards are, of course, a lighthearted way to bring attention to all the ways pets can end up at the veterinarian’s while reminding people that prevention is always better than treatment – whether you’re insured or not.
Check out the stories of the Hambone Awards nominees and vote for a winner. Based on the number of dogs who get themselves into trouble compared to cats, one can certainly argue that cats have an edge in the self-preservation department, and perhaps the intelligence department, too.
I guess I’m going to have to make an Honorary Award for the Dot. She pulled the same stunt as Toby, with the same results, lol!~ We call it the $200 Marrow Bone Incident . . .
Comment by straybaby — September 8, 2009 @ 9:32 am
When I was growing up, my family had a golden retriever who was ruled by her stomach. One fishing trip, my little brother left a pole baited with those yellow fish eggs leaning up against a rock. The dog decided to help herself to a little fish egg snack, resulting in a fish hook through the tongue. Luckily, it had gone all the way through and with all of us holding her down my dad was able to clip the barbs and pull the hook out. The same dog also did the round bone behind the lower canines. My dad managed to break it in half with a pair of tin snips.
Comment by C.L.H. — September 8, 2009 @ 9:32 pm