Cast Your Vote for the 2013 VPI Hambone Award!

After reviewing more than one million pet insurance claims over the past year, the time has come for VPI to honor one of its more than 500,000 insured pets with the fifth annual VPI Hambone Award®.  Nominees for 2013’s “Most Unusual Claim of the Year” include a mixed-breed dog that survived a brawl with a buck, a 48-pound pooch who was treated for alcohol poisoning after feasting on 24 uncooked bread dough rolls, and a cat that went through a full 35-minute washing machine cycle.

The winner will be determined by the public, who are encouraged to cast their vote at VPIHamboneAward. Voting is open from Sept. 24 – Oct. 11, 2013 and will decide which perilous pet will take home the esteemed honor.

In addition, the animal hospital that treated this year’s VPI Hambone Award® Winner will receive a $10,000 VPI-funded award through the Veterinary Care Foundation to treat pets whose owners could not otherwise afford treatment.

Named originally after a dog that ate an entire Thanksgiving ham while stuck in a refrigerator, the VPI Hambone Award® has since been presented for four equally unusual claims. Past winners include Ellie, a Labrador retriever who gobbled up an entire beehive and its thousands of inhabitants; Lulu, a hungry bulldog who swallowed 15 baby pacifiers, a bottle cap and piece of a basketball; Harley, a pug that ate, and subsequently passed, more than 100 rocks; and Peanut, a dachshund-terrier mix who survived a fierce squabble with a skunk.

Following are brief summaries of the 11 unusual claims nominated for the 2013 Hambone Award. All nominated pets made full recoveries and received insurance reimbursements for eligible treatment expenses. For a more detailed account of each claim, photos of the nominees, or to place your vote for the 2013 VPI Hambone Award, click on the names listed below.

• July 2012 – Chance the Labrador retriever (Clovis. Calif.). Curious canine, Chance went for a closer view of his neighbor’s livestock and was broadsided by an exuberant goat and sent crashing into the pen’s fencing.
• August 2012 – Ariel the Himalayan cat (San Rafael, Calif.). Ariel’s diminutive dimensions likely cost her one of her nine lives when she was trapped underneath her owners’ garage door.
• September 2012 – Ryder the Labrador retriever (Wilmington, Del.). Rambunctious Ryder enjoyed his dog chew so much; he accidentally swallowed the object, sending him to the veterinarian to treat diarrhea and colitis.
• November 2012 – Dingo the mixed-breed dog (Denver, Colo.). 48-pound Dingo dined on two dozen uncooked bread dough rolls, causing yeast-related alcohol poisoning and landing him in the emergency animal hospital.
• December 2012 – Natasha the Siberian Forest cat (Oakland, Calif.). Natasha was treated for shock and hypothermia after her owner’s roommate accidentally completed a wash cycle with the curious cat inside the machine.
• January 2013 – Macie the Labrador retriever (El Cajon, Calif.). Macie was out on a bike ride with her owner’s son when the leash got caught on the front tire of the bicycle causing it to run over and fracture the pup’s rear left leg.
• February 2013 – Mocha the Bernese mountain dog (Barnegat, N.J.). When her owner stopped short in a parking lot, Mocha was thrust forward from the passenger seat, cracking the car windshield.
• March 2013 – Winnie the mixed-breed dog (Barnstable, Mass.). ‘Winnie the pooch’ munched on a two-pound bag of frozen onion rings which led to a turbulent tummy and a trip to the veterinarian for potential onion poisoning.
• April 2013 – McQuire the mixed-breed dog (Boulder, Colo.). Seemingly unafraid, McQuire went toe-to-toe with a 15-point buck. The deer dustup ended with the daring dog getting knocked to the ground and rolled over three times.
• May 2013 – Pippa the Siamese cat (Irvine, Calif.). Pippa was rushed to the emergency animal hospital to treat the lacerations suffered when she got pinned behind her owners’ refrigerator.
• June 2013 – Luke the Labrador retriever (Emerald Isle, N.C.). Luke was taken to the emergency animal hospital for surgery to remove a golf ball that he accidentally swallowed while ‘retrieving’ it in his backyard.

Voting for the 2013 VPI Hambone Award® will be open to the public Sept. 24 – Oct. 11, 2013 and the winner will be announced on Oct. 16, 2013. For regular updates on the 2013 contest, you can follow VPI on Twitter, like us on Facebook or sign up to receive emails on all things Hambone.