October Unusual Pet Claims Recap

With an average of 80,000 pet insurance claims received every month, we get more unusual claims than we can cover in detail on the Hambone Nation blog. While not every claim can receive its own post, we thought our readers might enjoy, and benefit from, a monthly recap of some of the more interesting claims submitted by VPI policyholders.

One of the reasons we share these stories is to educate pet owners on some of the less obvious dangers their pets can encounter. But just because they are less obvious, doesn’t mean they are less likely to happen. Just in the last couple months we’ve seen another dog eat a sewing needle, two more dogs eat razors, another dog get stung by a stingray, and two dogs have fish hooks removed! As odd as it sounds, fish hooks, sewing needles, and razors are objects that regularly send dogs to the veterinarian. Stingrays on the other hand—not as much!

In addition to Moose getting kicked by a mule and Bailey fighting with a squirrel, we also saw a few other dogs have run-ins with the following wildlife:

• Raccoon
• Rattlesnake
• Blackbird
• Porcupine

And as much as fish hooks and razors are strange things for dogs to eat, we’ve also had dogs try and eat the following:

• Super glue
• Highlighters
• Wallpaper paste
• Pine cone
• Battery

All of that in just one month! So even though these stories don’t belong to Hambone Award® nominees, they will hopefully educate pet owners about the unexpected nature of pet accidents and prevent future trips to the animal hospital.