Skewed by a Skewer and Saved a Year Later, Curtis Wins 7th Annual Hambone Award
Curtis, a Boxer from Princeton, W. Va., has won the 2015 Hambone Award honoring the most unusual pet insurance claim of the year. Curtis earned the nomination after he swallowed a wooden barbeque skewer, which disappeared in his body and nearly ended his life more than a year later. The 7th annual Hambone Award is presented by Nationwide, the nation’s first and largest provider of pet health insurance. After selecting 12 nominees for the most unusual claim of the year, Nationwide opened voting to the public at HamboneAward to decide the winner, where Curtis received the most votes.
Curtis was treated by the veterinary team at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine where they performed a lifesaving surgery to remove the skewer and the large mass it had caused. For their outstanding work, the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine will receive a $10,000 Nationwide-funded award through the Veterinary Care Foundation (VCF) to treat pets whose owners could otherwise not afford treatment. One hundred percent of all donations to the VCF are used to treat pets, with no contributions used for administration, fundraising or overhead.
Skewed by a Skewer: Curtis’ Story
As the 2015 Hambone Award winner, Curtis will receive the coveted bronze Hambone Award Trophy, as well as a Nationwide gift bag filled with toys, treats and various pet supplies. Nationwide gift bags will also be given to the following noteworthy competitors:
Second Place – Charm the silver-shaded Persian cat (Woodbridge, Va.). Charm’s mouser mischief took a near tragic turn after he swallowed more than three feet of packaging tape. After medication and laxatives, Charm eventually passed 19 inches of tape and regurgitated the rest (Charm was treated at Hartwood Animal Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va.).
Third Place – Rocky the miniature Dachshund (San Diego, Calif.). Rocky lived up to his name after he successfully fended off a rattlesnake from making a snack out of his smaller siblings. Rocky’s fight left him with multiple deadly rattlesnake bites, but he was able to pull through and make a full recovery (Rocky was treated at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital in San Diego, Calif.).
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