Pet Nominees for VPI Hambone Award Announced

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Public voting opens September 12 for Most Unusual Pet Insurance Claim of the Year.

All pets get into scrapes now and then, but some four-legged friends survive some truly unusual mishaps. Each year, Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI) honors these brave pets with the VPI Hambone Award, given to the "Most Unusual Claim of the Year." VPI, the nation's oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance, reviews more than one million pet insurance claims in order to bestow this title on one of its more than 485,000 insured pets.

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 three 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; and Harley, a pug that ate, and subsequently passed, more than 100 rocks.

The public can vote on the 12 nominees for this year's award by visiting www.VPIHamboneAward.com. Voting is open from Sept. 12-25 and will decide which perilous pet will take home the esteemed honor.

All nominated pets made full recoveries and received insurance reimbursements for eligible treatment expenses.

"Now in its fourth year, the VPI Hambone Award continues to remind us of how unpredictable our pets can be," said Dr. Carol McConnell, vice president and chief veterinary medical officer for VPI. "While incidents like a cat falling out of an 11th story window, or a Lab shattering a 55-gallon aquarium certainly aren't everyday occurrences, they show that unusual accidents do happen and how important it is that pet owners are prepared for the unexpected."

Has your pet ever had an unusual accident? Share your story below!