A dog from Lake Charles, Louisiana won the award by consuming the kitchen utensil.
A Nationwide pet insurance claim involving a dog that ate a spatula might have been scary at the time, but ended up being an award-winning tale.
The owners of the unfortunate pooch were relieved to have an insurance policy to pay for their dog’s care.
The Lake Charles, Louisiana bullmastiff won the insurer’s most unusual pet insurance claim of the year award for 2017. This was certainly good news after the poor dog was required to have a foot of his intestines removed in order to save him from the damage done by the spatula he had consumed. The bullmastiff, King, was one of 12 different pets that had their stories considered for Nationwide’s 2017 award.
The unusual pet insurance claim was made when King couldn’t resist snatching up a frosting-coated spatula.
The dog stole the spatula off the kitchen counter. Nationwide’s account of the tale said that the dog then proceeded to swallow the frosting-coated kitchen utensil whole. Sadly, this led to severe damage to the massive dog’s intestines. The 150-pound pooch had to undergo surgery and found himself residing in a veterinary hospital for three weeks. A good portion of the cost of the treatment and veterinary care were covered by King’s pet insurance policy with Nationwide.
The award Nationwide hands out every year is called the Hambone Award. There were 11 other nominees for 2017’s Hambone, which got its name from the first winner, which was a dog that managed to get stuck inside a refrigerator and then went on to eat a Thanksgiving ham. The award is granted to pets that have been badly injured through strange and unusual circumstances, but that fortunately have pet insurance coverage to pay for their vet care.
This year, some of the other pet insurance claims that were considered for the Hambone Award included a cat that fell down a well in California, a golden retriever from Illinois who was saved from a house fire by his owner (who clearly loves him very much), as well as an Irish setter/Labrador retriever cross that was unlucky enough to be hurt by a moose.
