Brea, Calif. (December 6, 2010) – Tobey is a 7 year-old Labrador retriever that doesn’t like water. He loves it. “I put the sprinkler out in the yard for him, and he goes nuts!” said owner Ellen Jones of Charlotte, N.C. Tobey especially enjoys stealing mouthfuls of water as the sprinkler swishes back and forth. “He chomps at the sprinkler head and the water just goes right down his throat,” Ellen said. “He puts on such a show that neighbors walking by the house stop and stare in amazement.”
Ellen recently set the sprinkler out for Tobey, and it wasn’t long before she noticed Tobey was in trouble. Within 30 minutes, Tobey went from running around and chomping at the streams of water to vomiting and not being able to sit or lie down comfortably. Ellen was especially alarmed at the size of Tobey’s stomach, which had become swollen from consuming so much water. Since Tobey has a history of bloat, a condition in which the stomach becomes stretched and even twisted from excessive gas or fluid, Ellen didn’t want to take any chances and took him to the veterinarian.
Tobey’s veterinarian took X-rays and performed an exam, gently pushing on the dog’s abdomen to determine the seriousness of his distended belly. Tobey was lucky: his over-indulgence had not resulted in water poisoning or bloat. The Lab was sent home a few hours later with a prescription for rest, and Ellen was advised to keep water out of Tobey’s reach for the rest of the day.
“It sounds silly, having a belly full of water,” Ellen said, “but it can be just as dangerous as over-eating.” Sadly for Tobey, his days of running around and drinking from the sprinkler are over. “I had to put the sprinkler away,” Ellen said. “We won’t be doing that exercise anymore.”
Ellen’s claim for Tobey’s water ingestion incident was one of more than 80,000 claims received in the month of November by Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance. Ellen’s claim was considered along with other uncommon medical claims submitted in November and selected by VPI as the most unusual of the bunch.
As the most unusual claim submitted in November, Ellen’s claim will be placed in the running for the 2011 VPI Hambone AwardSM. Each month, VPI employees nominate the most interesting claim submitted, and in September 2011, the company will ask the public to vote for the most unusual claim of the year. The VPI Hambone Award is named in honor of a VPI-insured dog that got stuck in a refrigerator and ate an entire Thanksgiving ham while waiting for someone to find him. The dog was eventually found with a licked-clean ham bone and a mild case of hypothermia.
Honorable mentions in November included a dachshund that made a snack of caulking sealant, a pair of German shorthaired pointers that tangled with an angry porcupine, a domestic shorthair cat that survived a spin in a dryer, a Golden doodle that had a spring lodged between its teeth, and a Labrador retriever that stepped on a bayonet. All pets considered for the award made full recoveries and received insurance reimbursements for eligible expenses. Stories and pictures of the Hambone Award nominees are at www.VPIHamboneAward.com
Note to editors: Digital images of Tobey are available upon request. Send requests to dshannon@petinsurance.com.
About Veterinary Pet Insurance
With more than 485,000 pets insured nationwide, Veterinary Pet Insurance Co./DVM Insurance Agency is the No. 1 veterinarian-recommended pet health insurance company and is a member of the Nationwide Insurance family of companies. Providing pet owners with peace of mind since 1982, the company is committed to being the trusted choice of America’s pet lovers and an advocate of pet health education.
VPI Pet Insurance plans cover dogs, cats, birds and exotic pets for multiple medical problems and conditions relating to accidents, illnesses and injuries. Optional Pet CareGuard® for routine care is also available.
Medical plans are available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 2,000 companies nationwide offer VPI Pet Insurance as an employee benefit. Policies are underwritten by Veterinary Pet Insurance Company in California and in all other states by National Casualty Company, an A+15 rated company in Madison, Wisconsin. Pet owners can find VPI Pet Insurance on Facebook or follow @VPI on Twitter. For more information about VPI Pet Insurance, call 800-USA-PETS (800-872-7387) or visit petinsurance.com.