Brea, Calif. (April 7, 2011) – Sherri Johnson had concerns about how her cats would handle the wood stove in her New Hampshire vacation home. Her husband assured her that Eddy and Bella would sense the heat from the stove and stay away, and he was right—until the flies came.
“If there are any flies in the house, they always seem to come out of hibernation when we heat up the wood stove,” said Sherri of Belmont, Mass. “Naturally, the cats go nuts and chase the flies through the house. Our cats were running up and down the stairs chasing a fly, and my husband was worried that one of them might fall over the railing, so he went upstairs and shooed the fly into the living room. Eddy followed the fly, jumped in the air and came down with all four paws right on top of the hot wood stove.”
Eddy immediately gave up his pursuit of the fly and ran under a bed where he proceeded to growl at anyone who came near—even Bella. Sherri called the veterinarian who recommended that they keep an eye on Eddy’s paws and come in immediately if they observe any blisters. The next day, Eddy’s paws were covered in blisters, so Sherri wasted no time getting to the veterinarian’s office. Eddy received bandages on all four paws and antibiotics to prevent infection of any broken blisters.
“He was walking like a mummy for about a week, but he’s doing better now,” said Sherri. “The veterinarian gave us several good tips for preventing anything like this from happening again. We’ve found that tea kettles on the stove prevent the cats from having a place to land and also help humidify the house. Obviously, we’ll also do what we can to keep flies out of the house and window sills.”
Sherri’s claim for Eddy’s wood stove incident was one of more than 80,000 claims received in the month of March by Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance. Sherri’s claim was considered along with other uncommon medical claims submitted in March and selected by VPI as the most unusual of the bunch.
As the most unusual claim submitted in March, Sherri’s claim will be placed in the running for the 2011 VPI Hambone Award. Each month, VPI employees nominate the most interesting claim submitted and in September 2011 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 March included a bulldog that managed to glue his eye shut, a cat treated for shamrock toxicity, a mixed-breed dog that ate two pounds of cereal with raisins, a bull terrier that chewed off and swallowed the head of a stuffed animal, a basset hound that ingested his rabies tag, and a mixed-breed dog who had his tail stomped by a deer. 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 Teuer are available upon request. Send requests to gbiniasz@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.