Voting closes tomorrow for this year’s Hambone Award, recognizing the strangest pet insurance claim of the year. It’s the 16th year Nationwide Insurance has done it. They named it the “Hambone” after a dog that got itself locked in a fridge for several hours, and ate a full holiday ham. It was treated for mild hypothermia.
Last year’s winner was a cat named Giles, who needed stitches after being folded into a sofa-bed. Here are the eight nominees for 2024:
1. Archie: A dog in New Jersey that got excited the mailman was there and broke through a plate-glass door. He needed stitches on his paws.
2. Bear: A corgi in Pennsylvania that chewed on a bottle of nail adhesive that was basically like super glue. Luckily, it wasn’t toxic.
3. Clover: A parrot in New Jersey that got her claws tangled up, like tying someone’s shoelaces together. A vet had to untangle them.
4. Irma: A dog in Florida that had to go on a high-fiber diet after eating tiny pieces of sharp metal. They think it was bristles from a barbecue brush.
5. Kodiak: A dog in Virginia that won’t stop eating rocks. She had to have four removed from her stomach a few years back, and then ate two more.
6. Lambeau: A Lab mix in North Carolina that ate 250 pieces from a jigsaw puzzle, but only the loose pieces. The corners and edge pieces were already assembled, and he left those.
7. Luca: A dog in Massachusetts that ripped into the trash and ate a corn cob. He’s okay, but corn cobs can cause intestinal blockages in dogs. (Or humans.)
8. Skye: A Great Dane in Oregon that fought a weasel and lost. It bit him on the eyelid, but he made a full recovery.
You can vote for your favorite at PetInsurance.com/HamboneAward. They’ll announce the winner next Tuesday.