A barbeque-loving Boxer who nearly died after he swallowed a wooden skewer used in food preparation is this week going home with an unusual place in pet insurance history.
Curtis, a Boxer dog from Princeton, West Virginia, was awarded the 7
th annual Hambone Award from
Nationwide Insurance – a prize that honors the most unusual pet insurance claim of the year. Curtis was chosen along with 11 other nominees for the award, and was voted the winner by members of the public after the profiles of all 12 pets were posted on HamboneAward.com.
Along with the award, Curtis’s veterinary team at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary medicine – which performed a lifesaving surgery to remove the skewer from his body – will receive a $10,000 Nationwide-funded award through the Veterinary Care Foundation to treat pets whose owners could not otherwise afford treatment.
Curtis swallowed the wooden barbeque skewer last year during a family barbeque at his owner Valerie Mould’s home. The family had prepared chicken and beef shish kabobs and placed them on the counter, when Curtis smelled the delicacies and made a jump for it.
“I saw him grab it and chased him outside,” Mould said. “When I caught up to him, I yelled for him to drop it and grabbed the end sticking out of his mouth, but the skewer snapped right as I got my hands on it and Curtis swallowed it in one bite.”
Valerie watched for the skewer to pass, but Curtis began vomiting and collapsed the next day. On the advice of the local emergency veterinary hospital, Valerie took her dog to Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.
There, Curtis underwent an ultrasound and endoscopy but the staff couldn’t see the skewer and believed it had broken down.
The Moulds waited for weeks to see the skewer pass in Curtis’ stool, but there was no sign of the instrument. Meanwhile, Curtis stopped playing and didn’t eat as much as he used to – he seemed like a different dog.
“We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him,” Mould said. “He’s like our child and we would do anything for him.”
After he began to shake and yelp whenever his side was touched, Valerie took him back to the college where staff discovered a large mass near his liver. Believing it was cancer, the veterinarians performed surgery to remove the mass. They were in for a shock – the mass was actually a large ball of scar tissue surrounding the wooden skewer that Curtis had swallowed more than a year ago.
The skewer had pierced through his intestines and traveled through his body until becoming lodged next to his liver.
Now, Curtis has made a full recovery and will be receiving the bronze Hambone Award Trophy, along with a Nationwide gift bag of toys, treats and various pet supplies.
