Dog that ate BBQ skewer wins award for most unusual claim

Princeton, West Virginia (AP) – A dog that ate a barbecue skewer has won a national competition for most unusual pet insurance claim. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that the 5-year-old Boxer named Curtis beat out 11 other pets in online voting for Nationwide’s Hambone Award, named in honor of another dog that ate a ham while waiting to be rescued from a refrigerator. Valerie Mould of Princeton says Curtis ate the skewer during her daughter’s birthday party in 2014. Curtis was taken to Virginia Tech’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, but doctors couldn’t find the skewer. Curtis was sent home, but returned to Blacksburg a few months later. This time, veterinarians found the skewer when they operated to remove a baseball-sized mass between the dog’s stomach and pancreas. Curtis is now doing fine.