Disappointing Pros & the Hambone Award

The pro football teams were mostly disappointing today - the Jets won and the Raiders beat the Steelers - but the Broncos lost again.  With all the hyperbole regarding the acquisition of Peyton Manning, I thought a perfect season and a trip to the Super Bowl were givens...  Gee, Elway, it looks like Peyton Manning is human, too.  ....   A sorrowful note to today, as the folks at the National Zoo in Washington found that the week-old baby giant panda had died during the night.  ....  My kits are out playing in the dusk; and I killed 3 yellow jackets today, while sweeping 11 out the doorway.  Sasquatch and Tugger are still being very loving and attentive.  After I finish writing this, I need to walk over to the grocery store and get canned food and crunchy treats, so I can satisfy Lovey and Nedi when it's time for bed tonight.
   And, the Hambone Awards:  Will it be a showdown between the Labrador who shattered a 55-gallon aquarium and the dachshund-terrier who was nearly buried alive by a skunk?  Those are just two of the nominees for this year’s Hambone Award, given out annually by Veterinary Pet Insurance to the most outrageous pet insurance claim it receives all year.
There is one nominee for each of the 12 months, and the winner is decided by the public, which can vote online for this year’s contest beginning today.  (See  http://vpihamboneaward.com/category/2012-hambone-award/  )  All of the nominees have recovered from their injuries and experiences, living to bark, oink, or purr about it.

   The contestants include Bayley, a 14-month-old Labrador puppy owned by a couple in Lothian, Md., who was playing around with the family’s other animals and went flying into a 55-gallon aquarium full of turtles.  The dog smashed the aquarium, suffering a two-inch gash on the chest, which had to be closed with surgical staples.

 You can cast your vote for Bayley, who went flying into his family's 55-gallon aquarium full of turtles.

 
 “We’ve had turtles and dogs for many years, and the aquarium has never been a problem,’’ owner Carol Richardson told VPI. “However, none of the dogs have been quite as strong or rambunctious as Bayley. The incident has certainly taught us to re-evaluate what we keep within their reach.”
   Then there’s Peanut, a dachshund-terrier mix from Sicklerville, N.J., who scuffled with a skunk and had to be rescued by firefighters after being buried alive at 2:30 in the morning.  Rescue workers had initially given up their search for the dog when owner Christy Wolfram grabbed a shovel and started digging in the dirt underneath the family’s backyard deck to find the dog.  “When the firefighters saw Christy continue to dig, one of them decided to take a last look,” Wolfgram’s husband, Keith, told VPI. “I remember him shouting, ‘I see her paw!’ and my heart just sank. By the time they got her out she was barely moving. I couldn’t believe she was alive.”
  In another wild-animal encounter, Nathan, a miniature dachshund, tussled with a muskrat in the backyard and lived to bark the tale.

Crispy Bacon knocked over a table full of pills and then overdosed on human meds while her owners were at work.

    Other nominees have had close encounters of the human kind.  A pig from Las Vegas  named Crispy Bacon knocked over a table full of pills and then overdosed on human medication like ibuprofen and beta blockers while her owners, Teresa and Ian Praus-Choe, were at work.  After three days of suffering from drug toxicity, the pig was able to return home.
   Beretta, a Labrador puppy from Bryan, Texas, almost hung herself when the curious canine got her collar stuck on the backyard grill.
   Pebbles the cat sneaked out of her house and wound up in the engine of a car, ending up 15 miles away from home with serious injuries from the car's alternator belt.
   The Hambone Award, which was first given out in 2009, is named after a dog who ate through an entire Thanksgiving ham while being stuck in a refrigerator.

Pebbles the cat rode 15 miles in a car engine block, and survived serious injuries from an engine belt.

 

   Last year’s winner was a Chinese pug who ate and then, finally, pooped out over 100 rocks.  Other winners include a Labrador retriever who ate an entire beehive and a bulldog who chowed down on 15 baby pacifiers, a bottle cap and part of a basketball.