The strangest pet insurance claims
Gorging an entire fruit cake quickly became life threatening for a 2-year-old Te Awamutu beagle.
Teddy’s binge landed his owners a $2990 bill after a three-day stint at the vet’s, hooked up to a drip.
From intersex cats to a french bulldog eating a roll of dental floss – Teddy’s case is just one of many strange Southern Cross pet insurance claims during the past year.
Among the claims is a devon rex cat who swallowed 46 hair ties, and a border collie forced to vomit up shards of a compact mirror it had eaten.
And a vet discovered their first intersex cat during surgery for a tumour, which made for a costly and complex operation.
A german shepherd’s owners were lumped with an $8437 surgery and postop bill after the dog impaled its leg on a metal shoe rack after it was trapped in a room with two aggressive cats.
Others ate blankets, dish cloths, sewing needles and a kebab stick.
Teddy’s owner Simon Fookes doesn’t know how his pooch managed to steal the Christmas fruit cake, which was defrosting on the kitchen bench.
But within minutes, he had devoured the whole raisin-filled thing.
It didn’t seem like a massive deal, until Fookes learned that raisins are extremely toxic for dogs.
Indeed, the usually energetic dog laid on the ground looking peaky and wan.
‘‘He had eaten a lot of [raisins],’’
Fookes said.
‘‘He wasn’t himself. We didn’t know what was going on.’’
Fookes rushed Teddy to Waikato After Hours Veterinary Hospital, where he was hooked up to a drip to flush out his kidneys.
It was upsetting and stressful to watch the ‘‘gentle and loving’’ beagle so confused at the vet’s.
Dogs differ in how seriously raisins affect them, so Fookes hadn’t been sure Teddy would make a full recovery.
The next day he was moved to Vetora vet clinic in Te Awamutu where he made a full recovery before returning home to his best friend – another beagle – Molly.
‘‘He looked a bit sheepish,’’ Fookes said.
He hopes Teddy won’t be chowing down another fruit cake, but doubts the experience will stop the adventurous pooch from trying to eat odd things.
Thankfully, most of the bill was covered by Southern Cross, so the financial stress wasn’t too bad, Fookes said.
Southern Cross Pet Insurance general manager Anthony McPhail said while some of the insurance claims are funny, they can also mean stressful and serious surgeries for the pets.
It doesn’t help that pets don’t have a public health system that covers the cost of any serious accidents.
‘‘We recommend owners prepare for those unexpected veterinary visits by either setting some money aside or considering pet insurance.
‘‘Most of the claims we process each year are for fairly typical illnesses and routine checks, but we also receive some that surprise us, particularly the range of ways pets find to testing the limits of their digestive system.’’