Nosey Labrador Gets into ‘Treble’

Curiosity doesn’t always kill the cat—sometimes it injures a dog and saves some fish.

“We went to a friend’s cabin for the weekend and several people were ice fishing,” said Sara Kelly of Montpelier, Vt. “They had a bucket full of minnows for bait and a fishing pole resting across the bucket. The moment we got inside the cabin, our dog Quincy rushed over to smell the minnows and ended up inhaling a treble hook. He immediately started thrashing like a fish on the end of a line. We took him right to the veterinarian and he had to be tranquilized so they could cut off two of the barbs and push the one embedded barb through and out of his nose.”

Kelly’s claim for Quincy was one of more than 70,000 medical claims received in the month of March by Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. (VPI), the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pet health insurance. Quincy’s uncommon accident was considered along with other out of the ordinary claims submitted in March and selected by VPI as the most unusual of the bunch.

“My advice for pet owners is to be extra alert when you haven’t had the time or opportunity to puppy-proof a new area,” said Kelly. “Fortunately, Quincy is pretty tough. He was a bit wheezy for a day, but he was right back to his old self in no time.”