Pet Insurance - Confused...

micky007

Hi Guys,

My Pet Insurance is up for renewal, last year i paid £381 for my dog to be insured (rip off i know). This year its gone up again but not by much, £401.93. This is with John Lewis and my dog has Lifetime Cover.

I've decide i want to move away from John Lewis as i feel they are ripping me off. How ever i have a question im wondering someone could help me with, as some of you may remember when my puppy was just 7 months old he got attacked, you can ready that story here. He had an operation and is 100% fine as if nothing ever happened to him. Now i know that if i was to switch pet insurance provider that they wouldnt cover pre-exisiting medical conditions or anything that they've been treated for already. I dont really know know the full details of what my dog was treated for at the time but he had a few holes where the greyhound punchered through his skin and somthing else. He had a drip thing towards the back which allowed access fluid to drain out of him too. Now, its been one and a half years since his attack and has never needed any more treatment and is fine.

If you was me would you switch insurance provider or stay with john lewis incase anything goes wrong with the surgery he had a year and a half ago?

Also if lets say he had an accident and for example got ran over by a car, if his injury also affected the previous work done on him then would he still be covered for that or not? Or would he just be insured for the new injuries?

Thanks

teddysmum

I have never had dog insurance and have had several acquaintances likewise,(including a vet who recommended putting away money each month, based on her clients' experiences).


I've had as many as four dogs at once and over 40 years reckon that if I'd had a fund, it would be well in credit, even after having three dogs with heart conditions and expensive end of life medication.


I feel that any procedure I find too expensive would not be something I'd be willing to inflict on my pets.


The exception would be if I had a greyhound, whippet or lurcher, as they are prone to breaks and skin damage .

sheramber

first of all I would speak to the vet and get full details , in writing, of what treatment he had.

Also ask if there are any possible consequences in the future- such as arthritis.

You can then contact another company, with the above information, and enquire whether they would be restrict cover in any way.
Some companies will lift restrictions after 2 years if there is no recurrence or treatment needed.

Petplan are on such company but you need to speak to the underwriter and get any decision in writing.

If you dog is under 2 years old Bought BY Many have introduced a policy which will cover pre existing conditions.

LusciousLuce

Definitely have a word with your vet. They may get you to speak to the person in the practice who deals with insurance. Ask the vet if his accident is likely to cause any health problems further down the line.

But if you switch insurance companies and he suffers another accident, it's exactly that - an accident, and completely unrelated to any other accident or illness. It cannot be pre-existing.

Any future illnesses would be assessed as a separate loss if they were unrelated to anything that has happened before. If your vet says his earlier dog attack will not cause any future issues, that's great. If something happened (accident or illness) in the future that was unrelated but the treatment was complicated by the pre-existing condition then the new condition should be covered, but anything extra caused by the pre-existing condition could be excluded. Sounds unlikely though.

teddysmum

They can be so awkward about exclusions.


A woman's hound had his leg cut by the wire extendable lead of an owner whose dog was running out of control, so a very unusual incident, but she was then unable to get insurance to cover any leg problem, including a break on another leg, which was in no way connected to a cut from a wire.

LusciousLuce

teddysmum wrote: »

They can be so awkward about exclusions.


A woman's hound had his leg cut by the wire extendable lead of an owner whose dog was running out of control, so a very unusual incident, but she was then unable to get insurance to cover any leg problem, including a break on another leg, which was in no way connected to a cut from a wire.

Depends entirely on the company. Some are terrible with exclusions, some don't have them at all. The companies I assess claims for don't have exclusions other than pre-existing conditions. When I worked in practice I saw other stories similar to yours where insurance companies would exclude e.g. the entire digestive system. Best plan is research what's available, get a list of possible companies and policies together, then check what other people are saying about them.

stator

I wouldn't switch. You would have to tell the new insurer about the accident and since you can't tell them exactly what the treatment was they would probably add a general exclusion.

Definitely keep insurance. Operations cost thousands.

LusciousLuce

stator wrote: »

they would probably add a general exclusion.

To be fair, not all pet insurance companies place exclusions. The companies I assess for just exclude pre-existing conditions; they don't place a general exclusion on e.g. all legs, or the digestive system, as I saw other companies do when I worked in practice.

That's why the OP should speak to their vet and the person there who deals with insurance companies. They should hopefully know who the worst offenders are.