Rescue dogs, insurance & pre-existing conditions

AvocadosBeforeMortgages

Hi,

I've just privately rehomed a dog from a friend who's emigrating. The dog is a young adult, and was passed around a lot - I'm owner number 5 :eek: I'm now trying to sort out paperwork and get everything kosher.

I have a history on the dog as far back as owner 3. I know for a fact that the dog was not registered with a vet by owner 3, and owner 4 didn't register him until a few days before I adopted him when he was taken to get a pet passport, which includes a vet health check (the friend then changed their mind about taking the dog with them). The vet has confirmed to me that no problems were found at that check up.

However, I have noticed that he is showing some signs of patella luxation. He's a cross, and it's not uncommon in dogs from one of those breeds. It's not causing him any real issues / pain, so doesn't need to be dealt with as an urgent matter, but I want it checked out in case it's likely to deteriorate and/or is worse than I think. I don't want him to have surgery unless it's necessary (6 weeks of crate rest would drive him mad) but it could be necessary.

I'm planning to get him insured with PetPlan Lifetime. Given that there were no problems found at the passport vet check, and there are no vet records to show he may have patella luxation, am I likely to be able to claim once I'm past the 14 day exclusion period, or is it possible that I'm going to run into problems with this being a "pre-existing condition"?

I've never owned a pet of a species that requires insurance, so it's all a bit of a mystery!

Thanks! :money:

LusciousLuce

Well, technically, you'd be committing insurance fraud to do so, as when you take out a policy you have to declare whether or not you are aware of any conditions, and you are. But if you tell the insurer that, they will exclude the condition.

It depends how Pet Plan assess. They might insist on full history from every owner from the pet's DOB onwards, and unless you've seen absolutely everything on record for the animal there may be something there relating to lameness. That said, my understanding is that if FOS looked at a claim that had been classed as pre-existing, they would look to see if you knew the condition was likely to be pre-existing; so, for example, if the dog had skin problems in his previous history before your ownership, and you weren't aware of that, the pet insurance company would not be able to decline the condition as pre-existing. That's if it goes to FOS, of course.

You'd also need to be really careful with what you say to the vet. If you take out a policy then present the dog after the waiting period and say something like "He's had intermittent hopping lameness for a couple of months now", that would be enough for some insurance companies to decline on.

So it's a big risk, and it is fraudulent.

sheramber

Petplan ask for details of all vets the dog has been registered with and may contact these vets for a medical history.

elsien

With rescue dogs, you can only give the history as far as you know it.
Mine was picked up off the streets with no history so was insured as a clean slate with no pre-existing conditions.
The one before I took to the vet before I insured her and they discovered she had mange and mild hip dysplasia which led to exclusions for skin conditions and anything related to the back hips.

I would now always insure a dog as soon as I got them, and well before the first vet's visit unless I noticed something that really couldn't wait for a few weeks.

sheramber

Whether it is considered a pre existing condition will depend on the underwriters of the policy.

I did read of one who considered that a condition was pre existing although there were no obvious symptoms at the time of taking out the policy.

This was because the condition was such that it would have been present since birth so was pre existing to the policy being taking out.

krlyr

He has a condition showing symptoms now, prior to you taking out insurance. To insure him and claim it was not pre-existing would be insurance fraud.

You could possibly get away with it, but it would be up to Pet Plan to decide if they felt it was realistic it could have just suddenly started out of the blue. But sometimes even without actual symptoms, they might feel a condition was pre-existing (e.g. something that's usually hereditary/present at birth).

krlyr

Another option is to take out a policy that does specifically allow pre-existing conditions. These generally will offer to cover a condition once it has been symptom & treatment-free for a period of time.