Any vets or dog insurance experts around?

[PinkWellingtons]

We have a beautiful cocker spaniel puppy who has been the light in our lives after a really tough few years. She's an absolute dream bar constant urine infections which today we have found out are being caused by a misshaped bladder. I'm so thrilled we've got to the bottom of it and have a treatment plan in place to work with now.

BUT a small insurance issue has come to light. She came with 4 weeks Petplan insurance which we switched straight away to a policy by Boughtbymany on recommendation of several dog friends. We handed her first urine sample for the first UTI in the day before (literally the day before!) her policy with Petplan ran out. I thought nothing of it at the time as even if it was a simple UTI as we were advised then we wouldn't be claiming for antibiotics.

The receptionist at the vets has now got me in a panic none of her vet fees for the bladder problems will be covered due to the fact we handed a urine sample in BEFORE our current policy started. Even though that was for a uti.

Does anyone have any opinions or experiences on this? I can't phone the insurance company until tomorrow.

[BiteyShark]

Typically anything you have seen the vet for, even if you don't claim or even have a diagnosis, may be excluded as a pre existing condition.

Did you declare the previous uti to BBM when you switched policies? Some insurers would put an exclusion on the policy based on that.

[BiteyShark]

P.s. not a vet or an expert but have claimed a lot for my dog.

[Scattyhattie]

Agree with Biteyshark that it will probably be excluded as on your first claim they request full history & details of any other vets seen. There's usually a question about when the condition/symptoms first appeared rather than date had vet treatment.

Most policies have a 14 day period where illness isn't covered to avoid people making claims for preexisting conditions, so that 1 day probably wouldn't make a difference. I've overlapped new/old policies by 2wks when changing so they don't lose cover.

Maybe the operation won't be too expensive though and should fix the UTI problem going forward. Speak to the vet about the situation as maybe able to help with managing costs if you aren't insured for it.

[Lotus90]

It won't be covered.

Is it a lot of money?

[WwfLeopard]

It probably won’t be covered on bought by many, but as it’s 1 claim that started with them maybe pet plan will pay up

[Scattyhattie]

I'm not with BBM though & they have done things a bit differently to competition. Its usually all in the wordy policy details what is/isn't covered & if has that 14 day period. Maybe speak with the vet before insurer.

[Veterinari]

It’s unlikely to be covered. Not helpful now, but you should never change insurers in the middle of a medical issue.

If the issue is congenital then it may be worth speaking to the breeder - some will help with costs of early-diagnosed conditions, though if it was the breeder who set up the pet plan insurance, they could well argue that was their way of offering support for any unforeseen medical issues.

[Scattyhattie]

Petplan would only pay if OP was still within free 4wks or had extended that policy & premiums paid up.

[BiteyShark]

I think some BBM policies don't have the 14 day exclusion if you are coming from another provider without a gap. However, the issue is that the uti was before the policy had started and was because of the bladder problem which has now been discovered.

The only way to find out OP is to phone and explain as they will get all the history anyway from the vets and see when you went for checks etc.

[Amicompletelyinsane]

I deal with pet insurance forms as part of my job. I would very much doubt it would be covered. Even without a 14 day initial exclusion on policy, they will say that the urine sample came in for a uti which is caused by the misshapen bladder. There won't be a way to actually argue the case because you can't actually say for certain it wasn't. I'm sorry to say if put money on it being excluded

[woogal]

Yeh it's pre existing so you're liable for the cost unfortunately.

[Maneandfeathers]

Agree with everyone else.
I am 99% sure you will be excluded from anything urinary tract unfortunately.