To think my pet insurance company are trying to pull a fast one

[budgiegirl]

My 12 year old dog has recently been ill with vomiting and not eating for several days. The vet initially tried giving tablets for 5 days to stop the vomiting, but this didn't work, and they ended up giving the dog a scan to check for a blockage (there was none). The dog eventually recovered, and vet sent the invoice (over £1000) to our insurers.

My DH had recently changed our insurers, who preclude any pre-existing conditions, which is fair enough. However, the insurers have rejected our claim, stating that problems with the digestive system are a pre-existing condition. This is because 10 year ago, my dog had kennel cough, which caused vomiting that needed to be treated by the vet.

AIBU to think that our insurance company are trying to pull a fast one? I can't see how a bout of vomiting 10 years ago can possibly be counted as a pre-existing condition. The dog recovered fully at that time, and has had no further vomiting bugs until this one. Surely these are two completely unrelated illnesses?

Unfortunately I think they can do this. We had a very similar incident with our rescue dog - who when we first got her had been given anti sickness medication as a result of an upset stomach likely due to change in diet at the rescue centre. Over a year later she caught a sickness bug and had to go in overnight and our insurance company also classed it as pre-existing. It was also a fairly large bill unfortunately- after that we moved insurance to one that covered pre-existing after a period of 2 years since the last occurrence.

Doesn't surprise me. My horse came in from the field a bit lame once. My mother phoned the insurance company to ask how we make a claim for vet bills if we needed one. Didn't need the vet. Horse was just a bit sore from galloping around like an idiot. Paperwork came through from the insurance company excluding both front leg tendons from any future claims.

Vet nurse here , probably are but ... ask whoever deals with the insurance at your practice to write a clear letter stating that the previous problem was kennel cough with no connection to the current problem .
Usually they will respond more positively with a letter written /signed by a vet and also the fact that the person writing the letter has a lot more knowledge and professional qualifications than the person querying the claim helps.
I have seen quite a few refused claims u turned on when the obvious is pointed out .

Argue your case and ask the vet treating you now to clarify they are 2 separate conditions, one was KC, the other is a GI bug. Not at all related and the treating vet should be willing to write a letter pointing that out.
If they continue to refuse tell them you will contact the insurance ombudsman to rule on the matter as that's quite frankly BS

Have you asked your vet to argue this one for you. They can say your dog has had nothing wrong with her stomach and this is nothing to do with what happened 10yrs ago.

They do take the pee, not PP by any chance? my old dog stood on a wasp thank god it wasn't a bee and I took her to the vets, when her renewal came up all 4 legs were excluded, her stomach and bowels were already excluded as she had worms when she was a puppy, I cancelled the insurance as there wasn't much of her left to insure 🙄