Dog insurance. What a mess.

[MissBetsyTrotwood]

We adopted our Greyhound 3 weeks ago. He came with 4 weeks free PetPlan. The kennel didn't tell us we needed to call to activate it (and we didn't read the leaflet properly, just skimmed it, so we're to blame really.)

So I called PetPlan yesterday to join the scheme properly and that's when I found out we weren't registered. Before I found out we weren't insured I had disclosed that we were going to take him to the vets for an ongoing upset tummy and general loss of energy over the last few days. It turns out that they won't insure him for any gastro-intestinal condition now.

So my next stop was Tesco. I thought, well, I won't let on about the tummy and they'll insure us. At the very last though, it became apparent that they don't cover dental work - something that, as an ex racer, he'll probably need in the future. The reasoning behind this is that poor teeth are a sign of neglect.

I do appreciate this, but surely that discriminates against owners who have adopted dogs who have suffered neglect from previous owners. I know he had a tough life before he retired. However, he's well looked after here and it seems unfair that we're left unable to insure against medical conditions he is likely to suffer as a result of previous maltreatment.

Anyhow, I hope this all makes sense. I've had a sleepless night worrying about vet's bills for this tummy thing he's got and the possibility we might not be able to insure him at all.

Any advice or experience is most welcome. Please be gentle though. I am exhausted and soon to be alone with a poorly dog and two small DCs as DH is about to go away for work. Arrgh.

Oh sorry to hear this. Insurance companies will not cover for the first 14 days of illness anyway will they and you can't leave him that long if he is poorly. Is the PDSA an option for you?

I appreciate your pain with insurance companies, one of my dogs fell ill on the very day I changed his insurance policy over. So he was never uninsured but neither company would cover him.

I've never known an insurance company to cover dental work, it's just one of those things, too many people feeding inappropriate diets has made scaling and even extractions into a routine procedure.

Are you feeding him the same as in his previous home or has there been a change?

Although pre-existing conditions will not be covered by the majority of insurance companies, some may put only temporary exclusions (ie 12 months without the condition will qualify the dog for the cover thereafter). It is always worth shopping around.

I would call the Greyhound club or a big charity, they may be able to advise of the company that is more sympathetic to the plea of neglected dogs of this breed or vets that are prepared to treat at discounted rates. I would also call DogTrust.

Unfortunately insurance companies with more and more restrictions and commercial vets that drive up the prices of treatments driving premia up to levels that will exclude most of the pet owners. I have a dog and two cats and I had to make a difficult decision to stop cat insurance as it is now simply beyond my budget (was 11gbp/month, now over 20gbp/month only 5 years later!)

Thanks all. He's in at the vet tomorrow morning as he's still eating/drinking/excited about his walks. I'm tempted just not to insure him at the moment but DH still wants to, in case of other problems. I see his point.

Interesting about the dental care - I'm a novice to dog ownership, though DH has had a dog for most of his life.

Many many insurance companies do cover dental treatment (ie extractions) I would say Tesco is more the odd one out in that they don't. Greyhounds particularly ex-racing ones tend to have horrible mouths due to the wet gruel they are fed and I would consider insurance in this instance almost essential.

Mmm, that was what the vet told us when he had his check up. We brush his teeth every day now but I can see that things are not OK in there.

OK, when the DCs have gone to bed tonight I'm going to have to get down to some serious research. I'm a member of Which? so maybe if I get in touch they'll be able to help.

I've also never seen an insurance company cover dental work, with the exception (according to my vet) or dental work caused by a non dental related injury - e.g. dental work required after a road traffic accident.

All I can say is get him insured asap, please don't wait as you just can't guarantee what might happen. I made the mistake once of being lax about insurance for one of our cats, I thought she was insured along with the rest of ours but didn't bother to check, until the morning she was hit by a car and required her jaw pinning, a special diet for months and has recurrent eye problems. Lets just say it was a good job that my credit card limit had just been increased as the bill was horrendous! Now no insurance company will cover her for anything that might be related to the accident at all. Needless to say I am very fastidious about the insurance on all our animals now!

Well, the plot thickens. It turns out it isn't my fault the 4 free weeks are not registered, because the kennel were meant to send off the paperwork and don't appear to have done. The person I spoke to at PetPlan yesterday was a new employee who according to the other operator I spoke to today "Doesn't know what he's talking about."

If an illness/accident requiring treatment, even if it's ongoing, occurs during those first 4 weeks, it continues to be covered if you decide to extend the policy. So I have to scan in and email all the paperwork we were given by the kennels.

There is, of course, the possibility that PetPlan dig in their heels and we still won't be insured. It won't be our fault. It will be the fault of the kennel owner who didn't get her paperwork together. I think I would be reasonable to ask the kennel to pay for any future medical costs incurred as a result of any health problems that are uninsurable because of their administrative error?

We're usually scrupulous about our insurance policies. I'm finding this really hard to deal with, particularly as I thought I'd been doing the right thing all along.

Oh dear, Betsy, so sorry to hear this. Generally, we find that scaling isn't covered (as it's a fairly routine procedure) but extractions may be. Difficult to be precise as policies vary and i know we've changed companies a few times since we had our first pointy. To be honest I would expect a charity to have necessary and urgent dental work done before adoption, especially since teeth are such a known issue for ex racers.

Please don't let this initial mix up stop you from being insured - it really is worth it.

I'm very sorry to hear your hound is under the weather. Hope the vet is able to assist, and that it's nothing serious.

Thanks Scuttlebutter. He did have regular dental checks at the kennels and his last vax and flea/worming were done a week before we fetched him. His teeth are OK for now but I can see that his mouth is generally unhealthy looking (unsurprisingly!)

I called the kennel owner last night. She told me that this sort of mix up has happened before with PetPlan and she sent off the documentation for another adoption at the same time as ours so she's getting on to them this morning to find out what's going on with both sets of paperwork.

I will insure him. I think I was just having a tired little flounce yesterday.

A little up side of all this is when she went through the records they have from the trainer, she told me he was born on the 17th of January (we only knew it was January before.) ALL our DCs were born on the 17th of the month! Weird or what?

Anyway, I digress. Off to the vet's now. They're an agent for PetPlan so they might be able to put a bit of pressure on too.