Insurance and access to hydrotherapy 😤

[WeAllHaveWings]

Ddog is recoverying from knee surgery and vet has recommended hydrotherapy to build up muscle tone after months of restricted movement/exercise. I was pleased to see my insurance covered up to 10 sessions. But reading the small print it says the provider must be a member of one of two canine hydrotherapy associations (CHA or NARCH).

I am west coast of Scotland and there are only 3 centres in these associations, one in Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness. Dundee is closest but would be a 5 hour round trip for potentially a 30 minute session. I think (obviously I’m biased to my situation) it is unacceptable to have this in an insurance policy where all customers in the west coast of Scotland have no reasonably accessible locations.

We have 3 highly accredited animal physiotherapists with hydrotherapy offerenings within 30 miles of my home. Insurance provider says that this is the rules/small print of my policy and I cannot claim for treatment there. The 3 local centres say most other insurance companies pay out for their treatment and they are already aware mine doesn’t, but they wont become CHA/NARCH members as it is expensive, adds no value to their service, and they are busy enough they don’t need to.

Waiting for feedback from insurance to confirm they expect me to take a dog recovering from surgery on a 5hr car journey.

I guess there’s nothing I can do other than payout for local hydrotherapy myself? 😤😡🤬

sorry to hear that, are you with PetPlan by any chance? I am currently taking our little dog to hydrotherapy, twice a week for sessions on the water treadmill (for hip dysplasia). My phsyio said she wouldn't want us travelling more than 30 minutes to get to a centre as they find the sessions very, very tiring. Could you afford to fund the sessions yourself? I hope your dog recovers well.

Will they pay for physio there, petplan split hydrotherapy & physio costs so maybe centre will be happy to claim for some under that?

Petplan probably have the rule as anyone can set up a hydrotherapy centre & some don't use qualified hydrotherapists, so could be they can't register or don't want to meet their membership rules, both appear to be £150pa fees given petplan's a major insurer seems odd none in area want to.

I guess its about proving that the dog is going to a reputable hydrotherapist, i'd imagine they're worried about people being scammed out of their money by people who don't really know what they're doing.
I work for a steel company and there are varies associations we're signed up for, like your local centres says it adds no value to the service and its expensive. But as your have to meet certain criteria to become a member it just helps prove to people your company knows what they're doing.

That is extremely frustrating when you need it for rehab, but just to give another view - I am doing hydrotherapy with one of my dogs at the moment, for fitness rather than rehab. I have two pools locally, and only one of them is open evenings and weekends, and I was very tempted to try the unregistered one that is more convenient.

A friend talked me out of it, though - and after several sessions this week was pondering how very glad I am. I think at best, the other pool would have been traumatic for my (not nervous, but not used to swimming dog). At worst, it would have been plain dangerous, and actually now I know a bit more I tend towards this view - and this is for a fit and healthy dog. I definitely would not have liked to take a dog there for rehab.

I absolutely understand your frustration, but I can see why the policy is in place.

I too totally understand your frustration. However as PP have said I am fully in support of having accredited hydrotherapists.
Having people setting up a pool with out correct training and registration is dangerous, they could likely not have the knowledge to treat your dog properly in its rehabilitation.
Also if they require a vets referral (they should!) then it would be the vet who signed the form that was liable for any damage caused at the pool to your dog. I can see why insurers don't want to be involved in unregulated pools it's a whole can of worms.
Gold standard post knee surgery would usually include underwater treadmill hydro as opposed to swimming to encourage weight bearing. Also laser therapy can speed up healing times. Or if using a pool then a therapist in the pool doing range of motion exercises and supporting your dog to mobilise correctly. Often while free swimming the dogs hind legs don't do much work. Again, all points a qualified person needs to work through and assess with your dog.
Good luck finding the proper place.

Another good point from Whatslovegottodo - I'd be very surprised if your vet would sign a referral for an unregistered pool, and any pool that will take any dog, let alone one for rehab, without vet referral should be avoided. I honestly think the unregistered pools could do your dog more harm than good.

I would also wonder exactly which short-cuts they're taking that are blocking them from registration - could just be apathy, I suppose, but given the scope for insurance referrals I'd be more inclined to think they fall short in some way, and you will have no idea if it's serious or not.

It's up to you but I would be wary of using somewhere that couldn't be bothered to register as a member for at least one association and I can understand why insurance companies refuse to pay out.

Sorry should have been clear, although they are not registered for CHA/NARCH they are registered for IVRAP, RAMP, ACPAT and their therapist are Level 5 advanced canine hydrotherapists. He would not be swimming, he would be using the underwater treadmill and they have all the harnesses/hoists etc. They are a legit centre, they just aren’t a member of these associations as no other insurance company requires it. They are reputable physiotherapists and our vet (reputed to be best orthopedic vet in our local area) had been to the centres and regularly refers patients to them.

I checked and Insurers will pay for physio at this centre because they are IVRAP. I’ll go back and ask the vet how he feels about physio vs hydrotherapy.

Hi op, I am also in the West of Scotland and my ddog is going to cruciate ligament surgery next week and have been told hydrotherapy may of benefit. Can you recommend a hydrotherapy centre as the one local to me appears to have shut?

leo our vet says he uses either the one in Ayr (heathfield industrial estate), or Dumfries house (Cumnock, not sure if this one just has the pool or the treadmill too) or Dunlop.

I have a friend that used Dunlop for her GSD with arthritis and says they were really good. We were considering the one in Ayr as it has IVRAP. They all have webpages and Facebook pages where you can contact them and ask questions, but might be worth asking your own vet who they recommend for the treatment you want.

Our own vets don't do the surgery so we're being sent the veterinary hospital in Stirling so their recommendations will be to far north imagine.

Our vet does the surgery sometimes, but not on larger dogs, we were referred to Broadleys/Andrew Miller Associates in Stirling too for the surgery.

They did an initial consult/x-rays, we went back the following week for surgery (home following day), then back 4-5 weeks later for a second x-ray and check-up.

Be aware you will probably need to hang about Stirling for 3-4 hours while he is getting x-rays (although they might not do them for cruciate as they don't show up in x-rays I believe).

Anything else, ongoing pain meds, recovery has been through our local vet.

We're off to broadleys on Tuesday. He's already had xrays at our vets before Xmas. They've said that hopefully they'll keep him in on Tuesday after the consultation and do the op Wednesday. So fingers crossed they stick to that plan as I've booked the holidays off work.

When we had our appointment on a Monday they also said they would keep him in after the consultation and do the op later that day or Tuesday morning and we would get him back on Wednesday. It was ideal as it was the October school holiday week and we were off anyway.

But when we had the consultation we were told to come back the following Tuesday for the op. We are lucky dh is self employed so it was easy enough to juggle.