Insurance cover hit limit

[rosenylund]

Cousin's greyhound is 8 nearly 9. Pain and limping on and off last few months which was put down to muscle strain on one limb. Got a lot worse before Christmas with pooch not being able to put her foot down.

Xray and initial treatment shows what they think is a piece of floating bone chip in the shoulder area which is why the pain is intermittent as vet thinks its moving. Next stage is a cat scan to determine if this is defo what it is, or bone cancer which is common in the shoulder area in greys.

Problem is the cover cousin got is only £500 annually per condition from Animal Friends. That's already been used up.

The cost for the next set of scans is quoted at £1000. That's not even looking forward to treatment, if appropriate.

No idea what to do. Pooch on pain meds now but can't walk hardly at all without limping obviously in pain, so no outside walks.

Cousin is devastated, she's never made a claim and perhaps naively felt more secure with the dogs health than she should have, even going into old age.

If cousin paid for the next set of investigations, it's unlikely she could pay for the treatment as whatever it is is likely to be extensive, whether it be chemo or amputation.

To be honest I'm thinking we are heading towards putting pooch to sleep soonish as the pain and discomfort is not improving. My only other thought was amputation but if the bone chip is moving that may not solve the problem anyway; plus pooch is 9 and may only have a year or 2 left at best.

What do people think? Second opinion from another vet? The one she uses is expensive but very good. Presume they would release the xray for another vet to look at.

Cousin is on DLA so I believe some discounted treatment is available at PDSA - any idea what the discounts are? I assume this would hinge on current vet sharing the findings so far.

Poor dog. Could she tell the Vet she can't afford treatment and see if they have any suggestions? You could contact the pdsa on your cousins behalf and see what they might cover.

Are you sure she has a £500 limit and it's not £5000? I've never heard of anyone insuring for such a ridiculously low amount (we've just reached the £6k limit for a condition one of our dogs has).

If they live in an area where there is a PDSA clinic, then treatment is free - you can check eligibility here

Or, if PTS is something that is on the cards, a lurcher/greyhound rescue may take them in and sort out their condition instead, and then rehome them.

I don’t think Animal Friends even have such a low amount per condition, so get your friend to check the terms.

PDSA/PTS/work out a payment plan with the vet/rehome if nothing else works. Those are the only options I can think of.

Who did she get her dog from? If it was a charity they may wish to get involved. Why will the next scans cost so much? Dog would need GA presumably but why £1K?

Defo basic cover £9.56 per month, just checked the policy - heading out now but will find out more and come back

As I understand it you need to be on means tested benefits like council tax or housing benefit for the PDSA to provide free treatment. You can get a contribution or a discount if you are on DLA. I've suggested she get something in writing from the vet along with a copy of the x-ray To maybe ring round for some different prices for the next scan. Even if you could afford a further investigation and treatment the outcome probably isn't going to be good.

Pooch came from the greyhound trust so we might give them a ring as well.

I would be brutally honest with the vet on the ability to afford any further investigations and treatments and see if they have any suggestions. Unfortunately £500 is a very very low amount for one condition as that covers very little.

PDSA wouldn’t be able to offer a CT scan anyway.

Your cousin needs to speak to their vet, say CT is not an option. Vet can then discuss next steps. Remember - if it is cancer, the CT wouldn’t fix it, just confirm that’s what it is. Vets have to manage cases all the time without the luxury of a confirmed diagnosis, because of financial constraints.

That Animal Friends policy is ridiculous.

She could try a veterinary school. They occasionally treat animals cheaply/free if they can be used by students for training purposes but its usually because they have unusual health problems.

Definitely speak to the vet and say she needs cheaper treatment. A previous dog of mine was recommended to need hydrotherapy 3 times a week for 3 months at a cost of £30 a time. I told the vet I couldnt pay for that and it needed to be cheaper and he said I could walk my dog in the local stream/lake and it would do the same thing. A month later at a check up and the vet said he no longer needed 'hydrotherapy ' (walking through the stream) 3x a week as he had made a very good recovery and just once a week to keep on top of it would be fine. Sometimes there will be a cheaper alternative but you need to be completely honest about it being too expensive.

Thanks all, good suggestions . Tried the vet school but no joy.

Sadly there are some truly rubbish policies out there, Animal Friends and Churchill I am looking at you. That lull owners into a false sense of security.
Definitely talk to her vet about having reached the insurance limit. We happily investigated, diagnosed and treated both bone chips and bone cancers prior to CT scans being widely available. Yes they make are job much easier, but are not essential. So from that point of view PDSA are likely to be able to progress treatment.

Definitely contact the greyhound trust. Also ring PDSA and see what they say. You could also see if there are any RSPCA clinics near you, they do treatments at a discounted rate for those on benefits.
Could you try and set up a payment plan with the vets to gradually pay off the bills? Some vets allow this.

I've learnt my lesson with this, last December my Beagle suddenly started limping and after investigations it turns out both of his cruciate ligaments in his knees have ruptured - while under general anaesthetic we had a random skin tag biopsied and turned out he also had a mast cell Tumor.

Three very large things all at once, with a £7,000 limit on our insurance, this covered his cancer removal and one of his knees, but we are looking at saving up at least £3,000 for his other knee op.

For an extra £10 a month we could have had £12,000 cover 😱

Needless to say all my other dogs are now covered fully with the 12,000!

Hope she manages to resolve it - if he has to have his other knee op sooner than anticipated we are just putting it on a credit card and paying it off as quickly as possible

If its bone cancer then any further treatment will probably not be an option anyway. By the time symptoms are showing it has usually spread elsewhere into the body. Will the vet offer a payment plan option? The CT scan will show if its cancer and then a decision will have to be made very quickly.

Having today paid out £160 for blood tests for my cat, been told that we've reached the £6k limit for our old dog and recently paid out £4K for an op for our uninsured dog, I fail to understand why anyone would think it was worth insuring for £500.

Tell vet there is no further insurance and she cannot afford CT scan see what they say.
Ultimately if she cannot afford to even find out what is actually wrong with dog and dog is from a rescue she may have to give the dog back. That is far kinder than putting to sleep a dog that may have nothing serious wrong with it.

blueskypink I totally agree; I think the family had gotten comfortable with pooch being healthy all her life, let the insurance carry on but as she is now over 8 they only cover a percentage of costs as it is. Cousin has never made a claim ever and naively assumed things would carry on.

So today vet has got a price of £800 for the ct and suggested removing the leg - but with the understanding that she may not live long after. She has taken a down turn over night and is on stronger painkillers for a few days whilst a decision is weighed up. Poor old thing, she's such a good dog. The last thing any of us want is her to be in pain.

Thank you all by the way for your helpful and kind advice

That's so sad Rose. I hope something can be sorted out.

Yeah it's always hard isn't it when they are in pain, they can't tell you and yet they still bounce around and wag madly when you come home.

I'm used to little terriers living 15, 16 years. I suspect pooch is on the end of her journey regardless of costs, tests etc. so hopefully she can be comfortable and enjoy the rest of her time.

My cousin lives a few doors down and pooch goes to aunts (my mum) during the day whilst cousin works, so I see the old grey every day and am very attached to her too.

Cousin even let me take pooch away for 2 weeks to cornwall when i went on holiday alone so we have a little bond.
Sad now :(

Pooch was put to sleep over the weekend after an initial good improvement on new meds, plan was an x-ray booked for today to see what was what and decide on amputation.

She deteriorated over the weekend and it was definitely the right time. Been spoiled rotten before hand, steak and eggs no less.

Sad times - what a good dog.

Oh what a shame Rose. So difficult to make that decision. Pets leave a big hole in their owners' (and surrogate owners') lives when they go. I had to take my cat to be put to sleep last week so I do sympathise

That's really sad. Did the vet find out if it was cancer?

Pretty much yes, they think there was bone collapse in the shoulder which suggsets the cancer eating through it.

She had a short time of being ill so thankful for that.