Dog needs surgery, will insurance pay?

[Boatsnack3]

Our 2 year old border collie has been showing signs of discomfort and pain for the last few weeks. Our vet thinks it is because he has a retained testicle that is twisted or pulling in his abdomen. I am worried that because castration isn't included in our insurance plan our insurance won't cover the surgery even if it is medically needed. We were advised when he was younger not to castrate as he is fear reactive, they were worried it would make him worse. It's been a tough year and I don't know how we will find the money if it is not covered. We will find it because we have to but it's stress I could be doing without.

I don't think anyone could advise without knowing the specifics of your exact policy ! You'd need to check your policy and ask their advice whether its covered or not. Hope your dog is ok.

Thanks I have asked the insurance company and they said all cases are dealt with on an individual basis so they can't tell me whether it's covered until I make a claim. 🤷‍♀️

Guess I was just wondering if anyone else's dog had cryptochoirdism and had the surgery covered by insurance.

The policy says it won't cover preventative surgery i.e. castration

However this would be castration for a medical reason i.e. pain prevention but I'm worried it's a very grey area

Poor Woofa!
Sorry, I have no idea... just a wee bump! In hope someone who does might see this!!

My mums springer needed an operation on his bum and needed to be castrated as well. The vets demonstrated it was a medical need rather than a choice so the insurance covered the whole operation.
That was with animal friends in Dec 2019.

It probably depends a lot on who your insurance is with?

We will cover the cost of treatment which is in connection with a retained testicle(s) if your pet was aged 12 weeks or under when his cover started. There is no cover for this if your pet’s cover started when he was any older

Is the wording in our PetPlan Covered For Life policy

I'm with legal and general and he has been insured since we got him at 8 weeks. I've read the policy back to front about a thousand times this week and it definitely doesn't say any thing other than they won't cover castration as a preventative measure.

The vet have asked us to ask for a pre authorisation from the insurance company so that is a job for tomorrow but while we do all this to-ing and fro-ing my baby is sore and the pain meds are barely making a difference. Thank god it's so warm he can't go out anyway.

Exclusions - Costs for cosmetic treatment, elective treatment, routine treatment or preventative treatment recommended by a vet to prevent an injury or illness. This is not limited to but includes vaccination, spaying, castration, Cryptorchidism (retained testes).... and any claims as a result of these procedures unless specifically noted on the schedule

From the Legal and General policy. Doesn’t sound promising, but worth the phone call to check obviously

I don’t understand why the vet has asked you to get pre authorisation if you are going to have the operation anyway .

Definitely do the pre auth.

Have any other tests been done to check it's not something else causing his discomfort?
The retained testicle needs to be removed regardless as they can turn cancerous so it's not worth leaving it in there.

But just make sure it's not his hips or something? What pain and discomfort is he showing?

@Floralnomad Because she wants to know if the insurance will cover it or not.
If they will then the vets can claim direct from the insurance company and the owner pays the excess.
If they won't cover it then she needs to see if she can get it done by a charity, payment plan etc as she can't afford the surgery right now.

It's also not an emergency surgery so she has some time.

Pre authorisation is good but when I had to do that at a vet hospital I still had to sign to say that if they didn't pay I would still be liable for full costs.

Exactly @Elmo311

He has an appointment at a different senior vet tomorrow, thought it might be worth getting a couple of quotes and opinions.

Discomfort wise he is not jumping up on anything can't get on/off my bed at all, reluctant to get in and out of the car, won't run for the ball, isn't kicking his back legs when he does the toilet. He is also yelping if you touch him anywhere near his testicle.

I had never heard of pre authorisation and the person I spoke to at the insurance company didn't mention it was an option. I think that's the way forward. My partner is due a bonus in September so we can afford to pay it then but obviously don't want to leave Charlie in pain for that long. Hopefully a family member will be able to help us out if the insurance won't.

Thank you all for your help.

Can't help with whether insurance will pay as I got my dogs removed at around 10 months. He's also fearful so we insisted they only took the retained one. The vets did try to persuade us to remove them both, but we stood firm. Perhaps if your dog only has one retained you could insist on only removing that one too

That's interesting definitely something I will ask at his appointment tomorrow. Thank you

I think the pre-authorisation thing depends on the insurance company. Mine just said they don't do them and to submit the claim and they would let me know if they would pay out. 🤬
I was worried because he's not covered for dental work and the surgery he needed was to remove three teeth (and part of his jaw in the end!) to get at a large tumour that was growing underneath.
They did pay out in the end, which was just as well as the total bill was heading toward 5 grand!