Grade 1 Heart murmur and insurance

[Aria20]

Hi can anyone with experience offer advice on heart murmurs and pet insurance. Dog is 3 and last year at annual check vet said she had a slight grade 1 heart murmur - no concerns and I'd already taken out insurance but no coming up to renewal and I want to change provider (purely pets and they have been crap!) - can I still do this now she has a diagnosed condition even though no treatment or action needed?

When I tried to do compare market for pet insurance it won't let me get quotes if I mention pre existing conditions...

You can change but her heart will not be covered. I would stick with the policy. Heart meds can be very expensive.

Is there no way to change - they were rubbish when I claimed for something unrelated last year took 4 months to pay out and now they've doubled the premium not even accounting the heart murmur which the vet said was barely there!

If you change it will be classed as a pre-existing condition so no you won't be cover by any other insurer

Is there a way if I change insurer and don't claim for that for so many years it will then be exempt? Sorry just trying to make decisions - would never recommend purely pets to anyone and now looks like I might be stuck with them and their double premium for crap service!

Worth asking around some companies will take existing conditions. Pet plan review each case on a case by case basis.

It doesn’t work like that, OP. A pre-existing condition has been declared now.

I’m afraid you’ll likely need to stick with it, OP. As PP said, heart meds can be expensive - you’re talking thousands over a dogs lifetime.

Many pets will cover existing conditions after a number of years of no issues I think.

That's not actually true. There are a number of insurers who will provide cover for pre existing conditions, providing that there are no claims within e.g. the first 2 years of the policy relating to that condition.

OP, your best bet is going to be to ring around and actually speak to some insurers. Petplan are expensive, but very helpful.

Thanks for the advice I'm going to get a second vet opinion on the heart murmur as the vet who initially diagnosed it said it was so slight and then subsequently a couple of months later another vet at the practice couldn't even hear it so I wonder what happens if another vet says they can't find it - does it then count as pre existing or could it be a misdiagnosis from the first vet as dog was stressed at vets that occasion so breathing different?

The difficulty you'll have is that a second vet's opinion doesn't override the initial opinion. If your dog had heart issues in future, and you made a claim, your insurer would request a full clinical history and would be perfectly justified to disallow the claim on the basis of the condition being pre-existing.

Your best option, as per my previous post, is to speak to an insurer who will cover for pre existing conditions after a period of time, or to stay with your existing provider. That's really it unfortunately.

Ok thank you that's useful to know.

On a separate note - when people adopt dogs and have no full vet history what happens with their insurance regarding possible pre existing conditions that they genuinely didn't know about when adopting the dog?

Insurers can refuse to provide cover in this situation, or ask for recent medical records showing a full health check before providing insurance.
With regards to the heart murmur, I would ask your vet about it and then call the insurers you're thinking of going with and speak to them about it.
Heart murmurs are a symptom, not a diagnosis. They can be caused by the dog being unwell and they can go away, or they can be a sign of heart disease (or probably several other things). If it was a symptom of a separate condition the dog had and it has gone away, the insurers are less likely to refuse to cover any heart issues.
Heart issues can be very expensive, just the scans along are several hundred pounds each time, before the cost of the medicine, so I would be wary of switching insurers if they won't cover heart issues.

Thank you @NameChangedAgainn :)