Hi, my 9 week old puppy is currently covered under his free Kennel Club insurance from the breeder. I've had to take him to the vet today for diarrhoea and itchy skin. Does this now mean I will have to stay with Kennel Club Insurance for the rest of his life, will the other companies exclude anything diarrhoea and skin related from now on? I was hoping to switch to Pet Plan after my free trial ended, but hadn't done it yet as I'd never envisaged a problem so early and still had free cover for another couple of weeks so it didn't make financial sense to buy another plan yet. Thanks for any help/experience with this!
Re: Help with Insurance! This happened with Murphy, he had some problems during the month free kennel club insurance, so when i joined pet plan they asked if he had had any previous problems and so i told them, and now he isnt covered for anything gastro related until he is clear of any problems for 2 years, which is never going to happen as murphy regularly gets colitis. Someone told me i should have just lied, but i suspect they would have found out if we ever claimed because of the vets.
Re: Help with Insurance! We have PetPlan. If you switch to them they may exclude skin conditions for a period of time, which they may later review. I may still be worth it to go with PetPlan. The best thing would be to apply and see what they produce in terms of a policy. Always best to choose your insurer and switch to them before you get your pup, but that is no help to you now... That was advice that we didn't take either (didn't act quickly to set up insurance) and we ended up having a 12 month exclusion (on hips and hind limbs) for a year but that was lifted recently after we had no further problems for a year. It was easy to have the exclusion lifted - we just had to provide our dog's medical history (PDF from the vet) that showed he had had no issues. I hope that your puppy improves - it is always stressful when they are unwell.
Re: Help with Insurance! Thanks both! I'm just wondering what exactly they'll exclude, the dodgy tummy has been caused by trying to eat everything in sight in my garden, he's a puppy, that's what puppies do, how can they exclude that?! The itchy skin, maybe I can understand an exclusion in case it turns out to be an ongoing thing, hopefully its only been caused by his over exuberance when adventuring through my plants on his mission to eat everything in sight!! I think I'll give Pet Plan a call and see what they say, I prefer the look of their policy to Kennel Club, does anyone have experience of Kennel Club policies at all and whether they are good value/service?
Re: Help with Insurance! I made some notes after researching the problem of pet insurance and these may be of use to you: 1. Cash back availability with Tesco. 2. Lifetime cover for accidents/illnesses, avoid insurers with a cover limit per condition. 3. Cheapest is rarely the best. 4. Check excess and ensure that it is a fixed amount and not a % of cost of treatment. 5. Premiums triple at age 7/8. Roger
Re: Help with Insurance! Unfortunately the excluded both skin stuff due to his itchy skin and a little rash when he first arrived and the also the stomach stuff because he had colitis very early on. It's a pain in the bum!
Re: Help with Insurance! Did you claim for these conditions on the kennel club insurance? I'm surprised, I didn't know you had to tell insurance about minor illness like upset tummies unless it was major, chronic and something that you'd previously claimed for. Pups/dogs always get upset tummies which usually aren't bad enough to claim for. Also I thought it was only on going conditions you had to tell them about. ???
Re: Help with Insurance! No I didn't claim for them, well when I rang up to sort it out they asked me if he had been to the vet for any illnesses so I told them. That's annoying if I didn't have to tell them!
Re: Help with Insurance! To be honest frankie I don't know. Whenever I've filled in forms or answered questions on the phone I've always assumed when they ask about illness they either want to know if they are being treated at the moment or have a chronic illness which is known about and will need on going treatment. I know when you fill in a claim form they ask has the dog been treated for it before which I assume can effect whether they pay out or not. My old lab had colitis all his life. Coincidentally he was Murphy aswell. I never claimed for it as the treatment never exceeded the excess. I never thought to mention it to the insurance. It never came up in a claim because the things I claimed for weren't gastro related. However if I'd claimed for a gastro problem that could be related to colitis perhaps not having told them would've affected the claim. I don't know its just never crossed my mind to tell an insurance company my dog has had an upset stomach because dogs do don't they. :-\ Gosh it's confusing. ???
Re: Help with Insurance! If you've seen a vet about it it will be on your dog's medical record, which the insurer will request in the event of any claim. So, if you've seen a vet about it, tell the insurer.
Re: Help with Insurance! You will find that as soon as you put in a claim the insurance company will want to see a printout of the full history from your vet from the time the dog is obtained. The companies are then very good at announcing that the problem began before you were insured hence is not covered. Most vets record advice given by telephone on the animals records, so even if you phone for advice and it is recorded as "Mrs Jones phoned about Rover, been sick once and has diarrhoea, advised dietary rest and bring in if no better in 24 hours" you may find gastrointestinal problems not covered depending on the insurance company.
Re: Help with Insurance! Thanks for all your responses, this is more confusing than car insurance! The Kennel Club policy (which it looks like I have to stay with as my vet visit will be on his records and I'll have to declare it) has a fixed excess and a % excess, has anyone else ever done this, is this a normal option? I could opt for no % excess but obviously makes premium higher and then take a bigger compulsory excess to lower it a bit, what sort of excess is on the Pet Plan policy? Thanks x
Re: Help with Insurance! I don't know about % excess sorry but if the kennel club insurance is more expensive than pet plan why not give pet plan a ring explain and see what they say. It might only be not covered for a period of time as Rachael suggested earlier. I didn't know about this and have already changed insurers. I didn't think minor everyday illness like an upset tummy could affect a future claim. I suppose they'll try and get out of paying if they can. :
Re: Help with Insurance! The problem shouldn't arise if you stay with the same insurer as continuation insurance and you do not let the puppy policy lapse even by an hour before taking out full insurance. Which insurance company to go for is a common question vets are asked but under the Financial Services Act we are not allowed to recommend one policy over another. Personally speaking I would always go for one with lifetime cover as an absolute must, then would look at which ones pay out regularly, promptly and fairly to people. When I was choosing insurance for my dogs I considered Pet Plan, John Lewis, More Than, Kennel Club, Pet Protect and Pinnacle as my personal top 6. The consumer magazine Which? did an absolutely useless review of pet insurance some time ago and some of their Best Buys most vets wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Although vets are not allowed to recommend one company policy over another, a very revealing question you can ask your vets is which companies they are prepared to do direct claims from. Some companies we will refuse outright to do a direct claim from as they either will evade/avoid paying at all costs or they are incredibly slow (9-12 weeks for some companies). Hope this helps.
Re: Help with Insurance! I may remember this wrong, but I am pretty sure that Argos Insurance said that it wouldn't cover a payout for the first 2 (??) weeks after the insurance commenced. I don't know if this is common, but it does mean that if you wait right until the end of your 4 weeks "grace" insurance with the KC/Petplan then there may potentially be a period of time your dog is not actually covered. Just thought I would chuck that into the conversation
Re: Help with Insurance! You are right! Fortunately I overlapped the KC insurance with the Pet Plan and we were just in when Drift fractured his elbow.
Re: Help with Insurance! I mentioned to the vet that Charlie had runny eyes when I took him for his vaccination at 8 weeks and some soothing drops were prescribed - he grew out of the problem. Swapped from the free KC insurance to pet plan, and found all eye troubles excluded from the cover. : Well, no matter. Pet plan have paid out without a quibble for all of Charlie's cruciate treatments, even covering a huge slug of the hydro and physio. So no complaints. Sent off the forms, got a cheque by return. And it's not over yet, they have all his follow up x-rays etc that they will pay for too. I took the max vet lifetime cover. At the time thought maybe it was a waste of money (an eye watering £55 a month). Turned out to be a bargain. I will ask for the eye exclusion to be removed on the anniversary of the policy.
Re: Help with Insurance! I think no payout for the first two weeks is common with most insurers Jacqui. Certainly all the ones I looked at. You learn something new every day. 18 years I've been insuring dogs and I didn't know a minor illness could affect cover : Of course it won't happen but I think insurers should make this information better known. I guess it's in the small print or something. I'm sure the only question I've been asked is about ongoing treatment. I've never been asked has your dog had ANY vet treatment and if so what for.
Re: Help with Insurance! It does seem a little unfair that a one off visit to the vets at 9 weeks old for a runny tummy leads to a life long exclusion for anything gastro related, but if those are the rules then what can I do. I think I'll stick with the kennel club for now and if there is nothing else in the next 12 months will try pet plan and see what they say!
Re: Help with Insurance! Murphys gastro stuff is excluded until he hasnt had any tummy problems for 2 years, which is never going to happen as they are always getting little boughtsnof colitis and things. Because he had itchy skin and a little rash, they wont cover anything skin, eyes or ears related until he has been free of those problems for one year. Apparently the underwriters said that dogs with itchy skin are more likely to have eye and ear problems too which is why they wont cover that either for a year. Its so bloody annoying!
