Im absolutely fuming i'm spitting feathers.... I could burst

[NSB]

Watch out if you have pet insurance..

We made a claim as our cat has had recurrant cystitis and finally last month she was admitted and stayed in for scans and 3 days in the vets - thats fine we had insurance.... £300+

we previously had some medication for her on a different visit but didnt claim from the insurance (as were nt one for claiming things).

Finally chased the insurnace people today and they said we are only getting £70 back as the vets secretary had put all the dates of treatment down and including the very first one, this has exceeded our 12 months of cover for one illness!!!!!!!

what the f...... do we do now, were waiting for her to have more xrays and scans done (we were going to book her in once we got the claim back). The vet suggested we did this to ensure we had all the test done covered by the insurance) and the end of the 12 months decide what we are going to do about her.

I'm soooo mad I could cry..... Thank you for my winge, but what do we do.

[bluemoon]

You have my sympathies NSB, our old Lab was treated by our vet for epilepsy for 15 months before it became obvious that the fits were being caused by something else and ordered tests which discovered a brain tumour. Our 12 months were up long before. Fortunately our insurance company decided that these were 2 different conditions and paid up. I don't know what we'd have done if they hadn't as the final bill was £2,700........and he still ended up being put to sleep.

[Two_Sheds]

Daylight robbery, insurance is. (or can be)

They'll wriggle out of it anyway they can

[Alice]

Can you ask the vets secretary to say she made an error and remove the first visit from the list ? If you didn't claim for that it seems fair.

[FionaH]

I would go back to the vets and see if they can help. Dont get me started on insurance companies, mine was a nightmare when I had to have my pony put down

[allotmentlady]

hmmm contact the insurance company and say that the secretary had made an error and that you will get it corrected - it isnt your fault after all, which insurance company was it?

[Alison]

Who are you insured with? Both our moggies are with Pet Plan and it's always been excellent. One of them isn't a problem but the other one is a bit of a regular at the vets - we'd only paid one months premium when he got into a fight with a squirrel and we had almost £100 bill after his leg got infected. Have also claimed for the chicken bone he found and ate on his travels, the bee sting to his mouth, multiple split pads which got infected, the gum disease and the tail amputation to name just a few! Yikes, many of these have been bills well into 3 figures and there has never been so much as a quibble from the insurers.

[NSB]

I have spoken to our vet and he is shocked and will contact the insurance company, aparently insurance companies have direct access to vets notes!!!! apparnty he didnt mention the 2007 episode which wasnt even confirmed at a UTI!!!!!!

[Hilary B]

Policy on previous conditions varies from insurer to insurer. Our present vet recommends one that ticks all the boxes (no exclusion for a condition previously treated, no exclusion for older pets, although there is an age limit for joining, etc) I think they are relatively expensive. The policy I took out (before we moved here, so different company) has got progressively dearer as my dog has got older, even though we didn't claim anything ever until a year or so back, total less than 1 year's premium. Now got to check whether they will pay for a biopsy, and perhaps some very expensive treatment for a condition that may or may not be the same one as a years or so ago..... One vet thinks it IS a particular condition, the other wants a biopsy to check, but if it is, the treatment would cost £8 a DAY for a good many months Cost of biopsy about £300. Summer '07, similar uncertainty but treated as something else and seemed to be OK, until November.....

[Glutton4...]

That's terrible!

I don't have our Dog insured. I had a bad experience years ago, and wanted to make a claim. The claim would have amounted to less than I had paid in premiums, but the insurers didn't want to know. I wrote them a stinking letter, and cancelled the policy. Now, if my dog needs treatment, I 'go without' to pay for it.

Just to cheer you up. A good friend of mine's horse was injured whilst turned-out in the field. She called the insurance company for a claim form, but made no claim because the wound wasn't as bad as she had first thought, and it healed quickly and with no further problems. When it came to policy renewal, they wouldn't insure that leg!

[vegnut]

I know it's a bit late and a bit of a gamble, but i didn't insure my dog, but i put £20 away every month for any health/accident problems. I don't draw any money out for annual jabs or small accidents, that way it mounts up. And of course it stays in your account, not some insurance scam. Errm i mean scheme. Putting a blunt edge to it, when you do lose your beloved pet, you can do with the savings as you please. It is a gamble though, cos if you get one of those accident prone or unhealthy pets, you could get nailed..

[Nicos]

Tell me about it!

Our horse pulled a tendon whilst gadding round in a muddy field having been kept in due to heavy rain for about a week.
Being careful horse-owners ( Horse legs can be tricky things) we called in the vet who ultra-sounded it- and gave anti-inflammatories.Box rest and end of story.
When the renewal came they'd excluded anything wrong with any of the legs
So- after a big fight they've excluded just the affected leg .
If we'd not called out the vet it'd probably have settled in a couple of weeks anyway....

Last month he had nasal discharge and the yard owner called out the vet- who put the yard in isolation- just in case it was the highly contagious 'Strangles'
...just turned out to be a sinus infection and the poor lad had been stuck in his box for 2 weeks for all the investigations to come back from the lab.
He's better now- and not had any antibiotics...goodness knows what the bill will cost- and what Pet Plan will exclude us from next time.

Yup- I'd get the vet to appeal NSB.....it's too easy to exclude things on policies.

[MaureenHall]

My cat's insured now as not long after I got her (7 years ago) she got knocked down outside my house, had crushed ribs, smashed leg/hip and I had to make a quick decision as to whether to have her put to sleep immediately or have her operated on immediately. I chose the latter option which involved an emergency operation for her chest cage, followed 2 days later when she'd stabilised by another operation to pin and plate her leg and hip. Plus 5 days in the vets hospital. The total bill was a little under £700. If she has any health problems in the future related to the accidental injuries, she's not covered! Ok, perhaps I was a bit hasty at the time to spend that amount of money on her, but she's re-paid me over the years many times over. She's insured with More Than and it costs around £8 a month. As my finances aren't very good any more, I'm seriously thinking about cancelling it and taking a chance. What do you think I should do?

[Hilary B]

I am about to ask my insurers whether any of this will be covered. If not, I will be demanding my money back for the increase (yet another increase) since the previous treatment for a condition which MAY not be what she had last time. If they prove difficult I will point out that in 9 years I have made one claim for less than the premium paid over the preceding year. If necessary I will explain why I consider automatic exclusions based on 'previous treatment' to be unreasonable, and grounds for involving the likes of Watchdog......

[bluemoon]

Maureen, I know it's sometimes difficult to pay for the insurance, but if we hadn't insured our boy we would have not been in a position to give him a chance. Admittedly the total bill would have been spread out over the course of over a year, but nearly £3,000 is a big chunk from the family finances even when paid in 'little' amounts over a period of time. I still insure our other dog and will continue to. The problem is that vets assume that all animals are insured and recommend treatment accordingly, so now you can't just have a course of antibiotics for an infected cut, for example, they insist on X-rays, 'tests' and half a dozen check-ups. If you're insured, fine, if not you're a 'bad' owner. Insurance companies have a lot to answer for in my opinion, but we are currently in a position where it is a necessary evil. Imagine what it must be like in the USA when people are forced to make these sort of decisions about their kids.