Pre-existing conditions

What exactly soes this mean?

If for instance I bought a pup and got it insured and later it turned out it had a congenital heart condition, for example, as it would have been born with it would that mean it was pre-existing? I have never quite understood the term

Surely if a dog is born with whatever condition it is pre-existing? Isn't it??

What if you rescue an older dog with an unknown medical history? What if they get ill? As an adult will it be pre-existing even though you, as a new owner, don't know?

I am so confused?!

Rescues are fine you are unaware, its just for problems your dog has been previously treated for, BEFORE you took out the insurance.

Ahh I see so even if a pup was born with something if it hadn't seen a vet for it then it would be covered?

And likewise if you rescue a dog as long as you insure it before you go to the vets you will be covered?

Is that right?

Yes, as Dawn has said, it's only ever to do with any condition you have taken the dog to a vet for. However, if you KNOW about any existing conditions the puppy has had, say it had distemper and was treated for it, then of course, your new vet will get to know about that once the files have been transferred from the previous vet, so anything you actually know about NOW must be put on the insurance form. If something happened which didn't get as far as a vet visit, then you have no worries. I wouldn't have thought you have any worries regarding a little 9 week old puppy that's for sure.

I rescued a 5yr old dog many years ago, who had a pre-existing skin condition and was being treated by a vet. I HAD to put this down on my own, new insurance application form because of course, they would know about it from my new vet, be it a new vet or the one already treating him. That then got excluded from my policy, so I had to fork out each time I went to a vet with any skin problems. Hope that helps.

Ok I understand, thank you for explaining it. I can be a right dunce sometimes!!

No worries..... you'll definitely feel right at home here then!!!!!

Hang on!! What if you took on a rescue with no medical history, say it was picked up as a stray. Then it develops a limp and upon taking it to the vets it turns out it had a broken leg that had been treated years ago and was now causing problems?

You knew nothing about this so didn't put it on the insurance form, so would that be covered?

You just keep your fingers firmly crossed that you don't end up with one like that I suppose!!!

At the end of the day, all it boils down to is what a vet already knows BEFORE you signed on the dotted line, so, when you take your dog to the new vet and explain where it came from, he should then get some paperwork from any previous vets who had treated the dog, and whatever shows up on there, is a "pre-existing" condition. I think your best bet is to fill in the form in the knowledge you have, then further on down the line, ask your new vet what has shown up from any previous paperwork, then pick up the phone and tell the insurance company what that dog might have been treated for in the past.

Hope that explains it better. Are you winding us up here????!!!!

I'm not sure that it is just about conditions that have been treated is it?

As an example, I've just looked up the definition of 'pre-existing condition' in the on-line policy documents for Direct Line's dog insurance. This is what is says:

"Pre-existing Condition
Any condition or symptoms, or signs of injury, illness or disease, that happen or exist in any form before the start of this insurance."

If it wasn't for the words 'any condition' at the start, I don't think the exclusion would be too bad since you'd have to have some idea that there was a problem...but with the words 'condition' at the start, I think this could would exclude anything that was there before the insurance was taken out, whether you knew about it or not.

Its one of the reasons why I don't bother with pet insurance - the small print is just frightening.