Stuck with an Incurance company once your pet has prior illness???

Hi there, my staffy was diagnosed with arthritis when he was 3 at the start of this year and ended up having a cat scan and an op for it. Now as usual I shop around every year for the best pet/home/car insurance deals and found lots of better pet insurance deals. When I rang up to cancel my Pet insurance renewal I was warned that no pet insurance companies would cover my dog's previous illnesses. So I'm guessing I'd be daft to go with another company now as arthritis is bound to cause him problems again when he gets older and I just wouldn't be covered for it??? Should I resign to the fact I'm stuck with my current insurer for the rest of his life no matter how much the price goes up?

Cheers

I`d check with your current insurers. Some will exclude conditions that they`ve paid out for once - like when a friend`s dog had back problems they excluded any condition arising from it. So you might be losing out anyway.
In the policy I have, they will continue to pay for ongoing conditions (which arthritis is). But you should check.

Have a look round but I have generally found, they will not cover for any current or pre-existing condition. A lot of the insurance companies will only cover a condition for a period of 12 months and like ClaireandDaisy says won't cover for any condition that is bought about from a preexisting condition, that's why i choose a policy that gives a life time cover for any illness/ailment.
I would have thought if you suspect in the future you will need to claim for your dogs arthritic problems then you'll not find another company to take you on. I would imagine you are going to struggle to find a company who will honour any previous ailment. If you do though, please let us know.

Hmm very interesting replies thank you both! Wish i'd knew these things before I took out my insurance for the first time. Looks like I need to have another good read through the tiny small print. I'll let you's know when I do.

Cheers again.

You need to check what type of insurance you have with your present insurer..unless you have a lifetime cover, they will automatically exclude the condition when you renew.

So it may not be an benifit to stay with them, but they are right any other insurer will exclude the ANY conditions you have 1) seen the vet for 2) claimed against,

Ok I've finally got round to sorting it all out... I think!lol

I'm with morethan at the min and it seems that they insure your dog for up to £7000 per new illness if I've understood it correctly. So as I reckon I've clocked up about £3500 so far on Nero's arthritis that leaves me with another £3500 of vet fees. So even with the new 10% of vet fees charge (for dogs under 9years) they expect me to pay I think it's probably still wise to stick with them as the arthritis is likely to cause problems in the future??? O well you pays your money and takes ya chances I suppose!

Whatever you decide, go through your policy with a fine toothcombe or even ring them up for confirmation, because as Jackie has said, sometimes, they don't cover ongoing conditions for life, sometimes, they give you leeway if it hasn't occurred for a set period of time, and other times, there is a set limit, like you are saying here, but if I were you, I'd read every blooming word on your existing policy coz you know what they're like these insurance companies I don't have to tell you!

No way, can you get this covered by changing companies though. Having said that of course, there is a way you can, and that's by telling the new company about the problems, and if it's been x amount of years or months since you had a problem, they MIGHT consider covering it but at an additional cost perhaps, but then again they might not!