Insurance

marley is now coming up 5 years old ( i think )
i am thinking about getting insurance as i can see a few problems in the future (his hips are already starting to go for a start )
he hasnt been to a vet for it yet im managing it with suppliments and he is good at deciding how much charging round he can do on any given day,
as i havnt been to the vets would insurance cover hip problems or would they say that im not covered because it could have started before i took out the policy and ive just not taken him to the vets about it ?

im in truble if he wont be covered because my freind (a vet) thinks marley has hip ( and possibly elbow) displasia which i know will cost a lot of money,
i cant afford to just pay for opps like that, not long running problems, and marley has issues which makes it impossible to rehome him ( doesnt like many other dogs, trys to kill all cats other than my 1 and only likes about 7 people other than me.

i fear i would have to send him over the bridge before his time is up

anybody got any idea about the insurance ?

As you know he has problems and don't declaring it the insurance will be void and he won't be covered for them.

I found that my dogs insurance was getting to expensive for me to afford so I stopped the insurance, joined the Dogs Trust for 3rd party, which we should have, and put the insurance money in a cash ISA instead. The money is building up nicely, yes it can be tempting to dip into it until I think was is more important to me

I have a puppy who possibly has hip dysplasia. I'm hoping he doesn't but like you... it will be a problem to afford the expensive surgery that would be needed to correct it if he does. I'll manage, though. Vets with payment plans, etc.

If you omit this issue and the vet declares it would have been impossible for you to have missed and you intentionally omitted this.. then you won't be covered.

It's a sheisty thing to do anyway, to try and get health insurance for a dog you know is unhealthy and will likely need expensive procedures. Usually when you try and do stuff like this, it doesn't work out in the end.

If I were you (please bear with me here) I'd start saving now and going without lots of other things to (hopefully) be able to pay when the time comes.

I CANNOT afford these procedures on the dot, either. I also don't have ANY extra money. But, I mean sacrifice. Buy cheaper food for you and the dog... turn lights off more often, you know... be cheap.

If you need help with this, there are MANY books to help with frugal living. That's the best advice I can offer. I don't think it's right to take out insurance now... and I don't even think that it would work.

If you go ahead and then take him to the vet, the insurance company would ask for the vet's opinion and he would have to say that the condition had been ongoing for some time so, no, you wouldn't be covered.

Insurance companies take the risk that their payout will be covered by all the months of premiums we pay when we didn't need to claim so they are going to be very careful with a new customer who 'suddenly' develops a chronic condition - even if the owner has signed to say they were not aware of any pre-existing conditions.

However, these conditions don't always call for surgical intervention and can be managed, sometimes even without medication (thinking about a neighbour's young labrador with bad elbow displaysia who is fully active on no meds but just has a funny gait).