Insurance for unboostered dogs

My whippet bitch is presently making a slow recovery from SRMA. She is insured with More Than and it seems that there will be no problem with them paying out on this occasion.

However, I would prefer her not to be fully boostered in future as I have been warned that this could cause a recurrence of the problem. I intend her only to have leptospirosis as it is, I believe, a "dead" vaccine as opposed to a "live" one which the other regular ones are. The policy wording states clearly that she will not be covered for any illness in these circumstances.

Can anyone recommend an insurance company which will cover her - I don't expect them to pay out if she contracts one of the diseases for which she could be vaccinated, but I would certainly like her to be covered for anything else.

Actually statistically it is the Lepto Vaccine that cuases the most adverse reactions.

I would suggest that you have her titre tested.

I cannot see how an insurance company can refuse to pay up for a illness/condition that has no connection with the disease that vaccnes cover. It would be an unfair restriction on the policy, as epileptic dogs & dogs with any illnesses should not be vaccinated-this is the vaccine companies advice & that of NOAH who license all drugs for animals here in the UK

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, if an insurance company states in the policy conditions that dogs must be fully vaccinated - and further state each of the diseases requiring protection - then it is quite within its rights to withhold payment.

It is the policyholder's responsibility to check and fulfil all the requirements before taking out the policy. I'm afraid that insurance companies will take advantage of any loophole to get out of settling a claim.

Also titre testing would not be an option - she cannot be vaccinated for fear of the recurrence of the auto immune disease whatever the results might indicate.

Which still leaves me with my problem, unfair as it may be!!

Hi Lilyput , have you actually spoken to your insurance company.
What normally happens is that you will not be covered for any conditions which may arise as a result of failure to vaccinate but you will be covered for other conditions. This is not aways made clear in the policy document.

If you have not already done so I would telephone your insurance company and discuss your situation. Make sure you get any agreement in writing.

Do you have any information on this please? My vet advises that it's perfectly okay to vaccinate my epileptic dog and has done so. He is due his booster now so I would be grateful for any advice regarding this!

Virgin who I was with will cover for illnesses except those not vaccinated against as will direct line who I am now with but both said if vet advises against vaccination they may cover the illnesses. So would be worth ringing them to check.

I have chosen not to booster Ollie this year so he is covered for all illnesses/accident and third party liability except those illnesses he is not vaccinated against.

Also be aware if you change your insurance company your dog may well not be covered for the first ten or fourteen days as I found out a month ago after changing Ollie's insurance and he was unwell luckily it was minor and only a consultation fee.

I use M&S as I don't routinely vaccinate. They state if you do not vaccinate then they will only not cover the illnesses that could have been vaccinated against. Everything else is ok.
However reading through thier policy it does not say dogs must be vaccinated yearly it states they must be kept up to date with thier vaccinations.
I asked my vet if he classed my dogs as up to date with thier vaccinations and he said yes as they were reguarly titre tested which always came back that they were fully covered and no vaccination was needed, so they were up to date with what they needed.
So if asked by the insurance company are my dogs up to date with vaccinations my vet would say yes.

There was a thread recently about this and someone mentioned that Sainsburys will only exclude illnesses that could have been prevented with a vaccine - so other illnesses would still be covered, might be worth looking into (plus they're not badly priced and have a good coverage, up to £7000 for their lifetime policy)

Someone very cleverly pointed out that you could always get your new insurance started 14 days before your old one is due to expire - means you pay for an extra 2 weeks but gives you the peace of mind that your dog will be covered from the moment your old policy expires. Plus I believe insurance companies tend to have a 14 day cooling off period so if you did need to claim in those last 14 days you could cancel the new policy and continue the old one if needed.

Your vet should be well aware that only "healthy"dogs should be vaccinated(it's on both the NOAH site & the Vaccine companies' sites & the advice sheets that come with the vaccine)epileptic dogsare not"healthy"dogs also vaccines can be the cause of siezures.

I remember many years ago being present at a talk given by Phyllis Croft & as an acknowledged veterinary specialist in Canine Epilepsy she strongly advised against vaccinating dogs with epilepsy

Jean Dodds also advises titre testing before vaccinating