Daily Archives: January 3, 2012
Insurance fraud causing pets harms
My previous blog was a bit on the lite side regarding a funny insurance story. Probably not funny for the owner at the time but a lesson learned for the readers. This story below (click on link)from the UK I find disturbing and sad.
Owners killing their pets to get insurance payouts
Pet insurance fraud has almost quadrupled in the space of a year, with some owners even killing their animals to get payouts.
Another scam involves staging the disappearance of an animal, because some policies pay out if a pet is lost or stolen
Pug Wins Hambone Award
Do you have pet insurance? Do you have a story to share? I have a good friend who has bulldog who gets into everything, resulting in a couple of thousand dollars of vet bills a year. The latest trip involved a chewed rope toy. Once becoming unraveled and swallowing the loose string wrapped itself around the dogs intestines. That little adventure with observation stay, ex-rays, surgery etc cost 5,000.
I can not imagine such bills. I have had three animals the past 19 yrs. One cat passed at 16, another cat at 19 and my Golden Retriever made it to 18.5 yrs of age. I spend a total of 250 on the cats and 300-350 total for my dogs care. I do know I was blessed. My friend is an insurance agent and passes on great stories and info in his newsletter and at our gatherings.
My Golden was known for carrying rocks in her mouth and hiding them everywhere, so this story I am sharing was near and dear to my heart.
Enjoy:)
According to Lori L. of Manville, R.I., her pug Harley simply isn’t “an eater.” Unlike most dogs, Harley had shown little interest in ingesting things he shouldn’t. Turns out, the crafty canine was waiting for the perfect opportunity.
“I picked up Harley from boarding at his veterinarian’s office, where he has frequently stayed since he was a puppy,” said Lori. “When we got home, I took him for a walk and he started pooping out rocks. Nothing else, just rocks.”
Lori immediately contacted her veterinarian to find out what had happened. The staff informed her that boarding dogs are let into individual runs for 10 to 20 minute periods, which is where he must have consumed the rocks. She was advised to monitor Harley and to bring him in if he was unable to keep food or water down. Lori could feel several rocks in her pug’s stomach, so she stayed outside with Harley, hoping he would pass them on his own. However, as the afternoon progressed, Harley’s condition worsened until he could no longer eat or drink anything without vomiting.
“By that point, I was hysterical. I took Harley to an emergency animal hospital where they took X-rays of his belly,” said Lori. “I wasn’t aware of how many rocks Harley had ingested until I saw the X-ray. We’re not talking about one or two rocks – Harley’s stomach was half-full and his intestines were jam-packed. According to the emergency vet, Harley had consumed more than 100 rocks. He had never seen anything like it.”
Fortunately, the rocks were small enough for Harley to pass without surgery. He was kept overnight at the hospital where his veterinarian administered medication to help him expel the stones. Within a couple of days, Harley was completely back to normal.
Harley’s incident is a great example of how important it is for pet parents to financially prepare for the unexpected. Prior to this occurrence, Harley had never displayed interest in eating rocks, or any other foreign object. He was comfortable with his boarding environment and had kenneled there on a regular basis. “I saw an ad for ____ Insurance at my vet’s office and thought it would be worth it to spend the money,” said Lori. “I got it just in case, but it’s actually helped a lot with Harley’s expenses. Vet bills can be extremely costly.”
newenglandpetguide 