Insurance Of Pup

[cockerhoop]

looking for advise for a friend, if they were given a cocker spaniel pup, and the pup had a heart murmur, does the 6 week kennel club insurance still apply.
obviously my friend is aware of the problem, but after reading many discussion articles, ot has given her confidence to take the pup, especially is there is little purchasing fee involved.

[miche]

Does the pup need treatment for the heart murmur? If your friend already has the pup and it is 8 weeks old, then they should either call the kennel club to see if they can claim or let the vet input the claim - if they won't pay out they will soon let you know.  

If they saw the vet before the pup was 8 weeks old then they won't pay out as the Kennel club only insure from 8 weeks.

I guess if your friend is getting the pup at a low cost, then they're making an informed decision about the pup so they know what they are taking on and insurers usually don't cover existing conditions, also if they want to change insurers they might not get insurance elsewhere.

[Cob-Web]

If the diagnosis has been made "at birth" or early in the pups life - I would imagine it counts as a pre-existing condition, and no treatment for the condition would be covered by an insuracne policy that comes into effect at 8 weeks old  

I suspect I have read about this pup before on another forum....  

[Sharon]

looking for advise for a friend, if they were given a cocker spaniel pup, and the pup had a heart murmur, does the 6 week kennel club insurance still apply.
obviously my friend is aware of the problem, but after reading many discussion articles, ot has given her confidence to take the pup, especially is there is little purchasing fee involved.

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I think I'm right in saying that the KC Insurance will cover everything EXCEPT the heart murmur as it has already been diagnosed!

[Sharon]

Does the pup need treatment for the heart murmur? If your friend already has the pup and it is 8 weeks old, then they should either call the kennel club to see if they can claim or let the vet input the claim - if they won't pay out they will soon let you know. 

If they saw the vet before the pup was 8 weeks old then they won't pay out as the Kennel club only insure from 8 weeks.

I guess if your friend is getting the pup at a low cost, then they're making an informed decision about the pup so they know what they are taking on and insurers usually don't cover existing conditions, also if they want to change insurers they might not get insurance elsewhere.

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I have enquired about this from the Kennel club, this was their response:

This cover has been arranged at no cost to you. It provides full cover for your puppy during its important first weeks at home, provided that your puppy was purchased directly from the breeder and not via a third party and is more than 6 weeks old and less than 2 years of age. Six weeks free insurance can be activated by completing the transfer of ownership and registering the puppy in to your name.

[Cob-Web]

This cover has been arranged at no cost to you. It provides full cover for your puppy during its important first weeks at home, provided that your puppy was purchased directly from the breeder and not via a third party and is more than 6 weeks old and less than 2 years of age. Six weeks free insurance can be activated by completing the transfer of ownership and registering the puppy in to your name.

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I'm confused

I had always thought it was 8 weeks! At what age can the Transfer of Ownership forms be completed and sent, though?

[Sharon]

I did actually e-mail the KC because of an ongoing situation elsewhere, they said you can register the pup as soon as you take it home even if it's 6 weeks old and register the insurance at the same time!

I didn't know this either

[tracey]

Some breed's are sold to their new homes at 6 weeks  
The cocker spaniels club's code of ethics states that puppies should not leave their breeder's before 8 weeks.

I sold a puppy to a family last year who had previously bought a puppy from another breeder. That puppy was diagnosed with a serious heart murmer on the first visit to the vet. The murmur was so serious the puppy was PTS. The breeder of that puppy issued a K.C insurance cover note at the time of sale. I must say i didn't think the K.C would pay out on this condition but they did, very quickly and with no fuss at all. They covered the full purchase price of the pup and the vet's fees.

I'm not sure how you would stand if you bought a puppy knowing it had a problem before hand  Perhaps you friend should call the K.C Cockerhoop  

[paulb]

with barney,
we didnt discover he had a hesrt murmur until our first visit to the vet by which time he was insured with the kennel club, which is now full paid insurance , he has had no treatment for this and it has caused him no problems, if treatment is required i wouldnt hesitate in trying to claim as it was detected after the insurance policy was signed.

paul

[Jane S]

I think the KC may have changed their policy slightly due to competition with other companies like Petplan who have always allowed puppies younger than 8 weeks to be covered by their 6 weeks insurance. I always use Petplan's cover notes but have noticed that the KC are now sending out their own cover notes with the litter registrations so if the registration paperwork was received by the breeder before the puppy was sold, the cover note could certainly have been activated on the day the puppy was sold even if it was under 8 weeks at the time. However if a condition is known about before sale & is not disclosed to the insurance company, that would invalidate any insurance anyway (failure to disclose a material fact).

Jane

[Sue H]

When I worked at the Blue Cross, we used Petplan 6 week insurance (this meant that it covered the puppy for 6 weeks after it went to it's first real home) and the insurance was not valid until the puppy was 8 weeks old.  We had to fill out quite a complicated form with the new owners, and all the puppies had to have a full health check prior ro their re-homing.  If it transpired that they had a condition which could affect the insurance then that had to be clearly stated on the forms, otherwise the whole thing could potentially be declared invalid by the Insurer.  Some things, such as a bout of conjunctivitis or antibiotics needing to be given for any other little problems also had to be stated, even though they may not subsequently have any adverse effect on the level of coverage ....

I agree that 6 weeks is too young to be re-homed or separated from Mother or litter - there are also so many potential problems that may not manifest themselves during those two very formative weeks..

From the point of view of monitoring weight, and doing primary worming and vaccinating, I think 6 weeks is very young for a puppy to go to a home.  Mind you, it depends upon the home you can provide and upon where they are coming from - I am thinking that in the best case, they are able to spend another 2 weeks becoming socialised and having the comfort and support of their litter mates and their Mother - obviously there are some sad cases where these things are either not possible or are neglected ...

I would say that if you do take on a very young puppy, the onus is on you to constantly monitor its health, in that you need to do daily weight checks, stick to the socialization regime very carefully, monitor their diet and hydration very carefully and basically take care of them as if they were almost like hand-reared babies ....  Ensure that they are wormed with proper puppy preparations and that they are microchipped and registered with the appropriate database.

Good luck, and keep us informed - with a backup like all the puppy-specialists we have on COL you are bound to be fine !!