Just wondering if anyone knows the answer to this off hand (will be phoning the insurance company tomorrow).

My Dobe has had an intermittent limp in his front left leg for quite some time. I'll rest and lead walk him (15 min walks only) for several weeks at a time, will gradually increase this and then he'll be fine with long walks, chasing toys, etc for 3 or so months before the mysterious limp comes back. He's had around 7 episodes of this. We went to our vets about 5 of those times I think. They have always been incredibly reluctant to xray for some reason. He's now 2.5 years - when he was a pup and we'd take him in with the limp they would just say he was a clumsy puppy, or was maybe having a growing spurt etc, as he got older they switched it to he's pulling a muscle -  he does like to chase birds, rabbits etc (they have said he will probably always be pulling muscles because of his activity level - why always the same leg though!!?). However, the last episode started during the heatwave and I know for sure that he definitely was not chasing anything during that!

We've now changed vets (goodness knows why we waited so long :rolleyes: I'm actually feeling quite ridiculous for having let it go on for as long as it has been and not have demanded xrays), had our first appointment today, and our dog is due to be going in for xrays. We've been presented with an estimate of approx £418   and I'm now wondering if the insurance (Kennel Club) won't pay out because it has been going on for so long. Does anyone know whether this might be the case? I'm not sure how we are going to afford it if that happens

Depends if you tell them its been going on that long ;)

:D

Won't they see from the records though? When we saw the new vet today we explained how long it had been going on for, and he's had all the history from the old vets sent over. I'm just wondering if on the insurance claim the vet will have to write about it being an intermittent limp, going on for x amount of time..?

It's unlikely a vet will lie to an insurance company - he has too much to lose! The vet has to sign the forms ...

But shes changed vets so i know our records never came with us when we moved whose to say the new vet knows.

You can't expect the vet to lie for you though Mygirl, presumably the op has told the vet the full history and the insurance co could speak to the vet??

I'd imagine it would depend on wether the condition first started before he was insured or not. If he's always been insured with the KC then I wouldn't think there would be a problem. Best to call them and check though of course. If the problem started before he was insured then they won't pay for it :rolleyes:

He has always been insured with them - I just have a horrible feeling that they are going to come up with something in the small print.

Hi Zarah

If your previous vet thought an alternative form of treatment was better then I would expect the insurer to pay up as the now recommended x-ray route is by a new vet. 

That said, did you claim for the treatment previously?  (If there was any barring rest and lead walks that is?)   If you did then I don't see why they would refuse to cover the cost as it is an ongoing condition that merely requires further investigation and a fresh approach :)

Good luck, Teri

I know on my claim forms for m&s they always ask for details of a previous vet if you have changed in the last year (I think it is a year!) so either way they will find out as they will speak to your old vets aswell as the new ones to find out for past history!!
I don't know if you will be able to claim though, but my best suggestion would be to phone up your insurance and ask them where you stand! explaining everything that has happened.
hope this helps

Thanks for the input everyone :D

Yes, the x-ray route is recommended by the new vet. The old vet just said lead walks and rest. We were also prescribed rimadyl by the old vet but used homeopathic treatment instead. I don't think we've ever claimed for the limp - we've made so many claims I've lost track. I love my boy dearly and wouldn't change him for the world, but he has one thing after another and none of them straight forward - must have been to the vets twice as many times in the last 2.5 years as we did for our last 2 dogs added together and then tripled! Our new vet phoned up a bit earlier just to check in about the xrays, and was astounded that when the history was faxed through from the old vets it had taken 6 A4 pages to fit it all on!

Phoned the KC this morning but the lady wasn't sure if it will be covered without going over all the history. She seemed to be suggesting that they wouldn't be able to do this until the claim was actually made :rolleyes: We are going to go ahead and book the xrays anyway and hope for the best!

Just worrying about the anesthetic now

Did you let you first vet know that you declined to give the prescribed treatment?

Yes she knew. The reason we didn't want to give it is because he has had an awful time with colitis (spent 4 days on a drip at 5 months) and gastrointestinal side effects are common. She claimed to have never heard of this, although when she looked it up she agreed that we should maybe forego the rimadyl unless the limping got extremely bad. We go to a homeopathic vet as well, so had treatment from him.

If your dog has a gastric problem it can be difficult but there are other antiinflammatory treatments.  My old dog was greatly improved with a course of Cartrophen which, as it is given as an injection, did not set off her colitis.  I'm afraid I do not believe in homeopathy and as your dog has not improved and is requiring further investigations it would appear it has not helped in this case either :)  Your dog is young so I am not suggesting he not be further investigated just that there might be effective pain relief he could benefit from in the meantime.

He does improve for 3 or 4 months at a time though. Even when he does have the limp he's not hobbling around constantly in pain or anything. He'll still run around like a loon given the chance. It's just that following rest he'll then have the limp for several minutes on waking (this stops within a couple of days of lead walking only).  I would rather avoid rimadyl at all costs to be honest (and cartrophen is still rimadyl isn't it..?) - our families first Dobe was prescribed rimadyl and he spent that night staggering round the living room circling the coffee table frantically panting (and no before you ask :D I did not fill in an adverse reaction form because I was only about 14 at the time! My parents didn't even know anything about reporting reactions back then and the vet certainly didn't offer it, just said to immediately stop the treatment).

It has been suggested that it may be ocd so I'm sure he would still be requiring further investigation even if he had been given rimadyl (I say that as you seem to be suggesting that just because he requires further investigation it means the homeopathic treatment hasn't helped).

I don't seem to be saying that, I am :D
Cartrophen is an antiinflammatory but it is not Rimadyl which is carprofen, as I say, it is given as an injection so does not involve the digestive tract.

I don't know why we weren't offered an alternative by the old vet. The new vet did not seem to think that it warranted medication, as it seems to be easily controllable by just reducing the exercise. If he appeared to be in pain constantly then maybe yes.

I think he would have required further investigation even with rimadyl et al, so maybe we could then have concluded that they were completely useless too :D

As I said above, further investigation would still be called for, antiinflammatories do not cure inflammatory disease they only relieve the symptoms and provide pain relief.
If antiinflammatories had failed to reduce the inflammation then, yes, we could conclude they were similarly useless but as the supported evidence is that they certainly do have that effect it seems unlikely that would have been the case if they had been tried :)

I had this with one of mine at the beginning of the year.  Usually came on after a rest which followed an offlead run.

We had the usual treatment from the vet, including rest and then lead walking, as soon as she had an offlead run after several weeks of rest, back it came.  The vet x rayed her, all perfectly normal.

I was talking to a Ciropractor at a show about it and she had a look at her and found a problem in her back, about two inches back from her withers.  She did what she had to do with it and touch wood I have never had another problem with her.

It might be worth investigating if the x rays are clear.

I agree with Teri wholeheartedly, however, some policies exclude a condition where they have not been notified within x amount of time of the dogs initial treatment date.  So check your Terms and Conditions carefully.

If you have claimed before, then it will just be a continuation claim for an existing condition.   

Not to sure with how things may work with the Rimadyl.  If you refused to treat the dog in line with the first vet's recommendation and that is on the vet's notes and the insurance company asks to see the notes then it could throw your claim into dispute.  

But if it's not documented or if you treated your dog under the guidance of a Homeopathic vet on referral then you should be ok.  It's a difficult one; a lot of the time it can depend on how the vet words his comments on the claim form. 

Sorry, I missed these last 2 replies!

Well, my pooch had his xrays on Tuesday. We arrived home after he had been settled at the vets with a pre-med and got a phone call from the vet about 45 mins later saying that the bones and joints in the leg all looked fine on the xrays, but that there was a piece of metal right inside the foot and he was going to go ahead and operate. 2 of the longest-ever-hours later(!) they phoned to say that he was awake and could we come and get him right now as he was howling the place down (there were 2 of them in chorus when we turned up :D)

The offending item was a thin straight piece of wire about 12mm long, not much thicker than a staple. The vet is 90% sure that this has been the cause of all the limping. I am completely baffled how a piece of metal could have been in there for that long and not gone septic! There was never a yelp out walking, no blood, he has never chewed or licked at the paw etc. The vet said that the wire was moving around a small area scraping against tendons - when I was resting him he would improve as the wire would settle, giving the surrounding area a chance to heal, exercise would then make the wire move around again which would mean that the irritation to the tendons would gradually build up again, to the point of limping.

We've submitted the insurance claim so will now have to wait and see. There was a bit in the terms and conditions which said that the KC must be notified within 180 days of any incident which may result in a claim - not sure if they are going to call the first ever limping episode as a possible incident If our other vets had xrayed this could have been solved a long time ago!

I only hope that the metal is the cause of the limping and isn't a total red herring! I am still trying to get my head round the idea that it could have been in his foot for so long, but the vet thinks it is perfectly plausible.

Sandrah, that's interesting about the limp being caused by a back problem rather than a leg problem. I hadn't even thought about it possibly being his back so will talk to the vet about that if the limping comes back.

Wow, how amazing is that!  Hope that this is what was wrong all the time, brilliant if it is and what a trooper your dogs been!

Thanks :D I must admit I do feel bad for not having switched vets ages ago, instead of being repeatedly fobbed off with the pulled muscle theory, but hopefully now the problem is solved! It's nuts isn't it that he could have had a piece of wire right inside his foot for all this time with nothing to indicate a problem with that specific area. I think if we can get past 4 months with no limping once he's back running round again then we've got the all clear! Fingers crossed

I am realising now that he uses his front paws for everything, so am having a hard time keeping him occupied. The vet has gone through the back of the paw, just above the back pad. The incision looks to have been about an inch. I thought about giving him a beef knuckle bone or such to keep him busy but he grapples around with them too much, I gave him his treat ball but instead of just using his mouth he bats it around the room with his paws! I've tried holding a hide bone for him but he swings his front legs up to get a grip on it! He also has a habit of digging his bed before settling. He did come out with a really good padded bandage but I was told to remove it the next day at the latest as it was a pressure bandage. I have a sock on it some of the time to stop him licking (we got a buster collar but he's constantly trying to paw it off with, you guessed it, his front paws!). Anyone have any other ideas of ways to keep him busy that don't involve moving around too much, or front tootsies...? :D