Animal Friends - is that supposed to be ironic?

My ten year old Viszla Lola recently underwent life-saving surgery to remove tumours from her intestine and spleen. It cost £3,500. My only comfort was that we were insured with 'animal friends'. That was naive. It turns out that because she had diarrhoea in 2008 (with hindsight, normal puppy stuff) and gastro-enteritis in 2009, that there is an exclusion on her policy relating to 'digestive system'. I naively assumed that this meant further diarrhoea or gastro-enteritis. How very naive. Apparently it covers any condition relating to everything from the oesophagus to the anus, including the spleen (I had no idea this had any function in digestion!!!).

I've of course spoken with them. They feel the exclusion is entirely justified. So we get to pay the £3,500 ourselves. Either that or we should have let her die. So not really 'animal friends' after all then.

If you are unfortunate enough to be insured with these people, check your exclusions - every year. Ask for extensive details, I suspect you'll be surprised how little cover they provide for you yet how much they cover themselves.

I've now asked for a list of conditions our policy will cover - I suspect it will be much shorter than the list of exclusions.

Alternatively, just go elsewhere. Petplan, whilst more expensive, were far better. My vet groaned when I said who we were insured with. I now know why.