Dog insurance - postponing surgery question

[rcy]

To preface this - I’m waiting to get in with vet/ortho, and will of course follow any directives they give, but hoping to understand some options hence my post.

My 8+yo little (when I say “little”, I mean my smaller of two dogs at 60lbs of muscle pit mix) dog just had TPLO & MPL correction surgery in January when she wrecked one of her knees in January. We had surgery, followed all the protocols and rehab, and were told that likelihood of the other knee going was a strong possibility. (This also happened to my first Ridgeback a decade ago) Lo and behold, we come in from our walk and she goes out back, and comes in non weight bearing on the “healthy” leg. I’m afraid she’s done the same thing and will require surgery on that one as well.

Now for my dilemma (pending vet advice) - this little dog LOVES her back yard. She LOVES the summer time. She LOVES to “patrol” and will spend hours either basking in the sun or smelling all the smells in her fantastic massive back yard. I cannot put into words how much she lives for this - we joke that we only bought the house we’re in because she would love the yard so. She waits all year for summer to roll around, and it absolutely kills me to think about putting her through surgery and confining her for the next two months. I’m also very aware that she has a finite number of summers, which makes it even harder for me to take one away from her. I’m planning to ask the vet about putting her in a brace so she can still have her summer (under supervision, but at least not confined), and delaying surgery until the weather turns. But would her insurance have the ability to drop us between now and then, so they wouldn’t have to cover her surgery? Obviously her appointment to get checked out would be submitted, but then if I don’t schedule surgery immediately, can they cancel us in the meantime? She’s on Healthy Paws if that makes a difference.

TIA!

[hoopoe]

the only people who can really tells you or help you make a decision is the surgeon and the insurance company

The surgeon has the information based on their experience. What would be the consequence of postponing the surgery. Scar tissue build up, protracted recovery difficultly of surgery ( time $ factor) What is the guidance for the dog from now until the surgery ( Fall?) Confinement?

Then based on that information ask the insurance company. Many have a timeclock diagnosis to treatment for coverage, then it is reset, requiring new evaluation$ and POA. The insurance company may have more information about the injury as a whole based on their experience as to long term care and complications. For instance they may be less willing to cover a delayed surgery based on the more extensive follow up support needed in their case management history.

How much will your dog really enjoy “their summer” if the directions is going to be confine them anyway?

[Simkie]

Can you give the brace a try for a short time–a week or two?–and see how she does?

Maybe she doesn’t tolerate the brace at all, and then you know giving her the summer in it really isn’t realistic.

Or maybe she does just beautifully. Then you can decide if she will even need surgery at all, or if the brace alone maintains her QOL.

But having more info about how the brace will work (or won’t) for her seems to be an important piece to this puzzle.

[trubandloki]

When is your insurance renewal? Does it overlap the delay time?

[rcy]

insurance just renewed in april. If vet ok’d the delay and it wasn’t going to harm her to wait, we’d probably push to November when she doesn’t care about being out so much.

[rcy]

yeah, if the vet says she would need to be confined either way, we would definitely go ahead with surgery asap. I was just hoping to give her a little bit of freedom - if allowed - while it is nice out.

[MunchingonHay]

My now gone Ridgeback loved to lay in the sun on the hot driveway (never for long and always under supervision) in the summer. We would say she is recharging.

If you have to get the SX sooner rather than later, can you get her an X-pen and let her lay out in the sun?

She won’t be able to patrol, but she will still need to go out to potty and hopefully she will get to ‘recharge’ on short leashed walks?

[Lizrd]

We were in a similar circumstance with a Boxer boy. It is not uncommon for them to immediately injure their non repaired leg. Such a bummer! We had a slightly different inspiration but he injured it on Spring Break and we waited until Thanksgiving to repair it. Part of that was to recover financially but mostly it was to let our vacation days replenish. We insisted that for each leg one of us was home with him at all times to miminze the cone wearing, which took a lot of benefit days to cover. Once the staples came out at 14 days then we went back to the office and relied on confinement in a safe space.

[Bicoastal]

Insurance
Read the fine print of your policy.

Cruciate injuries are so common, several insurance companies describe their coverage, of lack of, of this specific injury in their policy.

From what I have read of a few insurance companies, I would be very surprised if the second surgery was covered. If so, that’s great! You have gotten your money’s worth from this plan!

If you believe insurance may cover the second injury, read the timeframe inclusions and exclusions. You may need to wait six more months, for example, if the exclusion period is 12 months of first injury. Or maybe the second leg is only covered if it occurs within 12 months of the first.

If there is an exclusion period and you wish to have the best chance of submitting this for coverage, you cannot receive any diagnosis or treatment of this second injury in the meantime, even if you don’t submit those costs for reimbursement.

Injury
As far as the injury itself, they can be partially torn and fully ruptured. Some owners get right to sx for a partial, some wait for a full rupture, some wait to save funds or for timing like you. The risks to waiting would be a partial becomes a full; muscle atrophy from a chronic injury; compensations elsewhere.

How was the first tear repaired? Depending on the type of repair, it could be compromised from compensating, or it could be fine.

I am unfamiliar with the brace. I’d probably go the route of a short tie out in the shade: she can watch the world without exacerbating the injury.

[fourfillies]

Our Ortho doc told us waiting to repair a CCL does not change long term recovery. If she’s comfortable I’d wait for sure. Life’s too short to not bask in the sun. If your vet agrees, hopefully so will your insurance company if it’s within your covered Period prior to a renewal. Good luck.

[Incantation]

For one of our dogs, we did RH leg in Dec '23, then waited until June '24 to do the LH because she is a cool weather dog so recovering in the summer was not such a big deal. Unfortunately, she tore her meniscus before the second surgery and now has severe arthritis in the left knee.
She is doing well on carprofen, gabapentin and micro dose ketamine, but I am not sure how many years the meds will buy us. She is 6yo.

[rcy]

we ended up going ahead with the surgery in june… as expected, it has sucked and she has missed patrolling her yard, but we got a little pen so she could at least be outside in the sun. this week is 8 weeks post surg, so she has her follow up xrays next month to fully bless her as healed and give her her freedom back!

[trubandloki]

Jingling that the last month goes smoothly and she is allowed full prowling as a happy sound dog in no time at all.