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?