Petplan Insurance Claim

[ChewieTAG]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, my little girl Lexie ... has decided to swallow foreign object.

We were out and so unfortunate for her to be able to grab hold of my hair pin (she usually don't really care about those stuff) and got herself chewing over it, then swallowed half of the stuff together with the sharp spiral spring with two pokey ends. We found out when we reached home today seeing half of the hair pin lying on the floor.

We took her to SASH right away (believe to have ingested the stuff an hour earlier) as emergency.

X-ray confirmed all is in her stomach. What a small girl to be able to ingest all the stuff

We left her with the vet performing endoscopy on her to try to remove the foreign object. However, after few attempts, the vet was able to removed everything except for the sharp spiral spring (which is our main concern). Now she needs to go through a second attempt tomorrow morning. If the sharp spiral is still lodge in her stomach, then they will attempt to get it out, and if that fail too, they will perform surgery on her to remove it. If, the spiral descent down to her intestines, that means they would have to monitor her until it came out naturally.

That's the story. I am very anxious and has been very upset with myself since morning. :( :( I think I'm gonna throw up.

Now the cost. Fortunately, Lexie has been with Petplan since the age of 12 weeks old - or a little bit more. She is a little over a year old now.

Vet told me an estimated of $6000 in the worst case scenario (which requires the surgery). So I am looking at $3400-$6000.

I would like to know if anyone has successfully claim such incident from Pet Plan Insurance? I couldn't find anywhere if Pet Plan covers this incident, I remember reading it somewhere that they do. I would like to ask here before I contact them as everything is recorded over there.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

[megan_]

It should be covered as it was an accident (I assume you're covered for accident and illness). They do take a while to process your first claim and you'll need to give them her entire vet history, but they are good with paying up.

[Scottsmum]

Oh poor little puppet. Hope she''s OK.

[teekay]

I imagine they would cover it too. Luka ate a LOT of dirt when he was a puppy and racked up a bill of $1400 at the vets. Petplan paid out no problem.

Hope they manage to get the rest of the spring out next attempt and she avoids surgery.

[trinabean]

Oh, poor little one. I see no reason why Petplan wouldn't cover it. We have a gastro- intestinal exclusion on our policy, due to GI illness treated by a vet before we signed up for pet insurance. So unless you have a GI exclusion, I think Petplan will cover it. I've found them to be very good at covering other conditions. Good luck and I hope she doesn't need surgery.

[Airedaler]

I received this message from a friend who had a dog swallow a screw. Might be worth a try and a lot cheaper than surgery

Our puppy found a small plastic bag that had four 1 1/2 inch, heavy,

furniture screws in it. We found three of the screws: one was missing, and we feared the worst: that it was inside one of the dogs. We called a friend, and she said that (1) we should start both of them on a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Metamucil mixed with a half can of dog food mixed with water to make a slurry, 3 or 4 times a day, (2) we should be sure to keep them hydrated so the system would keep things moving, and (3) we should take both of them into the vet in the morning for an x-ray to determine who had the screw (if either of them did). So we gave them both the Metamucil mixture and in the morning, we gave them both a large bowl of chicken broth to ensure that they had plenty of fluids to keep their system moving.

We went to our back-up vet for the x-rays because the regular practice could not see us as early as we wanted to be seen. When the x-rays were taken, the screw turned out to be in the seven month old puppy. It looked huge on the x-ray: it was in her stomach, and the vet who took the x-rays (not our regular vet) said that there was no way that this screw could pass through her intestines. He recommended immediate surgery to save her life. The pressure was horrendous: who were we to refuse the vet's advice? But something told us not to rush into the decision.

We called our friend and she told us great stories about the Metamucil cure, including one story about a rock that was two inches long and at least one inch wide. So we decided not to do the surgery and to give the Metamucil until Monday to effect a cure. We then checked with our regular vet's practice and the head vet told us that he thought the Metamucil would work to bulk it up and protect the intestines as it passed through, and he also said that there were no downsides to this equation: if it did not pass, he would prefer to remove it from the intestines than from the stomach the exact opposite advice of the first vet. Made sense to us.

So we proceeded to give the puppy three meals a day of Metamucil, canned dog food, and chicken broth mixed into a slurry with in-between bowls of chicken broth to keep her well hydrated. Poops were frequent and rubbery: you could use a pooper scooper to pick them up and they left nothing on the floor or ground -- everything came up like one big rubbery mass and plopped on the pooper scooper. 36 hours after the x-rays at the vet who said it would not pass, the screw appeared in her poop, a little changed in coloration, but firmly ensconced in the rubbery mess!

So instead of a dog recovering from serious stomach surgery, we have a dog who does not realize what she has been through, has not missed a beat in her training program, is ready to find something else to grab and take to her crate, and will be able to participate in her Monday morning obedience class. She has not had a moment of discomfort (at least, not that we are aware of but then, we did not see the poop with the screw pass), and she is as spirited as ever. No anaesthesia; no recovery time; no mess.

I have heard of a lot of remedies for things ingested (canned asparagus, cotton balls and heavy cream, hydrogen peroxide to bring them back up, etc.), but nothing comes close to what the Metamucil did. We had it on hand because of our friend's earlier posting. We will always have it on hand because of the dramatic results we got. And we recommend that everyone keep Metamucil on hand for this reason!

Edited June 21, 2014 by Airedaler

[megan_]

Given that it is a sharp object, they might not want her to pass it.

[kamuzz]

Mazda has had surgery twice when he ate something he shouldn't have - the incidents were a year apart. Petplan paid up both times with no fuss.

[ChewieTAG]

I received this message from a friend who had a dog swallow a screw. Might be worth a try and a lot cheaper than surgery

Our puppy found a small plastic bag that had four 1 1/2 inch, heavy,

furniture screws in it. We found three of the screws: one was missing, and we feared the worst: that it was inside one of the dogs. We called a friend, and she said that (1) we should start both of them on a mixture of 1 tablespoon of Metamucil mixed with a half can of dog food mixed with water to make a slurry, 3 or 4 times a day, (2) we should be sure to keep them hydrated so the system would keep things moving, and (3) we should take both of them into the vet in the morning for an x-ray to determine who had the screw (if either of them did). So we gave them both the Metamucil mixture and in the morning, we gave them both a large bowl of chicken broth to ensure that they had plenty of fluids to keep their system moving.

We went to our back-up vet for the x-rays because the regular practice could not see us as early as we wanted to be seen. When the x-rays were taken, the screw turned out to be in the seven month old puppy. It looked huge on the x-ray: it was in her stomach, and the vet who took the x-rays (not our regular vet) said that there was no way that this screw could pass through her intestines. He recommended immediate surgery to save her life. The pressure was horrendous: who were we to refuse the vet's advice? But something told us not to rush into the decision.

We called our friend and she told us great stories about the Metamucil cure, including one story about a rock that was two inches long and at least one inch wide. So we decided not to do the surgery and to give the Metamucil until Monday to effect a cure. We then checked with our regular vet's practice and the head vet told us that he thought the Metamucil would work to bulk it up and protect the intestines as it passed through, and he also said that there were no downsides to this equation: if it did not pass, he would prefer to remove it from the intestines than from the stomach – the exact opposite advice of the first vet. Made sense to us.

So we proceeded to give the puppy three meals a day of Metamucil, canned dog food, and chicken broth mixed into a slurry with in-between bowls of chicken broth to keep her well hydrated. Poops were frequent and rubbery: you could use a pooper scooper to pick them up and they left nothing on the floor or ground -- everything came up like one big rubbery mass and plopped on the pooper scooper. 36 hours after the x-rays at the vet who said it would not pass, the screw appeared in her poop, a little changed in coloration, but firmly ensconced in the rubbery mess!

So instead of a dog recovering from serious stomach surgery, we have a dog who does not realize what she has been through, has not missed a beat in her training program, is ready to find something else to grab and take to her crate, and will be able to participate in her Monday morning obedience class. She has not had a moment of discomfort (at least, not that we are aware of but then, we did not see the poop with the screw pass), and she is as spirited as ever. No anaesthesia; no recovery time; no mess.

I have heard of a lot of remedies for things ingested (canned asparagus, cotton balls and heavy cream, hydrogen peroxide to bring them back up, etc.), but nothing comes close to what the Metamucil did. We had it on hand because of our friend's earlier posting. We will always have it on hand because of the dramatic results we got. And we recommend that everyone keep Metamucil on hand for this reason!

36 hours and he poop out the screw.. that is such a relief!

Now I wish I've read (or know) this earlier and that I have Lexie right now with me to put her on the Metamucil!

I will see how we go with Lexie tomorrow. Vet did said that if it is in the stomach, they will try to take it out however if it's hard to do so, they will consider surgery. But if goes down to intestine already, then will monitor. I am so tempted to wait it out for her to pass it if they couldn't retrieve it. I mean she isn't having any problem plus, we will be monitoring her, as well as bringing her back daily to the vet to scan for that metal.

I might consider having her with metamucil with food for a day after the endoscopy if the object still in the stomach. At least I will give it a go for 24 hours and see if it goes down with her naturally. I will bring her back to vet of course to scan again to see how it goes. I believe if either way things turn bad, I wouldn't be able to avoid surgery, however at least we tried the natural way.

[ChewieTAG]

Given that it is a sharp object, they might not want her to pass it.

vet said if the object has gone down to intestine by tomorrow morning then no point for the endoscopy or surgery, and they will have to wait it out by monitoring her - having her hospitalised with them.

I would prefer to bring her home and bring her back to scan daily till she really pass the stool out with the metal.

[ChewieTAG]

hi all,

I've received a call from the vet and got an update about Lexi.

the metal thingy has moved down to her smaller intestines and right now they are monitoring her and would be giving her the next scan at noon to see if it has move down further.

I have had a chat with the vet asking if I can bring her back instead to monitor her myself till she passes her tool as I know Lexie will be much comfortable doing it when at the familiar surrounding.

vet highly recommend having Lexie being hospitalised so they can monitor her full time - also to scan / xray her every 4-6 hours till she passes her tool which can be next morning. In any emergency, they will be able to take care of it right away. Vet wants to monitor her to at least tomorrow morning.

I did ask if I can bring her back to monitor her and then send her back with the scannings scheduled. They said that they couldn't book the scanner just for us as everyone would be using it and the next time if I come in for scanning I might be waiting for couple of hours depending on emergency waiting list before it is free up for us. And also it would be consider as a check in patient again.

So we couldn't come into a conclusion as to what to do - she said that we should re-group after the next scan to see how Lexie go.

I am a bit lost as to what to do here.

I somehow know if reaches the time, Lexie might hold her poo so having her in familiar surrounding would hasten her to do it. But I do not want my decision to cause her any further harm. Also do not understand why is it that I am being strongly recommend not to do so when she is also being monitor by them anyway.

Sorry if the above blurp seems like everywhere, it shows how my feelings are at the moment.

[trinabean]

I would leave her there Chewie. It might be more unsettling for her to be shunted back and forth from home to a busy waiting room every 4-6 hours. And having to then wait around for the scan.

[persephone]

With such a dangerous object in her gut - if she were mine , there is no way I would be having her at home!! Pojnty bits can easily make holes ..and being in hospital and obseved means that in the case of trouble, they can get in there and fix it.

please, if she does it again - do NOT wait and see . Small dogs and pointy/hard foreign objects are a dangerous combination ..and once the intestine is punctured , things can go downhill very quickly if not monitored.

Hoping for good news soon :)

[cavNrott]

There is no way I would be taking this tiny little dog out of hospital even for a short period until that sharp object is well and truly out of her intestines either by surgical means or naturally. I would not take the very real risk of removing her from the expert professional care and supervision she needs.

There is nothing magical about Metamucil, it's just an oridinary, every day fibre.

I would certainly not bring her home even if you have the intention of taking her back. It would be far too stressful for her and as you were advised, they can't book the scanner or hold it up for you.

[ChewieTAG]

she is in the hospital - being monitor.

Right now they are giving her high in fibre food so to encourage bowel movements more.

I went to visit her last night and gave some mash pumpkin to add on to her fiber diet.

She was looking rather tired but at ease when she saw me. The vet and nurses singing praises on how sweet she is and letting them tend to her in fact laying down for them to scan her.

only if they know how cheeky she is!!

So we are all hoping for some good result today - maybe pooping with the metal out - latest by end of today.

It happened since sat morning but she wasn't given food till yesterday, so basically her natural poo taking its time to come out..

finger cross that the metal comes out smoothly..

I am feeling so anxious and wanting to throw up all the time!

Missing her so much

[2boxer]

Sorry to hear about your girl:( pet plan does pay for this type of surgery but will only cover one claim in a 12 month period!

[cavNrott]

I'm with Bow Wow and a few years ago my dog swallowed three loquat stones that needed surgical intervention. Within three weeks she swallowed another stone and again she needed surgery. Bow Wow paid out for both claims. They may possibly have change their policy now to cover only one surgery a year.