10 years ago this little bundle of love entered my life and I vowed that day to do everything within my power to provide her with the best life possible. I hope I have I stuck to that. She's definitely been spoiled, rules the house, takes over the beds, and is never on her own for longer than 3 hours in any one day. I also made the decision to be a "responsible" dog owner, registering her at the vets with the best reputation, and took out the best insurance I could get for her. Each year on the insurance renewal date I have paid the money to keep her protected for the following year. Thankfully, in all that time I've never had to make a claim - until now. For 10 years I've never been a second late with a payment, quibbled about the astronomical price hike each year (this year alone it went up by 35%) and I chose one which is meant to support an animal charity also, so that someone less fortunate than myself who may need their animal treated could get the help they may need.

Imagine my horror when the insurance told me they are not going to pay more than 20% of the claim because she's been to a specialist and they believe this is costing too much. At what cost should my dogs health be priced at? They also argued that because she became ill 2 days after her renewal they may not pay anything because of a "cooling off period". 10 years I've been with them, never making a claim. They've taken my money each year regardless of whether I thought they were charging too much.

At present, the total amount claimed by the vets and specialist is £7100 (of which I have already paid 1200 in excess charges (I had to beg friends to help with that) so they are only claiming 5900 in total). My policy total is £8000 meaning (as far as I am concerned) there is still £900 I can claim for (or more if you exclude the excess) - as far as they are concerned I'll be lucky if I get back £2000 in total.

After another visit to the vets yesterday we got the sad news that she is not fixable and I have had to make the decision to have her put-to-sleep when the time comes, so there will be no more visits to vets, aside from the very last one (which I shall pay for personally - yes, I even have to pay them to kill her for me)

I have never in my life asked anyone for anything (for myself) but I am here now, asking anyone who may come across this to help if you can because I just don't have the money. All those years I thought I was doing the right thing, ensuring if she ever needed treatment she would be covered; I got that wrong.

I have copies of all the invoices (aside from the one for £1600 yesterday) but for some reason they won't upload. I have added them to my blog entry if you would like to view them they can be found by Clicking Here

If I raise more than is needed, any remaining funds will be donated to an independent dog fostering and re-homing charity a friend of mine is involved in.

I thank you in advance.