By Tara Evans
PUBLISHED: 04:34 EST, 12 June 2012 | UPDATED: 04:57 EST, 13 June 2012
Pet owners are being warned about insurance clauses which could invalidate their cover and allow insurers to wriggle out of potentially huge bills.
In April, Sara-Leigh OShaughnessy's nine-year-old springer spaniel Poppy had 16 fits in one day and ended up in intensive care at her local veterinary hospital.
The first thing Sara-Leigh did was ring her insurer Argos, who told her that Poppy was covered and that they could continue with the treatment. But now the insurer has wriggled out of paying, claiming epilepsy was a pre-existing condition, despite it never having been diagnosed with.
No payout: Argos say that Poppy's condition was linked to previous fits
Sara-Leigh's case highlights how pet owners should disclose any problems their animal has had, even if they have not been officially diagnosed, as otherwise insurers can find wriggle room to not pay bills.
After Sara-Leigh rushed Poppy to the vet's in April, she needed to go to another animal hospital for further treatment, including an MRI scan. It was only this scan that eventually resulted in Poppy being diagnosed with epilepsy.
However, a couple of days later Sara-Leigh got a letter from Argos saying that it would not be paying out due to Poppy's pre-existing condition.
The insurer was refusing to pay out on her pet cover because it says that she failed to disclose a pre-existing condition, as Poppy had suffered from seizures in the past and the most common diagnosis for these relates to epilepsy.