What are bilateral conditions? Do you cover them?

What is a bilateral condition?

• A bilateral condition is a medical condition that can happen on both sides of the body.
• Examples are cruciate ligament issues, slipping knee caps (also known as luxating patella) or joint dysplasia (such as hip or elbow).

Do you cover bilateral conditions?

• In general, we do not exclude bilateral conditions from our policies.
• We’re not able to pay for bilateral conditions in the first 12 months of the policy if the condition received treatment in the 24 months before your policy starts.
• We’re unable to waive the bilateral conditions waiting period even if you switch without a gap in cover
• We’ll cover treatment for the following conditions, on both sides of the body, if your pet never suffered from them before your policy starts:
• If a bilateral condition is diagnosed on both sides of the body at the same time, we will treat this as a single illness.
• If the bilateral condition does not affect both sides of the body at the same time, but instead is diagnosed at different times, we will treat those diagnoses as separate illnesses.
• In relation to pre-existing conditions, please see our definitions of pre-existing conditions here. (You can also find out about our exclusive Pre-existing insurance policy here.)