Every denial in the log carries one primary reason, coded as stated by the insurer in the original post:
| Reason code | Cases | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-existing condition | 46 | Insurer says the condition showed signs before cover began, or during the waiting window |
| Documentation & records fights | 15 | Missing or disputed records, EOB contradictions, a vet request that never arrived |
| Policy structure trap | 5 | A rule in the policy — failed-treatment clauses, per-condition deductibles — used to deny |
| Policy exclusion (dental/preventive) | 4 | Condition falls under an exclusion or sub-limit |
| Waiting period | 4 | Signs noted inside the waiting window |
| Diagnosis relabeled | 4 | The insurer's label differs from the treating vet's |
| Bilateral clause | 2 | One side affected before cover, the other side treated as pre-existing |
| Reason not stated in post | 2 | Denial letter quoted without a reason — we code what the post shows, not what we infer |
| Filed past deadline | 1 | Claim submitted outside the policy's filing window |
Trupanion · Dog · emergency surgery · $4,500
"Switched carriers mid-life; old records showed brief vomiting episodes. 'The next insurance will have a lot more to deny' — the switcher's trap." Denied as pre-existing.
Case 1vs7mrf · r/petinsurancereviews · reported 2026-08 · original post
Healthy Paws · Puppy · Giardia · $3,000+ denied in total
"Insured since weeks old, yet everything was marked pre-existing; the diagnostic test that found the Giardia was classified as 'wellness and preventative'. An appeal took 40 days."
Case bbb-9775d6f1 · BBB review · reported 2026-04 · original post
Carrier not named · Cat (male) · 2× urinary blockage (FLUTD)
"All claims denied as pre-existing, and the appeal denied too — even with a veterinary letter stating an earlier incident was unrelated to FLUTD." Amount: emergency bills plus a planned perineal urethrostomy surgery.
Case 1k4tvlw · r/rescuecats · reported 2025-04 · original post
Why you can trust these numbers: every case in the report links back to its original public post, the same way the three excerpts above do. The full dataset (157 cases, CC BY 4.0) is free at petclaimlog.com/claims — check any figure yourself. These are self-reported accounts, not adjudicated rulings, and the report's limits section says so in plain terms.