Dalmatian Pup with Pancreatitis

Background

Donna M. enrolled her Dalmatian puppy Beqa (a Fijian name pronounced Bang-guh) when she was a puppy so that she could always afford to get her the best care. She was glad she did when Beqa got sick shortly after her first birthday. Donna shared the details with us.

"I decided to get pet insurance a few years ago when I learned just how expensive vet bills could be. I realized that I was not prepared for an emergency or major illness, and I did not want to be put in the position of not being able to protect my dogs due to the cost of their vet bills. After doing a ton of research on pet insurance companies, Embrace was the clear choice.

A few months ago, my one-year-old Dalmatian, Beqa, started throwing up sporadically but seemed fine otherwise, but I brought her to the vet just in case. They took X-rays and sent me home with medication for her upset stomach and instructions to change her feeding schedule.

She was fine for a while, but about a month later she was back to throwing up. The vet did more X-rays and bloodwork, and asked me if Beqa had eaten anything she wasn't supposed to (toys, socks, etc.) Several months before, she stole a bunch of plastic bottles, but that little incident couldn't possibly be creating problems several months later, right? The X-ray showed nothing out of the ordinary, so again we were sent home with medication.

About a week later, Beqa took a turn for the worse. She vomited more than she had any other time, had no appetite, and was lethargic. I brought her to the vet again. This time the vet did several X-rays and tested her for pancreatitis. The test came back positive, and her X-rays showed that her intestines were severely inflamed. We were sent home with medication and a treatment plan for pancreatitis.

But Beqa still wasn't herself the following day. She wasn't eating, was having trouble drinking water, and she didn't want to move. The vet said I could pick up more medication for her if she still wasn't eating within two days. By then, Beqa had not improved. I was terrified that if I waited another day, I would lose her.

I went with my gut instinct and took her to the emergency vet. An ultrasound revealed severe blockage in Beqa's small intestine and emergency surgery was necessary to save her life. They told me that I could have a few minutes to look over the estimate, but I didn't need a few minutes. When I signed up for Embrace, I was making a promise to my dogs that the cost of their vet bill would never be a factor in saving their lives.

The vet completed the surgery with three incisions in Beqa's stomach and small intestine and removed several pieces of plastic bottle caps. I was shocked to see the bottle caps. The vet agreed that the bottle caps had likely been inside of her for a while, causing the vomiting and pancreatitis, but did not cause a complete obstruction until they moved into her intestines several months later.

I was grateful to have Embrace through all of this. Submitting the claims for each of these visits was easy. I was pleasantly surprised when the claim for Beqa's surgery (the biggest bill yet) was approved and paid within only four days of submitting the claim. Now Beqa is back to her normal self: happy, wild, playful."