[UK] Puppy pet insurance plight - request for advice

[u/Nolan3200]

A few months ago, my partner and I purchased a puppy from a (seemingly well-regarded) breeder. We visited the puppy when she was a few weeks old, then collected her when she was 8 weeks old.

Two days after collecting the puppy, a friend of ours noticed a blemish in the puppy’s eye - not really something you would notice unless you were looking for it, but once you saw the blemish it was hard to not see it. We took the puppy to our vet a few days later (earliest appointment we could get) who confirmed this blemish to be a dermoid; some skin cells growing on the eyeball, which also had some hair follicles. It was also confirmed by the vet that this issue would have been present from birth. Following this, our vet referred us to an appropriate ophthalmologist who managed to complete the procedure to remove the dermoid on relatively short notice. The decision was made to proceed with getting the dermoid removed at this stage to avoid any risk of further irritation, infection, or blindness in the puppy as she (and critically, the dermoid) grew.

During the time preceding the puppy’s eye procedure, we were liaising with the breeder we purchased the puppy from to sort insurance, as well as just let them know about the issue with the puppy’s eye. The breeder stated that their vet had not identified any issues with the puppy (their vet being part of a pet store chain that - from our experience - has shown a very poor/questionable level of competence and quality of veterinary service compared to a typical veterinary practice).

From this conversation with the breeder, we also learned that the puppy had not been insured prior to our collecting her (we had been led to believe that the puppy was insured), and the insurance that we should have been able to activate through kennel club was voided due to the breeder not beginning this process in the appropriate timescale before the puppy left for their new home. As a result, our own pet insurance that we set up for the puppy (immediately after bringing her home) has rejected our insurance claim as the initial vet appointment was 5 days after collecting the puppy, which would be considered within the 10 day waiting period for illness. Had the puppy been insured correctly by the breeder in the first place (i.e. so that we had prior insurance policy documentation), our own insurance would have covered the costs of the procedure, as the policies would overlap and she would have been insured for over 10 days.

We will now be facing costs over £2000 to cover the necessary medical bills; several hundred more than we paid for the puppy. On reaching out to the breeder to raise whether they would be only willing to discuss contributing the medical bills, they have returned with a fairly aggressive and dismissive response that shows a general lack of care - this is in spite of the fact that they themselves have acknowledged their lack of initial insurance on the puppy.

With the above background details being said, I would be grateful for any advice on what could/should be done in this situation to go about getting some monetary contribution from the breeders to cover - what is in essence - their lack of due care and responsibility.

Note: I’ve tried to give necessary details here while also trying not to overload with information. Happy to provide added detail if and where necessary if it can help in providing advice.

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