What does the Spot policy say about waiting periods, hereditary conditions and the second side?
Read from policy form PET-P-20000-1024, underwritten by Independence American Insurance Company. Every row below cites the section it came from.
The Spot rules, by condition class
These are the four rules that decide whether a claim is paid in the first year: how long the waiting period runs, what happens to the second side of the body, whether hereditary conditions are covered, and when a cured condition becomes insurable again.
| Condition class | Waiting period | Second side of the body | Hereditary and congenital | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| accident | 14 days One 14 day waiting period covers accidents, illnesses and ligament and knee conditions alike. This policy has two separate bilateral mechanisms and only one of them makes a second side unclaimable. The general one, Exclusion c, removes cover for "bilateral conditions of pre-existing conditions", which needs a pre-existing condition to already exist; it does not by itself turn one side into a pre-existing condition for the other. The clause that does that names ligament, patella, meniscus and knee soft tissue, and an accident is not in that list. | Not stated in the document | Covered | WAITING PERIODS, page 4; Definitions, Bilateral Condition, page 2; Exclusion c, page 5 |
| other-illness | 14 days The same 14 day waiting period applies to illnesses, and Exclusion f makes anything that occurs during a waiting period a pre-existing condition. On the second side of the body this policy has two mechanisms and only one of them bites. Exclusion c removes cover for "bilateral conditions of pre-existing conditions", which needs a pre-existing condition to already exist. The clause that turns one side into a pre-existing condition for the other names ligament, patella, meniscus and knee soft tissue, and illness in general is not in that list. | Not stated in the document | Covered | WAITING PERIODS, page 4; Definitions, Bilateral Condition, page 2; Exclusions c and f, page 5 |
| cruciate-ligament | 14 days No longer orthopedic waiting period: ligament and knee conditions share the standard 14 days. But the policy defines them as bilateral and related regardless of cause, so an occurrence on one side affects both sides. | Second side counts as pre-existing | Covered | Definitions, Ligament and Knee Conditions, page 2; Exclusion o |
| orthopedic | 14 days One 14 day waiting period, the same as for any illness. The bilateral clause in this policy is written by named condition rather than by class: it covers ligament, patella, meniscus and soft tissue disorders of the knee, and calls them bilateral and related regardless of cause. Of the orthopedic conditions in this register only patellar luxation falls inside that wording; hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia and panosteitis are not named there. | Second side counts as pre-existing | Covered | Definitions, Ligament and Knee Conditions, page 2, which names ligament, patella, meniscus and soft tissue disorders of the knee and calls them bilateral and related regardless of cause; Definitions, Bilateral Condition, page 2; Exclusions c and o |
| hereditary-congenital | 14 days Hereditary and congenital conditions are named inside the definition of Condition and appear nowhere in the exclusions list, so they are covered subject to the standard waiting period and the pre-existing rule. Unlike two of the other insurers here, this policy does not group hereditary conditions with bilateral ones in a single clause, and the clause that does turn one side into a pre-existing condition for the other names ligament, patella, meniscus and knee soft tissue only. | Not stated in the document | Covered | Definitions, Condition, page 2; Definitions, Bilateral Condition, page 2; Exclusions list a to q, pages 5 to 6, in which hereditary and congenital conditions do not appear |
Everything on this page comes from the policy document Spot publishes itself. We have not bought this policy and we have not filed a claim under it.
Source: Spot policy form PET-P-20000-1024, read on 2026-09-01. Section references are given per row. Oldest check date on this page: .
What stands out in the Spot policy document?
This policy makes the opposite trade to most of its competitors, and it makes it openly. There is one waiting period, 14 days, and it covers accidents, illnesses and knee conditions alike; there is no longer orthopedic clock. In exchange, the definition of Ligament and Knee Conditions is the widest we have read: a ligament, patella, meniscus or soft tissue disorder of the knee, all of which are treated as bilateral and related regardless of cause, meaning an occurrence on one side of the body affects both. Regardless of cause is the phrase to weigh. A cruciate torn in a fall, with nothing degenerative about it, still ties the two knees together. For a dog with no knee history that is a good deal, because cover starts a fortnight sooner. For a dog with one bad knee already on record it is the strictest of the three.
What does this document leave unsaid?
Hereditary and congenital conditions are named inside the definition of Condition and then never appear in the exclusions list, which runs from a to q. Reading those two together, they are covered subject to the ordinary waiting period and the pre-existing rule. That is a stronger position than a document which stays silent, but it is still an inference from where a phrase sits rather than a sentence that says so, and our row is marked accordingly. What genuinely is not stated: any breed-specific exclusion, and any symptom-free period after which a cured condition returns to cover. Also absent is a separate clock for hips, so hip dysplasia falls under the standard fourteen days while the knee gets its own much wider definition.
Who actually pays a Spot claim?
Sold as Spot, underwritten by Independence American Insurance Company. This is the clearest example in the register of a brand and a carrier being different companies, and it is worth knowing before you compare reviews: complaints and financial ratings attach to the underwriter, while service impressions attach to the brand. The two do not always move together. The specimen form code carries a 2024 date, making this the most recently revised document of the three we have read, which is one reason its knee wording is more explicit than the others.