Marley and his amazing dad!
Marley’s story shows what a difference pet insurance can make.
Jean-Pierre Llanos recently adopted Marley, a two-year old hound mix. On Friday, Jan. 19, we saw Marley for the first time at AHBC. By all accounts he was happy and healthy.
At his first pet visit, vet nurse Julia and Dr. Goetz went over all our usual stuff: the importance of diet, heartworm and flea/tick/parasite protection, nail trims, and more. As usual, we discussed pet insurance. So Marley’s dad signed him up for a free 30-day trial of pet insurance that day.
The next morning, a Saturday, Marley began to vomit. His dad brought him back to AHBC. We worked him in, and Dr. George ordered routine in-house blood work. Could we rule out that there was a serious reason for Marley’s vomiting?
Blood testing revealed Marley was in Stage 3 kidney failure.
His test results came back in a matter of minutes—Marley was in Stage 3 kidney failure. We immediately referred him to an internal specialist for an abdominal ultrasound, which revealed Marley has a disease called renal dysplasia. That means he was born with abnormal kidneys.
Marley’s dad could not have known. But Mr. Llanos was keen and concerned enough to bring him back to see us. We almost never see young dogs with kidney failure. But we discovered it right away because we believe in comprehensive diagnostics, and his dedicated pet parent agreed to run the tests.
Since Marley was enrolled in pet insurance at his initial visit before the diagnosis, his renal dysplasia is not considered a pre-existing condition—no matter that it was discovered within 24 hours.
Pet insurance will help Marley live a long, happy, healthy life.
That means Marley’s pet insurance will reimburse Mr. Llanos for a significant portion of his kidney care: the blood work, internal specialist consultation, and ultrasound, as well as the treatment and medications Marley will need his entire life.
Marley is a lucky puppy to have a dad like Mr. Llanos! And Marley’s dad is fortunate he signed up for the free trial of pet insurance.
Marley’s story shows what a difference pet insurance can make. We recommend two great pet insurance companies that have helped many AHBC families.
Thank you, Mr. Llanos, for letting us share Marley’s story. You are an amazing pet parent. We love you, Marley! We’ll see you soon.