Trupanion Canada | Pet Insurance Review

TLDR; Charged double the stated premium from calculator and denied a basic unrelated accident claim and goes directly against the veterinary judgement with no recourse or service. I cannot express how much I would recommend any other reasonable company. We had arguably the worst experience I could have imagined across the three insurance companies and five dogs that we have had over the years. They seem to try to promote transparency and honesty, but even after doing a pre-check vet exam (which they claim should waive waiting periods and give better coverage; do not do this. It’s a misleading promotion) and claiming their offer, they deny every claim and cherry-pick unrelated record entries while ignoring every vet that speak against them. We were sent a link to a calculator that enabled us to fine-tune our policy according to our budget. We’re students, so we opted for a reasonable option while balancing good coverage. This at the time was $265/month, expensive compared to other offers, but they also claim to have good coverage and less hassle, so we maxed out our budget to accommodate it. Approved checkout and had a brief (false) sense of security as we had now invested in insurance. Woohoo. However, about a month later, my dog has a bad landing on a walk with a big yelp to follow. Taking her to the vet (who’d given her an excellent and clean bill of health just weeks prior, including hips/knees/elbows and passed it on to Trupanion) suspect a potential partial tear as she exhibited some lameness as a result. However, as my dog almost eight months prior had a brief moment of odd kicking out on THE OTHER LEG (which later entirely resolved itself), they entirely deny the claim. They also mention another brief mention of a limp months earlier, which later turned out to be a paw pad cut, also mentioned in the vet records, as a reason. The vet immediately disputed this as it was obvious she was healthy and entirely injury free just weeks prior when we signed up, and that the injury was caused by that fall the day prior. Adding insult to injury; all of a sudden, $430 is charged to my credit card. Almost double our budget, double what we thought we’d agreed to. However, as the calculator was on their site, we have no record or proof of it (didn’t think to screenshot the premium. Lesson learned I suppose) and thus, they can claim we’d agreed to it the entire time and offer no recourse, thus keeping our money. Mind you; this was an offer for a 2 year old dog with a perfectly clean vet record (outside small injuries as previously stated; all of which resolved and were entirely unrelated to the accident that happened at the time). There is not a world in which I would’ve ever approved a $400~/monthly premium. Ever. I am not usually a harsh reviewer on companies; I recognize I should’ve tripled checked the policy when it later arrived and not blindly trusted their calculator and payment portal. I can sympathize with technical errors in the calculator and sustain the temporary shock until a refund is offered to the stated premium. I also should’ve been more careful when speaking with my vet a year prior as they will use anything they can. If a toe is injured, it obviously indicates instability in the entire opposite leg, rendering a knee injury unclaimable months later, despite a vet check on Trupanion’s own offer. Make no mistake, beyond charging your premium, they value you as much as a tick does a dog; useful until it’s drained.

Trupanion was a great to us, until our dog was diagnosed with a long-term illness. At that point, our experience took an immediate turn for the worse. We were forced to open an appeal, and the entire process was extremely frustrating to say the least. While their general customer service team was always kind and helpful, the appeals team was the complete opposite. Our dog had been going back and forth to our vet for quite some time due to chronic skin issues. Like most people would, we initially suspected allergies. However, when treatments for allergies were not solving her ongoing problems, our vet began testing for other conditions to try and find the underlying source. It became a bit of a trial and error process for a while, with multiple speculations put forward, until we tested for Cushing’s disease and completed the full blood testing process, and the result came back positive. Skin problems are typically a very common early sign of Cushing’s, so this diagnosis finally explained the root cause of our dog’s ongoing issues. Myself, not being in the veterinary field of work, I had no idea what Cushings was or any underlying symptoms, but I’m sure that any veterinary could tell you this and would encourage testing if all of the more common issues, such as allergies, were still not solving your pets ongoing concerns. After months of vet visits related to this condition, we had already long met our Trupanion deductible. However, once Cushing’s was diagnosed for these ongoing issues, Trupanion suddenly claimed this was a “new condition” and required us to pay a second $1,000 deductible. This was despite our vet clearly stating that the skin issues had likely been caused by Cushing’s all along. She even had a second veterinarian at our clinic validate this opinion. We opened an appeal with encouragement from our vet to do so, but it was dismissed and closed within just two days, after initially being advised it’s a long process to ensure a detailed review is completed. The person handling our case even told our vet, “I don’t know why you’re calling, I’m not reopening this appeal anyway”. After my vet had went out of her way to schedule time in her busy calendar and even confirm that time worked for the appeals contact. What followed from here was a long and exhausting process. We made countless calls and were given different information each time. We complied with every request Trupanion made. Our vet contacted them on three separate occasions and provided written documentation supporting her diagnosis. Despite all of this, Trupanion still chose to disregard her professional opinion as well as the second vet’s. Instead, their internal vet reviewed our dog’s history and concluded that, because allergies were mentioned early on, the condition “could have been” allergies all along. This was despite having a confirmed diagnosis of Cushing’s disease and allergy treatments that never did solve her ongoing issues on record. Our vet challenged this reasoning, pointing out that while it’s technically possible it could have been allergies, a confirmed diagnosis and lack of response to prior treatment made Cushing’s the far more likely cause. She even asked whether the company should give the customer the benefit of the doubt in a situation like this. Trupanion still sided with their own vet and forced us to pay another deductible. In the end, we were sent in circles, asked repeatedly for verification from our vet, which was provided multiple times, only to have that professional input completely ignored. It felt like a deliberate attempt to justify charging us again with very little clarification on their end, simply a “well it could have been”… The lack of consistency, professionalism, and basic understanding throughout this exchange was incredibly disappointing. Every contact we spoke with during this process seemed to provide different instructions and lacked clarity regarding the appropriate steps within a situation like this, and despite fulfilling every requirement from Trupanion, the outcome always favoured for the company. This experience felt very unethical and not in line with fair treatment of customers. I would strongly encourage anyone in a similar situation to consider filing a complaint with the appropriate regulatory body so that these cases can be properly investigated. Why request confirmation from a licensed veterinarian if you’re going to ignore it? How can two qualified veterinary opinions be dismissed in favor of speculation? And how is it acceptable for their own vet to overlook well-known symptoms of a diagnosed disease? This situation raises serious misconduct concerns for how this company chooses to handle claims, appeals and any disputing professional opinion.

aLWAYS A MONEY GRAB. tHE ACCOUNT WAS UPDATED IN mARCH 2026 wON'T rECOMMEND YOU AGAIN!! tYPICAL aMERICANS!

Trupanion’s customer service process is so brutal. They changed my policy with no notice or explanation. When I followed up, I chatted each time with a polite but unreasonably detached-from-the-past-conversations agent who promised they would get it fixed. The next conversation with a new agent would start anew, they would introduce a new step or piece of information or reason why things weren’t progressing that no one had ever mentioned before, and confirmed that the person before them did nothing to act on the thing they said they would do. Unbelievable gaslighting and incompetence in the process. It must be their shtick to get rid of clients with payable claims- drive them to insanity until they give up.

Very disappointed with customer service since I signed up in October. I haven’t even had a claim yet. After several emails they are unwilling to answer questions regarding coverage and keep spewing general legal jargon. I’m getting the impression they will find every way to deny a claim. They are completely overpriced as well. I’ve also received conflicting and incorrect information in the past over the phone. I’m really frustrated and ready to cancel.