The definition of a pre-existing condition can vary between policies but generally it is any injury or illness that you knew about before your insurance policy came into effect.
Petplan’s definition of a pre-existing condition is fairly typical.
“An injury or illness that first happened or showed clinical signs before you took out the policy”.
or
“An injury or illness that has the same diagnosis or clinical signs as an injury, illness or clinical sign your pet had before you took out the policy”
or
“An injury or illness which is caused by, relates to, or results from an injury, illness or clinical sign your pet had before you took out the policy”.
Essentially this means that you claim for anything which can be connected to some illness or symptom they had before you took out the policy the claim is likely to be rejected on the grounds it is a pre-existing condition.
When you make a new claim on your policy it is highly likely that the insurance company will ask your vet for a full medical history so that they can check to see whether your pet has had any illnesses or accidents in the past which may be connected to your current claim.
New illnesses which are first noticed during the first 10-14 days of a new policy will also be treated as pre-existing conditions and therefore excluded from the policy. Some policies will also exclude accidents which occur during the 2-5 days of a new policy.