Most conditions in this register are decided by a clause we record: a waiting period, or a rule about the second side of the body. For osteosarcoma the class itself is the argument. Figo names it in its definition of an orthopedic condition, so bone cancer waits six months there rather than fourteen days; Lemonade's orthopedic definition explicitly excludes cancers, so it runs on the ordinary illness clock. That is the same tumour placed in two different categories by two documents, and it is why this register records a policy's own scope rather than assuming one classification fits all. Beyond the wait, what decides the claim is the annual limit and whether cancer carries a limit of its own, because surgery and a course of chemotherapy fall inside one policy year. We do not record limits yet.
What is bone cancer, in plain terms?
Osteosarcoma is a malignant tumor of bone. It arises most often in a leg, at the end of a long bone: the shoulder end of the humerus, the knee end of the femur, either end of the tibia. It can also arise in the skull, spine or ribs. It destroys bone from the inside, so the bone can break under normal weight. In the 2023 VetCompass study of 905,552 UK first-opinion records, 90 per cent of dogs with osteosarcoma already had lung metastases at diagnosis. It spreads to the lungs, not to the matching bone on the other side.
At what age does it usually appear?
Late in life, which is unusual in this register. In the 2023 VetCompass study the median age at osteosarcoma diagnosis was 9.64 years, with half of all cases between 7.97 and 11.41. Most other conditions here declare themselves in the first two years. The presenting sign is lameness in one leg, often with a firm swelling over the bone, and pain the study describes as severe and sometimes waxing and waning. Because it can ease and return, a first episode may be recorded months before anyone names it.
Which clause should you check before you buy?
First, which category the policy puts cancer in, because that decides the waiting period and the two documents here disagree: one names osteosarcoma as an orthopedic condition with a six month wait, the other rules cancer out of that category altogether. Then the annual limit and how it is expressed: a cap per condition, a cap per year, or none. Because the spending arrives in weeks rather than over years, a limit that never binds on a chronic skin problem can bind here on the first claim. If you are enrolling a dog that is already eight or nine, check the upper age limit and read the pre-existing clause with a limp in mind.
Do insurers treat both sides of the body as one condition?
Not named in the bilateral list at Trupanion Definitions 7.c of form TRU-00001 (08/11), page 6 of 9, and the mechanism differs from the ones that are: this tumor spreads to the lungs rather than to the matching bone on the other side, so the pre-existing clause reaches it and the second-side clause does not; read 2026-09-03
Osteosarcoma: how long before an insurer will pay for it?
Also called bone cancer. Each insurer's waiting period and second-side rule below, from its own policy document.
Which insurer covers bone cancer soonest, and which makes you wait?
Osteosarcoma falls under the other-illness class at most US insurers. The table below gives each insurer's waiting period and its rule for the second side of the body, taken from the insurer's own policy document.
| Insurer | Waiting period | Second side of the body | Hereditary and congenital | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemonade | 14 days 14 days for illnesses. Waiting periods can be waived after a comprehensive vet exam plus a Waiting Period Waiver Form submitted within 2 days, but anything found at that exam may then count as pre-existing. This policy defines a Bilateral Condition as a chronic condition affecting both sides; that is a test on the condition, not on illness as a class, so no bilateral rule is recorded here. | Not stated in the document | Covered | Waiting periods; Pre-existing conditions; Definitions page 14 |
| Spot | 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 |
| Trupanion | 30 days Illnesses that occur or recur within the first 30 days from the policy enrollment date are not covered, unless waived by endorsement. An illness during those 30 days is then treated as a pre-existing condition. Separately, any condition whose evidence or symptoms already existed at, or in the 18 months before, the enrollment date is excluded. | Not stated in the document | Not stated in the document | Exclusions & Limitations 5.b(2) and 5.c(1); page 3 of 9 |
| Figo | 180 days | Does not reach this condition This policy does name a second-side rule, but by naming specific conditions rather than a whole class, and this condition is not among them. | Covered | Definitions 44, Waiting Period, page 3 of 13, which sets the orthopedic waiting period for dogs at six months; Definitions 26, Orthopedic Condition, page 2 of 13, which defines the class by the musculoskeletal system and adds that for the purposes of this policy it includes IVDD, any condition affecting the intervertebral spaces and osteosarcoma; General Conditions 6, page 4 of 13, on the Orthopedic Waiver Form |
The waiting period for bone cancer is the number that decides whether a claim in the first year is paid at all, and it is the figure insurers vary most quietly. Each row below states the section of the policy it came from.
Every row cites the policy form code and the section it was read from, with the date we read it. Oldest check date on this page: .