Hemer.
Stephan Meyer depends on the support of his dogs. Now Anukka needs an operation and his insurances are not paying.
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For many people, pets are not just companions with whom you take regular walks, for example, and whose bowl you fill, but they have the status of real family members. Dogs are particularly important and become good buddies, sometimes even best friends. For Stephan Meyer from Hemer, his bitches are his one and only. The 36-year-old is mentally ill and suffers from an anxiety disorder. The two Labrador bitches Maiju and Anukka are very important for him to get through everyday life, Maiju is already a therapy dog.
Anukka will later take over the tasks of the already older Maiju, but now she has developed an extreme malposition of the front legs, which is now chronic and would have to be operated on in a veterinary clinic. Stephan Meyer has already presented the bitch to a Düsseldorf veterinary clinic. “It has to be operated on,” says Stephan, “and I even have two insurance policies”. Now comes the difficulty: The insurance companies do not want to cover the costs of 4800 euros because the dog Anukka has not been insured long enough with one insurance company to cover the costs of this operation. The other excludes the assumption of costs for such operations from the outset.
Short ulna syndrome already strongly developed
The clinic’s diagnosis is devastating: the clinical picture is called short ulna syndrome. This clinical picture describes a growth disorder of the forearm and can affect dogs of all sizes and breeds. Due to various causes, the growth plate of the radius or ulna closes prematurely. Since both forearm bones depend on parallel growth, the closure of a growth plate leads to a disruption, because the radius continues to grow, but is drawn into an arc by the stagnant ulna. As a result of this axis deviation, the forefoot follows the growth movement and rotates as well as the paw outwards.
In Anukka, the disease is already strongly developed, the lower limb area is strongly turned outwards. According to the veterinary clinic, the bitch is about surgically correcting the deformity so that the dog can go through life painlessly and no further diseases develop that result from the deformity of the legs. The Barmenia health insurance company refuses to take over the costs, as Stephan Meyer has a special operating theater insurance policy, but this does not yet apply at this point in time. Anukka is now insured there for ten months, but it should have been 18 months. Stephan Meyer has also had a second insurance policy with PetPlan for a long time, but they have completely eliminated the cost of this diagnosis. This is also what the contract says. The Hemeraner now has a big problem because he needs the support of the dogs in everyday life. “For a long time I was only able to go shopping shortly before the shop closed,” he says, but he has already sent Maiju to the post office to drop off a package there. “There was only one entrance there, I couldn’t go in”. These are just small examples. There are also panic attacks. Stephan Meyer has been taking early retirement since 2015 and relies on the support of the animals.
If you want to help, please contact the editorial office
Anyone who would like to help the Hemeraner and his dog Anukka in any way, can contact the IKZ editorial team by e-mail: [email protected].
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