Waiting periods
Orthopedic waiting periods: how long until cruciate, hips, and IVDD can be covered?
Bone-and-joint waits are often longer than regular sickness waits. A limp during that window can leave hips, knees, or a cruciate tear unpaid for the life of the policy. This page maps public waits from Lemonade, Embrace, Fetch, Pets Best, Spot, and Trupanion.
Why bone-and-joint waits exist
bone-and-joint claims are among the most expensive bills a family dog can generate, TPLO, total hip work, disc surgery. Carriers use longer waits so someone cannot buy a policy the week a limp starts and file for surgery.
Lemonade’s own waiting- period guide says waits exist to keep prices fair for the whole pool, not just for people who buy coverage after a problem appears.
Anything that starts during a wait is typically classified as pre-existing forever on that policy. That is why the clock length matters more than the marketing slogan.
See problems already in the record, ACL / cruciate, and hip dysplasia for the related coverage questions.
The short answer
- bone-and-joint ≠ accident wait. A torn cruciate may look like an “accident” to an owner. Many policies still clock it as bone-and-joint / illness, not the 0–3 day accident line. Verify how your issued policy defines the event.
- Lengths vary a lot.
- Public pages we fetched: Lemonade 30 days bone-and-joint; Embrace often 180 days for listed dog bone-and-joint conditions (sometimes reducible with a vet bone-and-joint exam); Pets Best MN sample 6 months for cruciate events; Spot CA notice 14 days for ligament and knee.
- State exceptions are common.
- Verify on the quote form.
- A limp during the wait locks it out. Chart notes, intermittent limping, or “rule out CCL / hip dysplasia” before the bone-and-joint wait ends can exclude that condition, and often the other side under both-sides rules, for the life of the policy.
Carrier-by-carrier bone-and-joint clocks
Numbers below come from public carrier pages and sample terms we previously mapped (and re-checked for Lemonade and Embrace help pages in September 2026). They are not personalized quotes.
All waits: verify on the quote form and the issued policy.
- Lemonade:
- Waiting-period guide: 0 days accidents, 14 days illness, 30 days bone-and-joint.
- The guide’s large-breed scenario flags early limping / suspected hip dysplasia during the 30-day bone-and-joint wait as already there.
- Lemonade notes its 30-day bone-and-joint wait is shorter than industry norms that often run 6–12 months.
- State exceptions exist.
- Embrace:
- 14-day illness wait; accidents on the effective date.
- Help article on bone-and-joint waits: for dogs, IVDD, cruciate ligament injury, patellar luxation, and canine hip dysplasia that occur or show symptoms before the illness wait ends or during the first 180 days are excluded for the life of the policy.
- Other bone-and-joint conditions may sit on the 14-day illness clock.
- Cats: 14-day bone-and-joint wait on that page.
- Some states allow reducing the wait toward 14 days with a completed bone-and-joint Report Card / exam. bone-and-joint waits vary by state, verify.
- Fetch:
- Public coverage pages: no accident wait described for new injuries on/after the effective date; illness wait up to 15 days. Bone-and-joint bilateral rules still apply.
- Some states use a longer bone-and-joint window.
- Verify on the quote form and issued policy rather than assuming the illness clock covers every joint claim.
- Pets Best:
- State-specific.
- MN sample policy booklet: 14 days illness, 3 days injury, 6 months for cruciate ligament events.
- A Waiting Period Health Assessment form (dated 03/2025 on the public form we mapped) may waive waits if a qualifying exam is done in the published window around the effective date.
- Verify your state’s booklet.
- Spot (CA disclosure): 14-day accident and illness waiting period on the first policy period; ligament and knee conditions also 14 days on that notice. Conditions during a wait are pre-existing. A Waiting Period Health Assessment may modify the wait. Other states may differ.
- Trupanion: US FAQ pages we successfully fetched do not publish one nationwide waiting-period number. Waiting periods are state-specific. Do not use Australian Trupanion pages for a US policy. Verify on the quote form.
| Carrier | Waiting periods | Quote |
|---|---|---|
| Lemonade | Lemonade’s waiting-period guide (fetched Aug 2026): 0 days for accidents, 14 days for illnesses, 30 days for orthopedic conditions. Policy effective 12:01 a.m. the day after purchase. Preventative-care packages, if purchased, start when the policy activates. Some states use different waits, Verify on the quote form and the issued policy. Terms vary by state. | Get a quote from Lemonade |
| Embrace | Embrace’s waiting-period page: 14-day illness wait; accident coverage starts on the policy effective date. Orthopedic waits vary by state. Embrace help articles and sample terms describe a 180-day (6-month) orthopedic wait for dogs, sometimes reducible with a vet orthopedic exam. Verify on the quote form and the issued policy. Terms vary by state. | Get a quote from Embrace |
| Fetch | Fetch’s public coverage pages: no waiting period for accidents (new injuries on or after the effective date, described as 1 day after you sign up). Illness waiting period of up to 15 days. Optional wellness: no waiting period. Verify on the quote form and the issued policy. Terms vary by state. | Get a quote from Fetch |
| Pets Best | Waiting periods vary by state. A Pets Best sample policy booklet (MN) lists 14 days for illnesses, 3 days for injuries, and 6 months for cruciate ligament events. Pets Best also publishes a Waiting Period Health Assessment form (dated 03/2025) that may waive waits if a qualifying exam is done 3 days before or 7 days after the effective date. Verify on the quote form and the issued policy. Terms vary by state. | Get a quote from Pets Best |
| Trupanion | Trupanion’s US public FAQ pages we successfully fetched do not publish a single nationwide waiting-period number. Waiting periods are state-specific. Do not rely on Australian Trupanion pages for a US policy. Verify on the quote form and the issued policy. Terms vary by state. | Get a quote from Trupanion |
| Spot | Spot’s California insurer disclosure (fetched Aug 2026): 14-day accident and illness waiting period on the first policy period; ligament and knee conditions also 14 days. Conditions during a wait are pre-existing. A Waiting Period Health Assessment may modify the wait. Other states may differ. Verify on the quote form and the issued policy. Terms vary by state. | Get a quote from Spot |
Exam waivers: shorten the clock, don’t invent coverage
Several carriers publish a path to shorten bone-and-joint waits with a timely vet exam. That is not the same as covering a limp that already exists.
- Embrace: Where allowed, an bone-and-joint Report Card completed after purchase can reduce the bone-and-joint wait toward the end of the 14-day illness wait (or to the exam date if later). Abnormalities noted on the form can make that specific condition and related issues pre-existing.
- Pets Best / Spot: Waiting Period Health Assessment forms on public materials may modify waits when a qualifying exam lands in the published window. Confirm the form, window, and state rules for the policy you are offered.
- If the exam finds a problem: The waiver path can create a clearer pre-existing carve-out, not a free pass. Do not treat an exam form as coverage for a condition the vet already flagged.
What sits on the bone-and-joint clock
Exact lists vary by carrier and state. Public examples carriers themselves use include cruciate / CCL / ACL events, hip and elbow dysplasia, luxating patella, IVDD, arthritis, bone cancer, fractures, and other bone / ligament / joint illness or injury.
Embrace’s bone-and-joint help page lists those categories explicitly. Lemonade’s guide treats bone-and-joint as its own 30-day line separate from ordinary illness.
Large and giant breeds (Labs, Goldens, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and similar) are the dogs most often cited in carrier education copy for early bone-and-joint risk. Buying before any limp, and clearing the wait while the dog is still sound, is the practical point of the clock.
For seniors already in the record with joint notes, see senior dogs over 8.
| Carrier | Pre-existing | Curable path | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lemonade | Not covered. A pre-existing condition is any issue the pet showed signs of, was diagnosed with, or was treated for before the waiting period ended. Pets with pre-existing conditions can still be insured; related bills are not reimbursed. | In most states Lemonade describes a 12-consecutive-month symptom- and treatment-free path for some temporary conditions. Knee/ligament conditions and chronic conditions (examples Lemonade lists: arthritis, allergies, asthma, cancers, endocrine diseases) cannot be ‘cured’ under that rule. | Get a quote from Lemonade |
| Embrace | Not covered. Embrace defines a pre-existing condition as any injury, illness, or irregularity noticed by you or your veterinarian before the end of the waiting period, even if the pet never saw a vet for it. | Curable vs incurable: Embrace lists diabetes and allergies as examples of incurable pre-existing conditions. Ear infections and undiagnosed vomiting or diarrhea are examples of curable issues that may be eligible after 12 months symptom-free. Bilateral conditions (hip dysplasia, cruciate tears): if one side is pre-existing, the other side is not covered. | Get a quote from Embrace |
| Fetch | Not all pre-existing conditions are covered. Fetch says no pet insurance covers all of them. Defined as any injury, illness, or condition noticed before signup, before the effective date, or during the wait of up to 15 days. | Fetch describes a two-year path for curable conditions (UTI, URI, bite wounds, ear infection, diarrhea, etc.): 1 year symptom- and treatment-free, with a second chance in year 2. Incurable examples Fetch lists: torn ligament, allergies, arthritis, IVDD, diabetes, thyroid disease. Orthopedic bilateral: a prior cruciate on one knee typically excludes the other knee. | Get a quote from Fetch |
| Pets Best | Not covered. Pets Best: any condition present before the end of waiting periods, even if not formally diagnosed. Signs or symptoms before the policy started mean no coverage for that condition. | Pets Best says some conditions (examples: broken legs, kennel cough) that heal and require no further treatment are not treated as pre-existing once healed. The MN sample policy treats chronic conditions, bilateral conditions, and intervertebral-disc conditions as pre-existing if present at any time before the effective date or wait end, with an 18-month lookback for other conditions. | Get a quote from Pets Best |
| Trupanion | Not covered. Trupanion’s US FAQ: a pre-existing condition is any illness, condition, or injury for which signs or evidence of potential manifestation existed within the 18 months prior to the effective date or applicable waiting periods. Recurrence of a prior injury is also pre-existing. Eligibility for a specific condition cannot be determined until a claim is submitted. | Trupanion’s US FAQ example: allergies diagnosed as a puppy remain excluded even after years without symptoms. Trupanion does not describe a 12-month ‘cured’ path on the US pre-existing FAQ we fetched. A hip-dysplasia example was covered when Trupanion found a medical disconnect from an old sprain. We do not treat ACL/cruciate as curable on Trupanion based on that page. | Get a quote from Trupanion |
| Spot | Not covered. Spot: any illness or injury that shows signs before the policy and before the wait ends, usually including undiagnosed issues. | Spot: cured/curable pre-existing conditions (examples: broken bones, foreign-object ingestion) may be covered later if the pet has gone 180 days symptom- and treatment-free. This does not apply to ligament and knee conditions. Spot’s CA notice: ligament and knee are bilateral and related regardless of cause, one side affects both. | Get a quote from Spot |
Switching carriers resets the clock
A new policy with a new carrier generally starts new waiting periods, even if the dog was continuously insured elsewhere. Lemonade’s waiting-period guide walks through a switch scenario where symptoms during the new illness wait become pre-existing under the new policy.
If you are changing carriers, plan the gap and the new bone-and-joint window carefully, especially for a breed that tends to blow a knee or hip.
Wellness / preventive add-ons do not shorten bone-and-joint medical waits. They pay routine care on a schedule.
Accident-only plans will not stand in for a six- month cruciate wait on an accident-and-illness product. See accident-only vs wellness.
Get a quote (official carrier URLs)
We do not run a fake quote widget. These buttons open the carrier.
Waiting periods, both-sides definitions, and premiums are state-specific, verify on the quote form and the issued policy.
Sources (fetched 30 August 2026)
Facts below come from official public carrier pages. Waiting periods, age caps, and premiums change by state and over time. Label anything operational as stale-prone: verify on the quote form.
- Lemonade: Lemonade: pre-existing conditions · Lemonade: waiting periods · Lemonade: Golden Retriever page · Lemonade: French Bulldog page · Lemonade: Labrador Retriever page · Lemonade: German Shepherd page
- Embrace: Embrace: coverage FAQ · Embrace: dog insurance · Embrace: waiting periods · Embrace: orthopedic waiting period
- Fetch: Fetch: pre-existing conditions · Fetch: coverage
- Pets Best: Pets Best: coverage · Pets Best: FAQ
- Trupanion: Trupanion: pre-existing conditions FAQ · Trupanion: get a quote (age copy on form)
- Spot: Spot: pre-existing conditions · Spot: CA insurer disclosure · Spot: older pets