Complain about a product or service

Banfield Pet Hospital

linda of orlando, FL August 14, 2009

My 13 year old dog was scheduled for a tumor removal and a teeth cleaning & I was told to bring him in by 7am for a 12:00 surgery. His surgery was not performed until 3:30 due to malfunctioning lab equipment, I was never called, just left to worry. I was told I could pick my pet up after 5:00. Needless to say he was still pretty sedated. The staff brought our dog out to us dragging him on the ground. He was not able to use his hind legs. And he was not able to stand up on his own for another 5 hours. My dog was so traumatized that he is now terrified to go near the car.

#1 his surgery should have never been performed that late, #2 the staff should have asked another staff member to carry my dog or asked my husband to come get him. Banfield also did not address two large masses in my dogs mouth while he was having his teeth cleaned. I had to take him to another vets 2 months later for another surgery. My dog is 13 years old and doesn't need to be put under anesthesia unnecessarily. I will never go to another Banfield clinic. They are a cookie cutter operation and only care about making money.

CHRIS of COLONIA, NJ August 12, 2009

I brought my dog to be euthanized. I called at 10 AM and was first told to bring her in at 4 PM. Can you imagine this? The lady finally came to her senses and told me to come right away. They made me wait in the waiting room (I had to carry my dog in as she could no longer stand up due to effects of cancer). This is a dog that had been in their care for the last 8 or 9 years.

Then they had me bring her to one of the rooms for under two minutes just so they could charge me 44.95 office visit. What should have happened? The minute I carried her through the door we should have gone to the back room to put her down. By the way, I have paid Banfield in excess of 10,000 for medical bills incurred over the past 9 years as I am a multiple dog owner. Needless to say I will never go back there again.

Peggi of Encinitas, CA August 12, 2009

To make a long story short, it always takes over 2 hrs. even if I have an appt. This Dr. acted like I had a contagious disease because I couldn't pay for medications. Totally blew me off. All who work there have no manners. They drug my poor dog that was crying into their back room. The place is dirty. They booked a followup appt., even though I told them not to.

Tonya of Glassboro, NJ August 12, 2009

I went to Banfield in Mantua for my dog who was limping. I brought her in and the doctor said "well it could be lyme disease, and we will give her a blood test." Then her some xrays to look for arthritis and check out her joints. Then he tried to sell me the wellness plan and some other crap. Little did I know they were charging me 220.00 for all those procedures. He didnt even tell me how much they would cost if I wanted them. He walked back in and told me she had lyme disease and put her on antibiotics.

My point is that he should have just gave her the 40.00 blood test if he suspected that she had lyme disease in the first place. So I asked the doctor if I could pay for the antibiotics today and make a payment plan for the rest because I didnt expect to pay 300.00 for all this stuff. The doctor got real nasty and disrespectful with me and told me they don't do that and 'where have you heard you go take your animal where they take payment plans?' He refused to give me the medication unless I had all the money upfront.

I overpaid at Banfield. I will just go to a regular pet hospital next time. Banfield is a rip off. They are manipulating and don't care about your animal.

Melodie of Reading, MA August 9, 2009

I sent my dog there twice once for shots he limped for days!and skin problems. Never solved my skin problems gave me no solutions but tried to sell me thier wellness plans! So I mad an appointment to VCA in Wakefield. The place was clean, people were friendly Dr. was awesome!! I was in and out in 35 minutes. He was diagnosed with Dermatitis and Yeast infection in ears!! The Vet at Banfield looked in his ears! After Dr. took out large amounts of yeast and wax, gave a prescription for both, ears and skins he is now fine!! I spent to much money visiting this Banfield for nothing!The place was also filthy floors had chunks of hair everywhere! Plus I had to wait two hours!!I did have an appointment!

Edinson of Oviedo, FL August 9, 2009

I bring my dog 07/24/2009 to the benfield clinic because she have some problems with bronquitis and they recomended to put her in two weeks under antibiotics afert the two weeks I bring her to see how she was doing and they decided to do her vacinitions afert the day she got very ill when I bring her two day later they told me of she have begin neumonia I already expend 500 so far I believe because the vacinitation she got make her to get very ill

Nicole of Paradise Valley, AZ August 7, 2009

We brought our cat to Banfield and it was a huge mistake. She was having some bowel issues and it seemed like she was in pain, so we made an appt at the Banfield/Petsmart near our house. The first person who saw Kitty was a tattoo-covered assistant who clearly had no idea about animals. He tried to take Kitty's temp with the ear thermometer but didn't know how it worked. When he pulled out the rectal thermometer we explained why it might not be a great idea. He went and fetched a different ear thermometer and couldn't figure out how to work that one either. Either this guy was poorly trained or else all of the thermometers at the hospital don't work. Finally, and at the cat's great discomfort, we took her temp rectally.

After about half an hour, we finally saw the vet. She hardly listened to our description of the cat's symptoms, and immediately ordered an expensive round of blood and urine tests. She also told us to buy several medicines which would help our cat, regardless of what illness she had. When the vet said that she wanted to run some blood work, we imagined that she would draw blood there on the examining table. We had no idea what would be involved, or that it would shortly lead to the end of our kitty's life.

In retrospect, any good vet--any decent person, really--would have recommended that we take our old cat home and try the meds. Maybe in a couple days she'd feel better, and if not then we would know that something major was wrong and we could make our choice from there. The vet could have said that the test will be more stressful than letting the illness run its course--let's wait a few days. Instead, she ordered the testing and we felt compelled to go along with it.

She put our cat in a cage in a room with other animals in cages and left us to wait. About 20 minutes later, we looked through the window of another room and saw a horrible sight. Our cat was lying ON THE FLOOR, muzzled and surrounded by four or five employees, who were holding her down. Feeling somewhat upset by the sight, we waited anxiously for the vet to return. When she finally did, she said that they were unable to get a urine sample, and that the cat was a bit stressed out. They left her in that cage for another half hour to de-stress.

It turns out that the reason they couldn't get a urine sample was because they scared the cat so badly that she peed on herself. I can only guess how she ended up on the floor, or why it took four people to hold one declawed, old cat still. We had originally explained that the cat is 14 and she has pretty bad arthritis. A jump/fall from the operating table would have been quite rough on her.

Sure enough, when we got her home she couldn't put any weight on one leg. She can't crouch to eat, and she flops over instead of lying down normally. These are completely new symptoms, and when we called the vet to ask about them, she said it was probably a blood vessel that ruptured. I am fairly certain that is a lie.

Since her traumatic visit to Banfield, our cat has hardly gotten up to eat or use the litter box. We are planning to have her put to sleep tomorrow, but certainly not at Banfield. The people who work there are poorly trained and have no respect for the fact that people care about their pets a lot. Banfield just wants your money--they don't care about your animals.

juanita of Allentown, PA August 3, 2009

I had been taking my Bouvier to Banfield for a year or more, and then took my new rescue dog, Blue, there for a physical and to get some medicine for heartworm. The staff is extremely inefficient at keeping the proper records. They recorded Blues heartworm on Lilys record. Blue was diagnosed with heartworm about 7 months later. In order to file an insurance claim, I needed to prove he had been on heartworm for those months. I called Dr. Schaible to ask that she include a note with Lilys record stating that that particular med was for Blue and not Lily. This is sort of obvious as Blue weighs 43 lbs. and Lily weighs 80 lbs, and the heartworm was for dogs 45 and under. However in dealing with insurance companies I have found it is easier to clarify in the beginning as opposed to going through all the steps afterwards. I thought this was a fairly simple request. Imagine my surprise when I was told no.

I called back twice and finally spoke to Dr. Schaible, explained again what I wanted, and still she was very reluctant. She kept going on about how he hadn't gotten his heartworm test there. I told her that was true, that he had had 2 tests in S. and N. Carolina and that she certainly had seen that, but her staff did not record it. Finally she said the note would be ready the next day. The next day I called and was told she would not write it until she had the ins. co. number. Strange request, but I gave it to them. Another day, I call again, and am told they can't find it and the Dr. is gone. By this time, I have had it, and tell them to cancel the order I had just placed for Lilys allergy medicine and I wanted nothing further to do with them. I have never gotten the letter. She seems very afraid of something and I have no idea what, but is clearly hiding something. They also did NOT cancel the allergy, because when my new vet called to fill it they were told Banfield had already requested a refill.

Kim of Westland, MI August 2, 2009

I've read quite a few posts on this thread, and all of the ones who TRY to shed a good light on this service sound as though they are employees. I am sorry to everyone who had to deal with a service such as Banfield for a loved pet, but I would like to thank you for sparing my 3 cats and myself from ever having to deal with such a scam. Petsmart isn't exactly known for their great care of animals as it is, they get their animals from mills with horrible conditions, so this does not suprise me.

Wendy of Pompano Beach, FL August 1, 2009

We had found a kitten that was malnourished and had chronic diarrhea to the point that its anal and genital areas were inflamed and swollen. We took it to Banfield, where we waited a long time. We had a stool sample with us. The kitten had eyes that had not changed color yet and barely had teeth. I suspected it to be a little over 3 weeks old. The boisterous receptionist said she was at least 6 weeks. The kitten weighed one pound. The stool sample indicated that the kitten had coccidiosis, and she was dehydrated. I mentioned that her meow had become a bit raspy too. They gave her a shot of antibiotics, oral medicine for me to administer daily.

I told the vet I had been giving her 3 drops per day of Kaopectate & he said that was fine. He prescribed the Rx food to maximize calorie intake. While we were getting the items we needed we talked to the volunteers from Sad Sac, who told us about the KRM, which my book had recommended and about puting some Neosporin with pain relief on the inflamed area. The kitten was really coming around. She was eating like a pig and drinking her water. It was clear that she wasn't used to drinking out of a dish. She walked around and loved to be held, and even took her medicine without too much difficulty. She even groomed herself and used the litter box.

On her follow up visit to the vet 4 days later, they wanted to do the labs for FIP & FLV, which I knew were costly, and could easily give a false positive or negative due to the kitten's age. They said she was doing well, and in that time had gained .2 lbs. We got more medicine for the coccidiosis, as they had not mentioned how easily it could recur, and the safety measures that needed to be taken. In asking about the neosporin use that seemed to be working, though slowly, the vet advised me to get some oitment used for diaper rash that contained zinc. We used cotton to apply it, once in the morning and once at night. The next day the kitten seemed a bit distressed as she was wanting to be held more. She ate. But she didn't eat with her normal vigor.

When I got up in the morning to get her, she was sprawled in her litter, gasping faintly for air. She was limp and her mouth was white. I tried to make sur e nothing was in the airway. She looked at me, gasped, and then I saw her pupils blow. I tried CPR to revive her, but got nothing. I spent the majority of the morning crying, "Why?" I then looked at the tube of ointment that indicated that if it was ingested, call poison control. Then I revisited the Veterinary book I keep on hand and the internet, finding multiple warnings of zinc ointment toxicity to both cats and dogs, though cats are more likely to lick it off. This kitten was a little trooper, who would still be alive if not for the negligence of another Banfield "vet."

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