I have read the complaints for banfield in different areas of the world. I am still not quite sure if this was my fault or not?... My story is that I had a 9 yr old dog, Austrailian shepherd to be exact. Most beautiful girl I've owned. I too used Banfield as a pet hospital. At first i took her to banfield for her leg, as you know shepherds are good for developing arthritis... They told me that i needed to have her get surgery which would be over 1 thousand dollars... I didn't have that kind of money at the time so i asked about another option.... they gave me medication for her pain and told me to keep a close eye on her and don't let her jump up and off things at all... I quit my job to stay with her... NEXT She developed what Banfield called a "flea allergy" All of a sudden... she had NEVER had this "allergy" until she was about 8 yrs old, she started losing all her hair... I have paper, still to prove I had brought her NUMEROUS times to their hospital. Everytime I brought her to this hospital they said she had a flea allergy. I told them Whatever I am using for fleas is not working. I had tried, "no chew spray", "Flea shampoo - of different kinds", Advantix, the spot stuff you put on the nech area... the list goes on. I kept bringing her back and they would give her "shots" to supposably make her stop chewing... It didn't work, she still chewed. She was my pride and joy and who I felt safe with. Very protective but also friendly. Best most well trained animal I've ever owned. I had taken her to get her shots around the time she was due and banfield told me they could not give her her shots as she was "sick". they told me when she gets better she can get her shots. I tried to get her nails clipped at petsmart and they told me they couldn't have an infested dog in there with other animals... i swear to you i tried it all and I tried my best to take care of her. My husband will vouch for me. Later on in 2006 I found out I was pregnant... My husband and I both agree'd that we just couldn't afford to get ready for a baby and keep paying these vet bills and pay for her medication for her arthritis etc. I decided I would call the MSPCA. I brought her in and they took her and said they'd be in touch. Soon there after they called me and told me how bad she was and that they would try not to put her to sleep unless it was necessary... in tears of course, after 9 yrs wouldn't you be?... I told them this is why i gave her to you, so she could get taken care of. They told me I should've given her up sooner. Well it felt like giving up a child to me... They said they'd be in touch... After that they called again another day to tell me banfield had said I refused to take care of her when they gave me advice or told me to do her surgery. Bandifeld also told me them i refused to give her her shots... and that was so hurtful... As you can imagine they literally made me feel like the worst owner of an animal. Bandfield had told them all lies and that I wasn't taking care of her. A few months ago I found something on criagslist about an austrailian shepherd who had the SAME EXACT problem... I emailed the person to ask them what it was, well they didn't know their vet said but the vet was giving the animal steroid shots of some kind and the animal seemed to be getting better. Unfortunately I never kept in touch to see how the animal was. I wish I never gave my dog up!!! If I had just brought her to another vey things may be different... The moral of this story is that Banfield should be shut down everywhere they lie to make themselves look great. They made me look bad when I tried everything I could.