April 22, 2008.

My first visit with my cat, who was scooting her butt on the floor. A general technician expressed her anal glands and said that only one really had anything in it and that the others were fine. It was recommenced that she lose weight, so she could better clean herself. I was told that if it happened again within the next few weeks, to just bring her back and that they would do it again at no charge.

May 13, 2008.

I return with my cat, who is still scooting. I am now told by Dr. V. that her anal glands are fully impacted and infected. I questioned how this progressed so quickly when we were just in, only to be given the brush-off and told that it can happen quickly sometimes. I was also told that 'by law' she had to be vaccinated for rabies since I brought her in. I found this odd... if that is the law then why didn't I have to do it the first time I was in?

I was told when I left that if she didn't get better, she'd need blood-work done - at a whopping $119. I am also encouraged to start giving her fiber - which ironically PetSmart doesn't even carry... I was told I'd have to go elsewhere to look for it.

I ended up leaving with a full-cost office visit... which why should I have to pay that if I already paid for a visit on 4/22 and was told return if the problem continued??? I ended up paying - again - to have her anal glands expressed. I ended up paying for the rabies vac. And finally, I ended up paying for the antibiotic. Oh, yes, I was given a coupon for $15 off for my troubles... but then I was charged a Medical Waste Disposal Fee... what is that???

May 16, 2008 - Approximately.

My cat was now vomiting and having loose stools from the antibiotic - and was still scooting. I took her in and they checked her again and this time sent me home with Laxatone... yes, a laxative... for a cat with loose stools! I only know now this is a laxative because of what the new vet I took her to today told me - and I confirmed be research on-line... Banfield told me that it would coat her stomach and make her feel better. Paid cash, don't recall the total charge.

June 4, 2008.

My cat is still scooting. I take her in and I am told that she now has ear infections - obviously not related to the scooting. I am told that her anal glands are fine and that she just perhaps has an allergy that is causing her butt to itch or that she needs more fiber.

I left with no real resolution to my cat's real problem - the scooting - other than a follow-up visit three weeks from now and being told to try to add fiber to her diet. I was told that blood-work still might need to be done and that perhaps I would want to bring in a stool sample in three weeks if it doesn't stop.

I was also informed that they had supposedly de-wormed my cat on a previous visit. When I questioned this, I was told that I just hadn't been charged for it. So, services/treatments were performed on my cat and I wasn't told... or was she really not treated and that was just said to me?

Finally, I was asked to sign a release for treatment today. The tech who asked me to sign looked surprised when I didn't know what it was that I was signing - he asked if I hadn't signed one before - I explained that I didn't recall signing one before and he proceeded to tell me that I should be signing one before every visit. After thinking back, I believe I may have signed one initially on my first visit, but not on the most recent visits.

I ended up paying again for an office visit, to have her anal glands expressed, to have her ears swabbed and a microscopic exam, for ear cleaner and for an antibiotic for her ears... oh, and that Medical Waste Disposal Fee.

June 5, 2008.

I took her to a vet today who found that she in fact does have one severely impacted anal gland and that it is very infected. They kindly gave her an antibiotic shot (so no two pills for seven days) and gave her a steroid shot to aid the irritation of the inflammation. They also informed me that she does not have an ear infection and that her ears look fine.

After logging my concerns with Banfield client services, I received a call from Dr. V. - a message was left. In the message she states that it is possible that my cat had a ruptured anal gland, the other details were too difficult to make out clearly, but she says that either she told me she had an infected but not impacted gland or vice versa. Regardless, with either statement, then she left my cat leave her office untreated yesterday. She also has her dates confused by saying my cat had been in two days prior, when she had just been in the day before.

June 11, 2008.

After conversations with 'the hospital manager', I am told by her "that she herself is not a doctor and believes that Dr. V. gave her the care she states she did, as well as treated her reasonably." So, in other words, no one is challenging Dr. V.'s decisions, they are being taken as creditable and that's that.

So, the manager offers me to talk to one of the other doctor's there, Dr. W. I reluctantly agreed since my fear was that we were again just going to be supporting Dr. V.'s care. The manager assured me that she would not want to work in a place where that would happen, so I obliged.

I did go in on this day however to recoup at least what little money I could - I was only able to get fees back on meds that I still had in my possession... so, no return for the course of ingested antibiotics, no returns for the multiple times her anal glands were supposedly expressed, ect.

I recovered only $97.27 of my total $236.10+. Upon leaving and attempting the credit - I will still AGAIN charged the medical wasted fee - they ended up having to give me cash out of the register... clearly, something is wrong with this system.

Anywho...

I wait for my 2:00 phone call from Dr. W. (the time agree upon by the manager - mind you I work afternoons for my business while my daughter naps, so I am losing valuable business time). At about 2:20 I call the office to finally get on the phone with a disgruntled Dr. W. who proceeds to tell me that she can't always just drop everything and run to the phone - after simply stating I wasn't sure that perhaps she was expecting me to call into the office. Long, long story short - Dr. W. tells me that she doesn't really know anything about my cat, that she was just told I need to be explained to why a cat might need fiber. She tries to validate Dr. V. giving my cat who has diarrhea a laxative by saying 1) it might have help push the impacted anal gland out and might help with hairballs and/or 2) the product had fiber in it and that sometimes it could have the reverse affect... ??? I told Dr. W. that I wasn't buying that since I was told it was meant to 'sooth her stomach' when I asked for something for her vomiting and diarrhea.

After a brief heated call with Dr. W. - who was obviously not prepared to deal with my challenges - because her only real responses where "I don't know, I wasn't there" and "I don't know, I didn't see your cat'" - I again contacted Banfield client services. I was told that there really was no further course of action, that if it wasn't resolved at the hospital level that there was little more anyone could do. I was told that my concerns were be logged and that perhaps one of the field managers would give me a call.

Here we are June 20, more than a week later... no call.

Oh, one final note, I took my cat in to the new vet yesterday... after two weeks she started scooting again... she has worms... HOW ODD considering Dr. V. said she de-wormed her... another lie? or another case of not doing something she said she did? or another case of not doing something correctly???

Let's get a grip here - Banfield doesn't provide quality care for its patients, they lie to cover up their mistakes and to cover up other lies, and then when someone calls them out on it - we're made to look and feel like we're over-reacting and that we just don't understand veterinary care. It's so sad that the animals and their parents (owners) must go through this and that no one from Banfield will even step in for a moment to take a look.

In January 2007, I purchased a beautiful (and expensive) Shorkie pup from a wonderful breeder. I named her Suki (beloved in Japanese). She was so beautiful that everywhere I took her, people would stop me to tell me that they had never seen a more physically beautiful little dog. I waited a long time for her and she was my baby girl. I signed her up for the wellness program at Banfield almost immediately and was pleased. At the end of last June at 6 months old (and with NEVER a single health problem), I took her in to be spayed. The same vet who had ALWAYS taken care of her was off that day, so a different vet was assigned the surgery. During the surgery, she nicked Suki's spleen, which caused a tremendous amount of blood loss. I was not called and informed of this for at least 4 hours, and Suki had gone into shock. When finally, I was called, I arrived to find her barely breathing, and unresponsive. I was sent home with her with the phone number of a 24 hour emergency clinic. Later that night, she died in my lap on the way to that clinic. Elise Casey at Banfield's in Birmingham, AL killed my Suki. The company settled with my attorney for the amount I paid for my puppy, and all medical expenses. Some justice, huh?

I don't hold Banfield responsible for killing my dog, just Elise Case (may she rot in ***), BUT she is still employed there, and was never even reprimanded.

I have been taking my elderly cat there for a year now and his teeth problem has not gone away or been cured or even helped. The last appointment I made on the phone was for teeth extraction. My husband took him in and they said it was for a cleaning and he said no tooth extraction. He wrote tooth extraction. They still performed a cleaning and did not even address the extraction. They did not even call me beforehand to let me know that it was going to be a cleaning. When I asked about it because I called at 1pm to check on him, they said that the cleaning went well. I asked cleaning? It was to be an extraction, what happened? She then said that she would have the doctor call at 2pm. No call so I called back at 2:45pm. And then the trouble began. I won't go into details but becareful with Banfield.

I am another unhappy customer of Banfield. My Cocker Spaniel was diagnosed with chronic ear infections and was going deaf. I needed to buy all this extra meds for him. I declined and took him to my old vet. He had allergies, which all the symptoms have disappeared since taking the meds my "real" vet gave me. Now they tell me his teeth are very bad and he has a heart murmur. But his ears are fine. I just cancelled my wellness plan, but still owe them money, they say. We’ll see if they get it!

I'm sorry I didn't do further research before I bought the banfield wellness plan for both my pets. I hated the old vet and needed a replacement when their shots came due. It seemed like a good thing for my pets well being at the time.

They were friendly and kind, I thought they had my pets best interest at hand.

I will never leave my little girl for the whole day with them again. She came home hoarse, scared and her leg was so sore. I had to be so careful about picking her up or she'd screech. You can't get an appointment for a minimum of one month. So what happened to getting care for your pet when you need it?

The Vet won't come in and talk with you about the visit, after care or next appointment. I waited 20 minutes then they sent in one of the "nurses" to do it, who leaves you confused and unsure of the service they're providing.

My little girl just mops around the house and won't let you touch her unless you have to.

I just hope they didn't cage my two pets together. I guess I'll find out soon enough.