Banfield Pet Hospital
Reviews and Complaints

Where do I begin. We began our vaccinations with Banfield and we had to go back a few times until they were complete. As the weeks went on I noticed that our dog had extremely bad flatulence and acne, it was laughable at first but I became worried as this was not a good sign for his intestines. I brought this to the attention to the assistant who would come in before and ask us if there were any questions or concerns, I brought up the fact that our dog kept farting and what could we do about this symptom, I also indicated the acne. The assistant thought it was funny and did not even bring this up to the Vet. I then brought this up to the vet and her response was that some dogs just have flatulence and our dog may just have flatulence, the acne was just part of our dog being the color white. I was hoping for advice on how we could help our dog but this was the answer we got, which incidental I did not accept and did my own research on the web.

A week or so later my dog refused to eat his food and I realized that it was his food that was causing his problem. We researched further and found out that this particular breed may be allergic to wheat and or corn. We started cooking our dogs food. The acne went away and so did the flatulence. I felt that my concerns about my dog were not being addressed or even taken seriously.

The second issue with Banfield was when my dog was bitten at a dog park. He was a puppy then and we were worried that he might be in shock or the bite on his hind quarter might get infected, so we rushed him to Banfield. We brought him to our local Banfield which we knew closed at 7pm. The biting incident happened at 5.15pm or there abouts and we brought our dog in before 6pm for attention. I noticed our regular or inhouse vet was not there but another vet was still in attendance and mentioned it to my partner. We showed the puncture wound to the assistant at the desk and he said he would go to the back to check to see if the vet could have a look at him. I watched the assistant go to speak to the vet, the blinds to the rear office was still unshut and so I could see them talking. After a few minutes the assistant came out and said that the Doctor had just cleaned up and all utensils etc had been put away and that we would now have to take our pet to the emergency pet hospital, over 20 minutes away. I asked the assistant why could we not be seen, and pointed to their hours of operation clearly signed and displayed for all to see. The assistant seemed uncomfortable and said it was the Doctor's decision. My partner became agitated, but I was worried for my dog and we abruptly left and took our dog to emergency. It cost us nearly $100.00. I called Banfield Head Office and made a complaint, and only then was an apology given and an offer to have free xrays offered, the Doctor who was on site at the time called and apologized but did not take full responsibility for her actions. By this time Myself and my Partner had grown tired of Banfield and their treatment of us and our pet. On this occasion, we felt that they breached our contract to see our pet, the matter would not have been pushed or an apology would have never been made if I had not complained.

The third incident, our dog suddenly became lame. There could have been a few reasons as to why he started to limp, ie roughhousing with other dogs at the park, uneven ground at the park etc, and so reluctantly we took him to Banfield. We paid for the plan and had no alternative but to use it, if we wanted to get out of the plan it would have cost us more money to get out then to stay in. The vet said we would have to put him on an anti inflammatory, I asked what the side affects were, she told me liver and maybe kidney issues. I informed the doctor that this particular breed is known for such issues and was there another alternative, she said yes just to keep putting hot compresses on the area, but she strongly suggested the anti inflammatory, of which I kept resisting. The vet then suggested we go with the anti inflammatory first, she made us kind of feel we were not good owners as we did not want to put our dog on the anti inflammatory which would take less time to heal and if that did not work then continue with the hot compresses. I wanted to go with the hot compresses, yes it would have taken longer to heal but at least I would not need to worry if a drug was going to kill my dog. Finally we put our dog on the anti inflammatory, which cost us $149.00. I was not happy, Banfield seemed to be all about money. I should have trusted my own judgment, the next day or so, my dog became extremely ill, an allergic reaction to Rymadil. He had acne and vomited blood and bile, not to mention his stools being soft and bloody, our dog became depressed, clingy and weak. I was furious, we took him to emergency. While waiting in emergency our dog began to perk up and the vomiting and listlessness stopped. We took him home and he was well with no symptoms, we kept him on close watch. We reported this to our local Banfield, and to this day, we have heard nothing in regards to that incident. My feelings for Banfield least to say was now, not very good. I again voiced my complaints to Banfield head office. Again, my holistic view on treating my pet was ignored, the vet pushed the anti inflammatory knowing our dogs breed is sensitive to it. I did my research on Rymadil and this drug is lethal to dogs, but some vets still use it. The limping did not stop for sometime, so I researched and found a holistic treatment for him and the limping went in a matter of days.

Finally, we took our dog in for neutering, I asked my partner to take our dog as I just did not want to go into Banfield any longer, I just could not hide my disgust at that place and the vet. My partner dropped our pet off in the AM and we would collect our dog in the PM. Myself and my partner went to pick up our dog, he came out of the office, looking very shy and listless and a little depressed, similar to how he looked when he was on Rymadil. The assistant said that the surgery was a success and the Vet, (again the inhouse vet was not on site and did not perform the surgery) had given him Rymadil for the swelling and another drug for infection purposes. She then proceeded to tell us how much the drugs would cost, she then proceeded to tell me the drug they were sending us home with Rymadil and another drug for to ward off infection. I became agitated, and asked her why was my dog given Rymadil, and why was she sending us home with Rymadil... The assistant gave me a blank look and then went back into the office. My partner and I became agitated at the fact they did not look at my dog's file and see that Rymadil must not be administered under any circumstances. They did not check for allergic reactions. The assistance came out and apologized and I told her sternly that Rymadil is not for my dog and this should be in his file, did the vet not read the notes? She had no answer. I complained again to Banfield. This time the inhouse doctor called me. I told her I was disgusted at the fact that my dog was given Rymadil and when I brought him home that night his stool was blood filled. She then explained that blood in the stool is due to the surgery, and that my dog was not given Rymadil, I told her that the information I was given on the night of collection by her assistant contradicts her statement. She did not reply, but yet proceeded to tell me that I was responsible for making sure that the vet knows what my dog is allergic too. I promptly told her I did and was told this was in his file by none other than herself. Again the vet did not take responsibility for her actions. We decided we wanted to take our dog and now our cat to a different Banfield, and so we did, as soon as our contract is up we will never use this service again. I would not recommend this place, they seem to want money and the welfare of the animals is secondary.

I took my puppy several days ago to this place because my vet was on vacation... I go sign up and wait 1 hr to see this so called vet... Her & her assistant go in and look @ my puppy... I tell them was wrong ... She tells me all these test they have to do to find out was wrong ... I'm like ok... Sure but y ? Whats wrong with my dog? She give me this attitude and tells me to shut up and let her finish ... I was like wow... She gives me a list of foods to buy my dog because she thinks my dogs food is causing him the blood on his stool... She wrote... Royal canin... Eku something and puppy chow... I was amazed =o i said no thxs my dog is allergic to ### so this so called vet gave my puppy the wrong medication .. Did not give me information of any kind letting me know what my puppy had... I took my puppy to his normal vet he told me that was the wrong medication ... And my dog almost died ... I dont recommend this place! I rate this a zero. They are plain rude, expensive they had the nerves to call the cops? I have rights! See u in court :)

I originally signed-up for the Wellness Plan through the Ventura hospital. When the veterinarian left Ventura, I was transferred to Oxnard, wherein I have spent many days waiting an average of two hours for appointments. This time spent allowed me to observe, on every occasion, the manager treating clients rudely and dismissively. She displays a continued lack of respect for the Hispanic community at large. When I commented on this to another employee, I was told that the manager had "health issues", which caused her to behave in this intolerable manner.

I believe that there is no excuse for Banfield allowing her continued employment. In addition, I have continually had problems with my Wellness account being appropriately managed.

My children and I shopped at a Lowe's store in Houston, TX and a what appeared to be a kitten kept coming up to us and rubbing our legs. Being gaunt from malnourishment and dehydration, we elected to bring the kitty home. That evening, the kitten had diarrhea and we knew to take her in right away for a sick appointment instead of waiting for the Banfield near us to get her in for a check-up and shots. We new she probably would have lots of stray-cat illnesses. We also noted a patch of fur missing on her front paw. We took her to Banfield at the given appointment time and waited for three hours. We asked how much longer and they informed us we couldn't be seen that day and would need to reschedule due to an emergency with another patient. I asked them to call another location and they found one that could see us after lunch. We drove across town and were told that they could NOT see us. I had them call the previous location back to determine what happened. I then suggested calling another location. There was another location that could see us, but it was about thirty minutes away. We went there and were seen. The vet did an exam and a stool sample. He also looked at her foot to determine the cause. She had worms and needed her shots. Nothing wrong with her foot; just probably caught it in something or got in a fight. We informed him that she was a stray and he still insisted this was all that was needed. A couple of months, $300 more and kittens later, everyone has ringworms (including my son and I)! I took the mother and kittens to the vet to determine cause of patches with hairloss and crusty, red skin. He agreed this was ringworm, did a test for mange and sent us home with lots of medicine and a dyp. I followed-up on the test and they dais everything was negative after about 2 weeks and that they will wait a few more days to see what comes of the culture. The vet feels there may be something else wrong and says to bring them all back. NOT A CHANCE. I have seen pictures of ringworm on the internet and this is definately what they have. They look so terrible and all of this could have been avoided if the first vet did his due diligence. Not to mention that this vet either confused the test with another animal or made some kind of mistake. We went to our doctor yesterday to find that in fact we did have ringworm and need to treat w/ an anti-fungal for 10 days.

DO NOT go to Banfield if you can help it. I looked on the website www.bbb.com to see if there are others and they have alot of complaints. You need to scan through some of the listings because they are all different registries and a few don't have any negative info.

Their corporate office was uncooperative and would not help me deal with the issue after they agreed to look into it and talk with the vets to see what went wrong. Also, the vets will not speak to me about this as they say their policy is no refunds for medications or services. They also charged me for the kittens after they said that they would not during the exam. You would think PetsMart would not want to deal with a company like this. Right? Wrong. In fact, PetsMart has a number of issues listed as well as their PetsMart Charity Program that the Better Business Bureau does not recommend.

I also bought a Guinea Pig from PetsMart and it was ill. They sent it to the Banfield in their store and we had a very difficult time getting it on the right antibiotics to get it well. They DO NOT guarantee their services and in fact you nearly sign away your rights that protect you if the unthinkable happens.

Also, when we checked in at Banfield, they printed another customer's information on the release to treat because the receptionist just typed in our last name too quickly and did not enter our first name in the information search. I noticed it when the signature line was incorrect. They had to check out that patient and check our kitty in. This caused much trouble during the exam and upon check-out.

Please check these people out first so that you can make an informed decision. I would like to think that as large a corporation as they are, there are still a few good vets around.

This issue was not getting resolved and I needed to see another vet for the kittens because their course of treatment was not working and I think that the medicine might actually be making to kitties more sickly. I contact Bank of America who guarantees my debit card purchases w/ a dispute resolution process. The refunded the money to my account temporarily until their process is completed in investigating the information provided. They said that it takes no more than 10 days and that as soon as the verify the information provided and notify the merchant, there will be a permanent credit back to the account pending the bank receive a signed statement from my husband and me.

Good luck to ya'll who have gotten the shoe from Banfield.