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Petco review: Petco injured dog, required surgery 8

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Author of the review
8:55 pm EDT
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Unbelievable story. Our beloved 18 month old pure bred Australian Sheppard was brought into Petco for grooming by my wife. When my wife went to pick up our dog, her eye looked was red and swollen. By the time she got home, the eye was completely closed. She returned to the store to ask what Associate Christine C had done to her eye, and we were told that the shampoo had gone directly into her eye. Why hadn't they at least warned my wife? My wife then took our dog to the emergency room vet that day, where she had to be sedated due to pain and an inability to open the eye. She was put on antibiotics. Then, this weekend the dog continued to suffer from what must have been a burn in her eye, so we took her to our regular vet. The eye was completely opaque. Impossible to have been shampoo that did this. The vet said she had never seen such a bad corneal burn, of the entire eye. They operated on our dog this morning, trying to save the eye. My kids have been crying knowing that today our beloved dog got her eye sutured shut in order to save the eye, all because of someone who obviously did not care. I am very upset. If anyone has any advice, please write me at medicaldevicesale AT yahoo.com. If you are also pissed after reading this, please boycott their stores. If you are really really pissed, call the store. They have been nothing but rude to us, and even refused to return my wife's payment, stating that they had provide a service. Yeah, what a service indeed. Notice the left eye of our dog which was burned so badly that the light reflects differently. I am sick to my stomach just writing this and seeing the photo.

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Update by Petco Inured
May 16, 2010 9:51 am EDT

Irish, our complaint is a real complaint. What we are "trying to gain" is for others to know what can happen at Petco, where people don't take their jobs seriously. You, on the other hand, have posted comments on 1, 018 complaints, so you appear to be a professional complainer/commenter with nothing better to do with your time. Some of your comments, including the one you left here are ridiculous. Like the one you left for the guy with the crushed Pringles potato chips where you wrote "looks like you crushed them yourself". Get a life.

If you still have any doubts, call Knowles Animal Clinic at [protected] in Miami and ask if they have an Australian Sheppard named Ginger with an eye flap admitted. She is still there, and will be there through next week.

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8 comments
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Nick Walker
, US
Aug 17, 2016 11:15 am EDT

I have personally witnessed how the dogs are treated behind the scenes at a Petco salon. I complained several times about discovering dogs that had been left in the washing stations, leashed to the sink, wet and cold for long periods of time. I caught a girl taking a lunch and leaving a dog like that for almost 45 minutes. Since I did not work in grooming, I was pretty much told to mind my own business. I like Petco as a pet store in general, but I would never use their grooming services.

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Carolanne Watson
Hagerstown, US
Jan 01, 2011 3:26 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Last Friday (Christmas Eve) we took both of our dogs (standard poodle and Shih Tzu) to Petco for a grooming. The standard poodle did fine. The elderly Shih Tzu came home sounding with a terrible hacking cough, sounding like a kennel cough. We immediately took her the vet where they hydrated her, put her on ABX and said that the next week would tell the difference in her health (she was 15). Today we took her back to the vet, and they did an x-ray on here. It did show an enlarged heart with fluid around it, AND a collapsed windpipe. She did not have the collapsed windpipe before she went to PETCO last Friday. Sadly, today we had to put her to sleep, as she was suffering and could not breathe. We now have pet bills of about $300+. I believe that the groomer kept yanking on the neck harness which keeps her still, and that's how her windpipe was collapsed. I am heartbroken. We have lost a beloved part of our family. It's my word against theirs. All I know is that my 15 year old dog was relatively healthy, and very happy before she went to that place. And within a week, she's dead. I don't know what else to do except WARN potential pet owners NOT to go to that place. Any advice on recourse would be appreciated.
The Petco we took our dogs to was:
Hagerstown, MD
[protected]

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groomswithcare
, US
Nov 18, 2010 2:50 am EST

I am a groomer and one of the few that cherish your dog's health, well-being, and quality of service provided versus the big corporations "QUANTITY OVER QUALITY" standard. I have been doing this for 3 years now but most definitely feel like I've developed a niche for it and have been doing this for longer. I want everyone to know that yes there are groomers out there who only see dollar signns. I know because I've worked with many and even now, and it's completely for better lack of the word stupid. I was trained by an AMAZING groomer at Petsmart, kind with animals, knew exactly how to teach us not just grooming, but treatment, how to handle the dog, and dog's anatomy, first aid, because even with the SAFEST and MOST EXPERIENCED yes even the show groomers, accidents are inevitable and will eventually happen. If they do, the companies are supposed to pay any vet bill and compromise the grooming service...sadly this doesn't always happen. Right now, I am working at Petco which they're not any better or worse than Petsmart. But people, no matter what your case is Petsmart vs. Petco or what have you, keep in mind its not the place, but the GROOMER! There may be one or two bad groomers and unfortunately you weren't booked under the best and caring one. I was trained by someone with vast knowledge about the grooming world and took it upon myself to retain as much as I could. I feel very lucky and fortunte to have had such a trainer. But in my same training class were a couple of other groomer to-be's as well and they didnt turn out the same way as me or our teacher. How can this be? Because apparently they just see the money making aspect of the business only, which is very unfortunate. These are your rude, careless groomers. Get to know your groomer on a more than just an acquaintance level. I have AT LEAST 65+ request customers to myself at Petco alone, and I strongly believe it's because I care about each individual dog that I groom. I've even shared and endured the heartache of going through the passing of a few of my babies in the past few months and I loved them dearly!...Now I'm sick of corporate b.s. just like anyone, which is why I'm trying at a young age to get the ball rolling to start up my own private business which main goals is QUALITY grooming at a low fair price and SAFETY! Reason I decided on this move is because my main 2 complaints about these franchises are 1) carelessness, quantity over quality; they over work their groomers 2) PRICE: I COMPLETELY cannot stand where I work now meaning the high unreasonable prices! AND not to mention two money hungry groomers I have to work with, one being my very own SALON MANAGER (not to be confused with the one that trained me at Petsmart)! I don't agree so I play the system as much as I can, I have to keep my job too. I am really deeply sorry to the pet parents all over the U.S. who've shared their dog's awful experiences at either of the two major pet stores or any grooming salon. It's not right and it's not fair. That's why I'm doing my damndest to try something new and take the risk of my own business and make it work for the pet owner's, which is honestly an ideal the corporations have lost touch with. I mainly decided to write in response to all of the customer complaint's I've been reading on here, and as a voice for the few of us groomer's that really and honestly do appreciate the pet parent and for trusting us with your babies for the few hours we have them. JUst please get to know which groomer's are really in it because they're passionate and caring and not for the dollar signs.

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MickMom
, US
May 25, 2010 7:53 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

The vet's bill was $253.35!

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MickMom
, US
May 25, 2010 7:47 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Yesterday I took my dog to the groomers at PETCO and when I picked him up both his eyes were bloodshot. He was sad (didn't even move his tail when he saw me) and he look tired. I asked the woman why my dog's eyes were red and she pretended not to see what had happened to him. Of course she saw his eyes and did not say anything probably hoping that I did not notice. Today I took my dog to the vet and the bill was close to $250.00 to check that his eyes will get better. The vet said my dog had "severe trauma in both eyes" and the cause might have been that his hed was hit or something really bad that could have caused his eyes to bleed so bad. I am very disappointed. I will NEVER take my dog to them again.

Now I hope my poor dog gets better.
The PETCO store I went was:
6200 South Dixie Highway
Miami, Florida
United States
Phone: [protected]

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sbjdallas
Dallas, US
May 15, 2010 5:28 pm EDT

P.S. Read Irish's 'wal-mart' complaint. Apparently, this upstanding, reasonable poster is a self-described shoplifter. Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about the morals and scruples of this nutcase? Enough said.

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sbjdallas
Dallas, US
May 15, 2010 5:24 pm EDT

To everyone who reads this: 'Irish' is nothing more than a Petco company stooge paid to respond to complaints about the company on this and other websites; his goal is to antagonize posters into writing something libelous or to call the company even more angry than they were to begin with. Along with 'LadyScot' and several others, these vermin (actually, that's an insult to rodents) MAKE A LIVING attacking people with perfectly reasonable complaints about Petco. Petco employees will do NOTHING about problems they create; their corporate policy is to NEVER respond to complaints about pet injuries or deaths. Hey Irish, why don't you respond to this: In 2004 in California, Petco was sued for long-term animal abuse by Los Angeles, San Francisco and Marin County. They were found GUILTY and ended up paying $900, 000 in fines for behavior that included the following (all documented on pet-abuse.com): Instead of paying vets to put sick or injured animals to sleep humanely, employees placed those animals in freezers until they died, or alternatively, left them in back rooms to starve to death, all with Petco's blessings; an employee sucked two parakeets into a vacuum IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS and killed them instantly - he then laughed about it - this WAS NOT found to be enough to fire the employee by Petco; frogs were burned to death alive by improperly installed heat lamps; there are dozens of OTHER examples proven in the lawsuit. It's all on the public record and listed on pet-abuse.com. So Irish, you still want to make smarmy comments about pets and their owners suffering and show everyone who reads any of your 'comments' what a total [censored] loser shill you are? How do you sleep at night knowing you get paid by an evil company like Petco, you sociopath? Why don't you just crawl back into the hole you slithered out of and leave normal, sane people alone? And as for the injured dog shown above: We hope she makes a full recovery and the Petco slimeballs get sued for a good chunk of change! Good luck!

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name withheld 22
reno, US
May 13, 2010 11:40 pm EDT

I am pissed about your story - that makes me sick! Poor baby. I would contact an attorney, at least make them financially responsible for the vet bills. Depending on the cost of the surgery, maybe small claims court. I would take the vet report in and demand to speak with the manager.
This is so distressing. I'm so sorry.