Banfield Pet Hospital

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.