Banfield, The Pet Hospital rude staff, overpriced, unncessary medicine given, possible fraud Houston Texas

BEWARE OF BANFIELD, THE PET HOSPITAL INSIDE PETSMART'S

We just experienced a horrific experience no pet owner, nor pet should experience. And I'm finding out more and more that we are not alone. The Banfield Clinic we went to in on the West Loop South in Houston. We went there from May 5-8, 2006 with our dog Sandy for a simple second opinion on a cyst that had opened up on her head and was bloody.

What transpired after that is something I've never experienced and has put our family into a week that we never thought we'd experience in our lives. I'm not an activist at all, but have certainly become one on behalf of Sandy and other animals that may be taken to the clinic.

We were told by the Chief of Staff, Dr. Cecily Jennings (who treated Sandy) that afternoon that her blood work showed she had kidney failure and anemia. My husband and I were in shock and disbelief. This dog showed no signs of being ill. We were told that she was 7 (she is a rescue dog, just like our others), but were told by our vet she could be older, maybe 10.

Dr. Jennings said she needed immediate hospitalization and fluid therapy. We refused and the posting I put on Lone Star Shih Tzu Lhasa Apso Rescue (a rescue organization I belong to) message board below will show the events that occured on May 8, 2006 when my husband and I simply went to pick-up Sandy's medication. I've never seen a receptionist as rude and uncompassionate as this woman was and then when it seemed that she didn't get her way, she basically told us to kill our child. I was told later that she just didn't mean for it to come out the way she spoke to us, which means NOTHING is going to change there.

This is my posting on LSSTLAR:

Does anyone know much about the Banfield Vet Clinics they have at PetsMart's? We took our new Shih Tzu, Minnie, to the one on the West Loop just for a consultation to get her special diet and liked the doctor so much that when Sandy (our older Lhasa) had a problem with a cyst on her head, we decided to get a second opinion from them as our vet had ruled that these cysts/lumps on her were "no big deal". I just wanted to hear from another vet their thoughts.

Well, the vet we saw with Sandy was also very nice and
wanted to run some blood work because she felt that Sandy was older than the 7 years that the rescue we got her from had told us.

Boy were we shocked last Friday afternoon when the vet called us to say that the blood work showed that Sandy showed kidney failure and anemia. She wanted to immediately hospitalize her with the fluid therapy and then have us do this at home. It's not something my husband and I can do because of a personal experience our family had about 6-7 years ago with a Yorkie. It didn't seem to give her any better quality of life or lengthen Mindy's life. We swore we would never torture another animal like that again. The doctor aruged with me for about 10 minutes until she realized I wasn't going to give-in and then said we can treat her conservatively. So she prescribed some medication for her.

My husband and I went Monday morning on my way to work to pick- up this medication. We brought Sandy with us because I knew my husband would never be able to open Sandy's mouth to give her the medication and she had stopped eating the night before. We had started force feeding her with a syringe. The receptionist (or whatever the front desk people are called at Banfield) was so rude and uncompassionate towards Sandy and us it was unbelievable. Once my husband told her that Sandy didn't show interest in food Sunday she went back to the Doctor in surgery about 3 times. She came out and said Dr. Jennings wanted to hospitalize Sandy and put her on the fluids, etc.

We went through the whole ordeal of explaining why we would not do this to our baby. Well, this girl just argued and argued with us and finally said then you should just consider humanly euthanizing her!

We were in shock. Sandy is definitely not at that point. She even looked at Sandy and said she was suffering. She had no right. If my dog was suffering, I'd be the first to bring her in to have her put to sleep.

I told my husband to get on his cell phone and call our doctor and get the next appointment because Sandy was NEVER coming back to this place. If they hire people and allow them to talk to their clients like that, I sure don't want them taking care of my baby.

We must have spent 1-1/2 hours at Banfield with this woman arguing and giving us the worst time I've ever spent in ANY doctor's office.

When we left, both my husband and I felt like she hated us and we never rose our voices, spoke beligerant to her, and yet to treat us like this, and then make us feel like she hated us was just beyond us.

The worst lesson we learned was last Friday we signed their Wellness Contract for both dogs to the tune of about $1,000.

We'd love to cancel that contract, but it seems pretty iron clad. Even if the dog dies, you must continue paying. Sandy was seen one day under this contract and Minnie has never been seen. I spoke with the office manager yesterday to let her know how their employee treated us, and plan to write them a letter asking to be let out of this conract, because we do NOT plan to bring Sandy back to their clinic ever.

We saw our vet yesterday and it was like night and day. He even didn't seem to think the blood work was as bad as they were making it out to be. He wants to run it again in two weeks. He showed no interest in starting the fluid treatment at this time. He just wants her to consume as much food and water as she normally would.

The best news is Sandy started improving around Monday noon and by Monday night was eating her bones in bed like my girl I know and love. She went from the syringe to spoon to bowl by yesterday afternoon and is begging for our food, which of course, we are only giving her limited amounts of. Monday night I was eating a hamburger very late in bed and dozed off and she stole the top bun off of it and took it down to her part of the bed, and all this would not be happening if that woman had her way and killed my precious baby.

So please beware of these places. I've seen some precious little dogs being taken there while we've been there. As long as your pet is well they probably are OK. But if they get sick, I think Banfield just sees $$$$, instead of your pets best interest.

I have a copy of the letter I sent Banfield if anyone would like for me to email it to them.
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These are messages between the lady in charge of LSSTLAR and myself as she was a huge help to me in the beginning of this ordeal....

> > > > >
Thank goodness you got a second opinion.
> > > > >
Let me reiterate what I told you off list about fluids.
> >
Many times dogs have something that causes them to become dehydrated.
> > > >
Like us if we get a bad stomach virus and don't feel like eating or drinking, they can easily get dehydrated. Fluids, which can be done via IV or subQ, can quickly save the life of a dehydrated dog.

When we first got little Keeley, that was the immediate theraphy-many cc's of fluids to kick start his system.
> > > > >
I'm so glad Sandy is not in kidney failure. Personally, if things played out for one of my dogs like it did for Sandy, I think I might be thinking about a possible lawsuit. It seemed like they lied to you about her condition in an attempt to run the bill up.
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My Doctor did not see what they saw.
> >
He was most concerned with the AMYL level, which they never mentioned, nor are they treating. He said of the three tests that show kidney problems (she only told me two) the one that is elevated can be because of their intake of food and drink.

He also said that when a place like this runs their own tests, they can be skewed any way. He sends his to an independent lab that gives accurate results. He also did not see anything in the lab results to show why they are treating her liver. Do you? The $140 medication he says is OK to give her, but puzzling to Our Vet. He is so sweet. I guess I should have stayed with him, but these lumps on my little girl were bothering me and we had such a good visit at Banfield with
Minnie.
NEVER again though.
> > > >
I was pushing a lot of water into Sandy, and she was gladly taking it. About 8-10 syringes at a time, every couple of hours.

She walks normal now and is feeling so much better.
> > > >
I just wrote Banfield a letter demanding to get out of BOTH contracts because of this situation. I would not trust anyone there to treat my babies. We are committed to $1,000 to them over the next year, but I do not want them touching either of my dogs. My husband found the name and address of the Chairman/CEO so I sent him a copy. Maybe he'd be interested/or not, in how his clinics are being run and patients treated. It's worth a try.
> > > >
If it was up to that receptionist, my Sandy would be DEAD now. It just doesn't seem right to me for someone in that position to say something like that to a client.
> > > >
To see my little girl creeping up to her water bowl again puts tears in my eyes, but the "happy kind"!!
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I didn't see liver at all. Remember I told you to look for BUN and CREAT? Those are the two that, together, WAY out of wack, may indicate liver problems. The AMYL, I believe, is pancreas.
> > > >
One of my dogs shows elevated BUN sometimes, but my vet just says to bring her back in after fasting in a week.
> > > >
I think under the circumstances, you should demand your money back for the visit too.

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I'm going to send you a list of the medications we are taking tonight. We are taking one specifically for the liver. Our Dr. could not determine why, based on their blood work.

The AMYL is the pancreas. He told us the big thing there is to only feed chicken and turkey. I don't know if there is a medication or not, but the doctor at Banfield NEVER mentioned the pancreas. It shows very high on their test. Of course an antiobiotic could never hurt.

They never said what infection she had though. She's taking the same one Minnie just finished, twice as strong, the liver pill, a worming medication (I believe for hook worms), liquid vitamins, and that may be it. They want her to eat the K/D diet, but we haven't tried it yet. Kevin said she's eating chicken and turkey today, which is wonderful. The first real food she's eaten since Saturday.
> > >
We are just beyond happy :)
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Here is the list of medications we received from Banfield on
Monday:
> >
Clavamox 125 mg. - twice a day for 3 weeks
Pyrantel Pamoate Dewormer 50 mg. - twice monthly
Hi-Vite Drops 30 ml - once daily
Denosyl 225 mg. - one tablet daily (this is for the liver)
> >
Sandy's continuing to have great improvement. She's having a
great night. We are very happy and hope it continues.
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Ok, I am just mystified by this.
> >
Clavamox is a very common broad spectrum antibiotic - typically
prescribed for upper respiratory, urinary tract and skin
infections. Was her white blood cell count high?

Pyrantal is a plain old dewormer - roundworms and hookworms.
Did she have a fecal exam? Was she anemic?

Hi Vite is a multivitamin.

Denosyl is a nutritional supplement which does support the
liver. But it's not "medicine."
> >
But - these people were claiming Sandy was so critical she
needed fluids or euthanasia and all they gave you were VITAMINS!!!
> >
And, by the way the only thing up there a vet has to prescribe
is the antibiotic. The rest is off the shelf.
You need to take a strong position on this.

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Her white blood cell count showed 17.9, and their range shows from 6.0-17.0, but she was not running a fever and had no sign of infection. She is taking twice the mg. as Minnie and only weighs 1.5 lbs. more than Minnie, yet Minnie had a small open wound with pus coming out of it. I just do not get these people.
>
She did have a fecal exam as well as the blood work, which showed the worms I guess. She also did tell me that Sandy was anemic, but from what I've been reading about hookworms and what they do, they could be the cause of that.
>
The red blood cell count showed 4.68, and their range shows from 5.50-8.50.
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I am liking what we've been told from Friday - Monday less and
less by these people. I sent the letters out to Banfield today, one to the vet clinic, and one to the CEO of Banfield. I also sent a copy to the store manager of PetsMart there on the West Loop so he would know what's going on in his store.
>
Thankfully, Sandy is so much like herself that I am really hoping in two weeks that our doctors tests prove them very wrong. He said they can skew these tests any way they want when they run their own tests. He didn't like their blood work at all.
>
It shows me a lot that we have not received a single call from
Banfield since I called their Office Manager early yesterday
morning. That tells just about all we need to know about their
business practice.
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The antibiotic dose you shouldn't worry about - although it does somewhat depend on the size of the dog, it's also dependent on the severity of the infection.

Yes, hookworms will cause anemia. The dewormer will help a lot.

Honestly, I'd suspect the lethargy, etc. you saw last week was
caused by the anemia.

Well, at least she is safe, now.
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Note: We did receive a call from the Office Manager from Banfield on May 12, 2006 and they said they would cancel Minnie's Wellness Plan but not Sandy's because Sandy had been treated with "discounted" services under the plan. We owed them another $390 which brought the total to $750 for an office visit, blood work, fecal exam and some medication. I couldn't believe it. I told her we'd be seeing them in court because we weren't paying any more money. She called back a while later to say they had reconsidered and were also cancelling Sandy's Wellness Plan.

This Banfield Vet Clinic is definitely more concerned with the money they can get from client's than the care of the pet's that are brought to them and that is very wrong. Be very aware if you decide to take your pet to this clinic.

Tanya
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.