Girliniowa
Dubuque,#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, May 29, 2009
First off I am so sorry that this happened to you and your kitty... I hate to hear of any animal suffering... and know it hurts the families of the pets too. I wonder what they offered to you when you originally brought your kitty in. Did the cat have a history at that hospital already? Did they get vax there as a kitten? Did they have all the vax at the time of the illness? Was it an indoor/outdoor kitty? I used to work for them (and I am DEFINITELY ***NOT*** a lover of them by any means *at all*!!). I ask because most all vets (including others not practicing for Banfield) would have likely suggested more services to you when you originally brought the cat in. I would have guessed they may have offered bloodwork among other things. All they did was treat a problem that was already present. It was likely a SYMPTOM of something that was already going on. Your pet was treated fairly minimally for something that sounded pretty gnarly. You said yourself it had been going on for some time, but chose to wait for things to become more serious. There are a million things that could have been going on. Your cat could have had an existing illness that caused it to go the direction it did. Something like Feline Leukemia or any of the other illnesses that might cause oral lesions. The thing about the cat having an abscessed tooth is just NOT normal for a cat that age. Did they suggest a Fel Leukemia test? Did they offer bloodwork? Did they offer ANY kind of diagnostic testing? I have not known one Banfield vet that would NOT offer SOME kind of diagnostic testing when a pet presents with an illness. Ever. I havent ever heard of anyone in private practice doing it either unless its something SO entirely obvious that it would be ludicrous to offer diagnostics (not the case in what was going on with your pet I would think) Vets are NOT fortune tellers. They cannot read pets minds. They have to go by what the owner tells them and cant ask the pet what their symptoms have been, or even ask "does this hurt" when performing exams. A lot of it IS guesswork and a process of elimination. Elimination happens when testing is allowed and/or history of the pet is accurately asked for and given. Not all vets are fabulous at eliciting history, but I would say 99% of them know how to do the bare minimum. Banfield vets are in fact urged to suggest diagnostics as they are both good for the pets, and good for the hospital. Not so good on the pocketbook sad to say. Banfield is NOT cheap like some people might think. I would say they are in the top 20% so far as what vet hospitals charge. Sadly the thing that most people want to skip is the diagnostics... and just go with the treatments. Too many times its a shot in the dark. Its the vet doing their best to treat what they think is the likely problem. Anyway... once again I am sorry this happened to you. I suggest to everyone to get yourself one of those credit cards that you get offers for that might even have a high interest rate, DONT USE IT.. put it in your freezer frozen in a bowl of water. If something happens to your pet and you MUST have money to treat it, USE THAT in case of emergency with your pet ONLY. Its like insurance, but cheaper than any of them out there comparing the prices versus the interest rates. Thats the best advice I have for anyone who has pets and not the cash in savings to treat things that come up (I tell people that have pets to have at least 2k bucks per pet on hand for emergencies, minimum).