Banfield strikes again

Young woman came in yesterday with a dog that was adopted from here a week before. He was wearing a cone. She handed me the sheet we give out for pet insurance and a quote from Banfield, showing antibiotics and pain medicine, totaling about $50. She told me that someone at Banfield told her to come to us and ask us to call them. I asked her what was going on, and she said that she had taken the dog in for a free exam, and they told her that his neuter incision was infected and he need antibiotics and pain medicine.

For some reason, I was skeptical.

I'm not supposed to, but I asked her if I could take a look at the dog. She said, "Of course," so I came around the counter and took a look at his surgery incision. It looked like a perfectly normal, deflated sack. There was no swelling, no redness; the incision wasn't even visible any longer. It was, for all intents and purposes, healed.

I looked at her and said, "You need a new vet. I'm going to call Banfield and see if they can explain this, but I'm telling you right now, find a new vet. This dog's incision site looks great."

So I called Banfield and spoke to the woman who had told the pet owner to come back to the shelter. She said that she had told the owner to see if we would pay for anything, since the insurance would only pay back some of the fees once paid, it wouldn't pay outright. I told her, "Absolutely not." and asked who had told this woman that her dog's incision site was infected. The Banfield person got indignant, and said that she was sure the vet had looked at the dog and made the assessment. I assured her that the surgery site was no infected, thanked her, and hung up.

I reiterated to the owner that she needed to find a new vet. I gave her the list of recommended vets (from volunteers and adopters, not from the shelter), and told her to make a regular appointment during the week.

It really pisses me off to see someone taken advantage of. We have so many awful pet owners who just don't give a crap, and to see someone trying so hard getting swindled is infuriating.

Once again, don't go to Banfield. Ever.