I am glad I changed vets...

People can say what they want about petsmart but I am so happy with my new vets at Banfield through petsmart.

I am having caseys teeth cleaned friday and I called banfield to tell them that casey had a bad reaction to a med when I first got her. She said we needed to get the name of the med, I told her I was embarrased to call my old vet. She called and the old vets receptionist called me right away with an attitude.

She said casey has no allergies, I said casey was given a med for coccidial when I first got her and it made her sick and the vet wouldn't believe me even though I did research and swollen face, diarreah and vomiting were known side effects. I discontinued the meds had her retested and luckily the coccicial was gone.

Now its bad enough that the vet didn't believe me but I specifically asked for that to be put in her file to never give her again, he put that she had a bug bite:mad: I told him at the time it couldn't have been a bug bite I had to carry her out to potty and hand feed her the first few weeks she was so timid.

Anyhow the med was albon and vomiting and diarreah are rare but serious side effects and when they occur it says sulfer products should not be used anymore.

the receptionist then says "so should I throw your file away or what" I said yeah whatever...she said well casey is not up to date on her shots...I said well as a matter of fact she is thanks for your concern and I hung up.

the new vet said this is very irresponsible, any side effects are always noted.

I have written a long letter to the owner of the clinic, that particular doctor is a partner with her but she seems better, at least she should know.

That's interesting. I always thought Albon was a mild medication because I've never seen any of the shelter babies or my fosters have those side effects.

Its important for you to like your vet so I'm glad you found a good one who you can trust. I've never had personal experience with Banfield myself, but I'm glad you like it!

aly...do a search on albon and diarreah...or albon side effects...I found lots of hits...doctors foster & smith was one of them

I don't think the vets at PetsMart are really "PetsMart" vets so to speak, aren't they still a private vet practice, just within the PetsMart store? I really don't have knowledge on this, I probably should look it up rather than asking. But my point is I don't think just because they work in PetsMart, even if they worked in a bad PetsMart, that it means they are a bad vet.

I had a good experience at the PetsMart vet here even though she is not my regular vet. It was when my RB Cody was having a stroke on a Sunday. I couldn't get ahold of my vet right away and had left a message on his cell phone, but we rushed him to PetsMart vet in the meantime and they put him on IV fluids and kept calling my vet for me while we were there until they got ahold of him. He had tried to call me back at home but we had left for PetsMart by then and we didn't have a cell phone. We were afraid he'd die before he got back to us. PetsMart vet's office helped us get him back into the car and refused to charge us for what they did, sending us on to my regular vet. When we got there, he said he had revised his opinion on the PetsMart vet now because of how they helped Cody and helped us to get ahold of him. He said he would send them a Thank You card on his and our behalf.

Cody ended up having to be sent to the RB that day, but I was so grateful that it was with the vet he had known all his senior years, in a quiet vet's office with only me, David, and Dr. Nielson there. Somehow it would have been more awful with a totally unknown vet who never knew us or Cody.

Your right k9soul, all the banfields are individually owned and operated. When I called to add casey to their insurance since I put the new pup on their insurance and had been happy with the treatment the person I talked to said the vets were paid well (I had told her my daughter wants to be a vet) she said my daughter could own one of the banfields some day...my dream...free pet healthcare...

I do plan on being a vet tech for my daughter some day when I retire if she does realize her dream of owning her own vet practice.

If your dream works out, we'll be one of your most loyal patients;) Well, actually, I want to be a vet, as well, but I was planning on specializing in avian medicine. I swear there are almost no knowledgable avian vets in the more rural areas. Thankfully, we have one about 5 mins away due to sheer luck:p

Your vet's attitude (denial) is all too common :( They just can't seem to bring themselves to admit that maybe they've misdiagnosed something or they just don't want to go through the hassle of malpractice claims and legal stuff like that LOL. Thankfully, there are vets who regularly try to renew their knowledge by attending meetings and lectures and admit to their mistakes. Glad you found a good vet for your pups!

You shouldn't even worry about being bashed! Banfield is a very reliable company, probably more reliable than most small one-doctor offices. We took Lola to Banfield over the weekend for her URI, and they were very nice. . . we had to wait almost 1 hour, which wasn't fun, but they were very nice and didn't charge for the exam ;) I love Gonzo's private vet, but if they were closed I'd have no problem taking him there.

^_^ I also want to be a Vet. Or, just anything involving animals. . an office job would be way, way too boring.

Yeah bccrazy that is the one complaint I have about banfield is the wait....once I waited 45 minutes but they did give me some free flea meds.