Banfield Pet Hospital

These vets/​techs are exceptional. They took care of our Snowflake very well and even called the next day to ask how she was doing. Very thorough and thoughtful in a time of crisis!

My dog came here for surgery while I was on vacation. It just happened to be the closest animal hospital. All went well with her surgery. Three days later she went in to have her drainage tubes removed. She came out of the exam room to our surprise with her stitches taken out, 3 days after surgery! What the hell! The technician must have just assumed she had to take the stitches out. They were supposed to stay in for 14 days per the doctors order. Her wound ended up reopening. My poor dog had already been through enough. I don’t think I’ll be back, seemed like a careless job.

My cat and I have used the Banfield Pet Hospital vet network for 5 years, the Chelmsford and Cambridge locations. The Wellness Plans are totally worth it $ wise for the vaccines, free office visits, discounted meds, included labs, and especially the dental cleanings. I compared prices with a couple other nearby vets, and did the math, and Banfield seemed the best value. The staff are all super nice and professional, and clearly love animals. They always recognize my cat and give her happy greetings, and I’ve never had a problem getting a quick or last-​minute appointment when something urgent or concerning comes up. I also love that they’re a network, so when I moved I didn’t have to worry about transferring our records. Plus, they have a great website you can view your customer account and pets’ records on, plus an app that you can check and request appointments with! So handy!

Took my two cats here yesterday and had a really nice visit. The staff were super friendly and treated the cats well. They got vaccines and a physical. Overall my husband and I (we were both there) were very happy with the service and care, and we will definitely be going back.

In case you choose not to read the rest of this post, here are the key points:
— MY DOG WAS MISDIAGNOSED BY BANFIELD AFTER STAYING AT THE PET HOTEL
— SHE ALMOST DIED
— I PAID $ 8,000 TO HAVE A DIFFERENT VET SAVE MY DOG’S LIFE
Here’s a little more detail if you’re interested:
My Teacup Yorkshire Terrier almost died after her stay at the Pet Hotel and subsequent diagnosis from the onsite Banfield Pet Hospital. I left my dog at the Pet Hotel for a long weekend and, when I returned to pick her up, she was lifeless. I immediately thought something was wrong. My dog would usually sprint wall-​to-​wall when she saw me after being apart, but this time she barely lifted her head. When I asked the representative if something had happened, she told me my dog was just sleepy. I insisted that something was wrong, so I was told to walk her over to the onsite Banfield. We did and I was told that she was in pain due to dental decay. My dog was prescribed an antibiotic and we were sent home with a hefty bill. I reluctantly left, despite feeling like things were not right, but I didn’t know what else to do. I then brought my dog home and watched, in terror, as my dog’s health declined throughout the night. By the morning, she had a reddish purple bulge protruding out of her abdomen and I knew something was terribly wrong. I raced her to the Tufts emergency hospital where the vet there immediately identified the bulge as a hernia and took my dog to surgery. The vet had to remove a piece of my dog’s intestine and my dog can now only eat specialized food, else her body cannot digest the food and she has uncontrollable diarrhea. This story ends with my dog alive, me paying an $ 8,000 bill for a surgery that saved my dogs life (thanks to Tufts), and having to pay a premium for specialized food for the rest of my dog’s life.
Looking back, I regret not suing Petsmart and Banfield over this incident. I’m no scientist but I have had my dog for 11 years, and in those 11 years she did not have a single medical issue. In the THREE DAYS I left her at the Pet Hotel, she came back with a life threatening hernia. I assume that the hernia was caused by poor care during her time at the Pet Hotel. That said, I feel strongly that the doctor at Banfield failed to identify a very commonly diagnosed problem and failed to prevent our dog from suffering many hours of agonizing pain before we found a proper provider to identify what was wrong.
I WOULD NOT BRING YOUR DOG to either the Pet Hotel or the Banfield.

The staff is very friendly, but that’s really where the positives end. I brought my 4 year old dog in for a normal check up and asked about the limp that has developed in her back left leg. They asked no questions and pretty much told me to let her «walk it off» and bring her in if it got worse. I then explained that it had been nearly a month and seemed more like a long-​term thing than just an injury sustained in the past few days, but they didn’t listen. My mother has brought the dog in a few times and agrees that they really don’t seem knowledgable at all; they never have any suggestions or ideas of their own, they just ask you to let them know if things get worse.
They overcharge for everything and re-​update your plan with them without asking or letting you know. I have emailed them multiple times since early January to make sure that my plan would be cancelled in March when it was supposed to and they have yet to contact me. I find it to be a big business that doesn’t care about it’s customers.

The people there were very friendly and they took great care of my dog!

Again, our dog received excellent care at the Banfield Pet Hospital of Cambridge. The Veterinarian who ordinarily sees our dog was off today, and our dog was seen by one of her colleagues, Dr. Nicole Santos. Dr. Santos and staff were efficient, caring, and thorough, and although Dr. Santos does not routinely care for our dog, Banfield’s medical records were sufficiently thorough, that it allowed Dr. Santos to know exactly what illnesses our dog had been treated for, and how he had been treated, and for a high level of continuity of care.

If you love your pet do NOT bring them here!
I (and my partner) had my cat here for mostly routine stuff, he was a little under a year old when we got him so I specifically requested checking for worms, fleas, ticks ect. They added on extra blood work, and cleared him. Which was good for my multicat house hold.
A few months go by and he managed to escape and break his paw.
No biggie, male cats tend to do that. A few hard weeks in a cast should do it, right?
Wrong. He had routine bad reactions to the pain killers, which the staff refused to believe. We called our cats vet and asked for their input, which was my cat is allergic to painkillers and to stop giving them to him. Of course Banfield refuses to admit this mistake. So We keep going, and my cat was clearly in pain, there was something wrong with the cast for sure, we figured he’s meduim-​long haired and needed a shaving, which we requested. Of course they brought him out back and claimed ot have done it, and gave him a new cast. Only a few more weeks left at this point, but now they won’t return my calls. There was something wrong with my cat and it wasn’t his broken bone. I know a few vets and they said take the cast off, so we did. Not only did the NOT shave him, they tapped the cast to him (a big no-​no) so he was matted, and dirty. THEN his form (that keeps the leg stiff) was cutting up his whole leg. It was disgusting and infected, and we demanded the vet to see this. So they finally returned our calls, and BOTH vets claim the other one did it, and that it wasn’t infected. Then suddenly the vet brings out of no where he has worms. At this point we’re suspicious, we requested his med records over a week ago for review, we never got them. We weren’t shown the xrays. So now we’re very upset, they claim you can check the records online now. We leave and care for him ourselves, makes a full recovery. Get a second opinion and the other vet says his previous blood work showed a calcium deficiency and signs of worms long before the break. I specifically asked about the worms, and was lied to. I was lied to about nearly everything during the break. Then he needed a regular visit and vaccines, they told us we had to renew the insurance plan in order to get them, we said we wanted to cancel, they told us we had to renew and pay for next year up front to leave. So we agreed to renew and keep it.
A year goes by, clearly we never went back. Call Banfield corporate to cancel our plan and find out, YOU CAN CANCEL AT ANY TIME. Never mind you do not need to renew your plan ever. Corporate heard us out and had us file a complaint because really, a whole year I had to pay for NOTHING. So the practice manager calls my partner and essentially yelled at her for filing a complaint. Corporate said she was supposed to refund us, but of course not.
TL;DR?
This practice is awful, probably dirty, and sneaky. They don’t even follow the rules set by corporate and we know that because we have family who uses another Banfield and was told completely different policies about cancellation and renewal.
Don’t do it. It’s not even cheaper than the other vets in the area, in fact it’s more expensive.

So, I took my 3 yr old kitty there for her annual yesterday. She’s a strictly indoor cat and there are no other cats or dogs around her, so she does not really need annual shots. Dr. Jennifer Wolf was super nice and the assistant Hannah, also quite nice. Very nice people. I wish they did not continually attempt to sell the health plans to me, but I did not take it personally and declined. They are both quite good with cats and very patient. I am very glad that I got to see them handle her rather than wait outside.
One thing: they did say that she may not need the annual shots, but I wanted her groomed, so I requested them (distemper and rabies). Immediately after I brought her home, she got very very sick (vomiting every 5 minutes for several hours with red/​pink vomit at times) which resulted in an ER visit to Woburn. Not knowing about that, Banfield called me the next day asking how my pet was, which was incredibly nice. I explained the situation and they offered to see her, but I think she’s doing better so that was not necessary.
All in all — I think it’s a nice hospital and for dogs, those plans are very worth it because dogs have to be walked outside and potentially interact with other animals who may not be vaccinated. But she’s an indoor cat who probably did not need those shots to begin with.

Routine incompetence leading to a bad experience for my dog, I won’t be back.
Brought my 3yo friendly pit bull mix in for a routine vaccination. After a quick sign-​in and short wait in the patient room, an assistant came in, discussed the vaccines he would get, and then asked if she could take him in the back to muzzle him and get some assistance so she could take his temperature with a rectal thermometer, emphasizing that a muzzle would be needed.
The muzzle was fine — I prefer experienced vets who feel comfortable handling dogs without a muzzle, but understand the danger an unknown dog poses to vet handlers. I was a little surprised, though, that she wanted to do this in the back — the last time I was there for a shot they did it int he patient room and I got to soothe my dog during the process which made it easier for everyone.
Not realizing what he was in for, I said fine about taking him in the back and muzzling him. It turned out they just went into the room adjacent to the patient room I was in, and I could watch what they were doing through the window in the door. I didn’t realize that was the case until I heard some scrambling paws on tile a few minutes after they took him out of the room, went to the window and saw the following — they were just starting the ‘procedure’.
Three people had their hands on my dog: head, body and rear. The one in front put a muzzle on him. Then the three tightly wrapped their arms around their respective parts of my dog (head, body and rear) in preparation for inserting the thermometer. My dog was scared and struggling some, and I was surprised as I watched at how little they did to calm him. It seemed like an impersonal military-​style procedure.
At this point I wasn’t thrilled with their technique, but I was OK. I understand at a corporate vet you’re likely to get this kind of treatment, the handlers are not experienced and perhaps corporate risk policies require this kind of approach.
It’s what happened next that was truly ridiculous.
The person holding my dogs head apparently did not put the muzzle on well, and it slipped off as her arm (wrapped around my dog’s head) brushed against his muzzle. She freaked, and started twisting his head around as if it was on a swivel, and started to get frantic, getting the other handlers excited and leading to all of them tightening their hold on my dog even more and him getting even more scared. It looked completely out of control. I’ll note in passing my dog struggled to get out by twisting his body (you would too if three people tackled you wordlessly and started wrestling you around and then got frantic and started to REALLY wrestle you around) but made no threatening motions with his mouth — this was not a ‘threatening dog bite’ situation. Fortunately, because many dogs would be very scared in that situation.
Here’s the deal, Banfield: if you are going to use impersonal, military-​style tactics to ensure you get the dogs in and out quickly and keep risk to your staff at a minimum, fine. Some may not like the brief negative experience it gives their dog, but it isn’t a terrible situation.
But an incompetently done, impersonal, military-​style immobilization of a dog for a procedure is DANGEROUS to you and the dog if done as badly as you did it today. You should have stopped and restarted with the muzzle put back in position correctly if that’s what your staff needed to remain calm and in control. Someone in the room should have realized how out of control it got and stopped the procedure instead of everyone getting frantic and jumping on and squeezing my sixty pound dog like he was an armed axe murderer.
Quick Edit: They did eventually get the thermometer inserted and take a temperature, but as soon as they were done I opened the door, asked for my dog, and left.
I won’t be back.

I am so impressed with the Banfield Pet Hospital in Cambridge. The staff is great. My favorite vet of all time Dr Taylor attends to my Great Dane puppy. They are attentive, honest, and have better service then I have found at smaller more specialized vet practices. Banfield seems to be lucky have such a great team. Their Banfield products are better then I first thought they would be. There puppy care program was perfect and is well worth the money. I strongly disagree with many of the past negative reviews. I have been in 7 times in the last 3 months and each time I felt like I was important, that my pet’s health was their priority, and that their expertise has been credible and well worth my time and money.

These people are strictly a Corporation and they really don’t care about you and your pet. PLEASE PLEASE, DO NOT GO TO ANY OF THESE PLACES. All they care about is getting you into buying plans with ridiculous «membership fees» and don’t get taken in with the «FREE EXAM «coupon, as it is not true. They need to get you in to take advantage of you and your animal. Sign up for Trupanion pet insurance. They pay 90% of all services and you can go anywhere you want to. You can find a caring Vet that will take you and your pets best interests. I wish I had done this earlier and now I’m kicking myself. I did it last night. If you need to save money go to the free animal clinic in Allston its called the Merwin Animal Clinic. You can find the hours here on Unilocal.

Our roommates dog (from a breeder) was purchased unknowingly with a slew of ailments, lice, giardia, etc… and brought into my apartment which already had two other dogs, mine and my other roommates.
The ill dog was diagnosed and put on treatment which included antibiotics, probiotic food, other stuff costing several hundred dollars.
While the lice cleared up pretty quickly, the giardia was completely unaffected. The vet suggested my roommates purchase expensive science diet and bland diet foods, which did not help the situation. Then they suggested feeding the dog Fiber One and continuing the antibiotics– this only exacerbated the situation prompting even more issues. For an entire month, my roommate paid huge bills with no progress. During one visit they suggested my roommate do testing for absorption issues (even though the dog tested positive for giardia) which would cost nearly $ 400.
My personal experience with Banfield–
We had my dog tested for giardia. She tested negative. The vet suggeted we pay for the antibiotics to be sure my dog did not have the intestinal parasite and that sometimes tests can be false negative if the parasite was not shedding (or whatever the medical term is), so we did. No problems there, all in the name of a healthy puppy, right? The prescribed medicine caused an allergic reaction in my dog, her eyes became itchy, swollen and red. We brought her back in to get some relief for my dog. They prescribed steroids and eyedrops, but did not tell us what the medicine was, just how to use it. Between the vets and the nurses they seemed to be confused as to what they were prescribing… is it steroids, is it allergy meds, is it antibiotics? they didn’t seem to know. We used the meds as instructed, it helped the itchiness, but caused a pretty intense dose of eye gunk. Finally, I googled the name of the eyedrops to find out it was not any sort of allergy medicine, but MORE antibiotics… This didn’t make any sense to me… She didn’t have an eye infection, she had allergies…
Anyway, two weeks later we go in for routine shots and requested another giardia test just in case. My dog tested «faint» positive :(… and was put on another round of treatment using the same antibiotics that caused my dog’s initial eye allergy… Fine, as long as my dog comes out healthy (mind you we’ve spent nearly $ 300 on treatments/​testing even with the insurance)
During all of this we quarantined all of our dogs in our rooms, bleached the house at the suggestion of the vet and even carried our dogs through the common rooms to avoid cross-​infestation.
A week later we tested for giardia again… «Faint» positive, again!
Their recommended treatment this time: Wait a week and see what happens… She said, if she starts to looks worse, bring her back in… wtjunk?! seriously?
I suggested we consider other options given that my roommate’s dog seemed to have a resistent strand of the parasite (Over a month of treatment that ordinarily gets cleared up in three days of antibiotics) and that if my dog got the same strand perhaps it is also resistent. The nurse looks at me incredulously and says, «I don’t know what to tell you… other dogs got giardia and they cleared up after a few days using this treatment…» DUH! I was sayng my dog’s circumstance seems different then others… She offered no solutions.
My third roommate tested her dog and the results were negative, they did not suggest treating the dog with antibiotics «just in case»… and now I feel like a victim of highway robbery.
I am seriously displeased with the way they have handled this whole situation with all the dogs in my house, and think they should have offered a refund for prescribing treatments that don’t work.

I’m surprised I haven’t reviewed this place! Like everyone else, at first I thought they were really great — pretty good payment plan, it was convenient to my husband’s office, and at our first visit they seemed really friendly.
Then we kept having new things that were wrong with our cat, Paul, whom adopted us after he walked into our living room one day. Paul had clearly been living outside for awhile and had fleas, worms, etc. We took care of that, got him neutered, and then he had a check-​up visit. When my husband brought him home from the check up visit, Paul was covered in feces and urine, like he hadn’t been a near a litter box all day. The inside of his carrier was covered, as well.
I called Banfield about this, as well as other problems I’ve had with them and over-​charging us, and each time I’ve experienced the worst service possible. I’m just riding out my plan with them, because I’m never leaving my cat with them again.

Last year my dog cut a tendon and an artery; I spent the summer taking weekly trips to Banfield. They were incredibly helpful and friendly. They took great care of my dog.
I’m surprised at all of the people complaining about how expensive the tests they’ve run for the pets. Of course they are expensive. It’s a vets job to tell you about the potential problems your dog/​cat might have. If you feel that they are offering to run some test that your dogs well being isn’t dependent on, and/​or you think it is too much $$, then DON’T do the test! You don’t have to be a vet to have a general understanding what your pet needs and what is optional. If you don’t, there are a million websites that talk about vaccines that are essential and which vaccines are optional.
As for expecting Banfield to be a doggy day care center, that’s just ridiculous. They aren’t there to baby sit and exercise your dog. The drop off AM /​pick up PM schedule is so you don’t have to sit around and wait for them while they run tests and do the exam. If your dog can’t hold it for 6 hours don’t drop them off.
I’ve had a great experience with Banfield. All of the vets I’ve seen have been extremely knowledgeable and friendly. The used to have wellness hours where you could get free check ups and vaccinations. They got rid of them a couple months ago due to cost concerns (hence the minus star).
I would recommend buying heartworm pills and flea/​tick products online (it’s much cheaper than any vet clinic).

I really like Dr. Kapust, the doctor that my cat sees at the Banfield Pet Hospital in Cambridge — if I could give her 4 stars, I would. She’s great with my cat, despite the fact that my 11-​year old feline pretty much hates people, and she’s really good at explaining my cat’s medical situation in terms that I can understand and reccomending appropriate treatment.
However, the front desk staff at this Banfield location deserves two stars at best. Every time I call with a question I get put on hold for 10 minutes, only to be told that they’re going to have the doctor call me back later — which they could have just told me in the first place. Most recently after leaving a message for the doctor and being told I would hear from her the next morning, I called back 24 hours later because and find out that no one actually gave the message to her. And you need to allow an extra 20 minutes for dropping your pet off in the morning, because they only have one staff person working and everyone is trying to drop off their pet at the same time.
But Dr. Kapust is really patient and friendly, and gives excellent care to my cat, so I can deal with being frustrated by the folks who answer phones. And their wellness plans are a decent deal and can help you save on standard medical care, you just need to make sure you are aware of what it includes and what it doesn’t, since some of the less standard procedures (such as teeth extractions) are not covered and can be pricey.

After hearing from a friend how great the Banfield Wellness plans were, I decided that I would give Banfield a chance. I have two middle-​aged healthy beagles who have never really had any serious illnesses or issues, so I figured that having the option to spread out the cost of their annual exams would be nice.
The first appointment with the vet was an interesting experience. She was not very personable and immediately tried to sell me some prescription dog food to help with my dogs’ ‘oral health’. She then tried to prescribe dog chews that were far from a natural remedy. Both of which, I turned down. I feed my dogs high-​end holistic food with very few ingredients of which meat is the primary ingredient. I give my dogs marrow bones to help them keep their teeth healthy.
I had specifically mentioned to the vet tech that one of my dogs had received a rabies vaccination about 1 month prior to this Banfield visit and wouldn’t need another during this comprehensive exam. Wouldn’t you know, Banfield gave Emma ANOTHER 3 year vaccine during this?! Luckily, she did not experience any adverse reactions. It must not have been very comprehensive if they did not even look at the pages of veterinary records I provided them with.
Unfortunately, I signed up for the Wellness planned so I am ‘locked in’ for a year from September 2009. If I opt out now, I would be responsible for the ~1000 dollars of tests they have done in two visits. So, I have been paying 60 dollars a month for the past 6 months and found myself with an appointment for a second comprehensive exam.
Round 2:
Dropped the beagles off for the comprehensive exam and got a phone call around 4:30 saying one of my dogs had fleas but the other didn’t. Interesting, since I haven’t had any issues at home and neither dog has been itchy and both dogs are on Advantix via 1800PETMEDS (maybe they saw that I didn’t purchase any flea/​tick medicine from them in the past and thought that this was feasible). They then supposedly administered a Capstar tablet to each dog. Finally, I had requested during the exam to check my older dog’s anal glands and only if needed for her glands to be expressed — an extra charge (gross I know, but I didn’t want to do it if they would). Well on their exam report card, it explicitly stated the glands were empty, however, they charged me for the expression for BOTH dogs not just the older one. Awesome!
The last straw was this afternoon. Mind you my dogs were seen on Friday and today is Monday. I was told on Friday that if my dog’s ear swabs showed anything I would be notified on Saturday. I got a call a few minutes ago stating that one of my dogs has a ‘mild yeast infection’ in both ears. Funny, my dogs ears don’t smell and she hasn’t been itching them. They didn’t even suggest a mild white vinegar/​alcohol mixture, rather they stated I bring her in for a re-​swab and medication and then a follow-​up ear swab. I refused and said I would take care of it myself. The tech stated she wanted to inform the vet that this was my choice. The tech came back on the phone and tried to persuade me one more time to come in for a re-​swab to which I responded that it was absolutely unnecessary for a swab and antibiotics to be restarted if it was a 1 out of 4 ‘yeast infection’.
Luckily, I have some knowledge of what is going on with the health of my dogs and have a vet tech for a sister. However, for those individuals who do not, I would not recommend Banfield. They try to provide many unnecessary treatments all of which you’ll have to pay for if you cancel the plan. They also try to take advantage of people’s emotional relationships with their pets. They know that people will do anything for their pets nowadays and try to capitalize on that mentality.
The state of the human health care system to horrible, and Banfield is on its way to ensuring animal health care winds up the same way.
Come September, I will be returning to my nice, small town vet who actually knows what they are doing.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR PETS TO BANFIELD!!!
This place is there ONLY for money. they’re rude, they push you to buy additional stuff and to do additional tests when it is really useless. they’re also very expensive and charge for anything. what about weird vaccines i never heard of?
you don’t want to take your loved pet to someone who doesn’t care and only wants to make money.

I took our 7-​week-​old puppy to Banfield because it sounded like a reputable place and I didn’t have any other recommendations for vets in the area. The «nurse» who took down our information was extremely nice and explained their Optimum Wellness Plan, a $ 200+ yearly health plan that sounded okay on paper.
When we finally saw the doctor, she was less friendly and a little too pushy about the numerous shots our dog should have. Then she made me watch a 10 minute video on worms, stopping back in after a few minutes to make sure I was still paying attention (she actually told me that if I didn’t finish it before I left, she’d make me watch it next time I came in).
After all was said and done, I left with a sheet of paper scheduling our dog’s life with shots I had never heard of, and now believe to be unnecessary. Thinking this all seemed a bit sketchy, I did a search on Consumer Affairs for Banfield. Turns out, there are countless complaints about the company overcharging, pushing pet owners into unnecessary shots, and even charging a man who’s dog died for the rest of the year of his Optimum Wellness Plan.
I didn’t have a terrible experience myself, but it also wasn’t very good. I don’t like being nickel and dimed for my pet’s sake, so I don’t plan on ever going back to a Banfield again.