Banfield Pet Hospital

Beware using this vet unless you are mega rich. We are signed up for the comprehensive care plan for our two dogs, which seems like a good deal but they still manage to rip you off. First of all the care plan claims to save you gobs of money, when if fact they just show you some ridiculous price that no one pays on your bill so you think you saved more money than you did. Second, they auto renew your policy without informing you and then if you use care after the renew you are screwed into paying for another year of monthly payment (that is unless you want to pay more than a years worth of payments to cancel early). Third, and I personally think this is the worst, they always and I mean always suggest the most expensive treatment first. Instead of trying to take baby steps the always suggest xrays or shots or anything that can earn them an extra buck. We have this so call wellness plan and just walked away with a $ 300 bill for things they guilt you into doing to make sure your pet is OK. This place is a rip of in so many ways and they trap you into staying there with their wellness plans. I cannot wait for my plan to expire so we can get the hell out of there and go somewhere local and not attached to a big corporate model of screw your customer as much as possible.

I know this place has a somewhat negative perception (outside of Unilocal reviews) so I was a bit skeptical. I’ve taken my pets to VCA Cedar and Lyndale Animal Hospital so those places feel smaller-​more of a mom and pop-​than a sort corporate-​like outfit. I was pleasantly surprised and very happy with the service especially considering I haven’t taken my dog in for a couple of years (yes, I’m that owner…). The Vet was great. Gentle bedside manner, no shaming or guilting, and very personable. He may be new to the clinic as his photo isn’t on the website, but I think his name was Jon. Maggie, the vet tech, was really good with our dog. Very comforting and kind. We may have waited 15 minutes to get into a room, but I don’t feel like that was any different than elsewhere.

As a new kitten owner (and a woman in her 20’s), I was looking for good care, flexible hours, and decent pricing. So far, I think I’ve found that here. This place is a convenient location for me, and I love that they are open until 7pm on weekdays and are open on weekends.
Now, I’ve only taken my little dude here a few times, for vaccines and an ear infection, but I have been pretty pleased with the service. When you call them, you will almost always be put on hold, as they are very busy. However, staff are kind and courteous. Once at the hospital, I haven’t had to wait too long and everyone has been really nice.
We are also on their wellness plan, just for one year. I think it can be a rip off, if you have healthy pets, but for a kitten that needs vaccines and neutering, it’s a better deal for us. I think we pay $ 30 a month. I took him in this week for an ear infection and they were closing in 45 minutes and squeezed us in anyway! The visit was free, but it cost me $ 38 for a «hospitalization» fee to bring him in to the back room. Dumb, but whatever. I still saved quite a bit overall. Instead of paying $ 190, I paid $ 100 (this included meds, etc.)
So…we’ll see how it goes! But so far, I’m happy. They also do follow-​up calls the next day, which I think is nice.

Have brought my pets here for awhile. If your pet need shots and nothing special, this place will do it and sell you a maintenance plan too. But watch out, if your pet actually gets sick they will over recommend tests and treat with lots of meds and take you for all they can. After several months messing around with their vets and missing work for appointments to try get get my dog better, took him somewhere else for a second opinion. One visit and a small fee later and my dog is better. And if you take the maintenance plan and the don’t properly treat your pet, you will be under contract to pay that plan out anyway even if you leave. It’s in their fine print. Find a real vet and save yourself some time and money.

There is absolutely no way I will be going back to this pet hospital. Ever.
Our cat had a urinary tract blockage that was cleared up at an emergency vet. About a week later, he was showing symptoms of being blocked again, so we brought him in to Banfield. We were told that he would need to have a Perineal Urethrostomy. This is a surgery where they would remove our cat’s penis so that he doesn’t experience blockage anymore. This surgery would be $ 2400, something that my husband and I couldn’t afford. When going over options with the vet, we brought up the fact that we couldn’t afford that, but we didn’t want our cat to die, so we would have to surrender him to the humane society. At that point, the vet told us that they would just put our kitty to sleep because he has a «life threatening condition». We took our cat home after he received no treatment and spent the evening trying to decide what to do.
The next day, we went to a lovely vet who told us that our cat would not need that surgery, they said that the surgery isn’t recommended unless our cat had a chronic condition or kidney stones. In fact, his condition could be taken care of with pain meds, antibiotics, and a change of diet. We were out the door for less than $ 200.
We almost surrendered our cat, or worse, put him to sleep on Banfield’s recommendation. Not only that, but it was a misdiagnosis and a quick jump to a very extreme surgery that they wanted to do. I cannot express enough not to bring your pets here. Clearly, the goal isn’t the best care for your pets.

40 minutes just to be seen by a vet, probably was going to be closer to an hour, but I had another appointment and needed to leave as they didn’t know when a vet was going to be available.