Banfield Pet Hospital

I had been taking my dog to Banfield for a few years. At first, it seemed like a good clinic when she just needed checkups and dental care, but we have had some bad experiences recently. A few months ago, my now almost 5 year old dog suddenly experienced rapid significant weight gain and had red eyes. I brought my dog in a few times for blood work and to express my concerns. The blood work did not reveal anything concerning. I was still concerned since this was not normal and my dog was hungrier and thirstier than usual. Her red eyes did not get better either. My concerns were dismissed by the clinic and I was ultimately told her weight gain was due to eating floor scraps - we do not feed our dog scraps and she was not getting extra food. I took my dog to another vet and they immediately diagnosed her correctly with SARDs. Shortly after, she lost her vision. The weight gain was a side effect and not due to anything we did wrong. I will no longer be taking my dog to Banfield after several bad experiences. They did not listen or try to figure out the root cause of my dog’s symptoms.

When I made the appointment for my dog, over the phone, I told them I needed him to have 3 vaccines. He’s been getting these three together all the time, Year after year. I then came this morning and dropped him off I even reminded the girl at the front desk, please make sure he gets all his vaccination so he’s up to date. I’m going to be traveling and he’s going to have to be in boarding for close to 10days. Picked up dog and I end up logging into the Banfield account to find that they didn’t give them a vaccine! So I called to ask why and they give me some BS answer about how sometimes they don’t like to give too many shots altogether? Really, you guys have been giving him the same three shots together all these years and now all of a sudden you don’t. He then tells me you know you can bring him in next week for that other shot. What the heck? I have to now take time off, re-organize my day to take him back just so you can get this one shot?! I was able to speak to the doctor and he was very thorough and kind. So that was nice.

I was pretty frustrated that my pet’s tooth cleaning took nearly 10 hours, and I didn’t get any updates throughout the day. When I finally got to talk to Hans, I shared my concerns and asked a lot of questions, and he took the time to explain everything thoroughly. He was incredibly patient, kind, and professional, which really helped ease my frustration. I truly appreciate the way he handled the situation—thank you, Hans, for making a tough experience much better!

****UPDATE- The front office , especially Joey, always go above and beyond for my pet and I every time we come in. The Doctors always do a thorough visit, and are always so accommodating, helpful and attentive!**** Thank you kindly! I love the wellmess plan. Joey and the rest of the staff are amazing! So helpful and thorough with everything! They took really good care of my doggie and the veterinarian/vet visit was very comprehemsive. Thank you for taking such good care of Radar!

TLDR; Banfield Mt Prospect is incompetent and a danger for your dogs. DO NOT GO HERE!!! They misdiagnosed my dog, not once, not twice, but THREE times over the span of 6 months. In total, we had 6 appointments. We went back and forth, paying hundreds of dollars in visits, same tests, and the same medications. After arguing with the vet on how her treatment plan was not working and that something else was obviously wrong, she FINALLY said "oh we can do more tests for hormones IF the next set of meds don't work". If I had not even suggested looking at something else, she would have never informed me about this option which should have been done months ago. I'm not a vet so how am I supposed to know! She also said that it had to be done another day because it was an 8 hour test, despite this, the staff still marked on the visit notes that WE declined the test. AND the vet STILL said we should continue the treatment and that we could check in 2 weeks. Not even 4 days later, we had to take her to urgent care because it got so bad. It became so much worse and is now life threatening. The (very knowledgable) vet at VEG saw her and immediately said no that's not what she has which is what we had told the stubborn Banfield vets. (VEG is incredible and highly recommend for urgent care). We also consulted an online vet, and they told us it was obviously something else. Her condition has become so severe that it's now life threatening, and I deeply regret not getting a second opinion sooner or just going to another vet. DON'T GO TO THIS BANFIELD. It might be close, it might be cheap, but I highly, HIGHLY recommend you go to another vet or even if you have the plan another Banfield. The staff there may seem nice, but they're incompetent, stubborn, and sneaky. Despite our concerns and proactiveness, they chose to continue misdiagnosing her instead of immediately ordering tests MONTHS ago. Also, FYI - they write notes about how you behave in visit summaries. They wrote my mom was angry because my dog's treatment wasn't working and misquoted myself saying it was working. These detailed reports only show up online and are not the ones they give you. They may have some good reviews, but they had so many chances to take care of my baby, and retrospectively showed obvious incompetence. I will never be taking my dogs there again, and you shouldn't either.