Beware of Banfield

This is kind of a lengthy article that came out a few days ago, but it's totally worth the read. Banfield is the vet clinic that has partnered with your local PetSmart store. The story is about the corporatization of animal health care; kind of like has been done with human health care, but worse. This is purely money driven; it's no longer about the well-being of the animals they're supposed to be caring for. I don't know how these people live with themselves.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-01-05/when-big-business-happens-to-your-pet

If it's too long, here's some highlights:

-A former chief medical officer at Banfield once compared the business to the no-frills carrier Southwest Airlines. “If you want first class,” he said, “you can buy it from a different airline.”

-...The answer to that question may lie in VCA'’s annual financial reports, which say the company’'s business strategy is “to "leverage our existing customer base by increasing the number and intensity of the services received during each visit.”"

- A 2005 study by Purdue University using Banfield data from more than 1 million medical records found 38 adverse reactions for every 10,000 shots, a rate of about 0.4 percent. Schultz and a research partner, Jean Dodds, argue the numbers are much higher, more like 3 percent or 4 percent, with about 1 in 200 dogs experiencing life-threatening reactions such as anaphylactic shock. “Vaccines can kill,” Schultz says. “If you don’t need to vaccinate annually and you do, you'’re taking unnecessary risks.”

- When the data was divulged in 2015, it showed Robb hadn'’t lost a dog during 2,241 dental procedures. (He says he'’s never lost one during dental work in his 30 years as a vet.) Banfield, on the other hand, had lost 747 dogs in five years, about one death for every 2,000 dental procedures. Kim Van Syoc, Banfield’'s head of public relations, says the loss rate at the company’'s hospitals is no worse than it is anyplace else, but—-as with so many other things in veterinary medicine-—there appear to be no good statistics on the subject. Consider this, however: Many Banfield wellness plans include an annual cleaning, so some animals will go under anesthesia 10 or more times in a lifetime, for an entirely elective procedure.

 

I have heard nothing but bad stories about Banfield. they use students to treat pets. Kinda like getting your hair cut by a student barber only your pet is the one who suffers along with your wallet. If you love your pets take them to a local vet and get a relationship started, your pets will thank you by being around longer. just my .02.

 

The story is just appalling. They're forcing the vets who have signed up with them to diagnose your pet via their proprietary computer and software. Forget the vet using their goddamn education and good judgment. And if they don't follow along and the home office finds out, their franchise is yanked.

Sadly, the general public probably thinks there's absolutely nothing wrong with this setup. I weep for this generation.

 

I don't trust the groomers at Petsmart to clip my dogs nails, I definitely wouldn't go to a veterinarian that worked there.