Above is a photo of my cat, Rahmi, following a dental prophylaxis. It was performed by Banfield, the Pet Hospital of Superior. A torn trachea is uncommon during this procedure and can be avoided if the vet follows the standard of care while intubating the cat.
Banfield denies all responsibility because they don’t want to pay and they think they can get away with it.
I called to cancel my plan/set it up not to renew. The agent that I spoke to said one of my options was to put my plan on hold while I resolved my dispute. And that I could put my plan on hold for up to 4 months. I thought great- let’s do that.
A few days after what would have been my next payment I got a call from Banfield asking me what I was going to do with my plan. I was so confused. I told her that an agent put it on hold for me while I did some dispute resolution. The customer service said that they just stopped my automatic payments, however I was still responsible for making them on time. And after 3 months of non payment, they would send me to collections.
Banfield’s customer service is just as incompetent as their vets.
I was a client of Banfield, the Pet Hospital of Superior in Colorado. The primary vet’s name is Dr. Ken Katz, another vet on the roster is Shelley Raines. There are other vets on staff that are not listed in the directory. Both of my cats were on a Wellness Plan.
On December 23, 2010 I took my cats in for dental examinations. This requires that your cat be intubated and anesthetized. I brought my cats home. One seemed normal and the other, Rahmi, hid under the bed. I contacted Banfield the next day and they said this was normal. I then went on Christmas vacation out of state.
On December 26, my cat sitter arrived. She said that Guinevere was hogging Rahmi’s food. This is unusual and I was concerned and called my sitter. There were no signs of vomiting, he was breathing fine, he was eating, and he was sitting with her on the couch. She said she’d keep an eye on him. The rest of her updates were normal.
When I returned home on January 3, 2011 I walked in my door to see that Rahmi appeared to be blown up like a balloon. I wondered how much my sitter fed him. I knelt down and poked at him- it seemed to be air. I didn’t understand what was going on and I called the emergency vet. They asked if he had any recent surgeries and I said he had a dental. They said to bring him in.
Immediately they suspected that his trachea had been torn during the dental. They took xrays and air had lifted his skin about 4 inches from the rest of his body. He had collapsed lungs and his heart was lifted from his chest wall by several inches and all of his organs had shifted around, which made the situation critical.
The next morning, the surgical team confirmed this and determined that he must have a necrotic tear in his trachea that required surgery. I agreed to the scope and surgery. During the scope, they found nothing. They told my vet what had happened.
Shortly after they relayed the information to Banfield, the vet who performed the dental called me and acted all concerned. She then stated, “Obviously it wasn’t due to the dental because it’s been over 10 days, and tears always present immediately. Shucks, if it was due to us, we’d definitely contribute to the costs.” She then tried to get me to say it wasn’t their fault. Even though there was no tear, my cat was still gravely ill and could die at any time.
I filed a complaint with Banfield and two days later Dr. Katz had one of his assistants call and say it wasn’t our fault, we’re not refunding the dental expenses, releasing you from the plans or reimbursing you any costs. We consider the matter closed.
That’s nice. I don’t.
