PetSmart Accused of Strangling Dog
April 13th, 2012. By AbiK
Suffice to say, something went wrong—very wrong—when Veronica Espinoza and John Benitez brought their English Bulldog to a PetSmart store in Downey, California back in May. It was to be the 4-month-old pup’s first grooming; instead it would be her last. And now there’s a negligence lawsuit in the works.
So what happened?
According to a report from KTLA in Los Angeles, while the dog was being groomed, PetSmart called the dog’s owner to inform him that the dog was spitting up blood and needed the care of a veterinarian. Upon arriving at the PetSmart, the owner found the dog—still being groomed—gasping for air and spitting up blood. The dog was taken to the doctor and shortly afterward died.
From here, things become a bit unclear. It seems that PetSmart had a necropsy done (that would be an autopsy of an animal) at Banfield Pet Hospital and found—or said they found—that the dog had died of natural causes. Not satisfied with that explanation, the dog’s owners chased down the actual report from the necropsy. And they had their veterinarian review it—his take? The dog had been strangled and had lost consciousness at one point—and to make matters worse, it appeared that CPR had been performed resulting in the dog’s trachea being pushed out of line by two inches.
As if that were not bad enough, the dog’s owners claim that when they went to pick up the dog’s remains from Banfield Pet Hospital so that they could make arrangements for the dog to be cremated, the hospital informed them that cremation had already taken place.
Needless to say, PetSmart claims the dog owners’ version of the story is not quite the way things happened. They have issued their condolences over the matter—and apparently offered to issue a check for $2,000 if the dog owners signed an agreement stating they would not take the case further. Instead, they’ve filed a lawsuit—seeking damages of over $25,000.
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My friend had a dog groomed at PetSmart. When she picked her up she was lethargic and coughed a lot. She became so alarmed with the little dogs actions that she took her to a vet. The vet examined her and discovered her trachea was damaged. The vet told her to ask PetSmart if the dog had fallen off the grooming table. They told her yes she had. My friend threatened to sue them but they paid the vet bill and gave her back the cost of the grooming if she would drop the matter. She did, but never took her dog there again, thank God.
Pretty weird when a company goes ahead and cremates your dog for you :/ Poor couple, hopefully no more dogs are hurt
Here is my experience at Banfield:
I took my kitten in yesterday in an emergency he suddenly became sick and my regular vet was closed for the day. The first thing I found out about these Banfield people is they are disgustingly predatory and actually prey upon people with pets in distress. First they charged me 40.00 for just visiting the office (visiting the office!!). Then they wanted to do a blood test on him that cost 175.00 dollars for information they could find out much cheaper. Never have I seen such outrageous fees anywhere in my life.
The second thing I learned is they are incompetent when it comes to reading and dealing with people. It turned out my kitten, who has always been indoors, tested positive for the virus FIV. This killed me especially as this little kitten chose me and has been more like a buddy and a funny roommate than a kitten. I know I said I wanted to die, but they could have checked and made sure what I meant. I felt I had failed my little friend, and it crushed me. But they didn't check, they didn't ask if I was ok, nothing like that. Instead, they snatched the kitten away from me and lied to me, saying they were going to clean him up. Unknown to me, they were calling the police while I waited! Yes, called the police who proceeded to haul me away in front of an entire store full of people. These disgusting vermin (Banfield) had the audacity earlier to not take the kitten's temperature because they said they didn't want to "stress him out". Gee, ya think maybe forcing him to stay in a strange place scared and alone might "stress him out???" But, how silly of me, then they could charge more money to keep him overnight!
So, as it stands now, I cannot even go to get him. What are they going to do, call the police again? Or just keep him as long as they can so they can get more money? Banfield in Independence, MO, you people are the most disgusting people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting,