AshesR
Member
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2013
- Messages
- 7
Petsmart sold me a severely underweight chinchilla, their "vet" didn't realize that.
First of all, Max is doing MUCH better than he was, but I just wanted to share my experience here because I thought it was completely unbelievable. I've heard horror stories about pet stores before but I thought "Surely that won't happen to me!" ಠ_ಠ
Also, I did not realize he was underweight because he is the first chinchilla I have ever owned, he seemed active and he was still eating. I was completely clueless as well. But I'm not the store selling the animal, and I'm not the vet saying that I'm qualified to assure someone that their chinchilla is healthy.
I'm just glad that I brought him to a better vet, and now I'm going to buy a scale to keep track of his weight in the future as well since I know now that it's a great indicator of whether or not they're getting sick.
This is what I emailed to Petsmart corporate (names removed for posting here). There is a tl;dr!
On March 6th, 2013 I purchased a chinchilla from Petmart.
On March 11th, 2013 I observed him have five seizures late in the day. On March 12th 2013 I returned him to Petsmart early in the day in order to have him looked at by the vets at Banfield. Before I returned him I called and asked if the vets there were used to looking at chinchillas. I was told yes, they do examine chinchillas. At 6:30 that evening I called to see if I could pick him up. I was told that the vet had not examined him yet and would call me back in 25 minutes. I did not receive a call so I called back at 7:30 and I was told that the vet was not finished with him but would be finished by 9:00 when the store closed.
I went to pick him up and the store manager working that evening told me that she owns chinchillas and that the vet at Banfield did not know what was causing his seizures. I was told I could return him but I didn’t want to and took him home. He did not get any better and in fact got worse so on March 22nd I took him to another vet who examined him.
She told me that he was severely underweight and this is what caused his seizures. He had actually gained weight while in my care at this point. She ran some tests and determined he also had coccidia. She told me that he had been very ill for a while because of the condition that he was in. Later that same day (March 22nd) I called the Petsmart that I purchased him from and explained the situation and was told that I would be reimbursed for the cost of the vet bill.
On March 23rd I went to Petsmart and was told by a different manager that I was not likely to be reimbursed for the vet bill and I could have just brought him back to be examined by the Banfield vet again or returned him to the store. I told her that when I had him examined five days after I bought him I was told that the vet was unaware of what could be causing his seizures, which was my motivation for taking him to another vet. I told her that the vet had told me he was severely underweight and that was what had caused them.
I asked her what tests were run on him while he was being seen by Banfield and was told that no tests were performed and he was just observed. I was told that because he wasn’t observed having any seizures at that time, no tests were run. I asked her if he was weighed. She assured me that he was weighed. I asked her how the vet could weigh him but not identify that he was severely underweight. She said she didn’t know.
I asked if there was any paperwork documenting his vet visit and she told me that she could show me the paperwork. Then she told me that they did not have the paperwork and when she asked Banfield if they had the record of it they said that their computers were down so they could not access the information. The manager told me the name of the vet who saw him that day.
I was very confused as to why she would know which vet saw him, that he was weighed, and that no tests were performed without having any access to the paperwork. I am also very confused as to why my chinchilla could have been so severely underweight without that being identified by any of the Petsmart staff or Banfield staff. He weighed 264 grams at the time of the vet examination on the 22nd.
I also told her that he had been housed with one of their other chinchillas at the time who was still in the store, and since he had coccidia they might want to examine that chinchilla as well as the two new chinchillas who were there in the same cage with that one on the 23rd.
If I had known that he could have been so sick and was not examined thoroughly when I brought him back to the vet at Banfield on the 12th I would have simply taken him to another vet immediately. This was why I asked on the phone before I even brought him in if those vets were familiar with chinchillas. I’m very disappointed that he was so ill when I purchased him, that he was not examined thoroughly when I returned him on the 12th, and that I was not able to access any of his paperwork on the 23rd to see exactly what was actually done for him while he was in the care of the veterinarian other than simply being observed.
TL;DR: Petsmart almost starved my chinchilla to death before I purchased him, then asked me twice if I wanted to just return him. Their "vet" didn't know anything about chinchillas and couldn't tell me why he was having seizures five days after I bought him. It was because he weighed about half of what he should weigh. He also came with parasites! Then I took him to a vet who owns chinchillas herself and now he's on the mend.
First of all, Max is doing MUCH better than he was, but I just wanted to share my experience here because I thought it was completely unbelievable. I've heard horror stories about pet stores before but I thought "Surely that won't happen to me!" ಠ_ಠ
Also, I did not realize he was underweight because he is the first chinchilla I have ever owned, he seemed active and he was still eating. I was completely clueless as well. But I'm not the store selling the animal, and I'm not the vet saying that I'm qualified to assure someone that their chinchilla is healthy.
I'm just glad that I brought him to a better vet, and now I'm going to buy a scale to keep track of his weight in the future as well since I know now that it's a great indicator of whether or not they're getting sick.
This is what I emailed to Petsmart corporate (names removed for posting here). There is a tl;dr!
On March 6th, 2013 I purchased a chinchilla from Petmart.
On March 11th, 2013 I observed him have five seizures late in the day. On March 12th 2013 I returned him to Petsmart early in the day in order to have him looked at by the vets at Banfield. Before I returned him I called and asked if the vets there were used to looking at chinchillas. I was told yes, they do examine chinchillas. At 6:30 that evening I called to see if I could pick him up. I was told that the vet had not examined him yet and would call me back in 25 minutes. I did not receive a call so I called back at 7:30 and I was told that the vet was not finished with him but would be finished by 9:00 when the store closed.
I went to pick him up and the store manager working that evening told me that she owns chinchillas and that the vet at Banfield did not know what was causing his seizures. I was told I could return him but I didn’t want to and took him home. He did not get any better and in fact got worse so on March 22nd I took him to another vet who examined him.
She told me that he was severely underweight and this is what caused his seizures. He had actually gained weight while in my care at this point. She ran some tests and determined he also had coccidia. She told me that he had been very ill for a while because of the condition that he was in. Later that same day (March 22nd) I called the Petsmart that I purchased him from and explained the situation and was told that I would be reimbursed for the cost of the vet bill.
On March 23rd I went to Petsmart and was told by a different manager that I was not likely to be reimbursed for the vet bill and I could have just brought him back to be examined by the Banfield vet again or returned him to the store. I told her that when I had him examined five days after I bought him I was told that the vet was unaware of what could be causing his seizures, which was my motivation for taking him to another vet. I told her that the vet had told me he was severely underweight and that was what had caused them.
I asked her what tests were run on him while he was being seen by Banfield and was told that no tests were performed and he was just observed. I was told that because he wasn’t observed having any seizures at that time, no tests were run. I asked her if he was weighed. She assured me that he was weighed. I asked her how the vet could weigh him but not identify that he was severely underweight. She said she didn’t know.
I asked if there was any paperwork documenting his vet visit and she told me that she could show me the paperwork. Then she told me that they did not have the paperwork and when she asked Banfield if they had the record of it they said that their computers were down so they could not access the information. The manager told me the name of the vet who saw him that day.
I was very confused as to why she would know which vet saw him, that he was weighed, and that no tests were performed without having any access to the paperwork. I am also very confused as to why my chinchilla could have been so severely underweight without that being identified by any of the Petsmart staff or Banfield staff. He weighed 264 grams at the time of the vet examination on the 22nd.
I also told her that he had been housed with one of their other chinchillas at the time who was still in the store, and since he had coccidia they might want to examine that chinchilla as well as the two new chinchillas who were there in the same cage with that one on the 23rd.
If I had known that he could have been so sick and was not examined thoroughly when I brought him back to the vet at Banfield on the 12th I would have simply taken him to another vet immediately. This was why I asked on the phone before I even brought him in if those vets were familiar with chinchillas. I’m very disappointed that he was so ill when I purchased him, that he was not examined thoroughly when I returned him on the 12th, and that I was not able to access any of his paperwork on the 23rd to see exactly what was actually done for him while he was in the care of the veterinarian other than simply being observed.
TL;DR: Petsmart almost starved my chinchilla to death before I purchased him, then asked me twice if I wanted to just return him. Their "vet" didn't know anything about chinchillas and couldn't tell me why he was having seizures five days after I bought him. It was because he weighed about half of what he should weigh. He also came with parasites! Then I took him to a vet who owns chinchillas herself and now he's on the mend.
