Banfield Pet Hospital review: misdiagnosis almost killed my kitten

I adopted a kitten on June 9, 2013. It was a 5 week old rescued barn cat that my niece had found. I immediately noticed he had shallow breathing and a cough. I was very concerned as respiratory illnesses can be so dangerous for cats. I took him to Banfield for an exam. The veterinarian that examined HIM, kept call him her/she. I told her it was definitely a male to which she responded "I'm really not good at sexing kittens". This raised an eye brow. Anyway, after the exam and testing for Giardia and intestinal parasites my kitten was returned to me with an overall assessment of "Excellent". The vet prescribed Clavamox for an upper respiratory illness that was in his head but not in his chest. She repeated there was no sounds of fluids in his lungs.

After 9 days on Clavamox, my kitten had not improved or his condition change at all except the coughing got a little worse and his spells would last longer. I took him to a local vet who has been in business for over 20 years upon a friends recommendation. It was instantly recognized that my kitten was distressed because he could not breathe. An x-ray showed he very severe pleurisy. The vet while doubtful he could survive due to the severity, admitted him to the clinic and gave him a steroid injection. He was monitored for 48 hours and x-rays repeated. He showed a lot of improvement even though there was still some fluid in his lungs. We were able to bring him home and have another appointment in two weeks.

I am so upset with the vet at Banfield for not recognizing or hearing he had fluid in and around his lungs. His symptoms were exactly the same with both vets. I don't even want to go into the fact she couldn't tell he was a male cat. I would never go to a Banfield clinic again and will warn all my friends and family with every social media tool i have not to ever take their pets there. Also, maybe had the vet been more interested in my kitten instead of trying to SELL me a Wellness Package, she would have recognized that my kitten was not in excellent health but in distress because of lack of oxygen!