I need your support and asking everyone who cares about animals to post this to their facebook page and also not shop in Petsmart or use their groomers. Two years ago I purchased Bear, a pure bred Shi-Tzu. He has become my baby. Everyone loves Bear cause he is just so cute and so loving and playful. I was going out of town on a conference and I was taking him with me…and I certainly did not want to take him out of town looking like an alley dog. Unfortunately I waited until the last minute to call my groomer only to find out he was also out of town. I had no choice but to take him to Petsmart…despite my reservations.
I told them to cut his hair short, don’t skin him, leave his hair long on his ears and make sure he still looks like a ShiTzu. I had to take him there one time before and I was not really happy with the haircut and swore at that time never again. But I was desperate. This time when I picked him up I was shocked at his haircut. He looked like a skinned rat with long hair on top of his head AND he was acting funny. I thought maybe he was mad at me for leaving him there all day long…you know toy dogs can be funny like that. I got in the car and hugged and kissed him and that’s when I noticed not only is his eye red but it’s slightly swollen AND he’s keeping it shut. I went back inside to ask them what happened to his eye. She looked said it was nothing and tried to put drops in his eye but he wouldn’t let her. She walks him over to Banfield…the animal clinic…to get some help and she comes back saying she had the vet put the drops in his eye and he removed a bugger from his eye, like when we wake up with sleep, no big deal, he’ll be fine. (He was never checked in nor was this documented by Banfield). I told her he was fine when I brought him in and now his eye is swollen and red and that is a big deal to me. This is not how I left him. I told her I was going out of town and I will be back when I get back if there are problems.
The whole time we were gone I thought Bear was sleeping A LOT but I later realized he was trying to keep his eyes closed. He refused to eat, he drank minimal water, and he just laid around lifeless. He kept curling up in my arms and just laying there for hours. He is normally an active, friendly, playful, loving-natured dog who hardly ever sits still unless I am still, so seeing him laying around lifeless worried me sick. I knew this had to be more than a matter of them getting shampoo in his eye.
My grandson kept saying over and over Poor Bear I feel so sorry for him…
Because he kept his eye shut most of the time I couldn’t see how bad it was. I was still thinking that it was irritated but Friday you could tell it was bad…but still couldn’t tell how bad it really was
Saturday morning his eye was worse. He let me put a warm rag on it and I noticed the puss was a little bloody, ewwwl. I never saw him scratch his eye, in fact he would not let anything near that eye so I knew whatever happened to him was bad, and it was hurting and I had to take him back to the vet.
As soon as I got back I took him to Petsmart. The lady that put his drops in his eyes on Tuesday was there and she was shocked when I showed her his eye. As soon as I said I want to take him over to Banfield so they can check him and they (Petsmart) should pay for it another clerk butts in the conversation and says, while shaking her head no, that I should have brought him back when it happened. It sounded like the beginning of a cover up to me. I reminded the person I was speaking to that I brought him back in before I drove off on Tuesday and I told her I was going out of town and wouldn’t be back until then and if he was still having a problem, I would bring him back. She acknowledged that she remembered. She called the manager to speak with me.
The manager finally got there and walked me over to Banfield (the vet clinic) and told them to examine him. The vet examines him and says she is 99.9% sure he is going to lose his eye and she said with this injury even if I would have brought him in earlier to start treatment, it probably would not have done much good because of the breed and the kind of eyes they have. The Operations Manager gave me my money back for the bad groom job but Bears injury was beyond the scope of Banfield services so I had to take him to an emergency room in Cary, which is not exactly around the corner from me. They examined him and said he has a perforated cornea that caused an ulceration. In other words it appeared that the groomers somehow cut his eye and it was now infected. She said if the groomers made Banfield examine him properly then early treatment might helped him. They admitted him in ICU so they can administer antibiotics every hour until Monday when the ophthalmologist could examine him.
Monday the doctor reported that Bear was worse and the bottom line was it was best for them to take his eye, which they did.
In speaking with Petsmart they started pissing me off because they were VERY slow to return phone calls and in speaking with me their main concern was trying to convince me that they did everything they could and they still don’t know that they did this…despite me having a photo when I dropped him off..fine to picking him up…injured.. They have yet to pay the last $400 of the vet bill (as of this writing) but they said they will pay it. The will not reimburse me for time I took off of work as if I have any extra time with my own medical problems and all the time I had to take off for the other stuff going on in my life… you know my vacation time saved to get days off is precious, plus normal medical after care (like getting his stitches removed) or for any part of his purchase price. He is not a mutt nor is he a $100 ASPCA dog. He is a pedigree dog with papers. If I wanted a one eye dog I am sure I probably could have gotten one for free or far less cheaper than he was.
I am asking that everyone who reads this story post it on their facebook page to warn others not to use Petsmart grooming salons and if you can help it not to shop their stores either. Please let your friends know. This is the information age and businesses can no longer treat us any old way and expect to get away with it. When we hear of things like this we need to warn others and stop these big business from doing what they want.
No dog deserves what happened to Bear
Please post it for all the Bear’s you might save from Petsmart groomers.
Thanks
A City Girls Country Dreams 
Wow Facebook just disabled my City Girls account! I posted a link to this page on Petsmarts page so their own fans can see it. I mentioned it on a posting and someone text me 10 minutes later and said it wasn’t on Petsmart wall anymore. I went to go look and bam…FB had shut down my account. LOL. That’s okay though… look how many people are sharing the story on FB and have already read it. In the end its not going to be worth it to them for not refunding me for everything I am out by this incident with my baby. I think I might take a trip to the store this weekend with Bear and just stand outside so when people stop and ask about his eye (which they always do) I will tell them his story.
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So sorry about your sweet baby. My dog kept having conjuvitus of her eyes after grooming and i tried to talk with her about it she was hateful and i left her after 5 years. She didnt care about my dog. It was all about the money. I have a new groomer. I hope your Bear continues tonbe ok. I have heard horror stories about Petsmart grooming.
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okay another update…just that quick. They reinstated my page but said that I am prohibited from posting for 15 days. LOL wow…well I still have my blog and I can write what I want on here.
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Hi hope your baby is doing good with one eye , I’m just going through the same thing with my two pups , I took them to groomers as soon as I picked them up I new there was something wrong with there eyes ? She sprayed perfume on there heads and it’s gone in there eyes , I went straight to vets both have chemical burns to there eyes , l spoke to groomer she won’t say sorry or pay vets bill , going to court , mine have got better and not as bad as yours these people suppose to care about our pets I think money is more important? Hope you and dog get a good outcome all the best xx
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Thank you for visiting! I am sorry you had to go through this. It really hurts to see a defenseless animal in pain because of another’s neglect. I pray your baby recovers. The courts won’t do anything other than make them reimburse you up to the cost of the animal and they are not entitled to pain and suffering as they are considered chattel. You are lucky if you get that much!! Good luck with your journey and feel free to post an update
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Interesting facebook comment:
The Federation of Animal Stylists & Dog Groomers said:Sadly you cannot blame them now as too much time elapsed before you sought veterinary help for your suffering dog. You should have delayed your trip and put your dog first, in seeking a vet, investigation and treatment straight away. Not allow him to suffer over those 5 days, and for infection to take hold. Even the Vets told you you should have come sooner. Sorry but the blame lies with you in not seeking help straight away.
2 hours ago · Like · 1
Acitygirl Countrydream said: well you must have misunderstood the story because when I picked my dog up and pointed out that something was wrong wiht his eye she brought the dog over to Banfield who is not only a vet BUT HIS VET and when she came back she said that they said there was nothing wrong with him he just had a bugger in his eye and would be fine… they wiped his eye out and put in the drops. SHe also claimed not to be able to see that his eye was red. Banfield said later that the groomer only asked them to assist them in putting drops in his eyes and not examine him. If they had not taken him over to Banfield and then represented that the vet confirmed that he was okay I would have certainly taken him to be checked out sooner. So sorry but I disagree with your harsh judgement, blame does not rely on me on this one. If I were the groomer and a dog I had groomed had a red swollen eye and I had a vet at my disposal like that I would have done the responsible thing and had the vet check him out before he left my custody rather than try to divert blame from myself without knowing if it were serious or not. In fact Petsmart has now changed their policies because of this making it mandatory to have the dog checked by the vet in a similar circumstance. I din’t think the common groomer reaction would be to blow it off and not take responsibility. THANK GOD MY GROOMER IS NOT LIKE THAT!! Do you work at Petsmart? LOL
The Federation of Animal Stylists & Dog Groomers said: Well I’ve read both posts, thought you had him groomed on the Friday, not the previous Tuesday! Be grateful uyou are in the USA cause if you left a dog that long here in the Uk before seeking Veterinary attention, you would be in trouble under The Animal Welfare Act 2007.
9 hours ago ·
Acitygirl Countrydream said:This is your wall and you are entitled to say whatever it is that you want to say but I do find it interesting that the groomer injured my dogs eye yet you are saying if I was in the UK I would be the one in trouble. I guess it does not count that the groomer lied on Tuesday claiming that MY DOGS VET checked him out and said he was okay and this would clear up in a day or two. Or was I suspossed to assume that the groomer lied? I am not sure I follow your line of thinking. And it was Tuesday evening when I picked him up and Saturday morning when I took him to the emergency room. Sorry you think it is okay for the groomer to injure an innocent dog and then lie saying the vet checked him out and he is okay. Note to self…remember to make sure Fed of Animal stylists never touch my dog. I am done commenting on this on your wall. You have a right to think whatever.
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PS and for the record I did think that maybe he had gotten shampoo in his eyes. Are you saying in a nice way that I was wrong for believing that this would go away in a few days like they said and I should have taken him to a vet?
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This is so sad it has happened to Bear. The good part is he is doing fine now.
Bad situation for both sides. Having groomed dogs for 35 years and never had this happen I really have no answer. I did do a clipper burn one time. Clipped a few toe nails too short. Mats were so close to the skin and the clippers got hot. I felt so bad. I did not even hear about it for a couple of weeks and I even worked for the vet they took the dog to. Was not serious but I am sure it was uncomfortable for the dog. But then the people knew how badly matted he had been and some of it was urine scald.
Anything can happen when you are working with an animal and so quickly. I always used safety measures in restraints, double harness head and body. Just in case they tried to jump off the table I did not want too much pressure on their necks. Most dogs did not even need restraints after I clipped them a couple of times. They just sat there. They were my buddies. But then I was in small town very few dogs to do I was the only groomer so they all got to know me.
Eyes are so fragile and I know when I scratched my eye on a Sunday I was at the clinic first thing Monday morning for help. I was in the parking lot waiting for them to open. There was no way it could wait any longer. Even carefully flushing it with saline solution hourly and cold packs on it constantly and keeping the drainage cleaned off my eye was swollen and terribly painful in less then 24 hours. The doc cleaned it again ointments and a patch and it took about a week of treatments for it to heal.
It is not all right of Petsmart to just blow this off.
On the other hand having just been through a huge stressful situation to the point it made me ill for over a year and a half I am not sure what I would do about going further. I do hope you can get this resolved soon.
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Found on FB:
Christin Davis Chase
To petsmart- I do not see how you guys can not see how the cart that my daughter was in malfunctioned! Aparently you guys still have not done anything to pay my childs hospital bills due to not caring about someones kid. The seat that is there on a cart for kids to sit in is NOT suppose to come out towards you, suppose to go in so the carts stack. You guys seem to have malfunction in the company especially since I have pix of the cart! Don’t expect me to buy from you guys again!
Like · · about an hour ago via mobile
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Brenda Sparks
I took my 9 month old Chorkie “daughter” to get a grooming today at your store on Marion Blvd in Oceanside, California. Danae was her groomer. When I picked my little girl up I was given her “report card”. Denae also told me that my pup kept walking off the table (this was only the 2nd time she ever had been professionally groomed). She stated it happened several times, then she had a co-worker help her stay still and on the table.
So basically my baby was left unattended on the grooming table and she continually kept falling off resulting in hanging herself every time.
Seriously??? Why was my dog left unattended on the table in the first place??? And when she fell off the first time (which should have never happened) Danae repeatedly allowed my dog to have to opportunity to fall off. As a result of this UNPROFESSIONAL and UNSAFE conduct by your groomers, I will NEVER take my dog to your groomers again, EVER. Further, I will be informing all my fellow pet “parents” of this incident and encourage them to seek a groomer elsewhere. You will never see my sweet baby girl in any of your stores again!!!! I am a completely disguested and disappointed customer!!!!!
Like · · 3 hours ago near Vista, CA
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Whoa! You are making an assumption that your dog was left unattended. From what she told you and my experience, is that your dog kept falling off the table because she was wiggley. Doesn’t mean she wasn’t there to catch the dog. She did the right thing in getting assistance to keep her on the table. If she was left unattended, your dog probably would have some serious injury or worse. She could have not told you anything about the experience but was responsible in informing you of what happened (some better tact could have been used) instead you form your own conclusion and now rallying your friends to boycott Petsmart?! C’mon,
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Angela, wrote what am imagination! I am not sure where you got your information but it did not fit in line with my story about my Bear. if you want to continue to take your dog to petsnart that’s on you. I read way too many horror stories to ever take that chance again not to mention my own personal experience. And even if it was an accident if they had really had a vet check his eye out it would have been able to be saved. Have a nice day and thanks for visiting.
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Wow. Dogs left unattended to repeatedly fall off the table, eyes scratched. Im a groomer and Im appalled. You never leave a dog unattended, not even for a second, I dont care how busy you are. If I must answer the door or phone, I pick the dog up and take it with me. I can understand how an injury can happen being groomed however. We work with very sharp tools on wiggly living things. People have this idea that dogs just sit quietly while we groom them. That is so wrong. Some dogs are all over the place and dont stop for a minute. That being said, if something does happen you have an obligation to tell the owner right away and help seek the correct care. Not sluff it off. What is a small injury can become huge if not cared for right away. So sad this happened..
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Sent to me via private message. i wanted to share but did not include the name…
I read your story about your Little one. I am a groomer and i have to say i was pretty appalled at some of the comments you got about it being your fault? That makes no sense to me. We have to take responsibility for our actions as a groomer. Trust is put into us each and every time a client drops off their dog. Now unfortunately accidents do happen. But it is up to us to own up to that.Let the client know “this is what happened” If a Vets visit is whats needed then i beleive we are responsible for that bill. I would never turn around and say “well its youre fault” We have to put ourselves in the clients shoes.
I have been grooming 9 yrs and have very rarely injured a dog and if i have it has been minor nicks (thankfully) We do work with moving target and its not an easy thing or an easy job.What a clients dog is like at home isnt always what its like on the grooming table. But we chose this profession.It may look it but its not.But we have to be as careful as we possibly can and only do what we can do to ensure safety.But i have always beleived that no matter how minor the injury it should still be told to the owner. I would never want one of my dogs to be injured and not be told. Its irresponsible. The majority of groomers think the same way but as in any profession there are some that dont.
Clients do need to take some responsibily for some actions.. i.E.. Bringing in a fully matted dog and expecting a fluffy dog in return…we do not own magic wands. This of course is not the case with youre little one but just an example of what happens and so much more in our profession.
I would also like to add that not all Petsmart groomers are aweful. I Know some that are extremely good. So i wouldnt generalize about those groomers.I do think they could have treated this differently and i’m sorry that they did not. And the groomer that did work on youre dog should have owned up to what happened. As bad as it is to have to tell a client something happened its so much worse to not. I think most clients if told would be more understanding rather than find out later.I am just very sorry that youre little one lost an eye.Could something have been done sooner to save the eye..I dont know but regardless of that you should have been told upon pick up that something happened and it should be checked out. Its our responsibility.
England is different in laws but that doesnt make it right that the groomer is let off the hook. I am originally from England but have lived in the States for 22 yrs. I would have told you immediately regardless of laws.
Well anyway i just wanted to say that i’m sorry this happened and i hope you get it resolved..
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I appreciate your comments. I was starting to think that maybe I was crazy for thinking that they should have owned up to what they did. I posted a photo of him with my grandson and that was taken Thursday night. At that point he still looked like the eye was just irritated. It wasn’t until Friday evening when I realized it was something more drastic and by that time I could not do anything quicker than Saturday anyway. The other scary part is that I normally put him in a kennel when I go out of town but this time I was able to bring him with me. Imagine what would have happened if I found him like this Saturday morning upon returning to pick him up from the kennel. Petsmart would have tried to blame the kennel!!
The only reason I think Petsmart groomers are terrible is because they are not properly trained and seasoned. I have used 3 other kennels here. One I take him to normally. They are busier than others but they are very caring groomers and he never comes home stressed out. Second is at the boarding kennell and they are really good and he is never stressed there either. The only reason I don’t have him groomed there is because they are kind of far from my house. Third ones moved and I don’t like their new location. They are really good also.
As soon as he walks in Petsmart he starts shaking uncontrollably. I thought it was because there are so many dogs in there and he gets nervous around other dogs, probably because he is so small.
Anyway I really appreciate your comments and support. There is no way I would purposely make him suffer. Lesson I learned out of all this? Dogs don’t cry when in pain. They suffer in silence. I will be more mindful of that in the future, if, God forbid, there are any more disasters.
Thanks again
~Jaya
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DRAMA ON FACEBOOK. LOL AND SMH. This guy who claims to be someone from some England Grooming group…which I am not sure is even anything more than something he made up is still going on trying to make this into something that it is not. Quite interesting in how he twisted the story completely around…he needs to get a life. Some people don’t have anything more to do than flame people. For what???
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The Federation of Animal Stylists & Dog Groomers said: Well I’m not sure if you will red this or not, but for others and to adress your comments about not ever allowing anyone of us to handle your dog her is what happens in the uk.
Ok here is what happens in the uk. We are governed by health & Safety regulations and legislation that we as a business handling animals have to follow.
I have been in business as a groomer for over 40 years
Our dog clients always come first, they have to, or we wouldn’t be in business very long.
When we take in a dog for grooming, we assess both the clients needs and the dogs condition and advice the client as to the best groom for their dog, going on the condition of the coat. Here in the UK, if a dog comes into the salon with knots under The Animal welfare Act we have no option but to remove the knots humanely and without causing the dog pain or distress, this no means no brushing or combing out of those knots, we can only remove via clipping the coat off.
Going back to the assessment, if we notice a health issue or coat issue that would affect the dogs grooming we discuss this with the client.
If there is a need to obtain the services of a Vet urgently, we would suggest this, and refuse to groom the dog on that day.
Under the legislation in place, should we notice a problem at this stage we would fill out a Vet referral form, and also note down a copy of what we observed. And hand the vet referral from to the client.
If the assessment went fine and no problems were found and we accepted the dog for grooming, the owner would fill in a form giving details of her Vet and contact details should we need them during the groom and also giving us permission to act on their behalf should an emergency arise.
If then during the groom we either found an issue that would affect the dogs grooming and that issue should we continue with the groom
Or
Something occurred that caused us to be concerned, we have to call the owner straight away, to inform them of our findings and what they want u to do.
If it is a medical issue that is urgent, we can then take the dog to the owners Vet and obtain emergency treatment on the dogs behalf.
If it is not an emergency we have to fill out a Vet referral form, detailing what we found, what occurred, etc and hand a copy to the owner, requesting that they take their dog to their Vet to receive treatment and advice,
We also have to write down in the Accidents and incidents book what occurred.
This record book forms part of the Health & Safety regulations in place in the UK,
Any accident or incident that results from something we find, or occurring in the salon has to be reported,, through RIDDOR, failure to do so means any insurance claims or results from the incident could get us in trouble.
The record book also can be inspected by our local health & Safety council officials, and be used as evidence in insurance claims or Official claims and complaints.
The fines are hefty and to avoid following these legislations would be very irresponsible.
We also have to follow up with the owner to see if they did indeed take their dog to their Vet, and the outcome.
If they didn’t bother, then we have to note this down in the record book, and from that point, because we have followed the guild lines, any problems from the issues we raised are no-longer our concern, nor could we be held responsible under the regulations or an insurance claim, because we did what we are obliged to do in asking the owner to take their dog to the Vet as soon as possible to gain treatment for the dog.
Despite knowing your dog was showing signs of discomfort you did not take your dog for immediate treatment. Even though the following day puss was present, which indicates the problem had been longer than 24hrs, you still did nothing.
Instead you waited 5 days before taking the dog to the emergency Vets.
During that time lapse the infection ran rampant. Where as, possibly had you taken the dog to the Vet on the Tuesday, treatment with antibiotics could have prevented the bacteria from building to such a point that the eye could not have been saved.
The fault is not the Groomers now, but yours for not taking the Groomers advice and getting your dog to your own Vet on the Tuesday, but choosing to go out of town and during that time allow the dog to suffer unnecessarily instead.
Have you sought the advice of your own ASPCA? It would be interesting to hear what they have to say.
Acitygirl Countrydream said: wow you are still going on with this? Okay 1- all you said is fine and dandy we all have laws and regulations. That does not excuse you from harming a dog and then making like nothing happened. 2- I never said he had puss the next day,.,get it straight I said puss was present Friday evening and I took him to the vet the next morning. oh and I picked him up Tuesday evening when a problem was noted did not see how bad it was till Fri evening and he went to the vet sat MORNING that’s 4 days not 5…unless they count days differently in your part of the country 3- They…PETSMART… claimed to have had the dog checked out Tuesday which turned out to be a lie….told you this over and over so why would you now say I should have taken the dog to a vet Tuesday like they told me to???Where in Gods name did you get that from???? THE GROOMER SAID HE HAD THE VET CHECKED OUT TUESDAY DON’T TWIST THE STORY TO TRY AND MAKE YOURSELF RIGHT AND STOP EXAGGERATING. OMG. READ THE STORY AGAIN. AND NO I WOULD NEVER TAKE MY DOG TO YOU BECAUSE AS YOU HAVE PROVEN BY YOUR RESPONSES YOU DON’T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, YOU MAKE THINGS UP, YOU EXAGGERATE AND YOU WILL TWIST A STORY TO TRY AND MAKE YOURSELF RIGHT NO MATTER WHAT,,,YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE ANYTHING AT STAKE HERE AND LOOK AT YOU. LOL AND SMH,,,UN FREAKING BELIEVABLE….WOW AND DOUBLE WOW…MY STORY HASN’T CHANGED. someone wrote me a message…I posted it on my blog. I have to assume she is one of your readers. Maybe you should read what she said…it applies MAINLY to you.
Acitygirl Countrydream said: I GUESS YOU ARE JUST ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE THAT LIKES TO FLAME AND GET PEOPLE RILED UP FOR NO GOOD REASON. OR MAYBE THERE IS A REASON THAT YOU ARE NOT SAYING. WHY DON’T YOU JUST SPIT IT OUT??
Acitygirl Countrydream said: PS I just looked up the “federation of animal stylists and groomers” and there was nothing in Google except your facebook page. Is this even a real entity or just a name you made up to make yourself sound official?
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I am not a groomer but have always had dogs,and I am curious as to why you did not go with the petsmart staff to the vets,if I felt my dog had been injured even if it was minor I would have needed to see the vet examine it,so I knew for myself every thing was OK.
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It all happened so fast. After the fact there is a lot of things that could have been done differently. Of course being on the outside looking in everyone is going to have opinions but being there in the situation is a whole different story. Banfield is not part of Petsmart they are leasing space and they are Bear’s vet so there was no reason for them to lie. Who lied was Petsmart when they said they had them check him out when all they did was ask them to put the drops in his eye. Anyway. The story is there I am not going to beat a dead horse. I have not always had dogs, this is my first dog.
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I got this follow up comment by message today:
This has been a discussion on a grooming board i belong to .Some are in agreeance with me, some are not.Each to thier own Some tbink you should have cancelled you’re trip and not taken the word of the person who took you’re dog over to Banfield.
I said that we shouldn’t assume it was a trip that could be cancelled and not being rude in anyway but said that we as groomers see and notice everything about a dog in our charge.We see dogs all day long and its easy to assume that a pet owner sees every little thing and if told everything is ok its assumed it is.
So anyways i for one believe you were in no way to blame and think it a shame that others think you are
There where several that agreed with me
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What she said about not being a professional and knowing what to look for and also believing that everything was going to clear up hit the nail on the head for me. Just like some people run to the doctor for every little thing just to find it was nothing and some wait till they know for sure it is really something and sometimes the timing is okay and sometimes not. None of us are perfect!
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Just checking to make sure this is a Petsmart in Raleigh. Saw your dog’s picture on WRAL and my husband and I were SO angry for you. This is not your fault. It is a pattern of lying that they do. So if you could say which one I would be grateful. My husband and I won’t give money to liars who hurt animals.
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Thank you for your support, I really appreciate that. It was the North Durham store…1720 N Pointe Dr.
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They are on our “Do Not Shop” list, and we will also be posting on PetSmart Facebook. No one gets to hurt animals and then make a profit off of them. Good luck with your fight!
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Thank you. How did you find my blog? I went to the contest and see they took the link off. I did see though that there were 48 people who got to my blog by googling “Petsmart made my dog lose his eye” LOL.
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I’m so sorry that happened to your dog! I work at a Petsmart in Canada and when we notice a dog seems to have an injury, we document it and take the animal to the vet (we don’t have Banfields in Alberta) and get the injury checked out! even if it’s just a small little nick from matting. The Petsmart that I work for pays for the visit, medication and follow up care. We do follow up phone calls to check how your furry friend is doing and genuinely care about the animals we see. We don’t charge for the groom if an animal gets hurt either. We also don’t say you have to take your animal to see a vet immediately! If you feel that it’s not serious then we give you a couple of days grace period to see how if it gets better without veterinary care and if it doesn’t they still pay for the vet care! This story hits me close to home because one time I had a dog come in with an eye infection. I didn’t check him in so I wasn’t able to do an assessment of him before he entered the grooming shop. But right away I noticed something was wrong with his eye. It was all full of green pus. My manager told me to finish his groom so I did but made sure to tell his petparents that he appeared to have an eye infection and too take him to see a vet. They came back a few days later and blamed me for his eye, even though he came in with the infection. Yelled at me and told me he was going to lose his eye now. I didn’t even use scissors near his eyes. They were the ones who didn’t take the time to see how their dog was doing and then they blamed me for it. I felt so bad for their dog! I told my manager that we should pay for his bill anyways because he shouldn’t have been allowed into the salon with his eye like that in the first place. The Petsmart I work for are going to pay for his vet bills. I’m still not sure what the end result is going to be. I’m so very sorry that the groomer you took bear to see is someone who doesn’t care about the animals that she sees! Don’t blame all petsmart groomers though. Blame the shitty people who live in this world who only care about money! I care about the animals I see and do my job with safety first as my number one priority! Also I am proud to say that I have never cut a dog 🙂
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Thank you and judging strictly by your response I do believe you care. If you do a search on the site you will see how I even had trouble getting them to pay the entire bill. Accidents happen, its how they handled it that one made my dog lose his eye and two pissed me off so bad. It left a really bad taste for them and I do not believe there is anything they can do to change that now. I had to use time off of work and now if I want to breed him I have to buy another dog and then start over with all the shots and such. Thank God he is doing well now though and adjusting to one eye, even if he does look weird!
Thanks for responding
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Unbelievable. I just had a horrible experience at petsmart too they traumatized my poor 5 month old poodle puppy but they messed with the wrong girl. they could of seriously injured her. You don’t just throw a puppy on a table and expect them to behave. In my case they didnt’ even complete her she looked terrible. I ended up taking her to another groomer and they told me she wasn’t that bad just needed a gentle touch and another pair of hands to calm her down. she was scared and frightened.
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Unfortunately the only thing you can do is spread the word on them
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OMG the same thing happened to my dog !
I am so sorry your dog had to lose an eye. My dog got groomed about a week ago at PetSmart. After her groom she was forcing to keep her left eye open. It wasn’t until about 20min later we were driving home and she would not open her left eye. She was pawing at it , and was in obvious pain, and was swelling. I called the groomer to ask if a hair, or some shampoo got in her eye. He said nothing obvious happened and to put some drops in it. About an hour or so later we took her to the vet (where I worked at) because she still was not opening her eye. The vet did an exam and noted she did have an ulcer in her left eye. It was 2mm diameter and visible when they put the dye on it. The vet gave us some eye drops , and thankfully it got better in a week. It is all clear now.
However Petsmart is now doing an “investigation” and seems as if they are covering up, because the groomer noticed her eye was watery half way through the groom. My dog is on tylson for tear staining (she is a Shih-tzu/Lhasa/chinese crested) I told them her eyes tend to water because she has tear staining. And because they were not there for the incident they had to do an investigation. I gave them my dogs vet history, which they now sent to head office. ALSO she was with me at work the whole day, and nothing was wrong with her, I have my whole work to back me up on this. She even had an exam a week before her groom and the vet said her eye was fine. I am going to be so mad, and will consider getting a lawyer if they find a way to back out of it. My dog went into grooming PERFECTLY HEALTHY and came out with an ulcer on her left eye. If they dare to tell me it wasn’t their fault, I will be extremely mad. Please email me back . Thank you !
PS…To make things better. They did not even call to ask how she was doing. Or to even bother ask the full story. I had to explain it to them. I told them how she was doing. Did not even bother to ask how her 2 re checks went. I am trying to get them to pay for her vet bill, because it is costly. To even think she could have lost her eye due to her injury makes me so mad. I am so sorry for what had happened to your dog. It just makes me so sick.
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I am so sorry about your dog
My dog is having her eye removed (due to a mass/tumor inside). I hope Bear is doing well. This statement bothered me in your post…”He is not a mutt nor is he a $100 ASPCA dog. He is a pedigree dog with papers. If I wanted a one eye dog I am sure I probably could have gotten one for free or far less cheaper than he was.”
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You had me until your nasty comments about rescue dogs. And ASPCA dogs. Rescue dogs are amazing animals, and the purchase of dogs from shelters and rescues cuts down on the puppy mill problem where the breeding dogs are housed in horrible conditions before being sold to pet stores.
Does your dog having one eye make you love him less? Listen. At least it wasn’t cancer. I ALSO have a 2 year old fully AKC registered dog that is having her eye removed because of cancer. I sure as hell will still love her.
I’m sorry for your dog’s pain, but they recover a lot more quickly than humans do from that kind of loss.
Your comment about “if I wanted a one eyed dog…” Made me sad. The loss of an eye doesn’t diminish the perfection of your dog. He still loves you just as much.
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Hi and thank you for your comments. I apologize for the delay in responding, but I have not been on here in a while. I personally would never buy a dog from a pound because you never know what you are getting. I prefer to have a purebred dog than an unknown mix. That is a personal preference and we all have our own preferences so that does not make it wrong or right.
Of course my dog having one eye does not make me love him any less. He is my heart and probably more spoiled now than ever. I do feel sorry for him and sometimes I notice the limitations in his reactions. When I said ” If I wanted a one eye dog I am sure I probably could have gotten one for free or far less cheaper than he was” all I meant was that I paid good money to ensure I had a normal healthy dog and I feel resentful that someone took his eye away from him out of negligence. I am not sure what you took as a nasty comment about the ASPCA dogs but maybe my comments came across wrong to you because it is something that is dear to you. I did not mean to offend by any means.
Have a nice day and thank you so much for visiting my blog and taking the time to comment!
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Idk if it’s a woman’s intuition or what!! I just picked my baby up about an hour ago from petsmart grooming…this was his first time at this particular location…and I noticed his eye was red so I googled it which led me to your blog. After reading your saddening story I checked my puppy all over. And what did I find….well he has a nick on his privates which I’m sure came from them shaving him and his paws are completely raw from where they tried to shave his paw pads…i am completely upset! If I pay $45 for a groom I don’t expect a surprise like this considering they did not even tell me this happened. I should’ve known by the looks on their faces something was up! I am so sad/mad/upset…lucky for them they are closed now 😦
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Hi Ms. Jay. I’m so sorry for what happened to Bear. I know how you feel about this situation. My dog’s right eye is infected right now because of a grooming incident. I didn’t take her to Petsmart, but I took her to a place called Pooch Pad Grooming. My aunt takes her dog there regularly and she told me that I should take my baby girl Dime there. Well here’s what happened.
Dime’s appointment was this Tuesday morning. I dropped her off and they didn’t get done with her until that evening. When I went to pick her up, I didn’t notice that something was wrong with her eye. It wasn’t until we got home that I noticed something wasn’t right. Her right eye was closed and she could barely open it. I called the groomer to see if they knew what had happened and they told me the last thing they did was spray some cologne on her and it might have got in her eye and irritated it. They also said that it could have been a hair that got in her eye. I flushed her eye and wiped it with a damp cloth, but it wasn’t helping. When I woke up this morning, her eye still wouldn’t open all the way, so I had to take to the vet. They examined her eye and put different kinds of eye drops in it. They said that her eye was really red and that her cornea was infected. Thank God she’s not going to lose her eye, at least I hope not. As far as we know it’s just an irritation. I paid over $170 for the vet visit as well as three kinds of eye drops that I have to put in her eye 2-3 times a day. I called the groomer to let her know what happened. At first she didn’t offer to pay at least half of the bill. She only gave me the next groom for free. I was pissed off. I finally got her to give in and pay for half. She put $50 back on my card and gave me the next groom free if I decide to take her back there, and I’m saying if. I understand that accidents happen, but this wasn’t a minor accident. It’s not like that cut one of nails too short or something. It was her eye. She could got blind or lose it because of them. I left her under their care. My aunt takes her dog to them all the time and nothing has ever happened to him. They did a great job with the grooming and I was pleased, but I wasn’t happy about this incident. I don’t know whether I should give them another chance or not. What if this happens again? If I do decide to take her back, I’m going to tell them not to spray her with the cologne because I think that’s what caused her eye to get infected. My girl is in a lot of pain. It’s hard trying to put all those eye drops in there because she wont open her eye long enough for me to do it and she wont stay still, but I’m trying my best to take care of her. Again I’m so about what happened. Poor Bear.
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I am sorry what happened to your dog. It sounds like an accident but still your dog is in pain. I do most of bears grooming myself now and he holds perfectly still. I have to take him to a groomer once in a while because I am not that good at it yet. He is doing much better but the limitations are still obvious. Hope your baby gets better!!!
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I worked at Pet- Co the treatment these poor dogs go through as soon as the owner leaves is brulal. They get hit with brushes, thrown in a small metal cage with a hot dryer on them, slammed in the tubs and choked with nooses and in some cases let hang off the grooming table so the groomer can get control. This is common in retail shops find a mom and papas shop with a good rep and tell them you want to see the back, if they say no leave with your pet
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I am so sorry that others have experienced this treatment
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