Banfield Pet Hospital Niles, Illinois

Past experiences say this place is great, but overbooking made me look elsewhere

Came to pick up medication for my dog. The hours say open till 6, came in at 4pm and told me they were closed and now my dog is going without his insulin.

I’ve been bringing my dog here for 15 years. The reception and techs are always great, but the new veterinarian is horrible. Go to another Banfield.

Great staff. Kind, courteous, and truly care for each pet.

Very friendly, caring and knowledgeable staff!!

I scheduled a check up for my dog because she was PREGNANT. When I called they asked me if I called for a vaccine and specifically told her that it wasn’t for a vaccine instead because she was PREGNANT and wanted her to get checked. All was well until we took her to her appointment. When we got there the front lady asked if her appointment was for vaccines and once again we told her no because she was PREGNANT. We dropped her off and they told us the would call us in a few hours. When they called the doctor told us the she “noticed that she might be PREGNANT” but before that she had already given our PREGNANT dog 3 shots. She went on to explain that she did not see anything about our dog being PREGNANT in her notes. How unprofessional that after we explicitly kept repeating that our poor dog was PREGNANT they still managed to give our poor PREGNANT dog 3 shots. The doctor tried to explain to us that she called and did a bit of research to makes sure our PREGNANT would be okay and she said it would be very low risk of anything happening to her. That doesn’t excuse the fact that we came in with ZERO RISK and left with “low” RISK for our PREGNANT dog. When we went to pick up or PREGNANT dog we confronted the front desk lady and she kept assuring that she had noted that our dog was PREGNANT. This seems to show that the doctor and/or the staff were very unprofessional and ignorant to treating our PREGNANT dog. I would not want to take our dogs here ever again.

Even during a pandemic the doc and staff here are fantastic and well organized. They will be our go-to for years to come.

A few weeks ago we brought my dog in as he had something wrong with his eye where he kept closing it as if it was hurting him. The vet, Ravi Kumar Arvapalli prescribed him eye drops for two weeks saying it was an ulcer? A few days before his follow up check up, my dog began breathing much heavier , as well as coughing and gagging very frequently (he had been doing these behaviors occasionally the last time we took him to the vet). When we took him to this vet, all Ravi wanted to focus on was running tests on my dogs eyes, which were at this point fine. We urged him to focus on my dogs other very prominent issues but for some reason this vet only wanted to run eye tests (most likely to rack up bills). Finally he calls us saying that our dogs temperature is dropping and he must be taken to the ER to see a cardiologist. He then sends us to the wrong location of the ER. After finally being informed by the first location’s ER staff where to go, they told us our dog was in heart failure and his lungs were full of fluid. We had to put our dog down that same day. Everyone else at this Banfield is competent and seems to care for animals, whilst Ravi Kumar Arvapalli seems to only care about making as much money as he can by running unnecessary tests and procedures. I diagnosed my dogs symptoms with a simple google search meanwhile this “doctor” couldn’t even identify the problem on his own and now we have lost our best friend. Never bringing a pet here again and I urge others to do the same.

Friendly staff and fast service

I always feel safe taking my pets here. Extremely great people and they are great to our pets

I have been overcharged 50%. Nothing was done to help my dog. I was told that I had to advise the doctor what kind of tests I wanted for my dog. Doctors do not know how to read radiology results. When asked for the results of one of the tests I was refused to received it. No , I do not recommend this company.

Note: They only have one doctor on staff unlike other locations. Their front desk staff is so extremely rude, I just dont think I can ever go back. My family and relatives have 6 pets total on the wellness plan. We decided to NOT renew all of our plans this year. Yea, accessing pet records is awesome, but their portal is CONSTANTLY down, and the staff DO NOT want to send any records via email. They always give a bad attitude when asked to send records for insurance filing purposes. My 15 year old dog with heart murmur, that will never be cured, is on medication for the rest of her life, and they keep rejecting to refill prescription. I would just avoid this location at all cost. Or Banfield in general.

6 years with this hospital and never had a bad experience. We have a plan and a lot of service is free for us or for not a big money extra

Good but vet difficult to understand. This appt took too long to get. I wanted it close to my house! You have no vets? Or your company won't pay them decent money in order to keep them!? I expected to be at Evanston location next time.

Friendly staff and the techs actually listen. We just switched to this vet clinic after another location moved. Our concern was that our husky is very vocal and can be uncooperative. We let the technician here know and they even confirmed our dog could wear a muzzle if needed. After the first exam they did say the muzzle was needed since she was showing here teeth but never snapped at anyone. Now 3 visits in, the dog is more excited to see the staff here then us when we come to pick her up.

They do curbside pickup and have been super easy to work with during the pamdemic

$300+ charge for a just cat neuter procedure with about a month long wait. Portage Park Animal Hospital saw my cat the same week I called and offered a low cost option for $50 (plus pain meds & rabies vaccine for $120 total.) Half the price & done the same week. Anticruelty & Paws were also low cost options but also with a month long wait. I've seen other vets at this location for regular vaccines for my dog and it was fine but if you're looking for a spay or neuter try PPAH.

The doctors and the staff are amazing here!

I had a great experience bringing my 3-year-old cat in for a checkup. The front desk lady, Molly, was very nice. Dr. Shaw did a great job of examining my pet!

The vet Dr Shaw is outstanding

This place is the best

The vets and technicians are very friendly and tolerate my skittish kitty so well! It’s very convenient and I’ve been fortunate to get appointments pretty quickly when things pop up. The wellness plans have been very valuable so far as well, which makes it so easy to keep on top of my kitties’ preventative healthcare

I've been postponing my review for almost 6 months now in hope that my kitten will recover from the damage done in Banfield Clinic in Niles and that I will just forget about it. Sadly my kitten is still suffering and she did ever since I took her to Dr. Ravi Kumar Arvapalli, and I cannot get over the fact that that doctor still sees animals on a daily basis. First of I took my kitten to the Clinic for sudden overnight high fever and sneezing. She was almost 4 weeks old. Doctor was so unskilled that his technician found that my kitten had the worm in her neck, while the doctor did not suspect anything. I was happy someone found it so at the time it really didn't matter to me. Two days later my kitten becomes very ill. The worm used to be on the left side of the kittens neck, and what a "coincidence" that all of a sudden my kitten starts having her neck very tilted towards left. She started spinning in circles to the left. Shortly after (matter of a day or so) she becomes partially paralyzed on her upper left body. Left paw stopped functioning. I took her back to Dr. Ravi Kumar Arvapalli. He did some tests that did not give us any answers. Doctor did not have any answers neither. My husband and I started asking if maybe it is some reaction to some of the meds or treatments these previous days, since she was a totally different cat from the moment doctor saw her for the first time. We just asked, we are no conspiracy theorists but people who think, and ask questions since no one was able to help our suffering kitten. Doctor then said with no consideration to the sick cat or our worry: "Then stop giving her medication if you think it's harming her". Soon after, we got our answers from another veterinarian. Out kitten suffered from Cuterebra toxicity. That is the worm our kitten had in her neck. That type of larvae was supposed to be removed whole - not squeezed like it was in our kitten's case. After the technician removed the worms head with the tweezers they all kept squeezing it out. The worm released toxins that traveled to our kitten's brain. I wouldn't be typing this long review if Dr. Ravi Kumar Arvapalli showed any compassion, skill, if he cared at all. But he didn't. No answers but surely we got charged and no questions asked we paid. He damaged our cat for life and did not even follow up. I was concerned, sad and very worried and he brushed me off to stop giving her medication if I believe it's making her sick. What sentence is that? What a claim? I am not a delusional caretaker. I just wanted to know what is wrong with my loved little being. That treatment and medical error is cruel and unethical. In this same clinic they claimed my cat is blind - she sees very well - she finds even the thinnest transparent treads poking out from the woven table pads and usually entertains her self with it for a while. Doctor also blamed everything on inheritance from the mother cat since my kitten was not from the breeder but rescue cat from the street - tests proved him wrong, and another vet proved he is lacking professional skill and that he got my kitten to where she is today. Awful doctor. Wouldn't recommend him to anyone. Don't let him touch your pets. He is dangerous. And for his concern all cats found and rescued by descent citizens from the street are not feral. Most of them are being thrown out by cruel humans, with lack of compassion.

I had such a great experience today bringing my cat to this hospital. Everybody is so friendly, front desk lady is very nice and Dr. Shaw and her assistant did amazing job examining my cat Mysik, very careful and answered to all my questions:) For Mysik it was very good experience too because it is the first time she was so calm at the vet. I would definitely recommend Dr.Shaw!☺️

Knowledgeable staff and a great pet plan

I came in with my brother's dog yesterday in the afternoon for a per-operation physical and to go over and explain what my dog needed and what they will be doing to him. Everything seemed great during that appointment, but I was suspicious when I asked if the veterinarian needed to see the growth that he was scheduled to have removed today. We went over everything that he was going to do and how to take care of my brother's dog after the surgery. I left feeling confident that everything will go smoothly. The next day (today) I dropped him off for the surgery at 7:30 am. At 11am I picked my brother's dog up because the vet was not good enough to do the surgery. I was blamed for not telling him about the growth and was sent home with another Banfield hospital's number. The only thing this veterinarian did correctly was tell me he wasn't able to do the surgery instead of trying to and failing. The Veterinarian was clueless, self-contradicting, did not listen to me, and did not read the previous Veterinarian's notes or medical history. The staff was extremely helpful, patient, knowledgeable, and treated my brother's dog better than I could have imagined. He was said to leave them they were so great with him. There was massive lack of communication between the staff members today. Everyone had different information and I believe that stemmed from the Veterinarian.

Well the nurses def deserve more credit as usual. The doctors dont speak clear enough but the partners and nurses and workers all know their stuff.that 3 is for yhe doctors. They talk to fast and act like you dont know your stuff

Dr. Ravi is one of the worst veterinarians I’ve ever met in my life. Exams are not thorough enough, especially for senior dogs with pre-existing conditions (like a heart murmur). My dog was on the senior wellness plan, so there is no excuse for such poor lack of care. If I bring my pet in with specific concerns, I expect you to do your job and try to figure out what the issue is. My dog was brought in a few months ago for a wellness exam and she was dismissed without any concerns. Days later she started showing signs of a UTI, was lethargic and having uncontrollable accidents around the house. I ended up taking her to a different location (Mt Prospect) due to this one being booked the next day. A urinalysis was done and it was confirmed that she had a bacterial infection. Now had this test been performed at her wellness exam, it could have been identified sooner, but no big deal right? Fast forward to two weeks ago when my dog started showing the same signs again. I figured maybe the infection was back so against my better judgement I scheduled her an emergency appt at this location. She was scheduled as a drop off for the next day. I brought her in at 9am. By this time she was so lethargic she could barely walk. They kept her for 3 hours before they called me to tell me I needed to get back there ASAP and rush her to the emergency room because her gums were pale! I rushed there in a panic and was told they did blood work to try and identify what was causing her pale gums. They confirmed that her cell counts were critically low and that she probably would need a blood transfusion. I rushed her to BluePearl pet hospital which was about 15 mins away. I was 2 minutes away when I felt her take her last breath. Her heart stopped and when I arrived the hospital could not revive her. I don’t understand why it took 3 hours to exam an obviously very ill animal. I also do not understand why I was sent elsewhere to try and seek emergency help when you call yourself a pet hospital?!

I love the vet and vet techs here that take care of my cat. The vet explains to me what my cats chart means and his levels, so I can understand what's going on in his body. I feel he's in good hands when I drop him off here or just getting a quick checkup.

If you have a younger pet which has little health problems, this place could be for you. The monthly wellness plan includes all the shots for the year and 2 check ups. Plus free visits through the year only paying for meds or x-rays. Its a real bargain when you compare to other vets. Unfortunately it seems to be a revolving door for staff. In 7+ years I think I've seen the same dr twice.