Wellness Program visit to Banfield

We have Miss Kitty enrolled in an "Optimum Wellness Program" at Banfield Pet Hospitals -- usually located within Petsmart stores. As a senior kitty, this includes two checkups a year as well as her vaccinations and other services (though many "other" services are additional cost too). It is nice because they have access to her previous visits to Banfield Pet Hospital locations with any test results or recommendations which have previously been done (we want the same for our own medical and dental care!).

Waiting for her appointment -- Carl has his hand inside the kennel giving her attention. She makes everyone in the area is aware that she is *not* pleased to be there!

Check in desk at Banfield

I am not certain whether this is a hold-over from COVID or what... but they seem to have "drop off" appointments only. We check in at the desk, someone comes to take Miss Kitty to the back -- in this case, when the vet was ready to see her -- we wait out front, the vet comes out to chat with us about any concerns we have or anything she wants to communicate to us, and they someone brings Miss Kitty back to us. Why we don't go into an exam room with Miss Kitty and communicate with the vet there, I'm not sure... there *are* exam rooms, and for some types of appointments, I guess you go into the exam room with your pet, but not for checkups. 

I did ensure this time that we got a "drop off" appointment at a time during which the vet would not be doing surgeries or otherwise occupied. A few times, we have dropped Miss Kitty off and she has been at the pet hospital for a few hours, not for any care of her, but because she is waiting until the vet can see her. It seems that this upsets Miss Kitty and she does not seem to be "normal" for a day or so afterwards. I know that we are overprotective pet parents, but, we're trying to minimize the stress in her (and our!) lives!

So, we saw the vet very quickly and were done in a matter of minutes.

We generally like to see the adoptable kitties at Petsmart, so once Miss Kitty was done, we walked around looking for the adoption area. There had been a place near the Pet Hospital, but there were no animals in there, so we checked to see if they were somewhere else in the store.

Instead, on the far side of the store, we saw a number of dogs in a room with one staff person overseeing them. Some were playing, some were sleeping -- I should have gotten a picture but didn't think of it...

It turns out that it was a Doggie Daycare, or PetsHotel. This list was a "sample" of the types of activities that the dogs might engage in!

We talked with a lady who was coming out of the PetsHotel check-in area with her dog. I asked her if she brought her dog there for daycare - she said she brought her dog once a week for playtime with other dogs - that back home in Iowa he would get to play with his "cousins" but during the winter season here in Mesa, he didn't get a lot of play time.

The things we do for our furry friends!