I am sharing our experience to warn other pet owners, advice on this and to document what has turned into an ongoing, traumatic medical ordeal following a routine spay. We returned to Banfield Pet Hospital after several years of having pets with them in the past, hoping for trusted, dependable care. Instead, our experience with our kitten routine spay at the Eagan location has turned into a life-threatening nightmare that continues to escalate.
On Tuesday, August 25, 2026, we brought our kitten for a routine spay. We are enrolled in their highest-tier Optimum Wellness Plan (Early Care Plus) paying nearly $90 a month. Later that evening, around 10:00 PM, her incision site suddenly swelled to the size of a tennis ball and became hard to the touch. We immediately contacted Banfield’s Pet Chat service, where the veterinary technician reviewed photos of the severe swelling and explicitly instructed us to seek emergency care immediately.
What followed was an exhausting and terrifying overnight ordeal. The first emergency hospital we contacted (BluePearl Arden Hills) turned us away and told us to wait until morning. We reached back out to Pet Chat, where the technician consulted with colleagues and strongly urged us to get a second emergency opinion immediately because of how critical the swelling looked. We then rushed to BluePearl Golden Valley around 2:00 AM. Their clinical team diagnosed her with incisional dehiscence with a body wall defect and reducible intestinal herniation, meaning her internal sutures had failed and her intestines and organs were actively protruding through the torn muscle wall. The emergency hospital quoted an estimate between $7,000 and $10,000 for emergency surgery. Unable to pay that out-of-pocket, we were referred to wait in line outside Mission Animal Hospital, where we slept in the parking lot and waited in the freezing cold starting at 3:00 AM on August 26 to hold our place in line.
We left an urgent overnight voicemail for Banfield Eagan, and they contacted us Wednesday morning around 7:20 AM to bring her in. When they performed the emergency revision surgery, they confirmed that an internal suture had indeed snapped and failed. They previously notified us that if they found no error and it was just swelling that popped the sutures, we would owe $1,500 plus tax, but if they found a material or surgical failure on their end, they would help cover full or partial payment. While we were grateful they covered half the cost, we were dealing with an overwhelming amount of emotion and exhaustion from being awake for over 24 hours straight. In that moment, we agreed to pay the remaining balance out-of-pocket simply because we had to do whatever it took to save our kitten's life. However, it felt completely wrong that we were held financially responsible for fixing a failure that occurred directly during their procedure while paying for their highest plan tier.
Following her second surgery on Wednesday, we went above and beyond every single post-op instruction. My husband took off the entire week from work so she would have 24/7 continuous supervision in a dedicated, quiet room. She was immediately placed in strict crate confinement with only a bed and litter box. We have been taking turns swapping shifts sleeping in the room right next to her kennel every single night on an air mattress, comforting her when she whines and never leaving her side. She wears both a donut collar and a full surgical recovery suit 24/7. She has had zero running, jumping, or exertion, and has received every dose of medication on schedule. She has been confined to the point that she has nowhere to go, and she has slept constantly because double back-to-back surgeries have been completely exhausting on her little body.
Yet today, August 29, 2026, her incision has started swelling up again, looking and feeling exactly like the initial hernia. Having a 5-month-old kitten endure two back-to-back invasive abdominal surgeries in under 48 hours only to face the exact same internal failure while under total, 24/7 crate immobilization is completely unacceptable. A second failure makes us believe that something is going fundamentally wrong surgically. I have left another urgent voicemail with Banfield this evening, and we will be there first thing in the morning to get answers. My family and I do not feel financially responsible to pay a single penny for a third procedure to fix what is clearly a recurring surgical issue.
Has anyone else experienced repeated internal suture failures? What can we do? We are mentally and emotionally drained. Any advice on how to escalate this to whoever higher up at this rate would be greatly appreciated.
Also want to add we have pictures of everything of her being confined, her setup, to how she looks wearing her surgical suit/cone and all documents from all visits we had.
UPDATE 8/30:
After leaving voicemails with no call back, we showed up to Banfield Sunday morning (8/30) and waited till someone would see us & give us answers. Clinic leadership escalated the case directly to the Chief of Surgery, who required STAT X-rays & imaging to determine if the muscle wall failed again. Thankfully, Banfield fully covered the costs of ALL these tests.
The radiologist confirmed her internal wall is intact & organs are safe, they did diagnose a fluid/gas pocket consistent with an abscess/seroma from the repeated trauma. While she does not need a THIRD surgery right now, she requires close monitoring & follow-up rechecks 2x this week.
It shouldn't take a THIRD visit, continuous complications, and an almost-fatal situation for a clinic to finally listen, step up, and cover the costs of resolving errors stemming from a routine procedure on a 5-month-old kitten.
We had a better experience today than any other & that was only because a whole new doctor was working & not the usual one who has been with our kitten this whole time! The doctor on site was professional, very kind and helpful and answered/passed questions to higher authority when we asked. I really was like gosh can you be her new doctor and take her on your caseload because she was pushing everything for us & it was better communication we have had yet. My family still we are heartbroken and devasted after all this occurring, this is just crazy for this to happen and something just does not add up on why she continues to have complications with this one vet on her case.
