IWhen I took my 13 year old lab mix to the emergency vet, I wasn't informed that a student would be who was working with us.. He had yanked hard on his leash which he normally didn't do, and all of a sudden he couldn't breathe and bubbles of blood were coming out of his mouth.. this was after normal vet hours, so I went to the emergency vet hospital. The woman who dealt with us couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.. she put him in an oxygen box and took blood, etc but 3 hours later, still couldn't give me a definitive answer as to what was happening.. they told me a new vet was coming in at 3am and I could call then.... so I did.. this was a great relief because she asked me a few questions involving symptoms prior to this happening, and stated that she was certain that he had a partially paralyzed esophagus.. He came home the next day, a little worse for wear, but ok.

To say that this was stressful is an understatement. The student clearly didn't know what to do.. and did unnecessary tests, etc. which really shot the price of the bill up as well. Had I known in advance that it was going to be a student, I would have declined her service. I did ask for another vet to come into the case, but they said they were slammed that night and no one was available. Be that as it may, I was very disturbed with how it went down and think it should be essential to give pet owners the right to know who is going to treat their pet, and offer them a choice, if they do not want an inexperienced student working on their animal.