[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

Exaggerations or lies, call it what you will, I call if lying if we aren't 100% truthful & I'll blatantly lie if I think it gets my possibly grievously ill/injured family member, be they skin or fur, seen immediately for a quick professional triage and physical eval. But I believe God & society forgives a lie told once, twice in a lifetime under these circumstances by a very scared & worried caregiver whose motives are pure.

I applaud your vet tech teacher for teaching you the rule that if the owner thinks their pet has an emergency, you must consider it one, too!

Less experienced techs or receptionists w/o much intake experience just don't have the years of training, experience to properly assess an excited owner's often piecemeal, hurried history of their often excited or lethargic dog's present condition as to whether that dog is at risk of losing life or limb, whatever unknown poison he's swallowed rapidly working or his bronchitis quickly becoming double pneumonia, etc., compared to a receptionist, inexperienced vet tech with a few months of vet tech/assistant training.

And sometimes even dogs in the gravest of conditions can briefly rally, perk up due to adrenaline rush by feeling ill/injured, scooped up & hurried to the vet by an overly-excited owner w/ all of the scents, sounds, sights, energy of a vet's office, thinking the dog is fully oriented and alert, thus can't be dealing with an emergent issue. Of course I realize crying wolf too often will cause unwanted repercussions but thankfully most dog caregivers don't have to face this type of terrifying situation once, twice in a lifetime.

That’s what happened with Callie. She started walking fine in the ER office but I pushed for X-rays and nothing was found but as soon as we got home she was limping again. We went to our vet the next day who actually examined her and found a spot that hurt her and made her cry. Ended up being a soft tissue injury that required a specialist. Her front shoulder was over extending when she landed from a jump. Luckily that office was bought out by a different company and got better vets by the time Joey and Ollie had their ER visits.