I generally support this petition but I have some reservations about how this could become misleading to the public. If a veterinarian is a specialist and wants to hold themselves out to the public as a specialist, I would propose that the Board require the “specialist” to post in the animal hospital or clinic: • What the Board of Veterinary Medicine requires of a veterinarian to be certified as a specialist • What special training, education or experience that the veterinarian has that has allowed them to be certified as a specialist • What tests or certification requirements that the veterinarian has taken and successfully passed or completed that certifies the veterinarian to be a specialist. Certain phrases such as “Board Eligible” could be meaningless. Essentially any licensed veterinarian is board eligible—if they were to complete the education or testing requirements. Having learned the hard way that when a veterinarian tells me that my kitten has to stay overnight “so that they can keep an eye on her” really means we will document before the clinic closes that she is non- responsive and then leave her alone in the dark to die is their definition of “keeping an eye on her”, I am skeptical of the ability of the average veterinarian or the Board of veterinarian medicine to regulate this in a manner that actually protects the pet and the pet’s owner as opposed to protecting the vet and the veterinarian profession. (The note that said she was non-responsive was written at 4:40 in the afternoon and the clinic closed at 5pm and no one called to tell the owner. Especially after telling the owner she was waking up fine at 2:30pm. But this is an appropriate standard of care in the Commonwealth) This needs to be very transparent so that clients are not misled. To protect clients and pets everyone needs to know what a specialist is and how a specialist becomes a specialist. Posting this in the clinic is one way. Another way to be transparent is to require vets to give the same information in a written document to the client when the pet is seen. Medical doctors will have framed copies of their diplomas and certifications on their office walls so that the patient can view them. Respectfully submitted