Emergency Vets


Emergency Vets is a reality television series that airs on the U.S. cable network Animal Planet. First aired in 1998, it depicts the working and outside lives of the veterinarians at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, Colorado, USA, plus the animals that they treat. At its peak of popularity, Emergency Vets alternated with The Crocodile Hunter as Animal Planet's most popular show.
The show stopped first-run production in 2002 because Alameda East was occupied with building and eventually moving into a new facility in Denver. In 2004, a new documentary called E-Vets: The Cutting Edge aired on Animal Planet, showing the changes in Alameda East Veterinary Hospital since the show's final episode. The documentary scored good ratings and has been rerun several times as part of the Whoa! Sunday umbrella anthology show on Animal Planet, as well as inspiring a follow-up episode first aired in 2005 that took viewers on a tour of the new Alameda East facility while showing cases of animals receiving cutting-edge treatment at the new hospital. Another documentary, Emergency Vets 20 Most Unusual Cases, aired on Whoa! Sunday in 2006, featuring 20 cases from the series including follow-ups with the families and interviews with the doctors involved.
In 2007, Animal Planet announced that the real-life drama at Alameda East would return to prime-time airwaves under a new title, E-Vet Interns. The new series features six new veterinary interns during their first year of residency practice at the new Alameda East hospital, as well as familiar faces Dr. Robert Taylor, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, Dr. Preston Stubbs, and Dr. Holly Knor. In preparation for the new show's debut on January 22, 2007, Animal Planet aired a new E-Vets special, E-Vets: Things Pets Swallow, featuring memorable cases from the Emergency Vets years dealing with dramatic objects that animals have ingested.

Staff

Emergency Vets featured a mix of surgeons, general practitioners, specialists, veterinary technicians, and Alameda East's annual class of 4–6 interns per year. Among the staff members featured regularly:

Surgeons

At least eight years of education are required to become a veterinarian: four years of college and four years of veterinary school. Many veterinarians undergo additional postgraduate training, including internships and residencies.