a thing I learned:

As a student, one of my jobs (oftentimes) is taking a history from clients while (or before) we start examining their pet.

[Tip! If you're in a veterinary hospital, giving a concise and accurate history of your pet's problem(s) will absolutely make your visit happen faster. Faster!  Faster is better!]

Good history:

"Okay, so Jerry started vomiting last night after I fed him dinner.  He vomited three times, and each time it looked like digested food.  He seemed okay overnight, but he didn't want to eat this morning.  He's been drinking okay, and he hasn't had any diarrhea.  I don't think he's eaten anything he wasn't supposed to."

Bad history:

"Jerry?  Well, I got him when he was three - no, maybe four.  You see, we don't actually know because we adopted him from the neighbor when they moved away.  I think they were moving to Spain so the husband could teach chemistry at a university there.  Maybe it was physics.  Anyway, he was really happy to come and live with us, but my other dogs stare at him all the time.  I think it stresses him out.  He comes and sits by me and breathes loudly.  Except sometimes he stands when he does it.  I don't know why.
Anyway, sometimes I let him out in the yard by himself, but I haven't done that in a while.  Sometimes he stands under the bird feeder.  Last night I fed him dinner while we were eating - we were having roast beef, and I fed him in the kitchen so he wouldn't whine - and after dinner while we were watching Project Runway...

(at this point the other person in the room interrupts)

"No, we were watching The X Factor."

"Whatever.  We were watching The X Factor and he threw up.  I don't know how many times because my husband cleaned them up and he doesn't remember.  I think it might have been four times"

"It was six times."

"How do you know? You never remember anything!"

Et cetera.