Maddy Beckwith has been taking her parrots, guinea pigs, cats and bearded dragon to the U-Vet Werribee Animal Hospital for a decade.
When she heard the University of Melbourne was thinking of closing the hospital it was "devastating" for the Geelong pet owner.
"All of Victoria relies on U-Vet, especially the west," she said.
"There is no-one this side of Melbourne that really services exotic animals now who will take clients."
Ms Beckwith is not the only one alarmed, nearly 5,000 people have signed an online petition to keep U-Vet open for 24-hour care.
President of the Australian Veterinary Association's Victorian Division Hugh Millar says while pet owners will be impacted by the closure, he is primarily worried about the loss of a university teaching hospital.
"We certainly understand the financial pressures universities are under, and veterinary training is quite expensive," he said.
"But our concern is that it's far more effective for clinical teaching experience to be integrated into the veterinary school itself."
A University of Melbourne spokesperson told the ABC if the change was to go ahead "clinical placements would be delivered under a fully distributed model", where students would be embedded in commercial hospitals alongside university staff.
"This change would enhance clinical training and student experience by ensuring access to a greater quantity, type and breadth of caseload for acquisition of clinical competencies in high quality, industry-relevant clinical environments," the spokesperson said.
Mr Millar says having students in different private clinics could result in variable teaching standards.
"In a veterinary course it's particularly important that the clinical teaching is strong, because unlike in the medical profession, there aren't the teaching hospitals or residency programmes that graduates can move into," he said.
"They move out into the world and work in real veterinary clinic situations."
Change 'not fair'
Third-year student in the University of Melbourne's doctor of veterinary medicine Irene Kim says a sudden change to clinical training "isn't fair" on students.
She was meant to do placements at the university animal hospital next year, but now she doesn't know what will happen.
"If they do placements at distributed general practices, this will be the first time they are doing it, so students are concerned," she told ABC Radio Melbourne's Drive program.
"There is no guarantee the training will be standardised across all the different clinics."
Ms Kim is also worried that about 80 staff could be made redundant, including many of her "lovely and hardworking" teachers.
In a statement, a University of Melbourne spokesperson told the ABC the change would not impact students.
"All courses and clinical teaching will continue," the spokesperson said.
Redundancies before Christmas
One U-Vet nurse, who spoke to the ABC on the condition of anonymity, said she was told if the change went ahead she would lose her job before Christmas.
"We knew things were bad, but we didn't expect them to give up hope for the staff and the students," she said.
"It's quite frightening … we have nurses here who have just taken mortgages, leases – it's really poor form."
The vet nurse is calling on the University of Melbourne to continue running the hospital.
"It's not only going to affect the students, it's going to affect the wider community as well," she said.
"The whole industry will be impacted by this."
A spokesperson said the university was "engaging with multiple stakeholders as part of this process".
'A sad day'
For Joan James, her dogs are like her children. When they were sick she wanted the best care possible and that meant taking them to Werribee Animal Hospital.
"It's a very sad day for all concerned," she said.
"It's such a specialist centre on this side of town, it's a huge loss for Melbourne and Victoria."
Ms James says her nine-year-old boxer Darcie wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for U-Vet's experienced staff and advanced equipment.
Ms James said the staff at the animal hospital went above and beyond for their clients, and the costs were reasonable.
After her beloved boxer Isabella had to be put down in 2013 with cancer, the staff sent her a bereavement card.
"It was unexpected, but it was very much appreciated," she said.
"The compassion that was shown was amazing – it felt like a family."
If the hospital closes, she worries about the people who will lose their jobs and pet owners who will no longer have a place to go when there is an emergency.
