Benji the Dog Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales

Hiya. I'm Ferne.

I'm in Kent to meet Lulu and her dog, Benji,

and I hear Benji is going to see the vet.

This is going to be interesting.

And I'm Rory. I'm here at a safari park in Stirling

to see how the vet here keeps all the animals fit and healthy.

# Ferne and Rory telling you the story of some poorly pets

# We will take them Show you how to make them

# Better at the vet's

# Vet Tales

# These are our Vet Tales

# Vet Tales. #

Hi, I'm Lulu and this is my dog, Benji.

He's so beautiful,

and really fluffy.

Benji's nine months old and he loves to play.

These are my brothers, Joel and Daniel.

They like playing with Benji, too.

I love giving Benji lots of cuddles.

-Hi, Ferne!

-Hiya, Lulu. And you must be Daniel and Joel and Isabel.

-ALL:

-Hi, Ferne!

-Do you want to come and see Benji?

-I would love to.

-Hi, Benji.

-Aw.

Hello, Benji.

Oh, he's gorgeous. What type of dog is he, Lulu?

Benji's a cockapoo.

Oh, he's fantastic, and I love his curly soft hair.

A cockapoo means a cross between a spaniel and a poodle,

and because he's part poodle, that's why he has his curly fur.

Those are both fantastic dogs

and you can see his spaniel ears, can't you?

He fur's a bit like a teddy bear.

He's definitely like a teddy bear. He's beautiful.

Lulu, I hear that Benji needs to go to the vet today.

-Why is that?

-He has two extra dewclaws.

Oh, I can see here.

The dewclaw is like an extra toe, isn't it,

that some dogs can get.

It's important that Benji's dewclaws are checked by the vet

in case they get caught on something and they can hurt his legs.

-Are you ready, Benji?

-Come on, Benji. Let's go.

-Let's go.

Good boy.

This is vet Kylie.

She has been a vet for nine years.

She once hand-reared a baby monkey in South Africa

and has helped look after an orphaned deer.

Good boy.

There we go.

-Hi, would you like to bring Benji through?

-Yes, please.

Come on, Benji.

-Hi, Kylie.

-Hi, Lulu.

-Hello, Kylie.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hello, Benji.

-Here he is.

-Today we're having a look at his extra dewclaws, aren't we?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-He's got dewclaws on his front, which is normal,

but he's also got some extra claws on his back.

The front dewclaws have a purpose.

When they're holding things like bones or their toys,

they help grip them and chew them.

But the dewclaws on the back aren't very useful.

These often stick out and when he's running or playing

they can get caught on things and hurt him.

How are we going to remove them?

In surgery, he's going to be asleep under an anaesthetic.

Anaesthetic is a medicine that will put him to sleep for a bit.

Yeah, it's just makes him sleep so he won't feel anything going on.

What do you need to do to make sure he's OK for surgery?

We give him a health check.

Let's check his teeth. His gums are nice and pink.

We'll listen to his heart now.

What are you listening for with his heart?

We're listening to make sure it's going at a normal rate,

in a normal rhythm.

Benji sounds absolutely fine. Do you want to have a listen?

-What does it sound like?

-It's making like, "Ba-boom. Ba-boom."

And that's good, that's normal.

-Great, he's got a good, strong heart.

-Yes.

-Fantastic.

We'll weigh Benji now so we know how much medicine to give him.

-Come on, Benji.

-Come on, Benj.

Benji weighs...

nine...

-9.7.

-He's 9.7, is that a good weight for a male cockapoo?

Yeah, he's perfect weight.

-There you go.

-Benji's going to have some bandages on at the end.

It's time for Lulu to choose those bandages.

I like these ones.

These two. Perfect.

Sheep and tractors.

You are going to look so cool.

Good luck, Benji, be a brave boy.

I think he's going to be very brave.

A dewclaw grows higher up on the paw than the rest of the toenails.

Most dogs have dewclaws, especially on their front paws,

and do not need to have theirs removed.

But sometimes the dewclaw on the back legs can cause issues

if they catch on things.

So the best thing to do is get advice from the vet about them.

Benji is just getting his general anaesthetic

and this will put him to sleep.

This is Harriet, one of the veterinary nurses.

She's going to help Kylie and monitor Benji

-throughout the operation.

-We're just attaching him to

the anaesthetic machine now. This provides him with oxygen

and anaesthetic gas to keep him asleep.

Harriet is clipping the fur round his dewclaws

so that Kylie can see it when she takes them out.

His dewclaws are quite long.

All his nice curly fur was really good at hiding them.

Yeah, you can see how much it sticks out now.

You can definitely see it could easily get caught on something.

Well done, Benji.

Before Kylie begins surgery,

Harriet cleans Benji's legs to make sure there are no bugs or

bacteria around to make him ill. That is why we are wearing

these masks, hats, gloves and scrubs.

-We need to make sure the whole area is clean.

-There's his dewclaw.

Kylie just has to cut around the whole dewclaw

to make sure that she removes all of it.

Do you think it will take him a while to recover, Kylie?

He should be back to his normal self in a week or so.

Is there any risk of his dewclaw ever growing back?

No, they won't grow back once we've removed them.

And that's his dewclaw.

Now the dewclaw's off, I've just got to stitch up the skin.

Kylie stitches up Benji's leg so it will heal nicely.

Well done, Benji. Next foot.

Kylie does exactly the same with Benji's other dewclaw,

before stitching it up. I think Benji is doing fantastically

and Lulu will definitely be proud of him. Now he's all stitched up,

-what happens?

-Harriet's going to clean it all up

and then he can have his bandage on. Almost there, Benji.

I'm leaving his paw out so he can still walk normally

-and not get the bandage dirty.

-And he will have these bandages on

-for a few days before you check up on him.

-Yeah, we'll see him

in a couple of days, take the bandage off, have a look

and make sure it's healing OK. It's time for the tractors.

These lovely colourful bandages will stop Benji from biting his stitches

-and help them heal a bit faster.

-There we go.

-Well done.

Now Benji's operation is over,

Harriet stops using the anaesthetic gas so he can slowly come round.

While Benji wakes up,

let's see what else has been happening at the vet's today.

Chris' bulldog, The Governor, has been brought in

so the vet can look at an abscess on his foot.

John has brought in his pointer, Ash, to have treatment

using these tiny needles called acupuncture.

He comes every three weeks and has his acupuncture

and you're as fit as a fiddle now, aren't you, mate?

And these tiny puppies have been born at the vet's.

Aren't they adorable?

-Here's Benji.

-Benji!

-Here he is.

-Benji!

-Aw!

Aw, look at your little bandages!

He was very, very brave.

-Thank you so much, Kylie.

-Thank you, Kylie.

-You're welcome.

Lulu, it has been so wonderful meeting you and Benji,

do you think I could come back soon to see you all

-and check how Benji's getting on?

-Yes, please, Ferne, we would all

-love that, especially Benji.

-So would I. Thank you.

While we give this fluffy superstar some more cuddles,

let's see what Rory's up to.

HORN TOOTS

This safari park near Stirling is home to some fantastic animals.

And today I'm very lucky,

as I'm being allowed to get close to a very big cat.

This is Paddy, a vet here at the safari park.

-Now, Paddy, who's in here?

-We're here to see Bella

-and her keeper, Craig.

-Awesome, can't wait.

-RORY GASPS

-Wow!

-She is gorgeous, just look at her. Hi, Craig.

-Hiya.

Bella is an Amur or Siberian tiger and they are the heaviest

and largest cat in the world.

They can weigh the same as three fully grown men.

Paddy, what are you checking Bella for today?

Today, Rory, we're looking at her body condition

to make sure that she is the right weight.

I can't wait to see this in action. Tigers can be very

dangerous, so Bella has been brought into this cage so Paddy can check

her over. OK, so what are you looking for here, Paddy?

When she faces us, we can get an idea of any problems with the eyes

and also her teeth, to make sure they're looking healthy and

generally her body condition, to make sure her weight is as it should

-be, because we provide food for her.

-That's very important.

How is the weight looking, is it on the scales there?

The weight's looking fine. She's just around the 100 kilo mark.

Craig, I can see these yellow lines. What's that about?

This is a safety zone. When the tigers are around, we make sure that

unless the person working with the tiger is rewarding,

-like I am, everyone else stays behind the yellow lines.

-Okey doke.

Is everything sorted here? Paddy, have we got to move

-onto the next stage?

-Absolutely, she looks fine.

We're going to take her out of the cage and put her into her pen.

-Right, can't wait to see that. Shall we get going?

-Yeah.

-Cool.

What are you looking for here, Paddy?

The health of the underside of her paws, particularly the pads,

looking for any problems, any cuts, any grazes, any swellings.

The pads are the parts off her feet that she touches the ground with,

-she's walking on them.

-Yeah, the pads are firm and hard and protect

her from thorns and anything sharp on the ground, but they are

-susceptible to problems if she steps on something sharp.

-What are you

-testing there?

-Testing for any tenderness, any problems that might

-be just underneath the pads.

-Okey doke. Are they looking good?

-They're looking fine, looking great.

-Pretty impressive.

-Very impressive.

-Are you happy with everything?

-Everything looks great, no concerns

and I think we're done for the day. Would you like to give Bella

-her last treat?

-Absolutely.

-There you go, good girl.

-HE GASPS

Bella, you have been an amazing patient.

Craig, Paddy, thank you so much for letting me

-see this awesome animal up close.

-No problem.

-No worries.

Not long ago I met Lulu, her family and gorgeous little Benji,

who had his dewclaws removed. Now I'm back to see how he's getting

on after his visit to the vet.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hiya, Isabel.

-Come on in.

Thank you.

-Hiya, Lulu.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hello, Benji.

-He's been doing really well after his operation.

-He's been getting much better.

-Shall we check out his feet?

Yes. Let's do it, Benji. There.

Oh, yes, you can see one there. Wow.

And when the scabs come off, it will all be better.

It's looking nice, it's looking clean.

-Has he been licking it a little bit?

-A little bit sometimes

but he's mainly been very good about it.

I'm so pleased to see his leg is healing

-and he's getting back to his bouncy self.

-Good boy.

THEY LAUGH

Lulu, I've had a wonderful time meeting all of you

and beautiful little Benji here.

Thank you so much for coming to see us.

I hope you've enjoyed finding out all about Benji, too.

See you next time for more Ferne And Rory's Vet Tales.

-Bye!

-Goodbye!

# Ferne and Rory telling you the story of some poorly pets

# We will take them Show you how to make them

# Better at the vet's

# Vet Tales

# These are our Vet Tales

# Vet Tales

# Ferne And Rory's Vet Tales. #