Meg the Dog Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales

Hiya, I'm Ferne and today I'm near Swansea in Wales

to meet Connor and Carys and their lovely pet dog

who has gotten a little too big, so she needs to go to the vet

-and we can go too.

-And I'm Rory.

I'm at a wildlife centre in Cheshire

to see how the local rescued wildlife is cared for here.

# 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. #

Hi, I'm Connor.

Hi, I'm Carys.

And this is Meg.

She's a chocolate Labrador.

She's nine years old.

She loves playing with her toys.

Her tail's so waggy.

We love cuddling her.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hello, you must be Connor and Carys.

-Lovely to meet you. And you must be Mum, hi.

-Hiya, Ferne.

-Do you want to come and see Meg?

-I would love to go see Meg.

Let's go.

Oh, hello, Meg. Hi!

Oh, she's gorgeous. Look at that tail.

-What's her favourite thing?

-Cuddles and eating.

She eats a lot, doesn't she?

-She ate my sandwich.

-She ate your sandwich?

What a cheeky dog!

-She's a bit big for her breed, isn't she?

-Yeah.

-And so does she have any health problems?

-Arthritis.

-Her joints were sore.

-Poor Meg.

A joint is where two bones meet each other

and they can move around and this helps us to move our bodies.

Arthritis is a disease that humans can get too

and it causes the joints to swell up and they can get stiff

and be very painful, and it can be sore for her to walk,

-can't it?

-Yeah.

-Tamara, what are you doing to help Meg and her arthritis?

We've put her on a weight reducing diet, she gets fed twice a day.

Has that been helping her?

She's doing really well. She enjoys her diet.

-Has she gotten bigger or smaller?

-Smaller!

She's a bit smaller already. Well done, Meg!

We're going to the vet for a checkup, do you want to come too?

I would love to. Are you ready, Meg?

This is vet Rhiannon.

She wanted to be a vet because she loves all sorts of animals.

Her favourites are cute, cuddly kittens and squeaky gerbils.

Right, guys, how's Meg been?

-Good.

-Good? How's she been with her diet?

-Very good.

-Very good.

We'll give her a check, see how she's doing,

and then we'll get her weighed. Shall we have a look at her eyes?

Let's see if they're nice and clear and nothing's running from them.

We'll check her teeth and just see that they're nice

and healthy so she can eat her food without her hurting.

Shall we listen to your heart? Cos she is little overweight,

her heart has to work a bit harder than most dogs

so we just make sure it's working effectively

and pumping that blood around nicely. That sounds really good.

Let's have a feel of your ribs. She has fat over those ribs

which does make it a little harder to feel them.

Shall we have a look at your bad leg?

Make sure there's not too much swelling over that bad joint

and it can move nice and easy, and she's not too stiff

and it's not bothering her too much.

-Great.

-So that's moving really good. That's it, good girl.

The next bit is weighing her, so it's the moment of truth.

-Come on, Meg! Right, this is the big one.

-That's it.

-37 kilos.

-That's great! She's lost four kilos, that's great.

That's almost the size of another small dog.

Will this help her with her arthritis and her heart?

Definitely. If she's weighing less, her heart works a bit better.

Meg's been going swimming regularly. Has that been helping?

Definitely. I recommended she went for hydrotherapy.

That's really good with the weight loss and also that bad leg.

Back to the hydrotherapy - that would be brilliant.

-Some more swimming - we can do that, can't we?

-Yeah!

Get your armbands, Meg!

Let me explain.

Hydrotherapy is a form of exercise

that is done in a heated swimming pool or tank.

Animals like dogs, horses and even cats can all do it.

The water will help to support the animal when exercising

and the warmth of the water will increase blood flow

to the muscles, which helps them to get stronger and fitter.

Come on, Meg.

It's time for Meg to go for a hydrotherapy swim

and I've come along to see how she gets on.

-Hi, Kerry and Leslie.

-Hi!

-Kerry, you've been

-the hydrotherapist who's been helping Meg.

-Yep, that's right.

-I think she's ready. Should we go to the pool?

-Yeah.

-OK, let's go.

Come on, Meggy!

Before Meg goes into the pool, Kerry puts a buoyancy aid on her

to help her float, and a headband to stop the water

getting into her ears.

Woo!

Well done, Meg.

How does this help her, Kerry?

When Meg is walking on the ground outside,

it's really sore for her legs but in the water she floats,

so she doesn't get the pain and she can run around

-and it's not sore for her.

-Do you think it's helped her?

I think she's able to move a lot better,

she's losing some weight and I think she enjoys it.

-Is she good at swimming?

-Really good.

Labradors are really good swimmers because they've got webbed feet,

there's skin between their toes so they can scoop the water

-so they can swim faster.

-Oh, she's speedy!

She's a lot faster on the water than she is on the ground, isn't she?

-How do you think she's doing?

-Really good.

-Yeah, really good.

-She loves it.

-She does.

So, Labradors like to have a job in the water

so I might get her a little toy.

-Aww!

-Well done.

Kerry, what are you doing with Meg's legs underwater?

I'm making sure that they're both moving the same

and that all her joints are moving,

cos one of her legs is more sore than the other one,

so I'm just trying to make them kick in the water evenly.

-Do you think they have improved?

-Definitely since she started.

We're going to try Meg with some waves to make it a bit harder,

-make her exercise a bit more. Here we go.

-Whoa!

Good girl.

Now she's really exercising. This will help her lose more weight

-and it will make her muscles bigger.

-That's good.

That's a really, really strong current. Meg is doing so well.

Yeah, really, really well.

-She's kicking her legs really hard now.

-Well done, Meg!

-Kerry, how did Meg do today?

-Meg's done really well,

worked hard, she's quite wet so she deserves a rest for today.

-What do you think?

-Definitely.

-Yeah!

While Meg dries off, let's see what else has been happening

at the vets with Rhiannon and her team.

Meg wasn't the only Labrador at the vets today.

Mist had a build-up of fluid in her ear.

She had an operation to get rid of it and now has to wear a cone

until it gets all better.

And another Labrador, Troy, was in for some X-rays.

He's been feeling tired lately and has had a little cough.

Jack is 15 years old - that's quite old for a dog.

He's been falling over lately and being a little sick

but all his tests were clear and he was given some medicine

to help him get better.

I have had a wonderful time meeting all of you

and finding out about Meg and her love of swimming. Thank you!

I'd love to come back and see how she's getting on

-with her diet and exercise. Would that be OK?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Thank you so much. I wonder what Rory's been up to today.

Today, I'm at a wildlife hospital in Cheshire.

I've come to meet vet Bev who's going to show me

how they help some poorly patients.

-Hi, Bev.

-Hi, Rory.

-What are we up to today?

-We've got some water birds to help today.

-Right, let's get ready.

-OK, so...

-Here we've got a puffin that's covered in oil.

-Right, OK. Poor bird.

-So you can see he's got oil on his feathers there.

-Absolutely.

-We need to get him washed.

This is Rob and Nicky, our wildlife assistants.

-What are you washing with?

-Washing-up liquid.

Shall we get going, then? This bird needs to be cleaned up.

-Oil is sticky, nasty stuff.

-That's why we use the washing-up liquid -

-it gets all the grease out.

-OK. What problems can oil cause?

Water birds, like puffins, have got amazing feathers

that are completely waterproof, which allows them to go in

and out of the water and not sink. The oil affects

that waterproofing and means that they can't survive.

-There's other problems with oil too?

-It's a very toxic substance,

causes all sorts of injuries when they swallow it.

-It's really nasty.

-What are the extent of this bird's injuries?

He's a little bit thin, but he's still quite bright,

he's still eating a little so we're hoping that it's not too bad.

That's good. How long do you think he is going to be at the centre for?

We'll see if his feathers are waterproof and if not,

he might need another wash and we want him eating fish normally,

build up his weight and be released where he was found.

Thanks for showing us that fascinating procedure.

Hopefully the puffin will be back in the wild and healthy soon.

-What's next?

-We've got another water bird, a cygnet,

-a baby swan, to go and take some blood from.

-Let's go.

Cygnets are young swans and this one is actually a teenager.

Cygnets and swans are related to ducks and geese.

-What are we doing today?

-We're going to collect some blood

for a test for a toxic metal called lead.

Right. What problems can lead cause?

Lead is a metal and it causes lots of different problems.

It can make some very wobbly, quite thin,

sometimes runny green poo, which is not very nice.

Not nice! How do they end up eating lead?

Fishing weights are often made of lead

and we see lead in other things in the environment,

because swans have got such long necks,

they manage to get it from the waterways

so they end up being poisoned quite often, unfortunately.

This guy is wobbly so we think he might have some lead in his system.

You want to test the blood and see what the situation is.

Yes, and then we can treat it if we need to.

We're going to take blood from a vein in his leg.

If you're able to hold him for me so he can't run off.

This isn't going to hurt him?

He shouldn't notice it. We just need to give it a good clean.

-There we go. That's all coming out nicely.

-Lovely.

Thank you.

Wonderful. So, that's it. He barely noticed.

-What happens next?

-Now we can test that blood in our lab,

check if there's lead in his blood and if there is,

-then we'll treat it.

-Excellent.

You've been a very good patient, my friend.

Thanks for a fascinating day

-with these water birds.

-You're welcome.

Not long ago, I met Connor and Carys

and their lovely Labrador Meg, who was overweight.

Now I'm back to see how her diet plan and swimming has helped.

-Hiya, guys. BOTH:

-Hi, Ferne.

Hi, Meggie! She's looking great.

-Hi, Rhiannon.

-Hi, Ferne.

-This is her big moment, isn't it?

It is, yeah. This is weigh day to see how much weight she's lost.

-How much did she weigh last time?

-She was 37 kilos.

Well, fingers questions she's lost a bit. Come on, Meg.

Right, so, Meg now weighs 35 kilos.

That is brilliant - she's lost two kilos.

-Two whole kilos.

-Good girl. Oh, well done, Meg!

-Shall we take Meg for a walk?

-I would love to.

I'm sure Meg would too. You ready, Meggy? Come on!

-She loves going for walks in the park, doesn't she?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I've really enjoyed meeting you guys and lovely Meg.

-You're doing really well. BOTH:

-Thanks, Ferne.

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

See you again soon for more Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales.

ALL: Bye!

# 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. #