Emily and Melody the Rats Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales

Hiya, I'm Ferne. Today, I'm in Gloucestershire to meet

Alyssa and Chloe and their beautiful pet rats, who I hear need

a little trip to the vet's.

And I'm Rory and I'm here at a zoo in Bristol to see

how the vets here keep an eye on lots of different animals.

# 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.

-#

Hello, I'm Alyssa and this is my pet rat, Melody.

Hello, I'm called Chloe and this is my pet rat called Emily.

Emily and Melody are sisters.

-Emily is white.

-And Melody has a grey stripe down her back.

-They are really friendly.

-They like to climb all over us.

This is their cage. They sleep in the hammock.

Emily is the cheeky one. She loves to explore.

We love our pet rats so much.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hi, Chloe. Hi, Alyssa. And you must be Louise.

-Hi.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Would you like to come see the rats?

I would love to, yes, please. I love rats.

-Wow, so the rats live in the your room, Alyssa.

-Yeah.

Hello! And I love their cosy, snuggly bedding. They are beautiful.

-Can we get them out?

-Yeah.

-These rats are gorgeous.

What type of rats are they?

They're Rexes. They're one and a half year old.

-Are they fun?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Because rats are very smart, aren't they?

-We'll show you.

-Oh, yes, please. Would you like me to hold Emily?

Yes, please. Look, they're watching. Oh, they know.

-Is this a special obstacle course for them?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Well done, Emily. Up here, up here.

Let's see how your sister does. Yes!

So, girls, why do the rats need to go to the vet?

Because Melody's sneezing at night.

Emily needs to get weighed because she's a bit chubby.

-Is she?

-Yeah.

-Does Emily love her food?

-Yeah.

-There's something special about the vet, isn't there?

-He's our daddy.

-That is fantastic.

-Would you like to come with us, Ferne?

-Yes, please.

Are you ready, girls? Let's go.

This is vet Martin. He's giving this sleepy cat a check over.

Martin has treated many different animals from goldfish to skunks

and has two dogs of his own at home.

-Melody? Emily?

-BOTH:

-Hi, Daddy.

-Hi, girls. Are you coming through?

-Hi, Martin.

-Hi, Ferne.

-So, what's first for the rats today?

-We're going to have an exam.

-So, should we start with Melody?

-Yeah.

-Yes.

-OK. Come on, Melody.

So, the first thing I'm going to do is going to weigh her. Here we go.

-So, what's the ideal weight for a rat?

-Under 300, and she's 320.

So she's a little bit overweight. OK.

-When does she sneeze the most, Alyssa?

-Mostly at night.

-Mostly at night. I agree.

-And why do you think that is?

She could be sneezing because she has a little infection

or inflammation of her airways.

-I'm going to have a look at her nose. Do you see any snot?

-No.

No. Eyes are clear. Let's have a quick listen to that chest.

What would it sound like if there was something in her chest?

Some crackles and wheezes. The good news is her chest is clear.

She looks in good condition.

-Shall we have a look at Emily now?

-So we need to weigh Emily.

We'll do the same again.

Cos we think she could be a little bit chubby.

Emily's actually a smaller rat but she weighs nearly the same.

So she could also do with some weight loss. OK. Does Emily sneeze?

-No.

-No, we've not heard her sneeze, have we? Do you want to listen?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-EMILY'S HEART BEATS

-How does it sound?

-It's like, d-d-d-d.

-That's right.

She's really clean. Nose is clean, nose is clear.

-How are both rats doing, Martin?

-They're both doing well,

but they both need to lose a bit of weight.

-How are you going to do that with rats?

-What do you think?

-Less food?

-A little less food.

-Exercise.

-And what else?

-Treats.

Treats. So, I think we need to do a little less treats.

The other problem was sneezing.

I just need to make sure there's nothing inside the chest.

I'm going to take a picture of her chest. I'm going to take an X-ray.

Before Martin can take the X-ray, Melody is given an

anaesthetic gas through a tube, which makes her fall asleep.

Martin can then take the X-ray photograph

while Melody is nice and still.

And Melody doesn't feel anything at all.

Once Melody wakes up, she goes back with Emily

and Martin can have a look at the X-ray on his computer.

-Martin, how's her X-ray looking?

-It's looking really good.

Here we have her breastbone. That's her heart and on

the edges we've got these black bits and that's her lungs.

-So, how are her lungs looking?

-They're looking good.

All black and there's no fluffy bits.

We're looking for fluffy bits in the black areas

which would tell me there's infection.

-It wouldn't be as black, as clear as it is now.

-OK, fantastic.

It's awesome that you get to see the inside of a rat.

-They're really cool.

-So, it looks as though Melody has allergies.

Just like us, animals can have allergies, too.

The allergies can make them sneeze, have a runny nose

or even get itchy skin or a rash.

They can be allergic to all different things, like grass,

pollen, or milk.

In some cases, the vet can give a special inhaler to help them.

What could Melody be allergic to?

She could be allergic to her bedding or to shampoo in your hair

when she goes into your hair, or to the washing powder

-that we wash our clothes in.

-Wow, so lots of different things.

So then, how do we help her?

One of the things we can do is change the bedding.

-What do we use for bedding at the moment?

-Ripped-up pieces of paper.

Ripped-up pieces of paper, and sometimes it can be a bit...

-Dusty.

-So we need to find something less dusty.

Make sure that your windows on your bedroom are open

a little bit just so they can get nice, what kind of air?

-Some nice, fresh air.

-Yeah, well done. Well, that sounds great.

So hopefully if you do all of that, Melody will stop sneezing.

-Let's hope so.

-The rats have done so well.

-Yeah.

While these rats get some well-deserved cuddles,

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

There were a lot of visitors at the vet's today.

Dewey the dwarf rabbit was in to have her nails clipped...

..while George the cat was having some teeth removed.

Lily the pug dog needed a contact lens fitted to her eye

as a patch to help it heal.

And Jesse the budgie had to be given some medicine to stop him

losing his feathers.

Emily and Melody have done so well.

-They're almost back to their wriggly selves, aren't they, girls?

-Yeah.

-They've been really brave.

-Yes, they have. They've been wonderful.

It has been really great meeting you both and your gorgeous rats.

Would it be all right if I came back soon to see how they're getting on?

-That would be great.

-Thank you very much.

While we give these brave little rats some rest,

let's see what Rory's up to.

The zoo has lots of different animals, and today I'm joining

head vet Michelle as she visits a few of them

to see how they're getting on.

This way.

-Hi, Michelle. Hi, Lauren. BOTH:

-Hi, Rory.

So, who are we going to see and why?

We're checking on one of our patients, Darcy. Darcy's a capybara.

She lives with the tapirs, but it's the smaller animal

that we're looking for. She hasn't been well lately.

She wasn't eating well and her breathing wasn't good.

She's been on some medication. I'm here to find out how she is today.

Capybaras are the largest rodents in the world

and they're found in South America, as are the tapirs here, as well.

-Michelle, how's it looking?

-She's looking good.

I'm pleased with her progress.

She's regained her appetite. Her breathing seems normal,

so I'm happy that she can finish the medication that she's on.

Marvellous. Where to next?

We've got a seal to go and look at now, Rory.

Oh, wow. Let's get moving.

Topper the fur seal has a sore flipper, so Michelle wants to see

if it's getting better.

-Hi, Miko.

-Hi, Rory.

Miko looks after the fur seals here. How many do you have?

We have five males and one of them needs a closer checkup.

So, Michelle, would you want to come with me?

Come on.

-Wow.

-Can I have the flipper, please?

-That...

-Yeah, it looks clean. And it's not bothering him?

I haven't seen any sign of pain or anything like it.

He moves all right with it. He's swimming, he's running.

-How's it looking, Michelle?

-Really nice and clean. It's not infected.

They're in salt water, which is really good for wounds,

-so it should heal fine.

-And what a good seal, I'm very impressed, Miko.

-Thank you.

-Next, we're off to meet Alan, a Meller's duck

with a sore foot.

-We put a bandage on last week.

-OK.

-She's had some painkillers

to make her feel more comfortable.

Now, we want to look at how it's doing under the bandage.

So you can see, this was the area that was a little bit

-sore and swollen.

-OK.

-It's not looking too bad. It is still a little bit swollen.

-OK.

So this duck's been having some medicine to help it feel better.

Right, well, looks like it's working.

Yeah, we can try without the bandage.

-That's fine. She'll love that.

-Where to next, Michelle?

We have a giant tortoise next, the last patient of the day.

Tropical, exciting! Let's go.

-Wow, Michelle, so who do we have here?

-This is Terrance.

I've come to look at this area on his shell, so he's got a little

crack here. You can see there's some underlying bone there,

but the good news is that it doesn't look infected

and it looks like an old injury that's not getting any worse,

so I don't think we'll need to do anything about that.

-Okey doke.

-Having a look at his eyes and his nose. That looks fine.

So I'm just checking for any abnormal lumps or bumps.

-I think he's doing well.

-That's great.

Michelle, thank you for taking us round your

-vet checks today.

-You're welcome.

Not long ago, I met Chloe and Alyssa and their beautiful pet rats,

Melody and Emily. Now, I'm back to see how they're getting on

since their visit to the vet. Come on!

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hello, girls. Hi, Louise.

-Hi.

-Hello, Emily. Hi, Melody.

-We've got something to show you, Ferne.

-Come on.

-Oh, yes! This is exciting. I can't wait to see what it is.

-This is the rats' new play area.

-This is fantastic.

I can't believe how big it is. Look at all those colours!

We've also got a tube going down to a cage underneath my treehouse.

-Wow, so they've all of this space.

-Yeah.

-That is brilliant.

-Do the rats love it?

-Yeah.

It's perfect for all of their exercise. Shall we put them in?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-OK. Go on, girls.

-They love playing in there.

-You having an explore, Emily?

CHLOE HUMS

How have the rats been since their visit to the vet?

Well, they lost a bit of weight because they've been

running around in here and we've given them less treats.

-That's important, isn't it?

-Yeah.

And what about Melody's sneezing, Alyssa?

We changed her bedding but she's still sneezing.

-Daddy said she might need an inhaler.

-Perfect.

An inhaler is something that will help Melody

breathe a little bit easier. Humans can use inhalers, too.

Oh, they're so wonderful, girls.

I've had an amazing time meeting you and your beautiful,

-clever little rats.

-Thank you for coming, Ferne.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the rats, too.

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

-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. #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media