Primo and Bubble the Reindeer Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales

Hiya, I'm Ferne. Today, I'm in Essex to meet Arthur and Lily

and some very special reindeer, and the vet is visiting too.

I'm Rory. I'm at a wildlife centre in Cheshire in England

to see how some of the local rescued wildlife is cared for

by the vets 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 Arthur.

-And I'm Lily.

My auntie and uncle live on a farm with lots of animals.

And we love coming to visit.

There are miniature ponies.

Sheep.

Goats.

And lots of reindeer.

This is Bubble. We love stroking her.

Reindeer are amazing animals.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hello, Lily. Hiya, Arthur.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hi, Emma.

-Good morning.

-Do you want to go and see the reindeer?

-I would love to.

-I cannot wait to see them. Which way, Lily?

-That way.

-Great.

MEOW

Look at all of these reindeer. This is fantastic!

That's Primo.

This is Flora. You can see she has a very thick coat for the winter.

They need these fluffy coats to stay nice and warm, don't they?

In the wild, reindeer live in the Arctic,

so very cold countries like Greenland and Canada

-and also Alaska.

-Reindeers have very big antlers.

-They do.

-They've got huge antlers. Do you know why?

-No.

In the wild, they use their antlers to dig in the snow to find food

and also to protect themselves.

Both female and male reindeer have antlers.

Reindeer antlers are covered in a special fur

called velvet when they are growing.

Once the antlers are fully grown, the velvet falls off.

It might look a bit sore, but it doesn't hurt them.

These are all quite big, but I can see two very small ones over there.

Do you know what a baby reindeer is called?

-A calf.

-That's right. A baby reindeer is called a calf.

-It's the same as a cow, isn't it?

-It is, exactly, and an elephant.

One's called Pip and the other one's called Nutmeg.

And he's the one with the tiny little antlers.

-I hear the reindeer are having a vet visit today, is that right?

-Yes.

They're doing it because they need to be nice and strong and healthy.

Ferne, you can join us with the vets, if you like.

I would love to. I cannot wait to see this!

This is Vet Ben.

He has been a vet for 19 years.

Ben has helped lots of different animals,

from an elephant with toothache

to a rhinoceros with a sore foot.

It's time for Primo's vet check. Hello, Ben.

Hello, Ferne. Hello, Arthur. Hello, Lily.

Ben is the vet who's going to give Primo a check over. This is Daniel.

He's going to help hold Primo because he might be a bit fidgety.

We're going to start at the front and look at his eyes.

Any discharge on his eyes? Any marks on the front of the eyes?

Make sure they can see properly and everything is healthy.

Discharge is a gooey mess coming out of the eyes,

like sleep when you first wake up in the morning.

-We're going to look at his nose.

-His very hairy nostrils.

-Very hairy.

Checking for any abnormal discharge again, so no goo from there.

We're going to look at his teeth.

They only have teeth at the bottom, don't they?

They've got a dental pad at the top and then just teeth at the bottom.

-How do his teeth look?

-All good. Nice and clean.

And the other thing we want to check with reindeer is the antlers.

Make sure the velvet is all OK.

It's just coming away naturally at the ends here

which happens at this time of year.

Shortly, it will look like some of these other reindeer

who have lost theirs already.

Next, Vet Ben listens to Primo's heart and chest

using this stethoscope.

Is this to check if his heart is beating nice and fast

-and his lungs are breathing properly?

-That's correct.

I'm listening to the sounds that they make. That all sounds good.

Now we're going to check his body condition. Check how fat he is.

-Do you think Primo is a chubby reindeer?

-No.

-No.

-No, he's not too chubby.

-He's just right.

-Great. Well done, Primo.

-That's good.

Finally, Vet Ben checks Primo's feet.

What are you checking for, Ben?

I'm making sure there are no splits in the hoof,

make sure it's all healthy.

-They look good.

-Can they ever get too long?

They do sometimes get too long and then we can just trim them.

Is it just like us getting our nails clipped?

It's exactly like us getting our nails clipped.

-It doesn't hurt at all.

-Primo has done so fantastically, Ben.

Is there anything else to do?

We need give him his worming treatment.

-That's very important for lots of animals, isn't it?

-That's right.

Well done, Primo.

Let me explain.

Worms are a kind of bug called a parasite

that can live inside the body and can be dangerous to animals.

They are different to the wriggly worms we see in the garden.

Some worms can be found in different parts of the body,

like the intestines, the heart and even in the liver and muscle.

This can make the animal sick

so it needs to get treatment from its owner or the vet.

Regular worming treatments are very important

to keep animals fit and healthy.

How are you going to give Primo his treatment?

-Primo is going to have a worming injection today.

-Will it hurt him?

No, it's just a little prick. It won't hurt at all.

We're going to slide that under his skin,

inject and out we come.

Give that little rub and everything's done.

-He is so brave. Well done, Primo.

-That's his worming done.

Now he's going to have a vitamin drench.

-Would you give me a hand, Ferne?

-I'd love to.

We need to keep that upright.

Daniel is going to hold his head.

It's just like a little drink.

He drank that really quickly!

Is this just full of the vitamins that he needs?

Yes, it's a multivitamin drench

and it sets them up well for the winter.

-So, is that everything done for Primo?

-Almost.

There's just one more thing, his vaccination.

A vaccination is an injection of a medicine

that helps to stop them getting certain bugs and diseases.

So just under the skin again,

he feels a little prick and in it goes.

Another little rubdown, and that's all done.

-Primo, you've been really brave.

-He definitely has.

Let's see what other animals Vet Ben checked on today.

It's not just reindeer that Vet Ben has come to see at the farm today.

Kazooie, a European eagle owl recently had surgery on his foot

so Ben makes sure it's healing properly.

Bluey, the rescue wallaby, is due for a checkup,

but first Ben has to catch him.

Luckily, he brought Bluey's favourite treat.

And Ben checks Billy the ram's heart and lungs

to make sure that he doesn't have any signs of flu.

Billy is fit and healthy for the winter.

Lily and Arthur, I have had a wonderful time meeting you

and seeing all of these really special reindeer.

It's been great to see what the vet does

-to keep them healthy too, hasn't it?

-It really has.

-Can I come back soon to see how you're getting on?

-Yes, please!

Thank you very much. Let's see what Rory's been up to.

BEEP, BEEP!

Today, I've come to a wildlife centre in Cheshire.

They take in injured, sick or abandoned animals

to make them better so they can go back into the wild.

I meeting Vet Bev who's going to introduce me to a spiky patient.

-Hi, Bev.

-Hi, Rory.

-What is going on in here today?

This is where our baby animals are.

-We're about to do a health check on a baby hedgehog.

-Hello! Aw, look!

How adorable. So why is this little creature here?

She was found out during the day and hedgehogs are usually nocturnal

-so they shouldn't be seen in the day.

-Of course.

Nocturnal means an animal that is active at night

and sleeping during the day.

So if you see a hedgehog moving around during the day,

chances are it's poorly and needs to come to a wildlife centre.

-What's first?

-We're going to examine her and do a good health check.

We're going to have a look at her belly.

We're looking for any sores or any runny poo round her bottom.

We want to check that her spines are healthy.

-Can see the white spines?

-Yes.

-They're her baby spines.

-The brown spines are her adult spines.

-Wow.

So when they're small are they light all over?

Yes, they're basically white when they are born.

We're going to look at her eyes - check she's got nice bright eyes.

-She certainly does.

-Yeah, so that's good.

She's had some breathing problems.

-She's had a parasite in her lungs called lung worm.

-OK.

It's like a little worm that lives in her lungs

and makes it difficult to breathe so she's on treatment for that.

It's important she's clear of that before she returns to the wild.

Often it causes them to not grow

so we're going to weigh her to check she's growing.

-We'll pop her on the scales.

-Brilliant. She's gained weight.

That's great! Excellent news.

It's really important they gain weight

because when they hibernate, they need to be a certain weight

-to go to sleep in the winter, right?

-Exactly.

They need to have fat stores to live off while they're asleep.

A few animals hibernate through the winter

which means snoozing through the cold weather.

-I'd like to do that.

-It sounds good.

-What's left to do?

-I want to listen to her chest and then give her her medicine.

-OK.

-That sounds good.

-Yes?

-It sounds nice and healthy.

-The medicine's obviously working.

-That's great. Medicine time.

-It is.

-Do you want to hold her for me?

-Certainly.

It's very tasty medicine so they normally take it quite well.

-Well done.

-All gone.

-Good girl.

Right, is she going to be popped back in now?

Yes, she can go in and have her breakfast.

-What have we got for breakfast?

-We've got puppy milk here

that we use especially for hedgehogs.

It's very important that you do not give a hedgehog cow's milk, right?

Yes, it's really bad for them.

Then we've got protein to build her up even more.

-This is cat food.

-Mm, delicious.

She's very cute, but these are not pets. Hedgehogs are wild animals.

You should bring them, if they are in danger, to a wildlife centre.

Yes, they are very cute, but they are wild animals

and need specialist care so it's really important

-that they come to a wildlife centre.

-Are you happy with her?

-Yes, she's doing really well.

-Back in the wild soon?

-Hopefully.

She's got more weight to put on before she's ready to hibernate,

but it shouldn't be too long.

Thank you for introducing me to this cute hedgehog.

Recently, I met Arthur and Lily

and the beautiful reindeer who had their health checks,

and now I'm back to see how they're all getting on

since the vet visited.

Hello.

-Hiya, Lily. Hi, Arthur.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hi, Ferne.

-Hello. Who's this?

-This is Bubble.

-Hello, Bubble.

How have all the reindeer been getting on since the vet came?

Primo has been doing fantastically since Vet Ben came.

-And, Lily, how are the rest of the reindeer?

-They're really good.

Do we have anything special planned today?

We're going to take Bubbles for a walk

so she gets used to being on a leading rope.

-You can join us.

-I would love to! I've never walked a reindeer before.

Are you ready, Bubble? Come on!

-See you all soon.

-Bye.

I love how all the reindeer are coming over to see.

They're like, "What's Bubble doing?"

It's important to get Bubble used to walking on a lead rein like this

as Emma often visits schools with the reindeer

-to teach children all about them.

-She's doing really well, isn't she?

She's being so well-behaved. I think Bubble has done a great job.

She definitely deserves that tasty reindeer moss.

Good job, Bubble.

Arthur and Lily and Emma, thank you so much

for introducing me to these reindeer. I've had a fantastic time.

And I hope you've had fun too

finding out all about these beautiful reindeer.

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. #