The Kittens Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales

Hello, I'm Ferne and I'm in Bath

to meet Thomas and William and their gorgeous new kittens,

who are off to see the vet for the first time.

I just love kittens.

And I'm Rory. I'm at a wildlife park in the Highlands of Scotland

to see some of their new arrivals.

# Ferne and Rory telling you the story

# Of some poorly pets

# We will take them, show you how to make them

# Better at the vets

# Vet tales

# These are our vet tales

# Vet tales

# Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales. #

Hello, my name is Thomas.

And I'm William.

Our cat Blue has just had kittens.

We have five kittens.

Three black ones and two grey ones.

Look how sweet and little they are.

We love holding them and stroking them.

We've given them some toys to have fun with too.

This is Blue. She's their mummy.

Blue's very good at looking after her babies.

She cleans them and cuddles them and feeds them, too.

They love falling asleep snuggling each other.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello!

-Hi, Thomas. Hi, William. Hi, Shula.

-Hi, Ferne, how are you?

-Great, thank you.

-Do you want to see our kittens?

I would love to, thank you.

Aw, hello.

Here are the kittens, Ferne.

-Oh, they're stunning. How many do you have?

-Five.

Is that a handful of kittens?

Yes!

-And how old are they?

-Seven weeks.

Hello!

-They're quite cute, aren't they?

-They're so cute and so fluffy.

So do all of the kittens have names?

There's Ruckus, that's a black one.

We haven't named them all

because some of them are going to their forever homes.

The forever home is the home the kittens are going to go to

with brand-new owners,

who are going to take care of them just as well as you guys have.

-Who's this?

-That's Blue.

-Is this their mother?

-Yes.

She's beautiful. The colour of her eyes is incredible.

A nice orangey colour, isn't it?

-She's got this shaved bit because she had an operation.

-Yes.

That means she can't have any more kittens.

-But I think five is a lot of kittens.

-Yes.

Blue is cleaning the kittens because they can't clean themselves yet.

So, Thomas, what do the kittens eat?

They eat soft food, but they drink milk, too, from their mother.

I love the noises they make when they feed.

They do this, don't they?

If they sneeze, it's quite cute as well.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-Little kitten sneeze.

Your kittens look so healthy, you're doing a fantastic job

of caring for them. Is there something we need to do?

Yes, take them to the vet for their first ever check-up.

-Do you want to come?

-I'd love to. Shall we get their carry case?

Come on, kittens.

This is vet Amelia. She has been a vet for seven years.

She has a ginger rescue cat called Pumpkin.

And she has worked with a lot of farm animals like cows and sheep.

-Blue's kittens, please.

-Hi, Amelia.

So we've got five kittens for their very first health check today.

-Here we are.

-OK.

So I'm going to check him from head to tail, all right?

So I'm looking at his eyes now.

I'm seeing if there's any birth defects or anything that will stop

him seeing.

And I'm going to check his ears.

We have to check that he's got no ear mites and his ears aren't itchy.

See, look down there. So his ears and eyes look really good.

-Fantastic, well done, Ruckus.

-Check your little nose. That looks good.

What are you looking for in their nose?

If there's any discharge coming from the nose, so any bogeys.

-And look in his mouth.

-He's got lots of sharp teeth, doesn't he, Thomas?

-Yes.

-And they are really nice and clean. See there? Lovely.

He's good, isn't it?

OK, so I'm just feeling his tummy now,

-checking that there's no hernias.

-What's a hernia?

It's something they're born with,

a little lump in the muscle that can cause problems.

Now we'll check the little one's heart.

-Do you think it's going to be like drums?

-Yeah.

So his heart sounds really good, so you can have a little listen.

You have to put those in your ears.

-HEARTBEAT

-Can you hear it?

Thank you.

-Wow.

-Really fast, isn't it?

It sounds healthy, it's a good strong beat.

-It is.

-Why is it so fast?

Because he's little and little animals have fast heartbeats,

and he might be a bit worried.

-Shall we weigh Ruckus now?

-Yes.

I think he's the biggest of all the kittens, because he's a boy.

Let's check. You pop him on there. That's it.

OK, what does he weigh?

-91g.

-That's it.

-Is that healthy or unhealthy?

-That's very healthy.

But he's not a tubby kitten, is he?

No, he's a good weight, a very healthy weight.

-That's the end of Ruckus's health check. You can put him away.

-Great.

-There we are.

-Here we go, buddy. Well done.

When kittens are born, their eyes are closed

and their ears are folded over so they cannot hear yet.

They spend most of their days sleeping, just like newborn babies.

They start moving more around three weeks old.

This is also when their baby teeth start to grow and,

just like us, kittens lose their baby teeth and get adult ones.

The kittens are doing brilliantly at their very first check-up.

Who's next?

Someone was having a bit of a snooze.

Beautiful.

Each of the other kittens get the same thorough checkup as Ruckus.

Amelia makes sure their eyes,

ears,

nose

and mouth are clean and healthy.

She checks their tummies for hernias.

We can't check your tummy lying down. This is one cheeky kitten.

And listens to their heartbeat

with a special tool called a stethoscope.

HEARTBEAT

And finally, she checks that each kitten is a healthy weight.

-All done.

-Great job, little one.

So how are the kittens doing, Amelia?

Really good, all fit and healthy.

So what do we have to do with them now?

Just look after them, give them lots of love and attention

-and playtimes.

-You can do that, can't you?

-Definitely, Ferne.

-Perfect.

Let's see who else has been visiting the vets today.

Blue's kittens weren't the only cats to visit the vet today.

Michael brought in Elani for an examination

after noticing her ears had got a bit gunky.

Ruth brought Toby the labradoodle in for a check-up

after an operation.

He's wearing this cone-shaped collar so he doesn't pull out any stitches.

Basil the rabbit is ready to go home with his owners

after having four teeth removed. They had grown in crooked.

And Lulu the Bichon Frise is diabetic,

so her owner Justine brought her in for a blood test.

Thomas, I've had a fantastic time meeting you and your kittens.

I was wondering if I could come back and visit

-when they go to their forever homes?

-Yes, please.

Thank you very much. Now, I wonder what Rory's been up to today.

What's he been doing?

HORN

This wildlife park in Scotland has lots of different animals,

all looked after by a team of vets and keepers.

Today, I'm going to meet some.

-Hey, Jean.

-Hi, Rory.

Who have we got in this enclosure?

Red pandas. Mum and Dad, who are Kitty and Kevin,

and we have two youngsters.

Although they have a similar name,

red pandas are not closely related to giant pandas,

but they do eat bamboo and live in the forests of Asia.

Some say they may be related to raccoons.

What are you doing today?

Our plan today is to have a look at the babies,

give them a very quick health check,

sex them to see if we have boys or girls

and put microchips in, so they've all got their individual ID.

How are you going to go about this process?

Here's our microchip.

The actual chip lives in the syringe, in the needle bit,

and we inject it in. And we have a scanner here.

So the number's up there.

-And that's different for every animal.

-Each animal has its own ID.

Zookeepers Vicky and Louise bring the baby red pandas

out of their nest boxes.

They aren't used to being handled, so make a really loud squeak

to call to their mummies.

What are you going to check for first?

We'll sex them, we want to know if they're boys or girls

and we'll try and do it as quickly as we can.

BABY RED PANDA SQUEAKS

He's a boy.

So I'm going to use this microchip.

Louise has to turn him around

and I can try and put a microchip in the back of his neck.

Just there.

-This doesn't hurt him too much?

-No, it's like an injection.

And then we'll take the scanner...

..and just check, and that's fine.

Quick look to make sure he's fit and healthy,

we make it as quick as possible.

-All looking good?

-That's the noisy one done.

-OK, pop him back.

-Now Vicky's one.

This one's grunting quite a lot!

Let's just turn her around if we can.

See if it's a boy or a girl first.

Two boys. Another boy.

Brilliant. Time for the microchip.

Yeah. So same thing here.

How old is this little one?

-Just over a month.

-Just over a month old?

-So cute.

-That's him, just do a quick check.

-Chip's all working?

-Yeah. Teeth aren't quite there yet.

And, as I say, that'll do.

-Are they still getting milk from their mums?

-They will do, yeah.

-This one's all done?

-All done.

We'll put them back and let them settle

-before Mum comes looking for them.

-Of course.

Jean, thank you so much for introducing me

-to those gorgeous baby red pandas.

-That's no problem. Thank you.

It's been a few weeks since I met Thomas and William

and their beautiful kittens.

The kittens are ready to go to their forever homes,

so I'm back to help the boys with a very special delivery.

Come on.

-Hiya, Thomas and William.

-Hello, Ferne.

-Hi, Shula.

-Hi, Ferne.

Who have we got here?

Two of the kittens ready to go to their forever homes.

Look how much they've grown.

Think they're excited to meet their new owners?

Shall we bring them in? Come on, kittens!

Here we go!

Hi, Mattie. Hi, Posey. Hi, Lucy.

-Hello!

-Hello, Ferne.

We have a very special delivery for you.

-Can we come in?

-Yes.

-Yes.

Come on, boys.

Oh, wow!

This is great.

Here we go, kittens. Welcome to your new home.

This one's yours, Mattie.

This one's yours. What are you going to call her?

-Sissy.

-What do they feel like, girls?

They are so fluffy.

I'm going to call it Mittens.

Not under the sofa!

Wow!

Go on, Sissy, you can do it.

She's a fantastic climber, isn't she, Posey?

You girls are so ready. You've got lovely beds, lots of toys.

I think they like their new home, Ferne.

I think so too, they're going to be really happy here.

It has been fantastic meeting you, Thomas and William,

and coming to meet you, Posey and Mattie.

-And your new kittens. Are you happy? BOTH:

-Yes!

I hope you enjoyed finding out about the kittens.

See you next time 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 vets

# Vet tales

# These are our vet tales

# Vet tales

# Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales. #