Turbo the Tortoise Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales

Hello, I'm Rory. I'm in Coventry to meet Summer,

who has a tortoise that needs to visit the vet, and we can go, too.

This is going to be great.

I'm Ferne. I'll be finding out how the vets at this zoo in Whipsnade

help to care for one of their big, beautiful beasts.

# 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. #

Hi, my name's Summer and this my little sister Freya.

We have a pet tortoise called Turbo.

He is seven years old.

We love the colours on his shell.

Brown, black and a little bit of yellow.

He's really cute and moves quickly sometimes.

We love him very much.

RORY KNOCKS ON DOOR

-Hi, Rory!

-Hey, Summer. You must be Mum.

-Hi, Rory.

-Would you like to come and see our pet tortoise?

-I'd love to.

-Oh, wow! Check out this enclosure! So, this is Turbo's?

-Yeah.

-Does he have an inside one, too?

-Yeah.

-Great.

-What's the one inside for?

-When it's cold.

Or night-time, as well, I guess.

-Do you know what breed of tortoise Turbo is?

-He's a Horsfield.

Absolutely right.

Horsfield tortoises are one of the most popular breeds in the UK.

You can tell them apart from other tortoises

because they have four toes on their feet instead of five.

-What do you like most about him?

-How he eats.

He doesn't have any teeth, so it takes him a long time to eat.

Right. Tortoises don't have teeth.

-Instead, they've got a beak, don't they?

-Yeah.

I'm having a good look at Turbo

and I can see that his beak is quite long.

-Is that giving him any problems?

-Yeah. He can't eat very well.

That's a shame for a wee guy. Tortoises have a beak.

They use this beak to rip leaves and plants out of the ground.

The beak is made of keratin,

which is similar to the stuff our fingernails are made of.

Like our nails, it keeps growing through their lives,

so it can get a bit overgrown and cause a few issues.

-What are we going to do about it?

-We could take him to the vets.

-Great idea. Shall we take him now?

-Yeah.

Perfect. Come on, Turbo.

Meet The Vet!

Aideen has been a vet for seven years.

She has helped deliver lots of cute puppies

and once treated a bearded dragon that couldn't poo.

Hello! We've got Turbo the tortoise.

-Lovely. Head on through to vet.

-Great. Thank you.

-Hi, Summer. Hi, Rory. Do you want to come on through?

-Of course.

Summer, tell us about Turbo.

-He's doing good, but his beak's a little bit long.

-A little long.

We should be able to sort that, but we'll give him a onceover first.

-OK.

-I see his beak is a little bit long.

It should be a nice straight line, rather than a big upper lip.

So we can just trim that off and that way, he can eat properly.

-That's great.

-We'll check what his weight is like,

make sure he's nice and healthy. Let's see if he'll stay still.

He won't.

365g.

That's a very good, healthy weight.

So you can see his legs aren't too big, he's able to move nicely

and he's able to stand up well when he walks.

-He can definitely walk.

-He can, definitely. Run, I'd say, as well.

-Excellent.

-And if we just look at his nails.

So very good front nails.

He does lots of nice digging, I'd say,

because they're looking good and short.

Some of these back ones are a bit long,

so we can clip those, as well. That's really easy.

Just like having a little nail clip yourself.

-We won't put any nail varnish on.

-What a shame!

Otherwise, apart from a slightly long beak

-and slightly long back toenails, he is in excellent shape.

-Great.

-The nurse is going to come and help you, is that right?

-Yes.

It's going to get a bit busy in here,

-so are you happy to go outside to Mum?

-Yeah.

And I'll look after Turbo. Is that OK? Right, come on.

Let Me Explain.

Tortoises can look after their beaks themselves

by eating the hard shell of a cuttlefish.

Or they eat food on hard surfaces, like stones or rocks,

which helps them to wear their beaks down.

Sometimes, a tortoise doesn't get the right amount

of vitamins or minerals and its beak can overgrow in size,

so it needs the expert help of a vet to trim it down.

OK, so, Beth the vet nurse has joined us. What happens?

Now that Beth's got him in a nice grip,

-we're going to clip his beak.

-What have you got to do it?

We've got beak trimmers. They're used for clipping beaks.

-Nice and sharp and make it easy for Turbo.

-OK. Does it hurt at all?

No, it doesn't hurt at all.

He doesn't have any feeling in this part of his beak.

-He won't feel a thing.

-Great. Go for it.

OK. So let's see, Turbo. Good man.

I'll just do little bits at a time.

You don't want to take too much, so you just even up both sides.

Okey doke.

There we go.

-You can see we're getting it back there.

-Wow!

-Is that quite tough to clip?

-It is, yeah. So it's like thick nail.

It's a good sign when it's tough

because if he didn't have the right diet

-and his beak wasn't as healthy, then it would just crumble away.

-OK.

-So that's good.

-It's a really good sign.

-Great.

-How often do you have to do this with a tortoise?

-So it depends.

Some tortoises never need it done,

but probably only about once every six months or so.

It's really important you don't do this at home.

Only a vet and vet nurse should be doing this type of procedure.

-OK, I think that's good now. If we have another little look...

-Wow!

He doesn't have that upper lip any more.

That's a big difference, isn't it? Looking very good.

So we've got to go to his back feet.

These front feet are fine. He's dug them nicely.

So it's just the tips of these nails we're going to take off.

We don't want to go too far. This doesn't hurt.

Just like having your own nails cut at home.

-This is a different tool.

-This is. So these are nail clippers.

They're specific tools for clipping nails. Good boy.

And we'll do the other back foot. Well done, Turbo. Lovely.

Looking marvellous, my friend. Excellent.

-So, is he all good now?

-He is. He's back to normal.

-He's lovely and healthy.

-Excellent. Well done, buddy.

While we get this guy ready to take back to Summer and Ruth,

why don't you see what else has been happening at the vets today?

Today At The Vets!

While Aideen has been looking after Turbo,

plenty of other pets have been visiting the vets today.

Billy, a King Charles spaniel,

has been in for his regular acupuncture,

which is a treatment that helps him with his joints, legs and feet.

Grayson the cat has a swollen nose after he caught an infection,

but he's had medicine to make it better.

And Bob the Border terrier is in for a checkup. He's 13 years old.

Because he's in his old age, he's been panting a lot

and losing hair from his tail.

Summer and Ruth, check this out.

He's been a great patient, and look at his beak!

-What do you think?

-Brilliant.

-What do you think, Summer?

-Yeah.

I think he looks absolutely fantastic.

I would like to come back and see how he's getting on.

-Can I do that?

-Yeah.

-Awesome! High-five.

I wonder what Ferne's been up to today?

CAR HORN HONKS

At this zoo in Whipsnade,

they look after lots of different animals.

And today, I've come to see how one of them with a sore foot

is being cared for.

This way!

-Hiya!

-How are you doing?

This is Nick. He's one of the vets here at the zoo.

This is Carla, one of the nurses,

and this is Lee, this animal's keeper.

Nick, who have we got here?

This is Beluki, and Beluki's from Nepal.

She's a greater one-horned rhinoceros.

She is absolutely stunning! I can't believe how big she is.

Greater one-horned rhinos have this really lovely,

thick, grey skin that folds over their body,

and they have one horn at the very end of their nose.

The African rhinos have two. Nick, what is wrong with her today?

She's got a bit of a sore foot and we're going to see how she moves,

and then hopefully she'll come up and we'll look a bit more closely

-and see what's what.

-Fantastic.

-Here she comes.

-Which foot is it, Nick?

-It's this front right one.

-You can see there's just a little swelling above the middle toe.

-Yeah.

-She's moving really well now. Better than she was.

-And what was it?

It's what we call an abscess, a little lump with pus inside it.

An abscess is just a lump that happens underneath the skin

that can get infected and can be quite painful.

There's a split between the top of the nail and her skin.

-And is that where it's been cut open?

-That's where it's burst open.

That's probably why she's feeling so much better.

There's much less pressure. We're flushing it out with this solution.

That's to try and get the tissues in there clean

and any mud and straw out of there so it won't get infected

-and it can heal.

-Perfect. She's doing so well!

She's amazing, isn't she?

The cleaner we can get it, the better.

It doesn't seem to cause her any pain.

She's not even flinching. She's just too busy eating.

Her horn is quite small. Why is that?

Keepers trim it down every so often.

We don't want them to damage the horn. It's like a huge lump of hair,

and it is bonded to the top of the skull. It can get torn a bit.

-Is it like ripping a fingernail?

-Exactly. It'd be really sore.

We don't want that to happen. The other reason is poaching risk.

We don't want a big rhino horn on display.

People have started poaching horns from animals in zoos.

-Are one-horned rhinos endangered?

-Critically endangered.

Beluki came from Nepal, with another female, Behan.

They've both had calves here.

It's not just the greater one-horned rhino that are endangered.

-It's all rhino.

-Absolutely.

Hopefully what'll happen here is we'll get this nice and clean,

it'll heal up a bit,

and we'll keep her in here for a little while.

If she goes out in the paddock, it's muddy and wet.

-We don't want that getting stuck inside.

-Well done, Beluki.

Nick, thank you so much for letting me be part of

this incredible vet's check-up. It's been really special.

-And it's great she's on the mend.

-Yeah. Absolutely.

-Thank you.

Recently, I visited Summer, her mum Ruth and their tortoise Turbo.

He needed a bit of a beak clip.

I'm back to see how they're all doing,

and to meet little sister Freya too.

Well, guys, it's great to be back

and it's lovely to meet you, Freya, as well.

-How is Turbo doing?

-Really good.

-Yeah, so the beak's all fine?

-Yeah.

-No problems with his food?

-No.

And I have to say, I think his beak looks splendid.

Would you like to come and make a treat for Turbo?

I'd love to. Come on.

I've got some tomatoes here. Is that milk thistle?

Rip it into chunks. Doesn't have to be too small.

He can have some big chunks. He doesn't get tomato all the time.

-It's a special treat, isn't it?

-Yeah. And he deserves it.

Definitely. Last two bits?

-Done.

-Great. Right, guys, bits and bobs.

Let's put them in.

Not too much. Little bits at a time.

It's great to see Turbo eating so well with his trimmed beak.

Thanks for joining us

and finding out all about Turbo and his overgrown beak.

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

ALL: Bye!

# Ferne and Rory telling you the story

# Of some funny pets

# We will take them, show you how to make them better at the vet

# Vet Tales

# These are our Vet Tales

# Vet Tales

# Ferne and Rory's Vet Tales. #