Episode 1 Junior Vets on Call

Pets, wildlife and all sorts of other creatures are in trouble.

The nation's vets and animal carers need assistance.

And now, thanks to you lot...

They've got it.

When we yelled, "Help," you didn't let us down.

And we have built a network of volunteer junior vets...

-..on call and standing by...

-..ready to jump in...

..and fix up ill and injured animals.

Whatever they are...

..wherever they are.

Coming up today, we have got a very cute fox...

..a poorly dog...

..and, erm, a pig that sits for snacks?

The vets at this practice in York have to be ready for anything,

from dwarf hamsters to huge horses and everything in between.

I think they could use some help. Junior vets, where are you?

Junior vets standing by.

I love animals but I do admit, I can get a bit squeamish.

My mum and dad work, so we can't get a dog, but in our spare time,

-we play...

-Basketball.

So they fancy themselves as big ballers, do they?

Don't think they have seen these skills before!

Look, I'm not even looking, I'm still bouncing.

Quite impressive.

So, Bailey, you want to have a dog but you can't actually

have one because there would be no-one there to look after it.

Why don't you just get a dog-sitter?

Because it would love the dog-sitter more

and it wouldn't really be our dog.

I see, yeah, you make a good point.

Now, Keegan, I did hear you say that you make a bit squeamish.

How are you going to be with some of the tasks that you might do today?

I'm going to have a go at everything you throw at me

-and I'm going to put my all into it.

-Fantastic, Keegan.

What possibly could go wrong? Let's find out.

Station House Vets are expert horse-fixers...

There you go, fella, have a good chomp.

..but they look after your small pets too, so I reckon dog lovers Keegan

and Bailey are going to be pretty happy with their first patient.

Oh!

See?

This is Picme, who is an eight-year-old female Labrador.

Oh, I love Labradors.

She was really cute.

She looked like the type of dog that you'd really want to have.

She was very caring... Yeah, I really want a dog like Picme.

OK.

'I bet Lucy and trainee nurse Samantha know Picme really well.'

Oh, she's lovely.

'The poor girl has had a rubbish time recently.

'She has been really ill and had a lot of surgery.'

She was in with us a few times,

but she has also got the history of lameness.

'Yeah, Picme has been in the wars a bit.

'What's up today, then, Bailey?'

There is, like, a little bump on her eye.

Yeah, she has got a wart in her eye,

so we are going to remove that today under general anaesthetic.

Oh, more surgery for poorly Picme, then,

and general anaesthetic has real risks.

I was quite nervous when I found out that Picme had to be under

anaesthetic and she had to be unconscious for so long.

But that wart needs removing.

It suddenly got a bit bigger so if it continues to grow,

it is going to rub on the eye and that will be painful.

I knew it had to be done

and, if it wasn't, then it would cause her more pain.

'It might be a bit painful for junior vet Keegan, too.'

Would there be any blood or anything?

Because Keegan mentioned that he might be a bit squeamish.

But he is really excited and up for this, aren't you?

Yeah, definitely.

Yes, unfortunately, there will be some blood,

but just for a short time.

'Oh, don't fancy this one! Don't worry, Picme, you are in safe hands.'

You know what I haven't seen?

A duck at the doctors, a deer at the dentist. Do you know why?

That's because in the wild, they have to take care of themselves

when they are ill, injured or in trouble...

until today.

They are going to get some help.

Junior vets standing by.

I think I have a special way of communicating with animals.

I'm not a big fan of wild animals,

but I do have a pet with big teeth.

Ah! Now, Kiera, I've heard you got over your big fear

-of animals by owning a big-toothed beast.

-A rabbit.

-Yeah, but I bet it is a bit rabbit, though, isn't it?

-A little one.

And, Olivia, what are you going to do

when the animals are getting a bit excited?

-How are you going to calm them down?

-By doing this...

SHE MIMICS AN ANIMAL CRY

That's going to work.

Let's save some animals.

Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue in Surrey. Guess what they do here?

That's right, they rescue wild animals - hundreds a year.

Then, if they can make them better,

they release them back into the wild.

And today, there is

a poor little thing who needs our junior vets' help.

-Where is he, Anne?

-He is here in this cage.

'Oh, would you look at that? A tawny owl.

'He was found badly injured by the side of the road

'and one of his eyes had to be removed.'

We felt really sorry for the owl, didn't we?

Yeah, like, we had to think what we had to do to help it.

Oh, she's got him.

Like a furry baby.

We are going to take him now to the other room,

and I am going to ask you to bathe his eye and check the other eye.

-Is that OK?

-Mm-hmm.

-All right, Kiera, can you do that?

-Because I know you have got a fear of birds.

-Yeah.

A very confident yes.

You were really nervous about working with the bird, weren't you?

Yeah, but when I saw it, it weren't a big owl.

-You're not too sure about them?

-They're OK.

-Aww.

-But he's cute, isn't he?

-Yeah.

Owls, you can't not like owls.

We're not too sure, are we?

'Well, we might take a bit of convincing,

'but we're going to do our best to fix you up.'

OK, these lot have been chucking us some pretty fierce animal questions.

Keep them coming!

Do animals actually eat their own poo and, if they do, why?

I think it would be a very interesting fact to know.

Bye!

Cor, what a stinker of a question, Eddie!

But give us a few minutes and we'll see if we can come up...trumps!

Oh, Keegan and Bailey and Picme the Labrador. Ready for surgery?

Right, here.

-Picme was very calm and she didn't, like, look bothered at all.

-Yeah.

I think we were more nervous about the entire process

than Picme was, to be honest.

OK. Let's get this wart removed from your eyelid, Picme.

-Just spray that on that bald area.

-It won't hurt her, will it?

No, it will just be a bit cold.

Now, Picme needs to be out for the count for her op.

Anaesthetic, please!

One minute she was wide awake, all hyper,

and the next minute she was just, like, knocked out.

I was wondering what it would be like to be the dog.

Hopefully having lovely dreams.

While Picme is dreaming about bones and chewing slippers,

the junior vets need to get busy.

If you put a little squirt just between the eyelids there,

you don't need to touch anything. That's super.

This gel is going to protect Picme's eyes from loose hair...

Hold the skin back a bit. That's great.

..because the surgery area needs a trim...

and a clean.

Clean just under where the wart is.

I was really nervous for Picme.

We didn't know if it was going to go wrong.

We really had to focus on the job because it had to be done for Picme.

Hey, this is tricky vet work from Bailey.

-I feel like I'm going to hurt her.

-You're OK.

Connecting Picme to these gizmos will help the team know

she is OK during surgery.

So, we can hear her heartbeat -

it is quite faint. If you pop those in and really concentrate...

It is like stomping.

Here we go.

If you feel a bit funny, do please say and don't be worried,

don't be embarrassed.

OK, people, let's prepare to remove that wart.

Back at the wildlife rescue centre, Olivia and not-so-bird-keen Kiera

are helping this little chap.

-He seems quite calm at the moment.

-Oh, look at him!

This tawny animal was found badly injured near a road

and he has only got one eye now.

Is he, like, going to be able to see how he used to when he flies?

People that lose an eye often adapt and, just like humans,

some adapt really well and some don't.

Big question - will our owl wing it with only one eye?

Yeah, we wanted to give it

the best possible chance of surviving in the wild.

Right, let's get that sore-looking wound sorted, junior vets.

Nice and easy.

You just need to bathe this to keep it...make sure it is healthy.

It felt really weird, bathing the eye socket,

because it felt really squishy on the cotton bud

and it was really weird.

But then it felt good at the same time

because we knew that it was helping the owl.

Now touch his feathers. How soft are they?

-Can you feel then?

-Oh, yeah.

-They're amazing, aren't they?

-Yeah.

Oh, he looks so soft and cute.

See here, these are his talons.

If he were to grab you with those talons,

-they would go right through your finger...

-Oh!

-..within a second.

OK, maybe not cute after all.

But he is soft for a reason -

those fine feathers help him fly and hunt silently.

Aww. For our owl to have a chance of returning to the wild,

we need to know his remaining eye is working well.

Eyes are very important for owls because they hunt at night

and their vision is everything.

Something that is quite common in owls are cataracts and this

is a growth that is in the eye and it eventually can make you blind.

So, junior vets, let's have a look.

What is it I'm looking for?

You're looking to see if there's any white patches in there.

-Can you see anything?

-No.

Perfect. That's really good.

It really looked like you was enjoying being with the bird

because you don't really like birds.

It did feel good, helping the owl.

So, what is the verdict on our cute but deadly tawny owl, Anne?

The future for the owl is looking a lot better.

He has a really good eye and while he has lost his left eye,

he will probably adapt really well.

So the next few weeks, we will see what happens.

Thank you so much for all your help.

It is great to have two vets here. INEL CLEARS HIS THROAT

Three vets, sorry. Three vets, three vets with us.

Yes! Good news,

our one-eyed owl is going to get back to the wild very soon. Lovely.

Earlier, Eddie got down and dirty with his killer question.

Do animals actually eat their own poo and, if they do, why?

And you know what, Eddie?

Quite a few animals, including hamsters, rabbits

and even dogs do dine on their own doo-doos.

But, Inel, my friend, in case you are getting any ideas, whilst poo can

provide vital nutrients for some animals, it doesn't work for humans.

Ah, gotcha, gotcha.

At the vet's in York, Keegan and Bailey's patient, Picme the Labrador,

is now out for the count. Lucy the vet, are we all set?

-I am ready to go. Are you guys ready?

-Yes.

Picme needs a wart removing from her eyelid, poor thing,

and it is not going to be easy.

I was very excited to actually help an animal that was needing help and

I was very nervous at the same time, like,

"What if I do something wrong?"

Like...

Sometimes, with a tiny bit of blood, I'm OK.

I'm glad I'm not standing where you are standing at the moment.

But I was quite nervous about whether I would be able to cope.

Just think, when it's over, all the pain will be gone,

so it's better for the dog.

Good advice, Bailey.

I reckon Picme is in safe hands here.

But if her heart rate is too fast or too slow, she could be in trouble.

-How much did you get? Did you manage?

-About 18 or more.

Yeah, that's fine.

All done and the wart is off.

What do you reckon, Bailey?

-It looks like a piece of ham right now.

-Ham?

Eurgh! How are you handling the stitching, Keegan?

It kind of makes you wince a bit,

but it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

I was very proud of what you did and that you weren't so like,

"Ew, blood!"

Squeeze the water over the eye.

I reckon Picme is going to appreciate this five-star treatment.

I think she will wake up and think something is different.

It's like, "Oh, my wart is gone!"

Yes, Picme is waking up.

Are you back with us?

She's like, "What is this strange girl staring at me for?"

I was very pleased when it was all over

because she looked really happy.

And she should be, Bailey. Thanks to your top work,

she is wart-free and ready to go home with owner Lindsay.

Hello.

Hello, Picme. Has she been a good girl?

Yeah, she has been awesome.

She will be quite quiet this evening because of the anaesthetic,

-but tomorrow she will be fine.

-I guess the rest is on here, so...

That's lovely. Thank you very much indeed

and thank you for looking after her.

-Oh, she has been a pleasure.

-Yeah.

Nice job, junior vets!

Two satisfied customers.

This little fellow is Olivia and Kiera's

second patient down in the rescue centre.

He is Luca, an eight-week-old orphaned fox cub.

-Do you have foxes where you are?

-Yeah.

-Erm, yeah.

-And what do you think?

-I don't know.

-I used to think they were really scary.

-Yeah, I used to think

they're really vicious because of pictures I've seen.

I was worried at first about working with a fox, but then, when they

brought Luca out, he was really cute. He was just really small.

Yeah, looked just like a little puppy, really.

This must be an important job because see him?

That is the centre's rock star supporter,

guitarist Brian May from supergroup Queen!

Brian can't resist dropping in on the cute fox cubs.

BRIAN: They are beautiful creatures, aren't they?

But, of course, they are not naturally vicious at all.

Now, he is a cutie and he needs our help.

ANNE: He is very inquisitive and just desperate to play, just like a puppy.

Luca was found all alone, very weak and without his mum.

How is he doing now, Anne?

We are a little bit worried with him

that his eyesight isn't very good, but because he is a baby,

foxes are born blind and deaf, so it may just be developing late.

How long do they stay blind or deaf for?

Normally about three weeks,

so we would expect him to be able to see by now.

I was really worried about him.

Yeah, because his eyesight has to be clear in order for him

to be able to go out and explore in the wild.

That's not all - Luca has a problem with one of his legs.

As he was running, he was falling over.

If he has a serious injury, he will never return to the wild.

The whole object is to get them back out there in the wild,

to give them a second chance in the wild.

We don't want to have them as pets, obviously,

although it is sometimes tempting!

See? I told you he loves them.

But the poor little fella needs sorting out.

Let's get Luca to local vet Jill.

I am a bit concerned about his eyesight.

I think that is the main thing we want to look at.

OK, so there's something called a menace response, which is him

basically reacting to my hand moving towards his face.

I don't think he does.

He should blink because he should think I'm going to hit him.

Is that, like, a big problem?

In the wild, it's going to be a massive problem.

I don't know yet why he is not seeing as well as he should, but certainly

we're not going to be able to release him if he can't see properly.

That's not good. Foxes use their hearing and smell to track prey,

but Luca isn't going to snatch his dinner if he can't see.

Oh, we love this bit!

You send us clips of your cool pets, we enjoy them.

And try and help you out, too.

# Doggie

# Doggie, lift your tail up

# Doggie

# Doggie, lift your tail up

# Doggie

# Doggie, lift your tail up

# Doggie, lift your tail up

# And show us what you've got. #

-This is Delilah.

-Delilah!

Oh, I have seen this one. This one is amazing.

-This is the weirdest dog you will ever see.

-Yeah?

-Mm-hmm.

She has a very special talent. Sit.

There you go.

Inel, that's a pig!

You what?

It's a pig!

Even more amazing, then! Ha!

I could have sworn that was a dog.

Right, what can we do for you, Ella?

I have got four hens that live in my garden

and I'd like to know why, when they drink, do they go...?

-Oh!

-HE CLAPS

That's a fantastic impression there.

Yeah, she really became the chicken. I really believed it.

Oh, wait, there's more.

And also, when they lay an egg, why do they make a big announcement?

Like, "Buk-buk-buk!"

Two top questions deserves two top answers.

What, you really know why?

Yes, Inel, I do.

Chickens need gravity to swallow.

Opening and closing their mouths

-while tilting their head back does the job.

-Ah! I never knew that.

As for the racket hens make when laying eggs, it is debatable.

It could be a call-out to the rest of the flock or it could simply be

-a proud mum showing off her achievement.

-Oh, nice work, Johnny.

You are a real EGGhead! Ha-ha!

I hope that answers your question, Ella.

Right, junior vets Keegan

and Bailey should be around here somewhere.

Oh, there you are with vet Claire. I hope you like horses.

I felt really happy because, like, I have this thing with horses.

-Like, I just love horses.

-They love her back.

Phew! That'll be a yes, then.

This is Jimmy.

He had a problem with his right hind leg before, which we have given him

some treatment for, and I just want to make sure that that has worked.

My junior vets need to check out Jimmy's moves

and look for any problem signs.

-You can see him, like...

-That's it. You can make...

Your body kind of goes with him, that's absolutely right.

Serious stuff, this.

Jimmy is a fancy competition horse, but there will be no

shows for a while if he doesn't pass our vet check.

Certainly, his right hind, which was the one I was worried about,

is much improved.

Strangely, he is very, very slightly lame in front,

which is not the one I was expecting him to be lame on.

JIMMY CLOPS

Is he landing on them evenly, do you think? What can you hear?

-I did hear, like...

-It's like he's...

Like you said, his right foot, I thought

I heard that going a bit more heavily.

Needs a calm hands-on examination, this.

Run your hands down,

feeling all the time for any heat, or any lumps and bumps.

And then you say, "Come on, give me your foot."

Come on, give me your foot.

Just lift up the foot. Well done.

He would just lift it up, so then you could have a look.

And then we realised that nothing was actually wrong with

the left-hand side.

That's what we like to hear.

Claire is confident Jimmy's little limp is not a major injury.

He may have just trodden on a stone as he came in from the field,

so we will see how he goes.

All right, Jimmy!

You have nearly got the all clear, just one junior vet job left to do.

In Surrey, Olivia, Kiera and vet Jill

are focusing on Luca the orphaned fox cub's eyes.

-Jill did seem quite worried, didn't she?

-Yeah.

-You can see his pupils got smaller.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, and then larger.

If he can't see, he will never return to the wild.

Well, Kiera is doing well, ain't she? She's not nervous now.

What is the score with Luca's eyes, Jill?

He has actually being really good,

but I can't really see anything wrong,

so I am just going to put the lights off and see

-if that makes it any easier for me, OK?

-Yep.

Oh, I don't like the dark, me!

Do you know? Those eyes look like normal eyes to me.

The lenses are nice and clear and the retina is clear,

so I think we should just give him a bit more time.

That's good news that you can't see anything wrong with his eyes.

It is great news, but let's just give him a bit more time

and see what happens.

So, Luca's eyes are looking fine,

but he arrived with a leg injury too.

The other thing we need to check out is this problem with the back legs

because obviously, if he is going to go back out into the wild,

he needs to be 100%,

so we are going to take an X-ray of this back leg issue.

'Poor Luca! Don't worry, though, this injection is to calm him.'

Well done. That was very brave.

Yeah.

'Right, X-ray time, young man.

'It will show if there is anything seriously wrong inside Luca's legs.'

So, we need to turn the light off so we can see where this beam is going.

'Fingers crossed.'

That's it.

'How is your patient, junior vets?'

His breathing is at a steady pace.

OK, let's get him back in his box and we will have a look at this X-ray.

Fingers crossed, eh?

We were really nervous when we were waiting for the X-ray results,

-weren't we?

-Yeah. We wanted to make sure his legs were fine

and strong enough to go out.

We can see that his spine is nicely aligned.

His pelvis, which is here, that's all normal.

I think he will get stronger and stronger on his back end

and the eyes we will just have to keep the little eye on,

but fingers crossed he will be OK for release.

Are you glad that everything is OK with him?

Yeah, I am glad that he is going to be set out into the wild

-so he can be like a normal fox.

-Yeah.

Thanks so much for all your hard work because, you know,

without this checkout, we could never have seen

whether he was going to be fit for release or not.

You did a really good job.

Look at that. Top stuff, junior vets. Well done, Kiera and Olivia!

'And the good news is Luca's sight did improve.

'He is now fox trotting back to the wild.'

In Yorkshire, Keegan and Bailey need to sort

Jimmy the horse's teeth with vet Claire.

Jimmy's teeth were about that big - they were huge!

Not as big as his tongue, though.

It's all squidgy!

I just got it and it was all over the place, so we had to put it

to one side of his mouth so we could get on the other side.

Well done.

It's not the tidiest tongue, is it?

It was like a fish that was still alive out of water.

It was just like...

You're holding on to it, but then it was just like whoa!

Stay down!

It has got to be done, though.

Just like us, horses need their teeth checking regularly.

But Jimmy needs a sedative to keep him relaxed.

That's it, not all the way because I only want half a millimetre. Stop!

His lip just dropped literally. It was just like...

If any of Jimmy's teeth have gone big and spiky,

he can't grind the goodness out of his food.

Just to see how sharp that outside edge is,

-can you feel the teeth up there?

-Yeah.

-Well done.

I was surprised to feel how actually jagged they were and...

-Sharp.

-Yeah, sharp.

Do you think you would like to do that, have a feel?

-He won't bite you, I promise.

-No!

I wasn't very keen on putting my hand in his...

-really big mouth, actually.

-Yeah.

-Eurgh!

-Have you got slobber on you?

-Yeah, there's slobber all over me.

-That's great.

My hand was all, like, slimy and I was like...

But there is more yucky dentistry that needs doing, Bailey.

Tartar is the hard stuff that can make gums go inflamed

and painful, and it has got to come off.

Well done.

-Good.

-Bailey is all over this job.

I might make an appointment myself!

My ones could do with a quick go as well.

-Sure!

-Yeah? Actually, no.

Yeah, maybe not. You look a bit too keen, actually.

'These two are definitely going nowhere near me with that thing!

'It is called a rasp and it gets rid of all the sharp edges,

'which could cause Jimmy so many problems.'

That's it. Exhausting, isn't it?

'It's like a grater, though.'

It's like a flat grater for cheese. I'm not kidding, it...

He looks like he is having a whale of a time.

He's like, "Oh, yeah, make sure you get the back ones."

'And once his chompers are all sorted by my junior vets...'

He's away. He says, "Right, straight away,

"I'm going to try out my new teeth."

'Jimmy can get back to his all-you-can-eat grass buffet.'

-Now he will feel a lot more comfortable.

-Yeah.

And that is what you junior vets did today,

so you can be proud of yourselves. Are you proud of yourselves?

-Yes.

-Proud of ourselves.

Talk about brilliant and brave junior vetting.

Keegan and Bailey have helped Jimmy the slobber-chops horse

and faced up to wart-removing surgery.

Keegan and Bailey did great today - nothing fazed them.

We have lots of much older school students who are not

so enthusiastic or as helpful as they were.

There was a little blood but I guess I wasn't as squeamish

as I thought I was, but overall I think I conquered it.

I felt very proud to be part of it.

And Kiera and Olivia rocked it.

Kiera got well stuck in with our one-eyed owl

and Olivia handled wild animals like a top vet.

What a day, girls! I'll tell you what, sorted out Bob and his eye.

And little Luca - he is going to be a walking cool again.

And I tell you what, you didn't have to... La-la-la!

I was thinking about doing that when he was all wriggling,

-but in the end he was OK.

-I know, lucky for him, eh?

Yeah, it's a result. Nothing wrong with his leg,

nothing wrong with his eyes. Yeah, success.

Thank you, junior vets.

This lot are loving your work.