Episode 10 Junior Vets on Call

Pets, wildlife and farm animals across the UK are in trouble.

But don't worry, because coming to the rescue

are today's team of...

Junior Vets On Call.

BARKING

Today, a funny bunny.

Some punky monkeys.

And why is Lucy the sea lion putting on so much weight?

BARKING

I tell you what, there's nothing better than a peaceful stroll

on a cloudy day like this.

There's not going to be nothing peaceful about this stroll

because there's animals that need fixing.

Junior vets, where are you?

-BOTH:

-Junior vet standing by.

When it comes to animal caring, I'm one of the best.

I have a healthy amount of respect for animals...

after I was bitten by quite an unusual one.

Hey. What's happening, boys? Yeah!

How's it going? Abdullah, I heard you got bitten by an animal, man.

-Yes, a koala.

-A koala bear? I tell you what,

it's always them cute animals you've got to watch out for, man.

Rahim, you confident about today?

I'm fully confident and ready to tackle anything.

See, that's the attitude I'm talking about.

Right, junior vets, let's get going. Come on, then!

For a little village practice,

Windlesham Vets tackles big pet problems.

Sprout here belongs to bunny-rescuer Helen.

She took him in after he was found on the roadside.

Junior vets, hop to it.

-Hello, and how's your pet doing?

-What seems to be the problem?

Well, not terribly good. This little bunny came into my rescue as a stray

and that was when I found that his teeth are really nasty.

Someone's not been brushing their teeth.

-That's not a problem.

-So, shall we have a look?

-BOTH:

-Yes.

We came here obviously to help him so, very happy.

I mean, erm,

Sprout was in safe hands.

'I'm loving the confidence. Take it away, vet Jill.'

OK, so let's have a look at his teeth.

All right, so, he's got really sharp incisors,

his cutting teeth at the front of his mouth

and I think they're the ones that are causing the problems.

So, if the teeth keep growing they'll curl back into his mouth?

They're just going to keep growing,

he won't be able to pick food up properly

and they could dig into his mouth.

'Oh, that doesn't sound too good.

'Sprout's going to need surgery to take these teeth out.

'He'll have to be unconscious for the operation.

'But is he healthy enough for the anaesthetic?'

-He's got clean eyes.

-Beautiful.

Yep, the ears are clean. He's a healthy little bunny.

'Ah, Rahim knows his way around a bunny!'

So, let's have a listen to his heart

because that's going to be really important for his anaesthetic later.

So, stethoscope.

Whoa, that's fast.

That's partly because he's a bit scared.

Yes, we'll operate this little guy.

Don't worry, he'll be fine.

-HELEN:

-I'm sure he'll be in good hands with you.

All right, Sprout, see you later.

'Nicely handled, Abdullah, but how are your bunny handling skills?'

-JILL:

-Perfect.

-HELEN:

-There we are.

'Now you got him!'

He was a bit jiggly but I got the hang of it.

Was you scared that it might bite?

A bit, a bit.

'Abdullah's conquered his fears now, though.

'Brilliant start, junior vets.'

BARKING

OWL HOOTS

I'm at this huge aquarium where I've heard there are some

under-the-weather underwater creatures.

I think I'm going to need some help.

Junior vets, where are you?

-BOTH:

-Junior vets standing by.

I'm top pet carer but I did care for a guinea pig a little too well.

I'm the small pet specialist, I love cute little animals.

Oh, there you are.

So, Jessica, how can you over care for your guinea pig?

I overfed him a bit so he had to go on a diet.

So it was GUINEA pigging out?

BA-DUM-TISH!

OK, let's get cracking and help some animals, shall we?

The Blue Reef aquarium in Tyneside is home to loads of awesome

sea creatures from around the world.

Tropical fish.

Sea lions.

Terrapins.

Monkeys.

Hang on, monkeys?!

We didn't expect to see monkeys, did we?

Just a bit random. Monkeys and fish.

Maybe keeper Susie can explain?

It's just part of our education programme to try and promote the

conservation of the Amazon rainforest.

And monkeys do play a really important role

helping that ecosystem.

Dropping fruit into the waterways helps the Amazon River

and the species of fish that are found there.

So, we're going to prep their food,

make sure they're getting the right vitamins and calcium supplements

-and things like that.

-I actually thought the monkeys

were going to put scuba gear on and start swimming around,

-but that's going to happen.

-No.

-A little disappointed.

'Well, this lot are really cute even without scuba gear.

'Cotton-top tamarins are the punks of the monkey world

'and in the wild they're critically endangered.

'But some of these were kept as pets by owners

'who couldn't look after them properly,

'which is why they're here.'

They're so cute, they're like little tiny fluff balls.

They're just so cute.

Yeah, but most of them in that sea life centre were rescues

because people had had them as pets and were sick of them.

That's not right.

'These guys need vital nutrition but, Jessica,

'remember your guinea pig. We don't want chunky monkeys.'

This is like MasterChef for monkeys right now.

Really impressive.

'Today, Jessica is preparing a delicious dish

'of banana and monkey pellet, cleverly disguising a blend of

'vital calcium and vitamin supplements.'

So, what do you think about when you're making these...

monkey dishes that are so delicious, Jessica?

Erm... The monkeys being happy.

The monkeys being happy, and that's what monkey food should be about,

monkeys being happy after all.

We're really pleased that we're helping the monkeys.

-It was fun, too.

-Yeah.

'Anna's got portion control sorted.'

60g. Why's it got to be such a specific amount?

Er... One, because you don't really want them to get obese,

so you don't put too much in and you don't really want any wasted food.

I think we make great monkey chefs.

-We'll need a monkey chef's hat.

-Yeah.

Right, these monkeys are in for a treat.

That looks pretty tasty. I could eat it myself.

'OK, who's hungry?'

Oh, it stinks!

'The junior vets aren't totally sure how their nutritious meal

'will go down with the punky monkeys.'

The vitamin powder smelt horrible.

'But they seem to be yumming it up.

'This little chap is called Felice.

'He was rescued and brought to the aquarium

'after being kept illegally.'

Felice was actually someone's pet.

If you look really closely, he hasn't actually got any teeth.

They've all actually decayed away

and that's because his diet was actually only marshmallows.

'Trust me, I love a marshmallow

'but I wouldn't want to get nothing else to eat.'

They can't just eat marshmallows,

they have to have like fruit and banana and pellets

and all them sort of things.

'And you know what?

'Every endangered animal deserves a little treat for dessert.'

Insects are a really important part of their diet, for the monkeys.

It's also their favourite as well, locusts.

So, I've got some locusts in here.

So, one way you get them out is just literally open the tub up,

you've given it a couple of knocks so they're not at the top

and then you grab them by the two back legs and then they can't move

and then the monkeys come along and take them out your hands

and nibble off their heads first,

which is pretty mean but they love them. They're a bit like a lollipop!

-They were not like a lollipop like she described.

-Yeah.

-Urgh!

'Whoa, look at that, though! Felice does love his locusts.'

Especially when they were eating their heads first.

'And I'll tell you what, junior vets,

'today you've helped an endangered species.'

Goals in life, you don't really think you're going to help a monkey.

'Even if you've not helped those locusts.

'Go on, mate. Leg it.'

Definitely made the tamarins happier.

Yeah, and it was a really nice feeling.

-Knowing that you succeeded at something.

-Yeah.

'That's a load of satisfied, nutrified monkeys.

'Vetted.'

BARKING

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS, LION ROARS

Back in Surrey, Rahim, Abdullah and vet Jill

are preparing Sprout the bunny for the operation

to take out his troublesome teeth.

OK, great, so let's get him weighed so that we can work out his drugs.

So, depending on his weight

-is how much the dosage you're going to give him?

-Yeah, exactly.

What would happen if you give it too much drugs or too little?

If you don't give him enough, he's not going to be asleep

and he's going to feel it and that's not going to be very nice for him.

If you give him too much, that could be really dangerous.

We could make him go too deep under the anaesthetic

and that's going to have an effect on his heart,

-so we don't want to do that.

-OK.

-What does that say?

1.7kg. Look at that.

Perfect.

I liked the way you handled the rabbit

-when you were about to weigh him.

-Oh, thanks, man.

Rahim, I thought you said you didn't have any rabbits, man?

Never touched one, either.

OK, just got that gentle touch?

-Yeah.

-Look at that.

-A natural.

-Watch out, he might have your job.

'So, there's no need to worry, Sprout,

'you're in safe hands today, fella.

Let's go.

'Rabbits need to eat and poop a lot.

'Rahim's medicine will help Sprout do both after the op

'so he doesn't get sick.'

He is a lively one.

'Oh, he's lively, all right!

'But this blanket will keep him calm for the injection

'to make him unconscious.

-Didn't even feel it.

-Yeah.

-He's brave.

'And hey, check out this delicate work from Abdullah.

'The drops will stop Sprout's eyes getting sore in surgery.'

-That's it.

-OK, let's get these teeth out.

-All all right your end?

-We're confident and we're calm.

-Yeah.

'Sprout's getting sleepy.

'The sooner it's done, the safer he'll be.

'No time to lose, junior vets.'

BARKING

Hey, you know what sprouts make you do, don't you?

Oh, yeah, every Christmas! Phooft!

Well, that reminds me of our latest animal truth seeker.

Sian's got an absolute humdinger for us to try and get to the BOTTOM of.

I was scrolling through the internet and I saw a really interesting fact.

It's quite funny as well.

Turtles can breathe through their bottoms.

Can you tell me if this is true?

Oh, no way, surely it can't be true?

Well, in fact, Sian, it IS true.

-No?!

-Yep, Inel.

Some species like the Fitzroy River Turtle

and the Australian white-throated snapping turtle

can stay underwater for days by taking in oxygen

through their bottoms!

They're known as bum-breathing turtles.

Bum breathers? I dread to think what their breath smells like!

Thanks for that one, Sian.

Oh, yeah, I learned something today

and I'm going to tell everyone I know.

Now, how's our rabbit getting on?

Well, Sprout's unconscious and ready for his tooth operation at the vets.

Rahim and Abdullah have been impressive so far

and Jill has a really important job for Rahim.

So, we need to keep an eye on him right the way through

and make sure his heart's beating nice and strong.

I can hear fast pounding,

he's faster than ours but it's slow for a rabbit.

That's something new I learned.

It's like someone knocking on a door.

I like the responsibility

because somebody placed a big responsibility in my hands

and I knew I had to do it and I couldn't let them down.

It's actually quite exciting.

It's good for the animals because you're helping them,

doing a good deed.

Only one thing. Blood. I'm not very keen of it.

'You might see a bit here, though, Abdullah.

'Sprout's gnashers are massive and if they don't come out,

'they'll stop him from munching his food proper.'

Do you, like, risk anything during this?

Well, the worst thing that can happen sometimes is that

I don't get the whole tooth out. Sometimes it snaps.

You've just got to be really patient.

These teeth are actually pretty healthy,

even though they're growing in the wrong direction.

Shall we get a swab so that you can keep it clean for me?

'Anaesthetic can be dangerous for rabbits, so the team must work fast.

'That's easier said than done.'

These are really difficult ones.

This is really awkward, though.

'The clock's ticking.

'Rahim, make sure you keep a close eye on Sprout's heart.'

Yeah, he's OK. He's slower than before but he's good.

'Get in!

'Or actually, get out! That's the first tooth.'

How's he looking, Rahim?

-Yeah, he's breathing well.

-Right, let's crack on.

Good. Oh, that one's long!

'Phew! Top work, team. Sprout's long, funny-growing teeth

'won't cause him any more problems.'

Don't worry, Sprout, you'll be all right.

It was very gruesome but it was a success.

That was a job well done.

'It's good news for Sprout's anxious owner, Helen.'

He has been excellent.

-Wonderful.

-He has had his operation, he's just recovering.

-OK.

So he should eat and poop.

-If not, bring him back.

-OK.

'But how's Sprout going to munch his carrots without his front teeth?'

Another piece of advice would be chop his food up.

'Aha, chopped food. Pellets, hay, Sprout's going to be sorted.'

-Well, I'll let you know if I have any problems.

-Sure.

-Wonderful.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

We helped the life of an animal and it was...

it made my day.

'Nicely done, junior vets.

'We've got one very satisfied owner and one less toothy happy bunny.

'Ha-ha! Vetted!'

BARKING

COW MOOS, PIG OINKS

'In Tyneside, Anna and Jessica are junior vetting at the aquarium.

'Ah, just look at these two sea lions.

'Lucy and Finn are a happy couple

'but recently, Lucy's been puzzling the keepers.'

-Hi, you OK, Lou?

-Hi, thank you guys so much for coming.

So, today, we're going to be doing just a basic health check,

plus Lucy's been putting on a lot of weight.

So do you guys think you can help us with that problem?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-Are you sure, Anna?

I mean, big animal, do you reckon you can handle it?

-I think so!

-Yeah, we'll give it a go.

'I was definitely nervous when I saw the sea lions.

I mean, the scale of them,

I thought they were going to be a lot smaller!

'Nice one, Anna.

'She might be a bit wary of larger animals

'but she's straight into the sea lions' home.'

-You did well.

-Ah, thank you!

'Junior vets, meet your patient.'

So, what I want you to do

is take a good nice look inside her mouth, here.

Come on, really close to me.

Can you smell her breath from there, girls?

Oh, nice!

Her breath was a bit fishy.

-Slightly off-putting.

-Yeah, slightly.

'Well, Finn doesn't mind her fishy breath.

'Lucy clearly sets his heart racing.

'But, you know, by dropping their heart rates to save oxygen,

'these sea lions can stay under water for up to 20 minutes.'

OK, so we're checking out her teeth right now.

'Lucy's been trained to follow commands,

'which means that keepers and vets can examine her if they're worried.'

And, of course, everything we do here is voluntary

so if Lucy doesn't want to, she doesn't have to. Is that right?

Good girl! Can you come down?

There we go. So, girls, we're going to look all over her body

and make sure there's no cuts or scrapes or anything

that we need to be concerned about.

So go ahead and give her a nice rub on that belly.

'It was really weird because I thought it was going to be slightly'

crocodiley, like, snake-like, with scales.

But it was kind of like stroking a big wet Labrador.

Yeah, and she was really well behaved.

Like, she was really patient. She was lying there for ages.

So now we need to weigh her. Like I said earlier,

she's put on quite a bit of weight so we really need to figure out

what's causing this weight gain. So, how much does she weigh?

-BOTH:

-112.2.

'Whoa! Lucy's normal weight is around 80 kilos.'

Quite a lot, isn't it?

That is one heavy, heavy sea lion.

I was very nervous because there might have been something wrong

with her, like, organs. I wanted to find out that she was safe.

I thought she was quite greedy or something,

like she was a bit overweight.

Too many fish!

'Mmm.

'There's definitely something fishy going on here, but what is it?'

BARKING We'll be back with Lucy later.

But now we're on dry land with our doggy mobile.

He hates fish but loves his Barker bites of video deliciousness.

Play that music!

# Doggy, doggy, lift your tail up

# Doggy, doggy, lift your tail up

# Doggy, doggy, lift your tail up

# Doggy, lift your tail up and show us what you've got. #

Well, my lizard Sergio which is riding the dog...

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Did I just see a lizard hitching a ride on top of a dog?

Wait, wait. Rewind it, rewind it.

That is the most awesome thing I've ever seen.

Hang on, hang on, he's got a question as well.

Well, my lizard Sergio, which is riding the dog,

has an unusual habit of head bobbing all the time at things that he sees.

Oh, well, there's a reason for that.

A lizard bobbing his head is a happy lizard,

and usually means it's trying to attract a mate.

Although if it's riding a dog at the time,

it might be the lizard's way of saying,

"Check me out, I'm riding a dog!"

BARKING

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS, LION ROARS

'At the vets, Rahim and Abdullah are waiting for Jill

'to bring in the next patient.

'Ah, nice and quiet, junior vets.'

He's a bit scared.

This is our little stray cat. Oh, dear.

He was cute but I, like, felt sad for him, like,

he was a stray and no-one took, like, responsibility for him.

'As if being homeless wasn't bad enough,

'this fella came to the surgery after having a nasty accident.'

He fell out of a tree on to a moving car and he bruised all his face.

He's got a bit of a scab on his chin still,

but that's healing quite nicely, actually.

'Good job he's got nine lives, though.

'But to help him get a new home,

'he needs an operation to stop him making babies.

'You know the drill now, junior vets. Is he OK for the op?'

So, who's going to do the heart check?

-Rahim, you can do it this time.

-There you are.

Oh, and, second surgery, I was, we were both very confident.

It's a very fast short, like, pulsing sound.

OK, so we've checked he's all healthy, so let's give him

his anaesthetic and then we can crack on with the operation.

'The junior vets are on it.

'They quickly scrub in while the medication takes effect.'

We've been through a lot of blood with the rabbit,

so now we know what to do with the cat.

What could be more worse than blood?

'Um, this job might be.

'But the operation area needs to be germ-free, so it has to be done.'

I tell you what, Rahim, you're a better man than I am!

-Thank you.

-Why is it so important that we're doing this?

It's kind of important that we don't let him have lots of babies.

There's a bit of a problem with stray cats in this country

-and unfortunately, this is the best way.

-Are you just going to cut it?

-Yep!

-Oh!

-Rahim, you set?

-Yeah.

I was just glad that I wasn't on the working end.

You're a lucky guy, dude.

Oh, no.

How many are there in total?

-Two.

-Two. Does it not grow back?

No, this is it. They're gone for good.

-So he's never going to be a dad?

-Never.

-Oh!

'But, like Jill said, there are already too many unwanted cats

'and the op will help this one find a loving new home.'

He's done! That's it.

-He'll be all right.

-Good job.

'Phew, I'm glad that's over!

'Now, let's make sure this little man never gets lost again.'

OK, we're going to put the microchip in.

It's an identification thing so if he goes missing or gets injured,

and he gets taken into the vet's,

they'll be able to scan him and it will come up with his unique code.

And they'll be able to find his owner.

Basically just like when you're at the supermarket,

-you just scan it.

-It makes... Absolutely, yeah.

Do you want to check it's working?

-Perfect.

-'Job done.'

I was really glad because we gave him a better chance of a life.

-What about you?

-I mean,

we came in on a high note and we ended with a bang.

All right, guys. You did a great job there.

I think all that's left is to give him a name.

-Tiger's a good one.

-He's got stripes like a tiger.

Yeah, and I see a tiger right there.

A small one, but a tiger.

'All ready for a new home.

'That's one little tiger vetted!'

BARKING

HORSE NEIGHS

'There's a mystery going on down at the aquarium for Anna, Jessica,

'and sea lion trainer Caitlin.

'Why has Lucy been piling on all that weight?'

So, what reason do you think it might be that Lucy's so heavy?

She could be a mum soon?

Actually, Anna, that's a really good idea.

'Yeah, good thinking, Anna.

'To find out if Lucy's having a baby,

'we need vet Sophie with her fancy bit of kit.'

This is an ultrasound scanner

and that will give us a picture of what's going on inside the body.

Normally when I scan cats and dogs they're sedated,

so they lie down nice and quiet for me.

With the sea lion, she's not sedated,

and she gets a bit nervous when too many people are around,

or if there's a lot of noise she might just run off

and jump back in the water.

So we'll need to be nice and quiet when we're doing the ultrasound,

so not to give her a fright.

'This is exciting.

'Jessica prepares the special probe...

'and Lucy's ready for her big moment.'

CAITLIN: Good girl.

What we're going to ask her to do is lay down, roll over...

and then we're going to go ahead and ultrasound her belly.

She was really well trained, like, she was like a dog.

-It shows how intelligent she is.

-Yeah.

'But she doesn't always do what she's told.

'Where are you off to, Lucy?'

It was quite funny, she just, like, got bored and gave up on us.

Like, fed up, can't be bothered any more!

You saw she wasn't holding very well for that ultrasound, which is OK.

So we'll just give her a couple of breaks and then we'll go back in

-and try her again.

-What will Finn be like when they have the baby?

Sea lions typically don't have that fatherly instinct,

so he's not going to be the one that's paying attention to him.

Of course Lucy will be the mother which they nurse off of,

and everything, so she'll be paying the most attention to that baby.

'OK, Lucy, let's try this again.'

Perfect, here you go, Sophie, thank you.

'Bingo, Lucy's been scanned but what will it show?'

It'd better be a baby, after this!

'I really wanted Lucy to have a baby.'

-I mean, they're just so cute.

-Yeah.

OK, so here we have the foetal structure here.

And this is some fluid around the foetus.

-That's a baby?

-That's a baby.

-That's so cool.

So well done, Anna, you were right.

I was very proud that I guessed right.

But I'm glad someone was there to tell us

-because that did not look like a baby!

-Yeah!

-It just looked like a grey blob.

-It looked like a bean.

'Aw, so Lucy's having a bean.

'I mean, baby!

'Did you hear that, Finn? You're going to be a dad!'

It made standing in the cold and the rain all worthwhile.

'That's one sea lion, actually, I suppose it's two sea lions, vetted.'

BARKING

COW MOOS, PIG OINKS

The junior vets were all in the deep end today...

But they've shown what top animal and owner care is all about.

Hello, and how's your pet doing?

They can't just eat marshmallows!

-So you're just going to cut it?

-Yeah.

-Oh.

She could be a mum soon?

-Oh, what a day, eh, boys?

-Yeah.

-Phew, I tell you what,

I was a bit shaky back there but you guys,

-you overcame some fears, didn't you?

-Yes, my fear of blood.

Ooh. Yeah, well, you held it together well, man,

I didn't even notice. What about you, Rahim?

I'd never picked up a rabbit but I managed to pick it up

-without it escaping!

-Yeah. That bunny was calm in your arms.

-Are you all right?

-Let's have a drink.

A nice cup of tea for me.

-JOHNNY:

-Well, Inel, it's the end of the series.

Yeah, and you wouldn't believe how many animals we've helped.

15 dogs, nine cats, five horses, three rabbits.

Don't forget the four cows, three donkeys,

two pythons AND the baby penguin.

What about the six piglets, the three badgers, two meerkats

and that elephant?

Oh, you know what? We haven't even got time to mention every animal.

But they've all been...

BOTH: Junior vetted!