Episode 6 Junior Vets on Call

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

But don't worry, cos coming to the rescue are today's team of...

Junior Vets On Call.

Today...

a doggy paddling dog, and what's that donkey doing upside down?

Right, now, who's up for some donkey-sized vet work?

Junior Vets, standing by.

I've got a top tip for dealing with animals.

My only fear is eight-legged creatures. I hate spiders.

Hey, hey. Welcome to the spider sanctuary.

HE LAUGHS

Only joking, only joking.

Samarth, have you got any tips for us today,

when we going and look after so many animals?

Well, you just basically have to stay calm and chill.

-Stake calm and chill?

-Chillax.

-Chillax!

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-You know what?

I think we're ready to go help some animals. Let's go, boys.

What do you get if you bring about 500 unwanted donkeys together?

This, the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon.

Whoa, back off boy. Back off!

The donkeys have been rescued from poor conditions or handed over

by their owners who couldn't look after them any more.

Some are a bit, well, chillaxed. But others are kept pretty busy.

Aidan and Samarth are doing their donkey work with vet nurse Vicky.

Right then, junior vets.

This is Shelter One, and all the donkeys in here are working donkeys.

They're busy with teaching, schools come and visit...

Oh, right, so they've got jobs?

And the public come and... They've all got a job.

But we still need to check that they're in good working order.

So I like to call it their annual MOT.

The junior vets have their own donkey to check out.

Aidan, you've got Grainne.

Remember, they're stubborn.

Samarth, you get Henry. Watch it, he's a bit lively.

He's going himself.

Ha-ha, he...he's leading me.

Donkeys like Henry have a reputation for being stubborn.

That's because they're very cautious animals.

It's very difficult to force a donkey to do

something it sees as unsafe.

So good luck, junior vets!

First job - check their teeth and gums.

Open wide, Grainne.

That's pale pink gums, yeah.

Come on, Henry. Stand still, mate.

Stop, Henry.

Henry looked like he was hard work, and a bit of a handful.

Yeah, he was. And in fact, I was a bit scared.

Stop, Henry.

But I still took control, so not to worry. I'm safe and still here.

-Well done.

-Stop, Henry.

-Well done.

Lift up his lip.

There. So what colour are they?

-Pink. Pinky, yeah.

-Pinky.

So, two donkeys, two healthy mouths.

But there's more checking to do. What's up with Grainne's eye?

-This eye looks slightly redder.

-It is!

-Yeah.

-Well observed.

This eye is definitely redder. So, it means it's fighting an infection.

Grainne's eye was bloodshot red, and it looked really bad.

She'll close at as you approach.

That's right. You need to be quite firm.

It felt good to help Grainne.

-We want to get all that clean...

-Yeah.

Oh, that looks good.

Looking better already, Grainne.

All this prodding and poking is worth it, you know.

-Yuck.

-SHE LAUGHS

This place is where animals come to recover

after accidents and operations.

One thing's missing. Junior Vets, where are you?

Junior Vets, standing by.

I'll help any animal

because I'm not scared of anything.

I'm desperate to convince my parents to let me have a pet.

The Fitzpatrick rehab centre is the place where animals come to

get better. Just like humans, poorly pets need exercise to get strong.

And there's some pretty cool stuff going on to get them

back on their paws.

Harvey the labrador is coming with his owner Sue

for a Hydro session in the pool.

He's going to be swimming his way back to full strength.

Doggy pad away, Harvey.

-How are you doing, Sue?

-Hi there.

-So this is our first patient?

This is Harvey and he is seven years old.

He had a stroke last August.

-Oh, no.

-And he had paralysis on all four legs.

Harvey was just such a lovely, and lovable dog.

Yeah, he was really energetic but when I found out what was

wrong with him, I really felt sorry for him cos I could imagine

how much pain he was going through.

He's now got three legs working really well,

and his front left is still paralysed.

This vet's practice has a pool where dogs can do a special workout.

It's called hydrotherapy,

and it's been a big part of Harvey's recovery.

Shall we go swimming then, Harvey? Ready?

Well, would you look at him.

Even with a paralysed leg, Harvey can't wait to get in.

Manners, Harvey!

Harvey!

Harvey is very keen to get in that water.

He's loving this treatment!

-He nearly took you two in with him, didn't he?

-Yes.

I do kind of want to get in there with him.

He's having too much fun I think.

It's called the doggy paddle but not all dogs are very good at it.

Labradors like Harvey are generally fine, but some breeds,

like pugs and bulldogs, can struggle to stay afloat.

Any dog can be a bit scared of the water, and simply not fancy it,

and others need a bit of practice.

Harvey definitely isn't one of them, though.

It looked like he was getting really special treatment,

and it was helping him every step of the way.

Yeah, and he just liked really happy while he was doing it as well.

He was so excited.

This looks like fun!

But Amy needs to make sure Harvey doesn't overdo it.

So, we'll give him a little nice rest now.

And he's standing in the pool as well,

so we're doing little bits of massage as well,

which is really good for him,

and he's in really nice water. It's all warm so it relaxes his muscles.

-It's all right.

-It's OK, Harvey.

-You're in good hands now.

So, how many laps does he normally do?

-He did 28 laps last time. He's a very fit boy.

-Wow.

So, he's done...four, four laps.

Do you reckon it's doing Harvey any good?

I'm guessing that this is helping Harvey a lot.

Swimming is the best form of exercise. It's all weightless,

so he's got none of the impact going through his joints.

So he'll get more range of movement.

-So it'll keep him fit, and you see he's happier as well.

-Yeah.

All right, Harvey. are you going to go for your last laps?

Ready, Harvey? Go!

He did 28 laps, which was really astonishing.

Yeah, and it was just amazing to think that a few months

previously, he couldn't even walk,

just the amount of progress he made is really amazing.

-All right, last lap, Harvey, come on.

-Come on, Harvey.

Leave it all in the pool.

Go on Harvey!

-Well done!

-He made it look easy. He made it look easy.

-It seems like he's still got some energy left.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Time to go home now, Harvey, and say goodbye to your new friends.

Thank you both very much for looking after him today.

-It's been really...

-The pleasure was all ours.

-He was great.

-Thank you.

-He was great.

-Thank you.

Good luck, Harvey.

At the donkey Sanctuary, Aidan and Samarth are making sure

donkeys Henry and Grainne are healthy.

The next part of the checkup involves taking their temperatures,

and it could get a bit messy.

How are we going to take their temperatures?

-Thermometer.

-With a thermometer.

-Yeah. Where do we put them?

-Oh, down their throat? No, in, uh...

-No, they've got teeth.

-Think the other end, Junior Vets.

-These are digital thermometers...

-Are we going to stick it up their bottom?

-Yeah.

It's the only way to take temperature of any animal,

because if you put it in their mouth, they'll just bite it.

Stay cool. It's a messy job, but a necessary one too.

Stand right by his leg. That's right. Have a peek round...

and stick it in his bottom.

We had to do it, and it will help the donkey, so I did it.

So, if I told you that it was normal if it was less than 38

-and above 35, then are we both normal?

-Yeah.

-I'm normal.

-Yeah, I'm normal.

-You're normal?

-Well, the donkey's normal.

-OK, wipe that off.

-Oh, no.

-Go on, you do it.

-No, don't.

Right, final test. The donkey's feet. How's Henry's?

-Looks healthy.

-Seems quite healthy, yeah.

-Healthy and normal.

-Yeah.

-Good.

Sorry, Grainne. Yours aren't in such good nick.

It looks a bit black.

Which means she's got a bit of bacteria in there.

To get rid of the bacteria,

Grainne is going to need some donkey foot paste.

-And what it will do is clean the foot and harden the foot up.

-Yeah.

Right. Yeah, as if you were battering some toast.

Ew. I'm sticking with marmalade.

But that staff will disinfect and toughen up Grainne's hoof nicely.

The main question is, does she pass her MOT?

What do you think, Aidan?

Uh... Yeah, I think she does.

So, Henry and Grainne, that's you well and truly checked out.

-I think we're getting surrounded, you know?

-Yeah.

-We might get attacked.

-We are being cornered.

Perhaps word has spread about the thermometer business.

THEY LAUGH

Stay calm, stay calm. Stay cool.

Come on, Henry and Grainne. Call them off!

It did you good, honest! Help!

OK, you know how this works, you truth seekers.

Fire us your animal questions, and we snap to it with an answer.

Is it true that a baby alligator's, depends on, when it's born,

if it's girl or boy depends on the temperature?

Well, Katie, you're sort of right.

If the nest stays between 32.5 and 34 degrees Celsius,

then the eggs are likely to produce baby boy alligators.

And if it's hotter or cooler than that, guess what?

-You're likely to get baby girls than boys.

-Get out of it!

All true, my friend. All true.

In Surrey, Helia and Saskia

are helping poorly pets get back in shape.

Now, they're teaming up with Supervet Noel

to treat Louis the labrador.

So, what's up with Louis?

So this poor little doggy was born with a problem

that gave him hip arthritis.

He was only three months of age when he started to show signs.

So this is a model, here, of what his hips would look like.

So a normal hip has a nice ball in a nice socket.

An abnormal hip has an abnormal ball in a saucer,

rather than a socket.

So, he was born with some genes that were not good.

I took the old joint out, and I out in a new one made of metal.

But this metal hip needs exercise to make it nice and strong.

Animal physio Sam will have a plan.

So one of the exercises we've been working on is to try and

encourage him to work this leg, by gently rocking his weight.

You can see the muscle grip on, and then off again.

It's like if you were standing like this, and you lift one leg

off the ground to get these muscles to take the weight of the body.

And as she does that, this hip gets stronger.

Gently rocking from side to side, there we go. Very good.

No, this is called a wobble board, and as you move him

from side to side, you see the muscles tensing here?

That's a really good exercise for him.

He is doing really well, he's working very hard.

I feel a little bit sorry for him, that he's had to do this,

but hopefully he can recover.

-Do you feel like you're making a difference today?

-Yeah.

That's pretty cool.

When Noel said that, I was just thinking, "Wow."

Like, it's really important.

And, yeah, I just felt kind of proud of what I was doing.

He flexes his knee, and then he pulls it back.

This next exercise is really tricky.

If it's not done right, Louis' hip could pop out.

With this hand here, I'm holding the hip so it can't dislocate.

Are you ready?

Pop your hand on his ankle there, OK, so bring...

bring forward and flex.

Helia, that's amazing. It's working!

I was really scared that I would hurt him when

I was having to move his leg because I knew that if I did it wrong,

it could be really dangerous and really hurt him.

It feels so, like, special. It feels like I really am helping.

Today, you've done a very, very good thing for Louis,

so thank you very much.

Feeling better, Louis?

I think that's a yes.

Vetted!

At the donkey rescue centre, Aidan and Samarth are with vet Karen.

-Their next patient has a very regal name.

-OK, Junior vets.

Let's go and meet Prince.

Poor Prince's owners couldn't look after him any more.

He's not been here long,

so he's been separated from the others for now. How come?

What we don't want to do is introduce any diseases

to the rest of our herd.

And we don't want to do introduce any babies

to the rest of our herd, as well.

So that means a big operation

so that Prince can't help make baby donkeys.

It will also make him a bit calmer.

-And we are going to be looking after Prince...

-Yeah.

..to make sure he's in the best, best hands whilst he's on the table.

Yeah, getting that royal treatment.

-Yeah.

-Cos he's a prince.

-He is a prince.

-Thank you.

Absolutely, yes,

-and he deserves the best treatment we can give him, right?

-Yeah.

These two need a fast change for surgery.

Well, looking good, Junior Vets.

And Prince needs an anaesthetic jab to knock him out.

He's feeling very sleepy.

YAWN

Oh, and out for the count, and ready for his operation.

Whoa.

It's going too fast.

It was going around the room, and we had to, like, dodge the donkey,

like, oh, no, donkey! Donkey incoming!

It's just cool how they did it on the... Up in the air. Yeah.

Down there.

Next, the surgery area needs to be shaved.

Get that loose hair up, Aidan.

So if you can poke the hoover right down this bit...

That's the easy bit out of the way.

Now it gets a bit more interesting.

Because Vet, Karen, has another job for the Junior Vets.

So, were going to put this catheter down into his willy,

and that drains all of the urine throughout the operation

because we don't want any urine coming out

and going into the surgical site.

-So are you holding on to the end tightly?

-Yep.

-Brilliant.

That's it, brilliant. Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going,

-and hold the end. That's it, well done.

-Ew!

Well done. But there's some worse news. Isn't there, Karen?

And then what we need to do is, we need to do is staple it

so that it stays in.

-Do we use staples?

-What do you reckon to that? We use staples.

-Aw! Does that hurt?

-It doesn't hurt because he's anaesthetised

and he can't feel anything.

So I guess, actually, one of you could put the staple in.

-This sounds painful.

-Would you like to?

-Uh...

-I want to.

Samarth, you stayed cool. Nothing could go wrong, could it, Aidan?

-I don't want to staple your finger.

-Nope, you want staple my finger.

I never I'd be stapling a donkey because I only staple

-pieces of paper together.

-OK, so put it in and press.

That's it, good. Well done.

This is really weird. Stapling a donkey... what a crazy idea.

Every time he breathes, the blue line moves.

OK, so that's one thing that we've got to keep an eye on.

The junior vets need to hook Prince up to this monitor.

It's quite tough, isn't it? Because donkey skin is really thick.

Which will tell them how he's doing during the surgery.

Clip that onto the end of his tongue. That's it, perfect.

-OK.

-So if you come back around...

-Is it red, now?

So it's an orange line here.

And there's no room for error during surgery, Junior Vets.

If we do something wrong on the anaesthetic side, why might he die?

Because he would be overdosed.

He would be overdosed, yes so it's really important that we make

sure that he's just at the right level.

He's not too deep and too sleepy, because then he'd be overdosed.

-But we don't want him too light Because...

-He might wake up.

-He might wake up and he might start moving, mightn't he?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Fingers crossed Prince be all right.

BARKING

I love this bit.

We get to find out what you lot have been up to with your pets

with a bit of help from our trusted Barker. Hit it!

# Doggie lift a tail up Doggie lift a tail up

# Doggie, doggie, doggie, doggie, Doggie lift a tail up

# Doggie lift a tail up Doggie lift a tail up

# And show us what you got! #

-What have you got, George?

-My rabbit, Mopsy.

If you stroke her on her left cheek, her ear comes up.

-Wow.

-What?

And if you stroke her on her right cheek, her other ear goes up.

It's really funny.

-Wow!

-What?

-Oh, nothing, nothing.

If you stroke them at the same time, both her ears just slowly go up.

-Wow!

-BOING

-What?

-Oh, nothing, nothing. Nothing.

It's pretty amusing, I guess.

BOTH: It is pretty amusing!

BARKING

Back at the rehab centre,

Helia and Saskia's next patient is another Harvey.

This one's a boisterous pup. Yep, I said pup.

So, Junior Vets, I've just seen your next patient.

-It's on the little fellow.

-OK.

-You ready for this?

-OK, yes.

Go for it, go for it.

Hi, Junior Vets. BOTH: WOW!

Come on in.

Harvey was really huge. We were just like "Wow".

-Yeah. He was so big.

-Yeah.

-I wasn't expecting a dog nearly that big.

Do you want to go down to his height? And just nice and slowly...

OK, OK, be brave, be brave. Come on, we can do this.

You can do it. You can do it Junior Vets.

I could tell that he was a really big softie

-and I just wanted to cuddle him.

-Yeah!

Today, Harvey's owner, Mrs Jones, has brought him

in to do some physiotherapy exercises with animal physio, Sam.

What breed of bear is he?

He's Bernese Mountain dog, but he's still a puppy.

-Wow, a puppy?

-So a lot of sort of big...

He had a partial shoulder replacement five months ago,

and needs continuing treatment to make sure it heals

and strengthens properly.

SAM: The work we've been doing has been trying to promote

healing of the bone around the implant

but also trying to strengthen up all the muscles around his front leg.

PRESENTER: First, Harvey, we need to give your checkup.

SAM: He is quite happy for me to take his leg.

He can let me fully bend his shoulder up.

And is he in any pain at this point?

No. He'll let me fully stretch his leg out.

He's got a lovely reach there.

Aw, Harvey! Your are lovely indeed.

But there's still loads of work for you to do.

We've got some poles that we can work over for him

just to try and get him

to use his legs a bit more and to help the

-strengthening around his shoulder.

-OK.

Junior Vets, we need a doggie obstacle course.

Some dogs are absolutely brilliant at it, like Oakley.

I don't think you'll be as nimble as Oakley though, Harvey.

Make Harvey walk nice and slowly. We just want him to pick his paws up.

Told you.

-Come on, Harvey.

-Come on, Harvey.

He wasn't really keen on going over the hurdles.

Yeah, he seemed quite nervous.

These exercises will help you get better, Harvey.

I think someone needs a pep talk.

These poles are not that high, Harvey, you can get over them.

Look at the size of you, mate. You can do it.

It's all about positive mental attitude.

I think I got through to him, give it another go.

So the slower he's going the more he's got to think about his paws.

Nice and slow. Much better. Good boy.

That's more like it.

Harvey, you're really hitting the heights now, mate.

I don't want to make that achievement all about me

but I did just encourage him and he's done it so...

With the lead, Harvey. There he goes!

ALL: Yay!

He's done it. That's it. So proud, Harvey. So proud.

Great team, eh, Mrs Jones?

They were just loving and professional.

And just lovely. Really lovely.

And I think as an owner, the most important thing that you

want from your vet is for somebody who cares.

Nice!

BARKING

NEIGHING

At the donkey hospital, Junior Vets Aidan and Samarth are helping with

a big operation on Prince, the upside-down donkey.

It's vital they check he's breathing OK and his heart rate is fine.

MACHINE BEEPS

-One. Two.

-Two. Three.

-Three.

It was a real-life situation and if you didn't do right,

something bad could happen to Prince.

That was 97, heart rate.

-Oh, no...

-So, was the heart rate the...

-Heart rate was 37.

-37.

It was a bit of pressure, but we were calm and in control.

That's right, Prince you snooze your way through the whole thing.

But with your eyes open that they could dry out a bit.

Karen's got the answer. Eye drops.

So you've got them right in there, and that'll make his eye really

nice and moist and make him really comfortable.

Lovely, well done. Great.

Good job Prince is unconscious because

the operation starts for real now.

So, these are called emasculators.

I don't like sound or the look of those.

-Oh, yeah...

-Now they're cuffing.

And she's going to squeeze, and that's going to

cut it off that's it.

-And that goes in the bin.

-Ew!

-That's it.

-There's blood everywhere!

-Ow!

But it was for Prince's own good.

So are coming to the end of surgery. Elena's finished.

-We need to get everything off.

-OK!

We need to get the donkey of the table and

back into recovery as fast as we can.

So if you can undo that. That'd be good. Thank you for that.

-One donkey to go! Please.

-I'm missing it!

A tube has been helping Prince to breathe during the operation,

that leads removing now. Careful!

OK, and then draw back. Brilliant. And take it off.

-And push it out.

-Yeah, it was quite intense.

You guys have done a really good job helping me in theatre today.

-Off you go, and get changed.

-That was really cool, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

A little while later, Prince is back on his feet.

-Oh, look Junior Vets, here he is.

-The Prince!

-Prince, my man!

-Aw, he look so good!

-Big Man Prince. Doing all right, isn't he?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

How do you feel, guys?

I mean, you were in charge of keeping him alive...

-It was a big responsibility.

-Yeah, big responsibility.

-Yeah, monitoring his health and everything.

-Yeah.

-Amazing work from all four Junior Vets today.

-Breathe, Breathe.

-Come on, we can do this!

-You can do it!

-He's going too fast!

-Go on, Harvey!

-That was really cool, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

Since I've come here, I've been happy the entire time, I've always

had a smile on my face, and it's definitely broadened my horizons.

Excellent! And Saskia, what kind of

skills have you had to demonstrate that make a good junior vet?

Well, definitely love and care for the animal

and you have to have a very strong relationship with it.

I've discovered that as well.

Well thanks to all your love and care, this lot have been well

and truly Junior Vetted.

Fancy getting vetting yourself?

Well, get on the CBBC website right now and start earning hearts

and points by helping the animals that need you.