Episode 8 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...

Woof!

Today, some cute kittens.

A massive mouth.

And anyone speak penguin?

PENGUIN TWITTERS

Now, there's a fair few birds in this bird park that need vet help.

And you know what happens when birds get a bit peaky.

They get into a bit of a flap!

Argh!

Help!

Junior vets standing by!

I've always wanted to work with animals,

especially ones with big ears and fur.

I love animals, but I'm not so keen on birds with big beady eyes.

Oops! Guess where we're starting.

A park called Bird Land, which - surprise, surprise -

is full of birds with big beady eyes, and they need our help.

But don't worry, junior vets,

they aren't nearly as fearsome as they make out.

I hope!

Actually, I'm not sure about this one.

Ha-ha!

Look at the size of him!

It's massive.

Mm, they are massive, all right.

In fact, the mighty southern ground hornbill

is the largest hornbill in the world.

At least vet Bronwen's here to protect us.

So, junior vets, this bird needs your attention.

-What do you think about that?

-Oh, his beak isn't the same size.

Exactly.

Would it hurt them when the beak fell off? Does it hurt?

It probably was just like us losing a bit of a fingernail,

so it was probably quite raw-feeling.

I hate that, when you break one off and it's like, "Ow!"

Nightmare.

But before we can mend the broken bit,

we need to catch her, and these guys are grumpy today.

I ain't going in there. She knows what's coming in.

Send in the hornbill catcher!

Good catch. He's not mucking about!

She didn't look very happy

and you could tell by the way she was flapping

she wasn't very happy.

Well, I mean, would you be very happy

if someone caught you in a net?

No! But at the end of the day, we had to help her.

She needs our help, all right.

I can't imagine eating's easy when you're beak's broken.

Now we're up closer, you can actually see the damage to her beak.

If we can fix her up, she might be able to get some nosh down her.

Close up, it looked really painful

and it didn't look very nice.

So, junior vets, get ready to sort out this busted beak.

Right, this is the situation.

There are some cute, needy, rescued animals

that require some proper looking after.

Of course I can do it but I think I'm going to need some assistance.

Junior vets, where are you?

Junior vets standing by!

Sick animals, I'm here to make them better.

Me and my mates have already started an animal rescue group at home.

West Hatch Animal Centre is the place pets come

when they've been abandoned.

The vets here make sure the animals are in tiptop shape

so they can be given new homes.

Oh, look at all these cuties who need a hand.

It was really sad to see these homeless cats and kittens

that don't have anywhere to go.

But it was great knowing that we will be able to help some of them.

Today, the junior vets' first job is with a young cat called Oreo,

brought in after she had been found living in a house

with too many cats.

She's quite a nervous little girl,

so we are going to be quite gentle and calm with her.

Vet Amy needs to give Oreo a vital operation

before she can be re-homed.

It will stop her having any unexpected kittens in the future.

There are plenty of those around already.

All of the cats are spayed or castrated before they are re-homed

because we don't want to increase the cat population

any more than it is already.

First job, to weigh Oreo in before surgery.

-2.3.

-Yeah, 2.30.

Now we know exactly how much anaesthetic to give her.

OK, so we'll have one of you junior vets with Juliet

monitoring the anaesthetic for Oreo and one of you can scrub in

and help me with surgery.

OK, so Archie's going to help you, Amy.

Get it in as far as you can.

Yep.

And Cole has to keep Oreo asleep and alive in the operation.

No pressure, Cole.

Perfect.

Oreo couldn't be in better hands, but she doesn't seem too convinced.

-Come on.

-Whoa, girl!

She was jumping around a lot, clawing on stuff and generally

not letting go because of how nervous she was.

She must have been extremely nervous.

-Did you get it in?

-Yeah, that went in.

Nicely done, Amy. That's Oreo out for the count.

Basically scoop her up, supporting her back and her head like that.

-OK.

-OK?

-Easy does it.

Let's get her into theatre. Be gentle.

She is now completely relying on us to look after her.

First of all, clip that way, going with the hair.

We are going to need a clear view of Oreo's tummy.

Brilliant. And then do the same lower.

Everything have to be ultra clean.

If it isn't, Oreo could pick up an infection during the surgery.

This is delicate work.

Oreo is only a small cat.

Enlarge the incision a bit with the scissors.

-Stab incision into it.

-You can smell it.

I hope you've got strong stomachs, junior vets.

So as long as you know what you're doing, it's quite easy to do.

It's getting a bit warm in here now.

You OK there, Archie?

So we've put a little clamp on,

and then we tie her ligature around the blood vessels, supplying...

-VET: Are you all right?

-It got extremely hot in there,

and Archie needed to get a breath of fresh air at one point.

Yeah, it was very hot in there.

We are one man down, but the surgery must go on.

Get some air, Archie, and come back soon.

Oreo is relying on us.

If you want to just cut this side of the sutures.

-All the way round, or...?

-Yeah, if you go a bit lower.

That's fine, just cut there.

Perfect.

Our patient's operation is going really well so far.

I was pretty proud that I was helping out Oreo,

making sure she could have a fresh start in life,

and hopefully increase the chances of getting her a home.

Hi, Archie.

Hello, Archie. Welcome back.

-How are you feeling?

-I feel better.

That's good.

I was quite proud of the fact that I got back in there and just went...

Before Oreo can go, there's one more job for the junior vets.

Every animal here gets microchipped before they go home as well.

In, good.

-Then do I scan it?

-Yep.

SCANNER BEEPS

Perfect. And that's her microchipped. Yep.

All done.

OK, so, junior vets, thanks very much for your help today,

and we're going to just wake Oreo up from the anaesthetic

and then you can come and see her later once she's awake

and give her a little bit of fuss and a treat.

And three hours later,

Oreo is wide awake and looking like a million bucks.

It's nice to know she's going to be fine.

I just hope she finds a family to look after her.

I mean, she's a lovely cat.

-You'd take her home if you could, Archie, wouldn't you?

-I would.

Well, that's Oreo vetted.

At the Bird Park, Meghan and Charnelle are treating a hornbill

with a busted beak.

But just how do you make a hornbill's bill better?

Vet Bronwen knows.

What I'll do is I'll snip it a bit.

Does that hurt it?

It doesn't hurt her but I have to be really careful not to go too far.

It's almost like trimming our own nails as well.

So I'm just taking little bits at a time.

It will turn from black to kind of greyish to then pink,

where the blood supply is.

That would really hurt, if I trimmed that back.

Now comes the tricky part - smoothing off the rough edges.

So, junior vets,

your turns. We will keep her beak nice and safe.

Just as you'd be buffing your own nails, yeah.

Out of all things, I didn't think it would be like a nail file

-that we would use.

-Yeah.

I didn't think it was actually going to be a proper nail file.

Aww, she's well relaxed!

I reckon she thinks she's at a nail and beak bar.

I think that's why she's so still.

She's just like, "Yeah, trim it down. Trim it."

See, all those years of practising on your own fingernails,

it comes in handy, doesn't it?

I'm not actually very good, am I, helping with this?

Look at her.

All right, let's take a feel how that's...

That's looking really good.

You happy with that?

All right, junior vets, you've done a beautiful job fixing her beak

the best we can do today,

and I think she's really going to appreciate it.

She'll be able to handle her food much, much better.

OK, then, so let's see how she does with this tasty snack...

of grubs.

What exactly is the food?

Mealworms, they are.

They're nasty worms.

They're wriggling as well.

They're wriggling.

That's it, Meghan. Get stuck in.

Charnelle, she was just, like...

It's disgusting, thinking about it.

She didn't even like it, but I was just fine with it.

Oh, I could feel it wiggling in my hand.

It was... Oh, I just threw it straightaway.

Well done, Charnelle.

Looks like you've made a friend for life.

First I was really, really, really scared.

But now it just feels natural.

Don't feel natural to me.

'But, hats off to you, junior vets.

'One hornbill vetted.'

So you lot have been busy thinking up your animal questions.

Sam is today's truth-seeker.

What's he got for us?

I would like to know, how sensitive is dogs' hearing?

I know it's sensitive, more sensitive than humans,

so could they hear, like, a quarter of a mile away, or even further?

Well, Sam, dogs have much better hearing than me and you.

If you could just about hear what I have to say from 100 metres away,

a dog could be 400 metres from me and hear the same thing.

Hang about! It's not all about distance.

Dogs can hear much higher sounds as well.

That's why sheepdogs are so epic at hearing shepherds

bossing them about.

But hold your hounds, Johnny.

Before we go handing out any medals, cats' hearing is even better.

Oh, yeah? Well, how come we don't have sheep MOGS, then, Inel?

They have better hearing, Johnny.

Doesn't mean they're good listeners!

JOHNNY: At the animal centre, junior vets Archie and Cole

are helping prepare these plucky pets for new homes.

Oh, small and furry?

Sounds promising.

OK, junior vets, so our next patient is behind this blanket.

I've suddenly got a horrible feeling about what's lurking in the corner.

Any ideas what it could be?

-A rabbit?

-No, not a rabbit.

Any other guesses?

-Lizards.

-Hamster.

-Closer with the hamster.

-A gerbil.

-Closer still.

-A degu.

-An eagle.

-A ferret.

Close, close.

-I honestly don't know.

-Rat.

-Yes!

-Oh, of course it is.

-A rat!

-Hello!

Oh, that's a no from me, I'm afraid.

Nobody told me we would be dealing with rats.

I do not like rats at all.

Rats! There's not just one here, but four.

I think I used to have a couple of rats in my old house

that I stayed in. They were auditioning for pets,

but I did not want them there, at all.

'To be fair, I reckon finding a new home for four rats

'isn't going to be easy.'

Are they healthy, Amy?

They've all had a history of having respiratory problems

and one of them, at the moment, has been showing more sneezing

and difficulty breathing.

'Paul is the poorliest rat.'

-So who wants to hold Paul?

-I will.

'At least someone loves you, Paul.'

That is some serious junior vet skills there.

-No animal is intimidating you, is it?

-No.

'But I don't think Archie is up for a cuddle.'

I don't like them. Oh, they're weird.

It's the tail. The tail does it for me, though, it really does.

I don't think rats would make quite cute pets.

-There are quite sort of horrible.

-What?! They were awesome.

They were, like, cool, man. They were running about your body

and it made you feel really weird, and you have got to catch them.

Why would you like it crawling around your body?

Because it was fun. It was like the sensation

of trying to catch something and then you can play with it some more.

-It was fun?

-Yep.

Cole, did you want to have a little listen to his chest?

-Oh, yeah, if I could.

-So, if you just want to pop it on,

just behind his elbow. Can you hear his breathing?

It should be pretty fast.

HE PANTS

-Yeah.

-Does it look a healthy rat? It feels like one,

with all the life in him. He's very cute.

Have you noticed any sneezing or anything?

No, he hasn't yet. Not at the moment, no.

-Just been scrabbling around.

-'Looks like Paul is on the mend,

'but he will still need his daily medication.

'Go on, Amy. How do you do that for a rat?'

Just try to put the syringe right into the side of his mouth there.

-There?

-Yep. That's it.

'Well, that's the easy part done.

'But now we've just got to find someone to love Paul and his mates.'

We are really keen to get all of the rats rehomed together,

because they are good friends, good buddies, and it would be a shame

-to split the four of them up.

-'Some people do keep single rats,

'but human company is no substitute for their own kind.

'These are social little fellas.

'They even look after each other when their mates get sick.'

Finding a home for four rats in one house is a little bit harder than,

-you know...

-Finding four houses for four rabbits.

-Yes, exactly.

-'Nicely put, Archie.

'And there is no doubt who would RAT out of that deal!'

I'm going to need to go and sit down.

See you later.

'I'm not a rat fan, but I suppose these guys are OK, really.

'And they're certainly healthy. Four rat pals vetted.'

Junior vets Megan and Charnelle are flying through their jobs

at the Bird Park. But who's next?

Well, this time, it's the girls' turn for a mystery patient.

-Hey, Bronwen.

-How are you doing?

In this shed is your patient and Rob is going to collect him

-for you.

-'Hm. Very mysterious.

'She's not giving much away, is she? What kind of beast is in there?'

-Uh-oh.

-Are you sure Rob isn't getting captured

by the next patient? Rob, just give me two taps on the wall

if you're cool.

Aha! Yeah! OK, Rob is cool.

'It's just what he's carrying that bothers me.'

-It's a pelican.

-Pelican?

'Wow. How big is his beak?!'

Why do pelicans have such a big beak?

Does it have that massive thing there, to, like,

to help them catch fish, maybe?

The skin on the bottom bit of their beaks stretches,

so it acts like a big scoop and they just scoop in the water and catch

their fish that way.

'And a pelican can scoop an amazing 13 litres of water in its beak.'

So what's the problem with this fellow?

He had a bit of a mass on his beak a while ago

and we are going to make sure that that's healing.

And just give him a really good exam.

Megan, how are you feeling about handling this pelican?

Very nervous. Its beak was massive, wasn't it?

Yeah, it wasn't the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

'No time for nerves. This pelican needs help!'

It was just generally in this area that it had a bit of a lump before

and what you see now?

-Is there any bumpage there?

-Nope.

'Hm. I think we need to get a closer look. Open wide!'

Wow! There's not really any mud or anything serious.

It looks like a healthy pelican.

Tell you what, it's better than the inside of my mouth.

Maybe I should have more fish in my diet.

It looked healthy but, like, there was this little hole

where his fish went down and I didn't like the look of it.

Yeah, it was, like, flapping in his... It wasn't very nice!

'So although it's not pretty, his beak is OK,

'but this once-over isn't over.

'What if I told you that pelicans can spot a fish from 20 metres away

'with those beady eyes? Not bad, eh?

'So we need to check this fella's eyes are in tip-top shape.'

What's Charnelle looking for?

She's looking at the internal structures of his eyes.

From the outside, his eye looks nice and healthy.

If it was an unhealthy eye, what would Charnelle be seeing?

Well, sometimes the blood vessels in there would be larger than normal.

Everything looks nice and clear.

Junior vets, you've done a really, really spectacular job

examining this pelican.

'And thanks for being a patient patient, mate!

'You can get back to your pond now, Mr Pelican. Off you go.'

-He's in good shape, isn't he?

-Yeah.

-He's showing off now!

Vetted!

Come on, Barker. Let's go, boy.

He's sniffed out some amazing animal videos and he's bursting

to show us. One, two, three, four.

JAUNTY MUSIC PLAYS

-# Doggy, lift your tail up

-Doggy, lift your tail up

# Doggy, doggy, doggy, doggy Doggy, lift your tail up

-# Doggy, lift your tail up

-Doggy, lift your tail up

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

Right, you're about to meet Junior Vets' first pop duo.

Holly is going to be on harmonica, right?

And her amazing dog is doing the vocals.

I reckon we could have a little jamming session.

-You in?

-I'm in.

-All right, then. Cue the music!

SHE PLAYS "TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR"

DOG HOWLS

# How I wonder what you are

-# Up above... #

-Nah, nah. Cut it, cut it, cut it, man.

-I can't take this noise any longer.

-The dog weren't that bad.

The dog?! I'm talking about YOU! Holly and the dog were wicked.

You need to fix up, bro.

At the rescue centre, junior vets Archie and Cole

are helping prepare unlucky pets for new homes.

Ah, look! Could these kittens be ANY cuter?

And the great news is they are the junior vets' next patients.

Sorry, not you, Kitty.

Yeah, kittens. Me and Archie are really pleased.

-They look really cool.

-I love them to bits. They're adorable.

So these kittens have actually just come in to us today,

so they're pretty new arrivals,

but we need to do a health check on all four of them.

So how old would these kittens be?

These kittens are about six weeks old.

-So can we get them out?

-Yeah, I think let's get one out at a time.

'The junior vets have to give these kittens the all-clear

'and how cool is this? They will get to name them, too!

'First up, a sweet little tabby.'

My, oh, my. I think I love you.

'She will need to be in good health to be rehomed

'and at first, all is well.'

No problems with her gums there at all.

'But then it looks like Amy has found an unwelcome visitor.

'And it ain't pretty.'

I found a flea.

'Oh! We don't want to be homing any insects, as well.'

-Squeeze it onto there.

-All of it?

-All of it, yeah.

'The lotion should get rid of the fleas,

'but this kitten will still need to be treated every month,

'to keep the pests away.'

-Perfect.

-Can we stop talking about fleas now?

Because I can't stop scratching my head right now.

'We have forgotten one thing, junior vets. What's her name, Cole?

-I think I would go for something like Smudge or something.

-Smudge?

Oh, that's what my cat is called. Smudge.

Do you want to pop Smudge on her name file, then, Juliet?

'Smudge is in the clear, but there's three more kittens

'to check and name. Next up, Muzzles.'

Whereabouts is his heart?

So it's just on the left-hand side,

just behind his elbow there.

-It's like, be-doom, be-doom, be-doom.

-Really fast, is it?

-Yeah.

'And when Cole says really fast, he means it.

'A healthy kitten's heart can beat over 200 times a minute -

'three times the rate of a human. Kitten three's turn now.'

It's a little bit red, but apart from that it's normal.

Have a look at your teeth, please, mister.

-Lovely. Lovely teeth.

-'He is in tip-top shape, too.

'But he's missing a name.'

I am going to name you X-Ray.

'X-Ray? Cole, what are you thinking?

'It turns out all the kittens were in good shape and just about ready

'for new homes.'

Yeah, it was a good relief that we found that they were healthy

-and it was nice.

-It just made me feel good inside.

'But there is one last kitten to name, Archie.

-'Make it a good one.'

-Know what, I think I will name him Johnny.

It's a really strong name, I've got to be honest.

I like your style, I do like your style.

'Brilliant stuff. Now, who can resist these sweet little things?

'Hope you get a home soon, Smudge, Muzzles, X-Ray and, eh...

'Oh, Johnny. How could I forget?!

'Consider yourselves well and truly vetted.'

Back at the Bird Park,

our junior vets have been called out to help an extra special patient.

So here we go, junior vets. Your final patient of the day.

Yes, it's a penguin!

That's exactly what you wanted to do.

I couldn't believe I actually got to see a penguin.

Yeah, the first time I saw it, I knew it was going to be really,

really fluffy!

These are some proper bird royalty. We are talking king penguins here.

-What do you think?

-Awesome.

And this little six-month-old chick is the first royal birth of its kind

in the country for seven years!

Trouble is, no-one knows if this gorgeous chick

is a prince or princess.

Junior vets, we need to get to the bottom of this.

-I'm excited.

-I'm excited, but nervous,

-just in case it slaps me in the face.

-Yeah.

Right. Ready.

SQUEAKING.

It was really, really soft.

I would take it home and cuddle up with it at night!

-You are so beautiful.

-Meghan, you didn't tell us beforehand

that you could speak Penguin. You didn't tell us.

It says, kind of, like...

SHE CAWS

Like a seagull. Kind of like a seagull.

Sadly, we can't tell by just looking if Its Highness is a boy or girl.

I think we need help from science.

If we can just get a hold of a couple of feathers,

we can send them off and get them DNA tested.

That will give us the answer.

Now, as cute and adorable as he is,

one of us is going to have to yank feathers out of his back.

-Can I have a go?

-I'm so glad you offered.

Is it a case of taking one from the wing or, like, from the back?

Yeah, I think we will try to get one from the back

-and one from the front. We will get a number of them.

-Yeah.

'Gently does it, Charnelle.'

Then give it a pull.

-There you go.

-Did we get much?

'Luckily, there are plenty to choose from.

'Look at that. Our chick didn't even feel a thing.'

He didn't seem to mind at all, did he?

Tell you what, junior vets, that's what I call a team effort.

It needed all three of us, that did.

-Just two of us.

-Just two.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Charnelle didn't really do much.

-No!

-No! You didn't do much.

'Well, whoever did the work, we will soon know if this penguin

'is a Prince George or a Princess Charlotte. Vetted.'

Well, two amazing junior vet teams today tackling some tough vet work.

-Nice and clear.

-I don't like them. They are wriggling, as well.

I think I love you.

You guys plucked some feathers from the very first king penguin

to be born in this country in years.

But the real thing is, is it a boy or girl?

-Girl.

-Girl.

-Boy. Definitely a boy.

-Girl.

-He told me himself. Boy!

-You can't speak penguin.

Yes, I can. "Boy." That's what he said.

-That's not penguin.

-It's a boy.

-No.

-I know a boy when I see one.

-No, you don't.

-Yeah, I do.

All right, I confess. Turns out the royal baby was a she, after all.

I'll give you that one, girls.

One thing I do know is that 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.