Episode 2 Junior Vets

Coming up on this massive show...

A wild boar kicks up a big fuss before surgery.

Little Marley needs a scan in this huge machine.

And heavy-duty cow-sized surgery down on the farm.

I'm Alex Riley, and this is Junior Vets.

Pets.

Wildlife.

Farm animals.

All in need of expert help.

And at Edinburgh's amazing vet school,

six raw recruits have arrived.

They're working alongside the school's top-notch team.

Gasp! As if I just did that.

And they're being pushed to their very limit...

..as they help to save the lives of sick and injured animals.

Six new junior vets,

but I can only choose one...

..winner.

This year's Head Vet is...

-Has anyone seen Alex today?

-Maybe we should call him.

Morning. Ha-ha-ha.

-Hi there, are you all right?

-Yes, thanks.

Now, has anybody got any idea what you might be doing today?

Working with large animals?

Funny you should say that, Robyn.

Yes, you and Molly have got a very special assignment right here.

Nyatepe, Bonte, Josh and Jamie, you are going over that way.

They're doing all right, this lot, but it's early days.

Jamie can be jumpy around big animals,

but he hasn't let it show...

-Ooh!

-..too much.

He's, like, going up to my neck. I don't know what to do.

Today, he's going to have to prove

he can overcome another of his fears...

the messier, bloodier side of vet work.

Robyn's doing fine, working with little kittens and showing off

her impressive animal care skills.

1.02kg.

But how will she handle enormous, massive, HUGE vet jobs?

Well, let's see, shall we?

Robyn and Molly know they are working with a large animal today.

But that's just about all they know.

Hope it's friendly.

Oh, your patient's friendly all right...

..but she's definitely not happy.

This poor cow has a suspected sinus infection

and is dripping snotty pus.

It's got, like, a runny nose.

She has got a runny nose, and that's been going on for over a month.

OK, over to you two and farm vet, Andy,

to put her in a better m-o-o-d.

-You done?

-Right, what's the plan?

We're going to drill a hole into the cow's head here,

and then we're going to put a tube in there

to flush out all the muck down out of her nose.

Now, drilling into her head might sound barmy,

but the cow, who has a ten-week-old calf,

is probably feeling pretty rubbish, and this heavy-duty job

will hopefully make her feel a whole lot better.

Will it hurt her... drilling into its head?

Well, she's probably got a headache all the time now,

but because we'll freeze the area

she's not going to feel it, and we're going to give her a sedation

so that she's not upset with us messing about with her.

We thought he was messing,

cos we didn't know that you could, like, drill through a skull.

The poorly cow is moved into position for her treatment.

Look at the calf.

And her little calf stays close by to keep an eye on mum.

The junior vets get a closer look, and smell, of their patient.

I can definitely smell something, though.

Ugh! I've just got it.

It stunk and there was loads of it and it was all over the floor.

She had all snot dripping right down her nose. It was disgusting.

We're going to take an X-ray of her head

and check if that sinus is still full of pus.

The cow's head has been X-rayed,

so Robyn and Molly now have an image to work with.

You can see, like, where the fluid is.

Nicely spotted, Molly.

The cow's entire nasal passage is absolutely full of fluid.

Solving this will be a huge challenge.

-How many times have you done stuff like this?

-Me?

Yeah.

I've never done this before!

What?!

Now you tell us, Andy!

Actually, this operation is so rare, a crowd's gathering to watch.

All the professional vets were there, all, like, the students.

I've never shaved a cow's head before.

It made me quite proud to think that we were there helping along

when there were some professional vets who'd never even done it before.

And another one.

More Junior Hairdressers than Junior Vets, this.

There we go, Robyn. That looks perfect.

But, later, how will Molly and Robyn cope

when they have to treat the cow's splitting headache?

Its skin just twisted round.

Marley is a poorly puppy.

The experts at the small animal hospital are worried

she may have a serious liver problem.

And, today, owner Sean will find out if she needs an expensive operation.

His little dog clearly means the world to this big man.

I think they said the initial operation alone

should be about £2,500.

So, what we're going to do is I'm going to sell my van...

Pay for it that way. And get her back on track, hopefully.

Wow, Sean is planning to sell his van to pay for treatment.

Marley is one lucky, loved pet.

And it's junior vets Bonte and Nyatepe with surgeon Sam

who will be trying to help Marley today.

-So, Bonte and Nyatepe...

-Aw, hi, aw.

This is Marley.

-She is so cute.

-She is adorable.

You can tell these two don't have pets at home, can't you?

They're loving this.

She was so cute.

-I want a dog.

-You want a dog?

-Yeah.

Yeah, but my dad won't let me have a dog.

-My mum doesn't want one either.

-Oh, no!

Sam suspects the blood supply to Marley's liver is faulty.

Normally, the liver acts a bit like a sieve or a filter.

The blood goes through the liver

and all the nasty bits of the blood are taken away.

If Sam's right, Marley's blood isn't being cleaned by her liver

and that's bound to be making her feel very poorly.

I think she would, like, throw up quite a lot

and she wouldn't be able to eat all her food properly.

Ha-ha-ha.

Aw, making friends. We're going to lose you.

We're going to lose you. Come on, you. Get back.

That's a good girl.

The team need to confirm if Marley's liver has a faulty blood vessel

so they can work out the best kind of treatment.

They need to take a look inside her using a scanner.

She'll have to be unconscious for this bit,

which means giving her an anaesthetic injection.

This could be risky, so the team have to check

she's healthy enough first.

-It's going quite fast.

-It is going quite fast.

She's quite...she's a little bit nervous so...

-Bu-bum, bu-bum, bu-bum, bu-bum...

-Yeah.

She was getting a bit stressed, wasn't she, in the treatment room?

Sounds like music.

Whoa!

We had to take her for a walk cos she'd been stuck

in the treatment room for a while

and her heart rate was quite high and we had to calm her down a bit.

Come on!

Good girl.

-Hope we can make her well.

-Yeah.

She'll be jumping all over the place again.

And for her owner, as well.

-Hopefully we get it right this afternoon.

-Yeah.

Good girl!

And, later, Marley's liver scan results

are delivered to my junior vets.

So, what's going to happen now?

-Josh and Jamie, hello.

-Hi.

Now then, welcome to the Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Now, what do you reckon you are going to be doing today?

Helping wildlife?

Yes, very good, very good, wildlife.

Any particular idea on what type of wildlife...

what animals you might be working on today?

-Birds?

-Birds.

No denying it, this place has its fair share of birds.

But you'll never see this chap fly, boys.

-PIG GRUNTS

-What's that noise?

Oh, my gosh.

Meet Terrence.

-It's a pig.

-It's not a pig.

It's a jumping up pig.

What, a jumping pig?! No, Terrence is a wild boar cross.

Why is there a wild boar here?

-Because it's a wildlife rescue centre!

-Oh!

Terrence came to live here after his mum died

when he was just three days old.

Andy's been looking after him for the last three months.

But if these two can help him today

he could be on his way to a new home.

I wanted to help him

but I was, like, worried if he would turn round and like...

Savage us.

Yeah. Or attack us.

-And there'd be, like, a wild boar chasing us.

-Yeah.

Terrence is a bit of a live wire and he's not going to settle into

a new home unless he's all mellow and friendly.

Vet Willie from Ivy Bank Vets has a solution.

But it involves surgery, and it ain't pretty.

What Terrence is going to get done today is castration,

which is an operation to remove his testicles.

By removing them, Terrence should stay all cool and calm

and will then bag a transfer to a new swanky sanctuary.

Oh, imagine it, Terrence, living somewhere like this.

All open-plan and lovely, mucking in with new wild boar buddies.

Whoa!

Come on, junior vets.

Let's help Terrence get to his dream home.

I knew there was going to be blood,

but I didn't quite know what to expect.

I just had to overcome the fear.

First, the team need to sedate Terrence so that he's drowsy enough

to be moved to the operating theatre.

He'll make a noise. They always make a noise.

-BOAR SQUEALS

-There you go.

So, what we need to do now is to leave him alone

-so he's not going to be disturbed by you.

-OK.

Within 15 minutes, our boar looks to be out for the count.

Now, Terrence, he's almost asleep.

He's very drowsy and he's in here, so come on, let's go in and get him.

Hmm...he doesn't sound that drowsy.

-He doesn't seem to be quite as sleepy as we thought he was.

-No.

He doesn't know what's going on because, like,

he can't talk our language and we can't talk his,

so we can't exactly tell him.

-I think he's, like, quite...

-Scared, I'd say.

-Yeah.

No, he's not ready yet.

We'll just have to wait a bit longer.

So why hasn't the...dose not worked as quick as we thought it would?

Various reasons.

He might be more excitable because there's other things going on,

or he may be heavier than I'm estimating,

or it may just be that we haven't left it for long enough yet.

The team wait quietly for Terrence's sedative to work.

Now, I'm no wild boar expert, but I think I've got a better idea.

Couldn't we all sing him a lullaby or something like that

to help him get off to sleep?

"Rock-a-bye ba..." No...no.

-I think that will just annoy him.

-Yeah.

Charming!

Coming up...

Josh and Jamie get their first taste of surgery.

Scalpel.

Not in an operating theatre, though - outside a garden shed.

That's disgusting!

At the small animal hospital, Bonte and Nyatepe's patient, Marley,

is about to have a scan.

She's got a nice, cute beard.

It could confirm she needs surgery on her liver.

And, because Marley can't be wriggling around during the scan,

anaesthetist Juliette is here for one of those things we all hate...

injections.

Sometimes they try and nip a little bit if they're...

you know, cos it hurts sometimes.

This first injection is a sedative that will make Marley

nice and relaxed.

It's a bit stingy, though.

MARLEY SQUEALS

-It's OK, Marley.

-I feel bad.

When they put the syringe in Marley, oh, she screamed.

It's OK.

Now Juliette gives Marley an anaesthetic

to keep her nice and still throughout the scan.

You're such a good girl, Marley.

Next, Marley's wired up to all sorts of gadgets and gizmos,

so my junior vets can check she's not in danger whilst unconscious.

When we look up there... there you go...

-that's what you've done, Nyatepe.

-Oh, yeah.

This is quite tricky, but you can feel if you can feel a pulse.

-Oh, I can feel it.

-You can? Perfect!

-Where you can feel the pulse, you're going to put this over there.

-OK.

Perfect.

Do you know, that's better than some of my final year students?

Little Marley is placed inside the huge CT scanner,

which fires out high-powered X-rays.

It might look scary but it won't hurt her at all.

And this fancy computer uses info from the scanner

to create images of Marley's insides.

Whoa.

Don't take your eyes off Marley's heart monitor, Bonte.

I had, like, a kind of graph thing

and I had to write down her heart rate and her...

Her oxygen.

Oh, yeah, the oxygen levels.

One hour later, it's finally done and my junior vets

make sure Marley has a cosy place to recover from her anaesthetic.

Oh, she's starting to move a bit.

Oh, it looks like she's come back to life again.

Oh, yes. Kisses.

With Marley still in recovery,

her all-important liver scan results have arrived.

That's Marley's insides on that screen.

Sam was expecting to see a problem with a blood vessel

on Marley's liver, but sadly it's not that simple.

What we were looking for was, if there was one extra vessel,

we were hoping that we could close it off.

The problem with Marley is that it's not just one.

There's lots and lots of them.

So, what's going to happen now?

Unfortunately for Marley, we can't treat it surgically,

so she is going to need to have medication throughout her life.

Marley's liver problem can't be treated with surgery,

but with the right medication she shouldn't get any worse.

-I'm sure she'll be fine.

-Yeah, she's going to be good.

She's never going to be, like, completely, fully better.

It's not, like, perfect that she still has to take all the medication

but at least it's going to...she's still going to act the same.

It's been a long wait for owner Sean

but his worries are nearly over.

And here's Marley.

That was a tough, emotional job for my junior vets.

They got really involved.

Everything we asked them to do was great.

It's not every day that you get, like, to help give a dog anaesthetic.

The pair of them were just great with the dog,

which is one of the main things we look for.

You were really good at the, like, comforting Marley and stuff

cos he loved you...he was, like, up on your shoulder and everything.

Good luck, you two.

I'd just like to say a big "thank you" to the junior vets.

Keep up the good work.

Back at the sanctuary, Josh and Jamie are helping Terrence,

the orphaned wild boar cross.

Oh, my gosh!

The little live wire needs surgery that will hopefully help calm him

so he can settle into a new home.

This is all about helping Terrence, but things aren't going to plan.

The sedative which should have made him all drowsy hasn't worked.

Terrence is awake, so they can't move him to the surgery.

He's still not as sedated as I would like him to be.

Local vet Willie decides to take drastic measures.

They're going to operate on the boar right outside his enclosure.

If Terrence won't come to the operating theatre,

the operating theatre will have to come to Terrence.

It was really crazy, wasn't it?

Yeah, cos, like, we were meant to do it

-in the operating theatre, weren't we?

-Oh, yeah.

It isn't, like, the usual place you'd operate on, like, a boar,

cos normally you've got to do it, like, in sterile conditions.

Yeah.

What is that?

This is the anaesthetic. This is what's going to knock him out.

-So this will fully knock him out? Not like...

-It will.

We always start with a sedative then give an anaesthetic on top of that.

Terrence is still very much awake.

Now some cotton wool.

-Cotton wool?

-How much do you need?

A handful. That's it.

-Is that OK?

-That'll do, thank you.

But finally the anaesthetic works its magic.

One, two, three.

And the boys can get going with the op.

This is what we're removing today. Two testicles.

One there and one there.

I thought that was his bottom.

Removing these will help Terrence grow into a calm boar

and that's definitely going to help him to settle into his new home.

Josh is straight in with the clippers.

Jamie then disinfects the surgery area.

Give it a good clean.

-So will he be feeling any of this?

-No, he's asleep.

-Is that OK?

-Yeah.

Nice prep work, chaps.

-Can you hear that?

-Yeah.

Now, this is going to be a bit messy and gory,

which might be a problem for Jamie.

Scalpel.

-It's quite disgusting now.

-Yeah.

-Ah!

-Whoa!

Did it get you?

No, just missed.

Did you see it spurting blood?

-It's disgusting.

-Yeah.

There's no time for Josh to feel squeamish here.

Do you want to push my glasses up?

They kept falling down and Willie kept asking me to, like,

push them back up for him.

-Thank you.

-You'll have to start charging for that!

All done, Terrence.

Willie stitches up the wound and the junior vets get a chance

to examine what came out.

Like brains. Like the two sides of your brains.

Or they look like bananas.

I was proud of myself for doing the operation

because I knew that it was going to be, like, gory,

but I got on fine in the end.

My junior vets' handiwork means Terrance can now be rehomed

at a swanky new sanctuary where he can pal up with other wild boars.

One, two, three... There we go.

Both my junior vets have made it through their first major operation.

How did they do, Willie?

I think they both did remarkably well.

They seemed to be very interested and some of their questions

were more advanced than the questions I thought they might ask.

So, if you were giving them marks out of ten,

I would give them both a stern 8½ out of ten.

I didn't think I'd like the operation cos I'm, like, quite faint-hearted,

I think that's the right word,

and I thought I'd, like, have to, like, go out.

But, I didn't. I, like, stuck through it.

I'd just love to see Terrence again cos he'll be happy running about

and playing with his friends, really.

'Junior vets Robyn and Molly are preparing for an amazing operation

'that very few vets will ever experience.

'This poor cow has a head full of snotty pus.

'It's making her feel as rotten as she smells.

'Loads of vet school staff and students have come to watch

'the junior vets help release the infected fluid

'by drilling a hole into her skull.

'Now, listen, this is not one for the squeamish.'

How exciting is it to be in this situation?

-Very!

-Very!

'Robyn helps vet Andy use an endoscope,

'which is a tiny camera thing on a bendy tube.

'Up it goes!'

Oh, that's awesome.

'Now they can really see what all the pus is about.

'The cow's nose is full of it!'

How much detail in a cow's nose.

Couldn't believe she'd been putting up with it for so long!

She must have been in that much pain cos I know, like,

if I have a headache I can be a bit groany or moody.

What was it like, then, looking inside a cow's nose?

It was like stringy from one side to the other.

It was like pink and...

-And snotty?

-Yeah.

Very, very snotty.

I don't think I'll ever do that again unless we become vets.

'Now the team know exactly what the problem is,

'Molly prepares for the surgery.

'Fear not, our cow won't feel a thing.

'Professor Dixon is one of the very few vets to have done this before

'at vet school, so he's the man in charge of the drill today.'

Its skin's just twisted round.

'One slip and he could paralyse the cow's face.'

Look at it.

This is a bit of a step up from kittens!

'Then the drill reaches the blocked-up fluid.'

Oh, wow!

'And the pressure and the stinky snot is released.'

Will that already be easing the pain a bit, you know?

With all the fluid coming out.

Yeah, cos all that pressure in there

probably gives her a really bad headache.

I could smell it, and there was all this blood...

and it was going all over the floor.

We were getting covered in snot and stuff. It was horrible!

It was fun, though.

'The team need to pump a saline solution into the cow's head

'to flush out the infected snot from the cow's nasal passage.'

Ugh...I can feel it splashing my hand.

Come a bit closer, Robyn, yep...very good.

It feels a bit surreal,

catching all fluid coming out of a cow's nose in a bucket.

-She's had a good clean-out there, hasn't she?

-Yeah!

My hands are getting a good clean after this!

Don't touch Robyn's hands, don't touch Robyn's hands!

'The flushing process needs to be repeated for the next week,

'so the tube stays connected to the cow for now.

'Go on, Molly. One more final flush for good measure.

'Before the recovering mum is, at last, reunited with her calf.'

How do you think that Molly and Robyn performed today?

Oh, they're amazing, aren't they? I'm really impressed.

I mean, helping us move the cow around...

It's not easy to read X-rays, you know?

They were getting a lot of good information off those x-rays,

and then, when we were doing the surgery,

I mean, some people haven't got the stomach for looking at

that kind of work, but the girls, they were great.

They were there all the time.

Girls, what an incredible day you've had!

How was it to be part of something so, kind of, dramatic?

It's unreal thinking about it now

because at the time you were sort of caught up in the moment with it.

But now you have time to sort of think about what you've done.

-It's pretty amazing!

-Yes.

It was brilliant cos, if you think about it,

some of them vets do it most days.

Andy had never done it before, so it was like a first time

for all of us, but it was absolutely amazing to be there

and I don't think I'll ever do something like that again.

So, if you had to pick between Robyn and Molly,

which one performed just that little bit better? What would you say?

I can't give you that today, Alex, cos they both got ten out of ten.

'Top marks? I like that!

'Two junior vets with impressive new skills, and a cow who can

'breath easier and smell just how bad her breath really is!

'Ugh!'

Ah, that's what I like to see.

Cleaned-up, germ-free junior vets, back at vet school.

They've had rave reviews today!

So, now the important bit, I'm going to tell them

who I think deserves to be named vet of the day,

so they can enjoy a nice rest,

and who needs to put in an extra shift here at vet school.

I love the way that you've all got stuck in,

and you've just got your hands dirty and you've not been fazed.

You know, it's a bit full-on when things are having operations,

and things are being injected, and shaved and cut in and everything.

But you've all got your head down and you've worked hard

and you've really gone for it.

-Are you proud of yourselves?

-ALL:

-Yes, very, yes.

Well, I'm pleased...I'm pleased, because I'm very proud of you.

-ALL:

-Aw, thanks, Alex.

I am, but...I'm particularly proud of two junior vets today.

Josh and Jamie didn't leave Terrence the wild boar cross' side,

even when his outdoor surgery got a bit gory.

-Ah!

-Whoa!

It was even more messy for Robyn and Molly.

They were right in the mix when the poorly cow

needed her infected sinus sorting.

Ugh.

And Bonte and Nyatepe showed an excellent bedside manner when

they cared for Marley during her liver investigation.

But who are today's standout junior vets?

They were in an environment which was incredibly noisy, and smelly,

and...snotty, quite frankly, so my vets of the day are...

-Robyn and Molly.

-Yay!

-Congratulations!

-Thank you.

Woo!

I feel really happy about it, but I feel like

I'm with the experienced one because she's already won.

Second time...I could get used to it!

And the others better get used to topping up vet school supplies.

I think they did deserve to win cos it sounded really disgusting.

Unlucky, you lot.

Fancy getting vetting yourself?

Well, get over to the CBBC website right now

and you'll find a special patient needing your expert help.

Next time on Junior Vets...

A baby donkey needs my junior vets protection.

Isla the dog faces tests that could change her life.

And what are those things? Oh, yes,

alpacas, giving us the run-around on a Scottish farm!