Episode 9 Junior Vets

I'm this close to deciding who deserves to be head vet.

And today is their last big chance to show off their vet skills,

so I've lined up some huge jobs for them.

'It's all go at the show

'when my junior vets take control of vet duties.

'They're swimming and working with endangered sharks,

'and little dog Nisha needs major knee surgery.'

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

-MEOW

-'Pets,

-'wildlife,

-SQUARKING

-'farm animals...

-MOO

'..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.'

-Awww! As if I just did that!

-OINK

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

HEN CLUCKS

-Urgh, gross.

-BLEATING

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

'Six new junior vets,

'but I can only chose one...

'winner.'

This year's head vet is...

Junior vets, you know what?

This is a very close run thing.

All of you are in with a chance of getting your hands on that

head vet title.

Today's working pairs are

Jamie and Robyn,

Molly and Bonte,

Josh and Nyatepe.

Off you go!

'This is my junior vets' last big chance to impress me.

'Robyn's vet work has been solid from day one.

'She asks lots of questions at the right times,

'and sometimes even has the answer as well.'

Do you know what we normally treat bacteria with?

-Is it antibiotics?

-Yes, good!

'And make no mistake,

'Molly's also a real contender for the head vet title too.

-SHE SHRIEKS

-'She got through some really tough

'early tasks, and is still one of the front runners.

'But nothing she's done so far

'will prepare her for today's incredible challenge.

'It's a beauty!

'Less than 20 miles from vet school,

'there is a mysterious world full of deep sea creatures.'

Oh, my gosh, Alex!

-Oooh!

-Wow, that's huge!

'Funnily enough, it's called Deep Sea World.'

Oh! look at the crab!

Aye, gosh! Coming a bit close, these, aren't they!

'And it's where Bonte and Molly

'are about to take on some breath-takingly brilliant vet work.'

'Now, I think Molly might have spotted a clue as to

'what kind of patient is waiting for her.'

Is that a shark?

-Yes, you're working with sharks.

-Really?!

Not only are you working with them,

-you're going to be getting in the water with them.

-Ah!

Really?! Really?! Ha-ha.

We just need you to sign a disclaimer

that if you get eaten, you're not going to sue us, all right?

'Joke! They're not up against the big sand tiger shark,

'but they will be swimming and dealing with Anne,

'the angel shark.

'There she is, just chilling, but don't be fooled by her size

'or stillness, she's one sneaky predator.'

So, they lay on the bottom of the sea and wait for prey to come over

the top, then they launch themselves up at them with their powerful jaws

and skewer them with these razor-sharp, needle-like teeth.

'Today's work is important.

'Angel sharks are a critically-endangered species,

'and this is the only place in Europe that breeds them.

'Two years ago, Anne had pups. Yes, pups!

'That's what they call baby sharks.'

They think that she may be pregnant again, so, you're going to

be checking it out to see if she's pregnant and see how she's doing.

How do you feel about that?

-Amazing!

-Really excited!

-So excited!

Are we actually going in?

'You are, Molly, but, unfortunately, I forgot my trunks.

'Enjoy, you two!'

So, do the sharks come in here?

Yeah. Can do, yeah!

Oh, my gosh! That is how far away I am from a real-life shark.

So, we were stood, like, in the water right next to these big huge

sharks, they were at the other end, and they were, like,

coming round and, oh, it was... I can't even believe it!

-My gosh, look at the size of it!

-That's huge!

'And with my...unflappable junior vets in position, the dive team

'head down to the bottom of the tank to catch Anne the angel shark...'

'..so the vet team can check if she's pregnant.'

'There she is. Easy does it.'

'She has razor sharp teeth and a big thrashy tail

'and she doesn't like to be disturbed.

'Careful.

'They've got her! Up she comes.'

-Oh, look, they're here.

-Yay!

That was really quick!

-That was so cool!

-I know, yeah!

'And the junior vets can now help vet Sue from the IZVG

'use an ultrasound scanner to look inside Anne,

'and, hopefully, confirm she's pregnant.'

Let's just have a look and see what we're looking at.

You stop for a minute, and you just think, "As if I'm doing this."

-You know?

-I know.

-I couldn't believe it.

-I was like...

I needed you to pinch me. I was like, "Is this a dream?"

Aww! That's well cool!

It feels amazing!

'Anne's been a model patient... For a while anyway.'

I remember the tail started flapping, and then it shot out...

-Yeah, and we were like,

-BOTH:

-"Whoa!"

'We'll find out soon if baby sharks are on the way,

'and my junior vets come face to face with feisty junior sharks.

'In Dunfermline, the annual Aberdour Pet Show is getting under way.

DOG BARKS

'Vet Adam from Inglis Vets is here,

'but he won't be completing the pet checks on the animally competitors.

'He's handing over responsibility to Robyn and Jamie.

'Very brave, Adam!'

We've got a really difficult task this afternoon.

You guys have got to health check dogs, and cats

and loads of unusual pets today, OK?

And, at the end of it, you're going to decide on the best,

most unusual pet, OK?

-THEY GIGGLE You up for that? BOTH:

-Yeah.

'These two will really need to prove they're confident handlers,

'whatever the animal.

'First patient coming right up.'

Oh! Guinea pigs.

Right, what are they called?

The ginger one is Squiggles and the black, white and ginger is Speedy.

'Ooh! Nervous, potentially nippy, guinea pigs.'

The first thing we need to do is just comfort them slightly, OK?

'Thanks for the advice, Adam. Get checking, junior vets.'

Is he eating OK?

He eats quite a lot more than his brother

but he is healthy.

'Is Squiggle's heart sounding healthy, Robyn?'

I don't think he's ever been with so many animals around him...

I think if you're a guinea pig, and see all these animals around,

you'd think you're someone's lunch,

so you start to get a bit stressed.

That's really fast.

It was hard to count. Well, you couldn't count it.

-Bm-bm-bm-bm-bm!

-It's like... what he did.

-Ha!

'A guinea pig's heartbeat should be around 275 bpm,

'about four times quicker than a human's.

'Count those beats, Jamie.'

That is way too fast to count.

Too fast that, isn't it?

So, the way I look at it is, if you can't count it, they're alive

and they're healthy. Thanks, Adam.

'We'll take that.

'Now, you might be thinking, this isn't your average pet show...'

Erm, next patient, please.

'..and you'd be right.'

Ah, chickens!

'Next, a black rock chicken.'

Who's this?

Flappy The Second.

Flappy The Second. How do you check a chicken?

Erm, I've done a chicken before, you know,

when you listen to the heart, it's like a whoosh, isn't it?

It's like a whoosh, yeah. Well remembered, that's brilliant!

First things first, we look at how shiny their coat is,

it's a really good sign.

'Flappy The Second's coat looks in great nick but Jamie knows

'there's one sure way of discovering if the chicken is in good health.'

-Is she laying any eggs?

-Yeah, erm, laying one egg a day.

Yeah, one egg a day is fine, sort of five to six eggs a week

is about spot on. So, is she healthy enough to go into the show?

-Do we need to listen to her heart or not?

-Ah!

I've missed something. Well remembered. Right, yes.

Can you hear anything?

Yeah.

'Another healthy heartbeat.

'Flappy's clear to enter the competition

'and celebrates by, um, flapping...a lot!'

-Hello!

-'Adam drops right back in a bit

'as Robyn and Jamie go it alone with a right little nibbler.'

What are you doing to my glove?

'At the small animal hospital, Mrs McKee and her best friend,

Nisha, the border terrier, have a big day ahead of them.

There's me and Nisha!

That's who I live with.

That's why she's the centre of my life, you know,

cos there is only her and me.

'Poor Nisha badly damaged her leg whilst playing.

'Today, she faces major surgery.

'But don't worry, Mrs McKee, because top vet John

'and junior vets Josh and Nyatepe are standing by for this one.'

And you're going to be my orthopaedic team for this afternoon.

Is her leg broken?

Well, if I take her for a little walk, you can just

have a look, and then you can maybe tell me which leg you think it is.

-Her back right.

-Yeah.

Unfortunately, she snapped a ligament in her leg,

and that's the kind of injuries that footballers get.

Did she get the injury from chasing the ball?

Yeah, she did.

What will happen if she doesn't have surgery?

Well, she'll probably improve from where she is,

and cos she's a young dog, er, you know, she's got a lot of life

left ahead of her. We want to get her back chasing balls, erm,

and having a fun life as quickly as we can.

'This is going to be the biggest test yet for these two.

'Orthopaedic surgeon, John, is the vet school's top bone man,

'and his standards are high, sky-high.'

It's important to do a neat job because, like, if the owner sees

the dog and it's messy then the owner's not going to be that happy.

If I have a bad haircut, I wouldn't be that happy.

You're actually quite good at this.

'Good prep, Nyatepe. Now, the all-important scrubbing in process.'

13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

'There's no room for errors here.

'Every speck of dirt and germs must be carefully removed.

'Watch out, here comes the main man, surgeon John.'

Do you want to count them?

'Nyatepe needs to know exactly how many swabs will be used.

'If they lose one inside Nisha during surgery, it would

'cause a real problem.

'Now, concentrate on getting the surgical instruments ready.

'Oh, no, Nyatepe's dropped a sterile bit of kit.'

Oh, that was bad!

'Right in front of John!'

First failure!

I was quite nervous, and, so,

when I opened the instruments

I dropped them and it was really...

Like, I got so frustrated.

If I drop this, I will cry.

It doesn't seem like it's such a big job but it's so, so much pressure.

'This is about to be the biggest,

'most fiddly surgery any junior vet has ever tackled.'

So, I'm starting now.

'And it's not long before Nisha's future

'is in the hands of the surgery team.

'Fingers crossed, everyone.

'Back at the aquarium in Fife,

'Bonte and Molly are just having a bit of a splash around.

'Oh, no, my mistake!

'They're about to start important vet work,

'and their patient's a shark.'

-I wish it swam right back to us.

-I know.

'Vet Sue is hoping Anne the angel shark is pregnant,

'and is using an ultrasound scanner to check out her insides.'

Why do you think that Anne might be pregnant?

The timing's right compared with the last time she was pregnant.

Erm, and she's also looking very fat.

'Because angel sharks are critically endangered, finding out Anne

'is pregnant with precious babies, would be brilliant news.'

It was quite tense when we were like...

When she was getting the ultrasound cos I didn't know what to expect,

like, if there was going to be pups there or not.

What do they look like?

Well, you can usually actually see the, erm...the spines

and the heart,

but I haven't actually seen any of that,

which makes me wonder whether she's actually pregnant.

I was really hoping that we'd see loads of, like, pups

-on the screen cos I've never seen anything like it before...

-I know.

Especially on a shark, and, so it was quite disappointing.

OK, I think... Sadly, I don't think she's pregnant.

They were disappointed cos they were...

I think they were quite looking forward to having new pups

in their...aquarium.

'Yeah, it's not great news.

'Anne the shark's not pregnant this time,

'but here are two Anne made earlier.

'Honest! That is one of Anne the angel shark's youngsters,

'hiding at the bottom of the pool. Tread very carefully!

That's it. Well done!

You can hardly even see them.

They blend in so well.

'These rare baby sharks need to be checked

'so the experts here can keep a record of how fast they grow.

'That means catching them with diver Tina.'

-(This is actually the first time we've done this.)

-Oh, right, OK!

'OK! So, they're not used to being handled.

'Good luck with this one, junior vets.'

One, two, three.

Perfect! OK. Let's do the first measurement, then.

'Sharks can't be out of the water for long,

'so Bonte quickly records vital measurements.'

-73?

-That's right, yes.

'And each shark pup is micro-chipped so they can easily tell them apart

'when vet work needs doing in the future.'

It's telling us how well and how fast these animals grow,

cos we don't know, cos they're such an endangered species

that we just don't know how...how they would normally grow.

One, two, three! Up we go.

Grab her tail, Molly, that's it.

Just lift her in. One, two, three.

-Oops, sorry.

-All right.

'As you'd expect, handling a shark looks very tricky.'

-It's quite scary, really.

-Yeah.

Phew!

The rest of the sharks were calm, but then when that one shark came,

-I think it was a bit unsettled.

-Yeah.

And it jumped all over the place.

I've got it, I've got it.

I was not going to let go of it.

-69.

-69, OK. Perfect!

'The shark pups have been measured, checked and chipped.'

-Well done, Bonte.

-You too.

'My junior vet shark handlers really got their teeth into this one.'

-I can't believe we just did it.

-Yeah.

Soon as we got in there, there were all the fish swimming around us...

-I know.

-And then we just saw the shark, like, in the distance

-going like that.

-It's like what you see in like movies and stuff.

-Yeah!

The junior vets were fantastic.

They were right outside their comfort zone, having to go in with sharks,

and actually touching them, helping hold the shark.

I was very impressed with them.

I remember that one point, where it went like that with its tail,

and you were like, "Whoa!" And then I was like, "Bonte can run,

-"I'm just like trapped in this little thing."

-Ha-ha.

We both did really well, in fact. Really good team work.

-It was honestly one of the best experiences ever.

-It was, yeah.

-I can't wait to just tell everyone about it.

-I know, me too.

-I held a shark.

-I know.

'It's all about to get going at the Aberdour Pet Show.'

Let's get started.

'Told you!

'It's pet competition time.

'Junior vets Robyn and Jamie are in charge of check ups involving

'all sorts of weird and wonderful hopefuls.'

Normally, on the other...like, animals we've worked with it's just

been one animal that we've been told we're doing,

but on this one, you didn't really know what was coming.

'What a remarkable creature! Oh, it's a pet owner...'

-Right!

-Ah! Hello!

'..and his puppy Heiko.'

Right, guys, you're on your own.

-So you've got to tell me what's going on here, OK?

-OK.

'The junior vets are looking for any signs of illness or injury.

'Poorly pets can't compete today.'

-How old is he?

-Erm, 12 weeks.

-Should we check his teeth?

-Yeah.

'Good call, Robyn, straight in at the sharp end.

'You can tell a lot about a puppy's health from their teeth.'

-I think they're clean, yeah.

-Good boy!

-You're doing great by the way, guys, keep going.

-'They are, Adam.

'These two are completely in control of hyperactive Heiko.'

-DOG WOOFS

-Oh!

'OK, when I say complete control...'

He was quite hard to handle because he was so jumpy cos he was excited.

I think he might have been a bit hungry. He was...

sort of nibbling away at our gloves, wasn't he?

Wow, they're sharp!

-Because he's very playful and he's teething right now.

-Yeah,

he does bite materials a lot.

He seems to like our gloves!

What are you doing to my gloves?

Are you stuck there at all, Robyn?

Can Robyn have her hand back?

Thank you!

Have you got any concerns with his health or anything?

Well, I do find it a bit skinny there.

Is that normal?

Erm, is it normal to be skinny on the back of the leg, here?

Well, he's a puppy, so, he's growing,

so he's going to be quite gangly just now.

-OK, OK! So I think he's in good health.

-Yeah.

-OK, for the show.

-I think so.

-Good luck! Good luck with the show!

-Thank you.

Try to get my finger back in my glove...

How hard is it to examine a puppy?

-It is quite hard!

-It's quite hard.

-Let's have a look at your fingers!

-They're shredded, look, see.

Mine aren't too bad.

-They're not so bad, are they?

-Cos you didn't have the head end!

'Hey, it's hotting up at the show.

'My junior vets are in real demand now.'

(Ahh!)

-Erm, what's his name?

-Murphy.

'They'll need to use all their skills from vet school

'to get through this.'

Ah!

'Phew! A stinky ferret.'

Yeah, I can smell him from here!

'And Brad the bearded dragon!'

-Very loosely attached so it doesn't come off.

-Ah, he's smiling!

I think, erm, we've become really confident,

like, with holding animals. We had such a wide variety.

'The junior vets have given over 30 pets a thorough examination.'

Oh, he is soft!

'Now, they've been asked to pick the winners in the best,

'most unusual pets category.'

Oh, they're so cool!

I think the gerbils could be a contender.

-Gerbils are a contender, are they?

-Yeah.

-OK.

I think the chicken or the bearded dragon...

Cos you wouldn't normally bring a chicken to an animal show.

-Do you think you've made your minds up? BOTH:

-I think so.

'Decision time, you two.'

There was such, like, a wide range of animals.

You didn't really know what to pick, because we did disagree

on some of them, but eventually, we came to a decision.

-Robyn, are you going to announce third place?

-Yeah.

Third place is...

Pip and Squeak the gerbils.

APPLAUSE

In second place is Flappy The Second.

In first place is...

Brad the bearded dragon.

Well done!

'Hey, look, winner, Brad,

'is all smiles as are my impressive pet show vets.'

-So, how have you found it today?

-Really good!

It's been amazing!

-I can't believe we've just done all this.

-I know.

Really lovely to meet you, Robyn and Jamie,

and you've been fantastic today.

You're going to make amazing vets one day, OK?

-BOTH:

-Today's been amazing...

-THEY LAUGH

I felt like a proper vet.

Yeah, we had responsibility, didn't we?

Thinking about it, it's probably one of the last things we'll do

while we're here, so it's definitely one we're going to remember.

'Check them out! They're even signing autographs.'

-Bye.

-Bye!

-Have fun!

DOG WOOFS

'At the small animal hospital,

'Nyatepe and Josh are about to get going on major surgery

'with little Nisha.

'Her cruciate ligament, which helps hold her knee together, is torn.

'This will be the most fiddly operation any of my junior vets

'have faced.

'That's why top surgeon John is leading the team.'

See that abnormal movement there?

-See how loose that joint is?

-Yeah.

And that's the ligament that runs through here to here that's torn.

You can imagine every time

this little dog puts its leg down,

its knee feels like it's giving way.

'Look away now if you're squeamish.

'John is about to make the first cut.

'Junior vet Nyatepe gets the first chance to be John's right-hand man.'

Just support the leg just there for me.

'Or right leg man, anyway!

'Me, I've been told to keep my distance and just watch.'

What you doing there, Nyatepe?

-Sucking up all the fluids so we can see what we're doing.

-Right.

'Then, a big mistake.'

I touched my head with my glove, and I was so frustrated,

like, I felt like such a amateur, which I am,

but I didn't really want to show I'm an amateur.

What've you done, Nyatepe?

I just touched my glove on my head.

So, it's not sterile any more.

Easily done, though, easily done.

'Nyatepe must change his gloves for germ-free sterile ones

'or he could endanger Nisha.'

Promotion for you, Josh.

'And Josh takes over as John's surgery assistant,

'sucking up fluid, so John can see what he's doing.'

Josh, are you happy to be taking over?

Yeah, I'm fine.

-So, that's sucking the saline back out again, is it?

-Yeah.

It's like washing it.

The other key to good surgery is being able to see what you're doing,

-isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

'Because Nisha's ligament is badly damaged,

'the team need to make her a new one out of nylon thread.'

OK, look after that for me. Can you just... That's it.

'It will actually hold Nisha's knee joint together.'

Pop that suture through the little slit there.

This is to replace the ligament and make the knee stable.

'I'm well impressed with both my junior vets.

'They're helping suck bits up, stitch and cut things.

'And they've the complete trust of the big boss surgeon.'

Right, so, that's it.

'A few more stitches and job done!'

I'm happy with that. It did go well.

All down to the quality of the assistants.

'Now, that is high praise indeed!'

So, John, how do you feel that the boys performed today?

I think they both did pretty well really.

I think Josh was very focused on what he was doing.

I think he understood what we were doing

and why we were doing it.

Er, he was pretty good.

He did everything that we asked him to do.

He was a whiz with the scissors.

Nyatepe as well, he was pretty focused.

He seemed to be very focused on the welfare of the dog, you know,

he was very keen to get the dressing on.

He's rushed off now to see her going into the kennel.

Do you think there was a lot of pressure in the operating theatre?

Yeah, I think there was quite a lot of pressure but

-I think we done quite well and...

-Yeah.

..at least Nisha got to get home to her owner.

Yes, I do think the junior vets have done a very good job.

And it's good that they're learning all of the time,

with the idea that perhaps they might be a vet someday.

That's good.

'Oh, good, all my junior vets are squeaky clean.

'Not a germ in sight.

'They're ready for my important decision.

'I'm about to tell them who has won

'the very last Vet Of The Day award.'

What a brilliant day of vet work from all of you.

It was a fantastic performance, you were superb.

I'm really impressed.

'But who will be my Vets Of The Day?

'Well, I was impressed with how Molly and Bonte jumped right in

'at the deep end when they worked with sharks.

'A great effort, and no slip-ups.

'And Josh and Nyatepe weren't fazed at all by the gory

'surgery on little Nisha's leg.

'Both really impressed top bone surgeon John.

'And Robyn and Jamie were in charge of vet duties at the pet show.

'They blew me away with their professionalism and know-how,

'handling all sorts of weird and wonderful animals.

'This is a tough call.'

Being good with your hands isn't the be-all and end-all of vet work.

Communication skills are vitally important,

and sometimes it's how you communicate with an owner

which allows you to fully tease out

what the problems are with the animal.

And it's on that basis that I've chosen

Jamie and Robyn as my vets of the day.

THEY APPLAUD

-We've won!

-'It's all getting very exciting.

'That's what team work is all about.'

-BOTH:

-I think we worked really well, ha-ha!

I think we worked really well together.

We, like, had a go at every job, didn't we?

We made sure each of us got a go at everything.

'Now, anyone up for washing a dog?

'Unlucky you lot.'

I think they did deserve to win cos they said they had to check

like, every animal.

'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, it's the final day for my junior vets.

'But there's one last chance to impress, as the junior vets

'carry out final checkups on their favourite patients,

'and tensions rise as one of this lot is crowned head vet.'