Winnie, Romeo and the Pooch Party The Pets Factor

DOG BARKS CAT MEOWS

I'm Stacey Dooley, and I'm mad about animals.

They're great. But what's not so great is seeing them sick.

Thankfully, when that happens, they can come to places like this,

where amazing vets work around the clock to make them better.

Eh?

Meet passionate pet lover, Cheryl.

And that is how she broke it in the first place!

SHE LAUGHS

The biggest softie of them all, gentle James.

-Hello, Stu.

-HE LAUGHS

Come on, Smallie, come for a little swim!

The vet who talks to the animals, Cat.

You are a snorty pig!

GIRL LAUGHS

Ooh, no, don't eat the tape measure!

And the one with all the best moves, Rory.

HE SINGS

Oh, look at that. Oh. Aw! Wow! That was a snog.

They're the vets with...

PARROT SQUAWKS

Coming up on today's show...

James is concerned about a much-loved Labrador's swollen paw.

Is it infection,

or is there something a bit more sinister at play?

Rory's on the case to solve the problem with this guinea pig's eye.

There's something underneath that eye that's rubbing on the eye.

And it's celebration time for Cheryl...

Hello!

..but the party food is a right dog's dinner.

SHE LAUGHS

But first, let's hook up with James in Bristol.

Ooh, hello!

A true softie, James loves all animals...

Now then, shall we get you home?

..but dogs have a special place in his heart.

Yeah, she's very sweet, aren't you?

Choosing a pet has got to be one of the toughest jobs in the world,

but when I got to choose my own,

it had to be my super-soppy Labrador Oliver.

Let's have a look.

Oh, poochie, I'm so proud!

I'm so proud!

But today it's another VIP Lab,

Winnie, who's in urgent need of James' healing hands.

Laid-back Winnie loves to chillax at home with owner Barbara.

But when duty calls, wonder dog Winnie...

flies into action!

As an assistance dog, she's the eyes for her partially-sighted owner.

But with a poorly paw, she's lost her superpowers,

so she needs a hero.

Calling superhero vet James.

Everyone loves their pets,

but without Winnie, Barbara's life would be really difficult.

I've had Winnie for five years,

and until I had her, I hadn't been out unaccompanied for 17 years.

I can't go out without her, unless somebody takes me.

Hello, there!

Now, then... Hi!

-How are you doing?

-Hello!

-Hi.

-I'm James.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-And this is Winnie?

-This is Winnie.

-Is that right? Yeah.

Dogs like Winnie are the eyes and ears for their owners,

helping them cope with everyday life.

Good girl!

So it's vital that I get her back to fitness as soon as possible.

She's not putting her right paw down firmly.

-It's the front right paw, is it?

-Front right.

-Yeah, OK. Hello.

Mm, it is a bit swollen there, actually, isn't it?

If I just part the hair a little bit,

you can see it's really quite swollen.

I'm hoping for the fact that it's come up relatively quickly

in the two weeks, this is probably an infection.

-Right.

-But I would hate to say that for sure

-without doing some tests.

-Yeah.

Winnie will have to hang on until tomorrow for treatment.

-She will see you tomorrow!

-Bye, Winnie!

But as this is a top priority,

and Barbara can't make it back to the surgery herself...

..James drives out first thing in the morning to pick Winnie up.

-Hello, Mrs Ward.

-Good morning!

-How are you?

Hello, Winnie! Oh, you look very happy, don't you?

Here's hoping James can get to the root of the problem.

As a vet, you do feel quite a bit of pressure,

but when someone's relying on their dog as much as Barbara,

you know you have to get it right.

First job back at the surgery is to give Winnie's poorly paw an X-ray.

She's gently sedated while James gets to work.

All this here is extra swelling, which shouldn't really be there.

And the question is - what is that swelling?

Is it infection, or is there...

is there something a bit more...

a bit more sinister at play?

Which is...which is just what I'm a little bit worried about

at this stage.

Winnie might have just stepped on something sharp,

but James is worried it's a broken bone

or even a tumour that's to blame.

When you get faced with a situation like this,

the worst always crosses your mind.

You don't want to think like that,

but, equally, we have to look into it if there is something there.

It's one of those situations where you hope for the best,

you know, expect the worst and hope for the best,

I suppose, isn't it?

We've all got our fingers crossed for you, Winnie.

Come on, big man!

Next, we're heading to London to see Rory.

I have been OBSESSED with animals, big or small, since I was a boy.

Hey!

I've always had pets.

And my favourite days out as a kid

were going and seeing new animals!

So being a vet is the perfect job for me.

Today, Rory is seeing a patient who has become a bit of a regular,

brought in by owner Dara.

This is Romeo, he's an Abyssinian guinea pig

and he's got a sore eye.

Little Romeo is always acting up and performing for his owner.

But lately...

he's lost his direction because of a poorly eye.

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore is your eye sore, Romeo?

Hi! What you doing?

It's OK, isn't it? Yeah?

Over the past week, Rory's been investigating

what's causing Romeo's sore eye.

Day one, day four.

Let's pop some dye in and see what day...

six is like.

And the best way to see if his poorly eye is healing...

You know what's coming. You do.

..is with this special dye that makes any damaged areas

glow bright green.

I think that's starting to look much more healthy.

It's... There's definitely still some stain there, but you'll see,

-it's really fluorescent there.

-Yeah.

-Really quite obviously green.

-Yeah, definitely.

-That looks more of a yellowy green.

-I want you to continue those drops for another week, OK?

-OK.

-And then I want to have a look.

-Sure.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Perfect.

-Fine.

His eye is looking better.

It's just not healing as quickly as I'd expect.

So if it's not completely clear in a couple of days,

I'm going to have to put my detective hats on.

Oh, wrong hat.

One week later, Dara is back with Romeo

and, for moral support, his best friend Lysander has come along too.

-Hi!

-Hello!

-Oh, we've got two today!

Come for a cuddle? Come for a cuddle? Yeah.

But Romeo's eye still isn't right.

Oh, is that gunk?

Hmm. This eye. It's still not healing.

And now there's some gunk in the way!

I'm just going to try and take away that gunk

from the bottom of your eye. I know, sweetie, I'm sorry.

Yes, you're so clever, aren't you?

Rory decides to take one last look.

And something catches HIS eye.

Ah!

It looks like Rory might have finally found the problem.

There's something underneath that eye that's rubbing on the eye.

-Oh!

-OK? I can see it.

-OK.

-OK?

Ouch! It would NEVER heal with that in there!

The tricky bit now is getting this troublesome thing out.

Stick around to see what Rory finds lurking in Romeo's eye.

I am SO happy!

And James is on a mission to get working dog Winnie back on her feet.

Normally, people hate doing pus,

but when I see pus, I'm very happy.

Time to head over to Cheryl and her team in Essex.

Hello, guys! Do you know what makes my job so good?

It's having such an amazing team around me.

Everyone just loves animals just as much as me.

So as well as making them physically better,

we make sure they get lots of TLC every single time.

Good girl.

You were so brave.

And while the practice is quiet for a change, Cheryl has come up

with a brilliant idea to celebrate the vets practice running

for three years.

I just want to tell you the idea.

So, birthday party extravaganza.

They can have a cup of tea and/or a soft drink, and birthday cake.

Are you not excited? Do you think it's a good idea?

I think she wants to be excited.

-I'm just not sure.

-Aw...

I think it sounds like...a lot of faff.

No! Really, genuinely, what's your opinion?

I've just given you my genuine opinion.

"No, that's the wrong opinion to have."

Why is nobody getting excited about this?

I guess I'll just have to organise it all by myself.

THEY LAUGH

Right, we need a cake, balloons,

awards for the bravest pets...

OK, Cheryl, you can have a party.

And, a few weeks later, even head nurse Jade...

Sit.

..has eventually come round to the idea

and is at home baking some special treats.

I'm making cakes for the party because Cheryl made me.

Her own posse of pets seem very interested in what she's up to.

But Jade's not the only one helping with the party food,

so the competition is on.

Cheryl's mum is making a cake for humans,

Nick is making dog cake pops,

and I'm making peanut butter dog cupcakes.

-SHE SNIFFS

-Smells disgusting.

Too late to worry about that now, Jade.

Yeah, it's going to be great.

Excited.

Ew.

Excuse me, will you come down, please?

Time to re-join James and Winnie the Labrador.

Winnie is an assistance dog for her partially-sighted owner.

But a badly swollen paw has put her out of action.

It looks really red, doesn't it? Yeah.

James has taken an X-ray to try and find out exactly what's wrong.

It doesn't look like the actual bone structure

in the toe has had any sort of damage or any change.

Which is good news, really good news.

But James is no closer to finding out what has caused the swelling,

so the next step is to take a sample off the tissue inside,

and he's hoping it will be pussy.

Normally, people hate seeing pus.

But when I see pus, I'm very happy.

-Cos pus is very easy to treat.

-HE LAUGHS

James has to use a very sharp needle to extract

fluid from inside Winnie's paw.

SQUAWK!

If you're squeamish, look away now.

The sample will be sent to the lab to be examined.

But the initial signs are positive.

This looks kind of like almost creamy, and you can see all

these little flecks of inflammatory tissue in there.

I would hope that it might actually be pus, which would be

really good news, and then we can treat this as an infection.

Having got those X-rays and having got the slides that

look like that, I'm suddenly starting to just

calm down a little bit that this might be something

we can sort out relatively quickly and easily.

Which would be really fab if that's the case.

For now, all they can do is wait and hope.

Good girl.

A few hours later and Winnie is ready to head back home...

-Say goodbye.

-HE LAUGHS

Bye, Winnie!

..with James on chauffeur duties again for this lovely lady.

-Hello!

-HE LAUGHS

-What are you doing?

-I know.

-I just thought we'd just say "how are you?".

-Hello.

-Here we go.

-Has she been good?

She's been wonderful.

Oh, Winnie.

It would be great to give Barbara good news, but I just can't

raise her hopes too high until I am sure Winnie is going to be fine.

-We are 90% of the way there...

-Still investigating.

..but we've still just got to wait for the results to come in.

-Right.

-What I'm going to suggest we do in the meantime

is start her on some antibiotics.

Let's treat for a week.

That'll give us some time to get the results back

from the laboratory as well.

And, then, hopefully,

this time in a week,

the swelling should have gone down, fingers crossed.

JAMES LAUGHS

There's a good girl.

Everybody's fallen in love with her at the practice.

-She's so sweet.

-What a performance!

Bye-bye. We'll see you shortly.

See you next time. Bye.

Winnie, here's hoping you and Barbara

can get out and about again soon.

Mate, yeah, I am talking to you.

Let's get back to London to catch up with Rory and Romeo.

-Let's do this.

-Let's do this.

Ready?

Romeo the guinea pig has been acting out of sorts lately...

..because of his poorly eye.

I'm sorry. This is probably really sore.

I'm sorry, mate, I'm really sorry.

The cause of his sore eye has always been a bit of a mystery.

But now Rory thinks he has spotted a piece of hay stuck under his eyelid.

You know what's coming, don't you?

I'm really sorry, mate, but we do have to get that out

because I can see it now and I'm 100% convinced

there's something in there.

Romeo doesn't really understand why we're holding him down like this.

But the sooner I can get that piece of hay out of his eye,

the sooner he will feel better.

At last.

Yes! Come on!

I am SO happy.

-How sore...

-Oh!

-..must that have been?

Poor Romeo has had this bit of hay stuck in his eye all that time.

What a brave boy.

OK, it might not look that big.

But, compared to the size of Romeo's eye, it's huge!

It'd be like me having a tree leaf in my eye.

How does that happen?

-That's a grass seed from his hay.

-SHE GROANS

Oh, fella, I am so sorry.

You poor little thing.

I think that is going to heal beautifully now.

You little trooper.

He's going to go to sleep now.

Yeah. Are you feeling super-relaxed?

Romeo can finally go back into his carrier

with his best friend Lysander.

You know where you're going, don't you?

You can see the carrot already.

SHE LAUGHS

-Thank you.

-No worries.

-Oh!

As Romeo heads off for lots of treats and cuddles,

Rory can't wait to share the good news.

Lou-Lou-Lou.

-Guess where that came from.

-Where?

-A guinea pig's eye.

-Where was it?

-How cool is that?

-Did you just get it out of that?

-Sat under his eye.

SHE WHIMPERS

DOG WHINES

Time to head back to see Cheryl and her team in Essex.

It's party time.

Around 50 dogs and their owners are on their way

to celebrate the practice's third birthday.

And Cheryl is getting excited.

Hopefully, all the clients and pets will have a really good time...

when they get here.

Cheryl has helped all sorts of dogs...

Hello.

..big and small, over the past three years...

..so it's a perfect opportunity to come and say thank you.

Hello.

You are making a big entrance, aren't you?

And there are some familiar faces on the guest list.

Rocky the accident-prone French Bulldog,

who gave Cheryl a bit of a surprise.

I found a fracture.

-Also, a nail.

-Oh, my gosh.

And one of Cheryl's favourites,

Bambi the Pomeranian puppy,

who needed a bit of help with his potty training.

Ooh!

Bambi, don't get it on me!

That was his party trick!

And not forgetting beautiful Skye, the Siberian Husky,

who has already attracted a crowd of admirers.

I think that if I ever decide to stop being a vet,

I've got a fantastic career in front of me as a party planner.

Yay! That was a good one!

And what's more...

Guys...

..Jade's cakes are going down a storm with her canine guests.

Made with flower, egg and peanut butter, these healthy

dog snacks are technically also fit for humans to eat.

SHE CACKLES

Well, I did say technically.

That is dry.

I'm not offended because...

I mean, at least they're dry.

See? Frank likes it.

But today is also about awarding bravery.

Remember Jesse,

the tea-drinking Jack Russell

who had these two huge lumps removed from her belly?

Well, she is getting a special award.

Well done, Jesse. What do you think of that?

APPLAUSE

And it is easy to guess what her celebration drink is.

A well-deserved brew.

Here's to many more years of brilliant vetting.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Well, Cheryl and the team sure know how to throw a good party.

But there is something else to celebrate, too.

Remember that lovely assistance dog, Winnie?

Hello. Hi, Winnie!

Good girl.

This lovely Lab's lab results revealed nothing alarming.

-She is not reacting, is she?

-She's not pulling away.

-You can have a gold star.

-Thank you.

I think Winnie is the one that needs the gold star.

But for this loyal dog, it is back to the day job.

Time for this inseparable pair to hit the town.

Well, that is it for this series of The Pets Factor.

Top vetting, guys, and keep up the good work.

Yeah!