Dottie, Tammy and Rocket The Pets Factor

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

but sometimes they get sick.

Luckily when that happens, there are amazing vets on hand to help bring

them back to health. Hello, you.

Meet passionate pet lover, Cheryl.

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

The biggest softie of them all, gentle James.

Hello, Stu. Come on, smiley. Come for a little swim.

The vet who talks to the animals, Cat.

You are a snorty pig.

No, don't eat the tape measure.

And the one with all the best moves, Rory.

Oh, look at that. Oh, wow! That was a snog!

They're the vets with the pets factor.

Coming up on today's show...

..James plays midwife to pregnant pig Dotty.

That piglet is just seconds old. We just watched him come out.

Cheryl has a testing time fixing Tammy the cat's badly broken leg.

We may need an assistant.

And vet Cat uncovers a case of mistaken identity

for Rocket the rabbit.

-That looks a bit girlie to me.

-Are you a girl?

First, we're off to Bristol to see James.

James cares for animals so much...

I do love chickens.

..he's got a whole field full of them back at his home.

So we have two geese and one gander.

And whether they're nice...

This is Rihanna,

who we thought was Ryan and then we realised that Ryan started to lay

eggs, so we called her Rihanna.

-..or naughty...

-He's the most aggressive of all of them.

He's great, he's fine, but he definitely has a temper.

..James thinks they're all gorgeous.

And this is our boar called Andrew,

who is incredibly handsome and very friendly.

Aren't you?

But now James' noisy menagerie is about to get even bigger.

Hello. A mouth full of mud, haven't you?

Because black-and-white pig Dotty

is just a month away from giving birth.

When it comes to pigs, you don't get much friendlier than the kunekune.

And Dotty is no exception.

She loves a good scratching from best pal James,

but that's becoming a much bigger task because she's about to have

piglets.

Time for vet James to become midwife James.

Here we go.

James has prepared a special pig ark where Dotty will give birth

and despite her mucky appearance,

he's confident she won't make a mess.

The biggest misconception about pigs is that they are dirty.

If you go into one of their arks, it will be absolutely speck and span.

There won't be a single poo, a single wee.

Pigs are probably one of the most clean animals

that you could possibly try and look after.

I'm so excited about Dotty's birth.

Growing up, I was obsessed with pigs.

I had all the books on them and posters all over my wall.

But James isn't the only one looking forward to Dotty's big day.

Fran, our vet nurse down at the practice,

she is actually thinking of getting a couple of piglets for her farm and

if that's the case,

we're hoping that when these guys have their piglets,

she might even get a couple of those.

With everyone watching and waiting,

it's now up to Dotty to make the next move.

It could be today, it could be tomorrow,

it could be a couple of weeks.

We know that they are due pretty soon.

So we're just waiting. Wait and see.

Hey, hey. I'm talking to you.

Next, we're off to Essex to see Cheryl.

-Hello. You want a little kiss?

-Whether it's a cat...

She's so nice.

-..or a dog...

-Good girl.

..or something smaller...

-Hello.

-..Cheryl loves getting to cuddle her patients.

She definitely has a favourite part of the job.

I love performing surgery.

I find it really cool.

It's such a great feeling to see a physical problem,

be able to fix it and see the animal walking out the door at the end of

the day.

Whether it's removing horrible lumps,

getting rid of swollen bumps or even fixing bones back together...

-Thank you.

-..Cheryl and her team will always do everything they can.

Cheryl's next patient

is in desperate need of her skilful surgery.

Tammy is one super-charged kitty who's always dodging disaster.

Her owners never know what scrape she's going to get into next.

But this time, it's a big one.

So, you can see that she's got a fractured left tibia,

so that's her shin bone.

At the moment, she can't put her leg down at all and it's really painful.

So we're going to fix the bone,

so a pin's going to go down the middle of the bone

to hold the two pieces back together. That's the plan.

Because the break is so bad, Cheryl wants to limit any further damage

by keeping the incision as small

-as possible.

-I'm a bit worried about this one, to be honest.

Her owners don't know how long her leg's been damaged

because she's been hiding away for a few days,

and cats do often do that when they get hurt.

As soon as Tammy's anaesthetized...

Good girl.

..Cheryl can get down to business.

This could be a tricky job.

I really hope that we can get it to go back together and stabilise it,

so that we don't have to amputate her leg. It's a big thing.

If you're squeamish, look away now!

So obviously, her leg shouldn't be able to bend.

The fracture is almost coming through the skin.

It's so bruised, isn't it, and sore.

Cheryl makes a small incision in her knee, so she can push the pin in.

But it's not going as planned.

It's difficult, because in the ideal world, we open up the fracture and

we look at exactly where we're going,

but then, obviously, that does even more damage.

Cheryl was hoping to cut a tiny hole in Tammy's knee,

but the angle is so awkward that she'll have to make a much bigger

incision.

It's much more difficult because the bones have started to retract back

together, so we need to pull this.

This operation just got a whole lot tougher.

We may need an assistant.

Poor little Tammy.

Later, re-enforcements arrive.

See how fiddly it is.

But will they be able to fix this feline's nasty fracture?

It's really tricky. Always the way.

And Cat, the vet, levels with Rocket the rabbit.

This is what you end up doing with our patients quite a lot,

is crawling about on the floor.

-Over. Yeah!

-Time to rejoin vet James and pregnant pet pig Dotty.

And there's some exciting sounds coming from the pig ark.

So I've just brought you down on to the farm to show you something

really exciting.

I'm in one of the pig arks as we speak and Dotty, the kunekune,

has just had her first piglets.

We've had two and they're only probably about a minute old each.

Dotty's not done yet.

So if you've never seen a piglet being born, now's your chance.

Just amazing.

Literally, that piglet is seconds old.

We've just watched him come out.

And with Dotty pumping out the piglets,

James could be in for a long night.

I'm absolutely in my element here.

This is just amazing.

This brand-new life.

She's doing so well.

There's another, there's another, there's another!

They're just coming, belting out.

Being there for the birth is just amazing.

Seeing all those little cute piglets popping out,

I feel like a proud dad.

With seven little snorters now happily suckling,

it's time for both Dotty and proud vet James

to get some well-earned rest.

Good girl, Dotty.

After barely a wink of sleep,

James is up at first light to check on his babes.

Hi, Dotty.

Good girl.

It's a real privilege when you get to see animals being born, because

normally for vets, we tend to see stuff when stuff's going wrong.

So to actually be there for the birth is such a privilege.

It's just nature at its best, you know?

This gorgeous pig giving birth to these really healthy piglets.

It's amazing. It's fantastic.

Dotty might be a busy mum now,

but she enjoys a relaxing belly rub from James.

Good girl.

And she knows just how to show her gratitude.

PARP!

Ha-ha! A little bit too relaxed there, Dotty.

Come on! Just keep it in.

Phwoar!

That is stinking!

Well, you've got a good excuse to make a quick exit, James.

It's time to get back to the day job.

Hi, team. Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-All right?

-Yes.

-I've got some exciting news from the farm.

-Well?

Piglets arrived last night.

-Little pinkies.

-Little tinies!

-How many?

We've had seven.

Wow!

And next to hear the good news is nurse assistant, Fran...

Franny!

..who's hoping to adopt a couple of the piglets.

I've got something to show you!

-There they are.

-Oh, my goodness!

-She's done amazing.

-Oh, look at the colour!

They're like little Dalmatian puppies, aren't they?

It makes me go all...

Come and see them and we'll have a pig party.

Just say when I can come and I will come.

-I'm not busy this week at all!

-There you go. Perfect. Neither am I.

Let's do it. I'll make the phone call now.

-Definitely.

-I finish at 9pm.

I can come at 9.30pm!

Stick around to see which little piggies get to move in with Fran.

Come on, big man!

Let's head over to Cat the vet in Sheffield.

It's another busy day at the practice. There's a cat called Cat,

because...she's a cat.

A dog called Red, because, yes, he's red.

And Amari's here with her mum and best mate, Sophie.

And who's in the box?

I called my rabbit Rocket, because I love rocket and Parmesan salad.

I thought he was actually called Rocket, like a space rocket.

No. I know people do think that, but no, it's the salad.

I guess that's not the first item people think of.

Probably not.

Rocket, come on in.

But Rocket hasn't been feeling himself recently.

Yesterday, my mum went to pick him up and he made kind of a whimpering

noise and we noticed kind of a bit of a sore on the back of his leg.

Yeah. He's not moving round in the cage like he normally would.

All right. Let's get him out and have a look then.

Rabbits hide signs of illness very well,

so for them to make any noise means it must be quite serious.

This is what you end up doing with our patients quite a lot,

is crawling about on the floor.

We want to see how these legs are working.

Come on, baby! Rocket!

He may be not quite right on one of his back legs,

but he is bearing weight on them.

STACEY: Nothing too obvious there, time for a closer inspection.

Now, this is like yoga for bunnies, so we're going to stretch.

-Oh, you're not hurting him, are you, with that?

-No, no.

Don't worry, Tracy, Cat's an expert.

Don't panic, don't panic.

They can stretch a surprisingly long way.

I can't find anything mega wrong.

We will put him on some painkillers

because it's more likely than not that he is sore.

And then we'll see whether he responds to them or not.

This medicine should help Rocket get back to his old self.

Well, I say HIS self.

Shall we just make sure it's a him?

The breeder said he was.

That looks a bit girlie to me!

You mean we've had a girl rabbit all the time and we called him Rocket?

Well, a case of mistaken identity is very common in bunnies, especially

-when they're very small.

-Are you a girl?

Yup, she certainly is.

Turns out this bunny is a honey.

This is Amari's very first pet.

But rabbits do take quite a bit of looking after.

So this is a great opportunity for me to teach her

how to care for Rocket properly.

I would really, really look into getting a friend.

Rabbits are highly social creatures, they live in big groups.

For a bunny to live on their own is quite an unnatural way to be.

And they do much, much better in pairs or triplets.

There you are, thank you very much.

STACEY: Well, he came in a poorly boy and left a healthy girl.

That's some vetting.

Bit of a shock!

But relieved actually,

relieved that there's nothing wrong with the rabbit.

Rockette as we're now going to call her instead of Rocket.

Yeah, and just,

just to think about maybe another rabbit

because of the long-term benefits.

-Please can we call it Parmesan?

-We'll see.

Excuse me, will you come down, please?

Next, we're back with Cheryl and Tammy cat.

Cheryl's having a testing time

trying to fix Tammy's badly broken leg.

I mean, its leg is, like, shattered.

Tammy's always whizzing around and dodging trouble.

But this time, while out causing mayhem, she's come a proper cropper.

And the position of the break is so tricky that Cheryl has realised she

can't fix it alone.

There are some operations where I just don't have enough hands.

Jemima? Do you mind to scrub in to help to pull this fracture back?

Cos I can't do it on my own.

Vet Jemima comes to the rescue with her extra pair of hands.

OK.

If you're squeamish, look away now.

Jemima needs to carefully hold the broken shin bone together...

-See how fiddly it is.

-..while Cheryl fits the pin.

It's really tricky.

Always the way.

And after some skilful pinning...

-All good.

-..the two pieces of bone are pulled back into place.

Thanks, Jemima. Saving the day.

To make sure the pin stays in place,

Cheryl ties a wire around the fractured bone.

It was a horrible fracture

and it was really difficult to get it back together, so

that's the best I can do, now the rest is up to her to heal and rest.

Heal and rest!

That's a cat's worst nightmare,

especially a livewire like Tammy.

24 hours later,

Tammy has been recovering from her operation at the clinic.

Oh, good girl.

Look at that leg, it looks really good.

No swelling or anything.

Are you a happy cat?

I'm so happy for Tammy.

A little bit proud of myself.

It's so good, like, she's already putting her weight on it.

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

No, Tammy. That is too risky.

Tammy, you've just had major surgery.

Owners Karen and Ronnie are in for a real challenge.

Hello!

You guys! Come on in!

I've no surprise that she got a broken leg.

She's literally been climbing all over things.

Yeah, she does really climb, she doesn't say still.

Who are these people? Do you recognise them, Tammy?

She's doing so, so well.

The good news is that she's got a pin and some wires holding them back

together. The bad news is that she feels fine,

so she's already trying to jump and run,

and it's not going to be stable for a minimum of four weeks.

-Four weeks, you've got to stay in a cage.

-Absolutely!

-You're not going to like that.

-My job's done, that's the easy bit.

You guys have got to look after her.

See, look at how she just uses it! Tammy, you've got to rest!

Stay chill, Tammy!

Let's get back to Bristol to catch up with James and those piglets.

Now, eight weeks old and weighing ten kilos,

two have gone to nursing assistant Fran and her daughter Kiana.

They actually settled into the pen better than I thought they would.

Grazing straightaway, which is always good.

They always snuggle up to you like a dog.

Fran and Kiana are just like me,

they totally adore pigs and it's so great to see our little babies

going to such a great home.

And this is just something else to keep them entertained.

To play in the water to wallow in.

What's that? A ball pool for pigs?

Pigs have some real genetic similarities to humans.

And just like us, their brains need a lot of stimulation.

But the million-dollar question is...

I want to know, have you finally thought of some names for them?

-Monty and Belle.

-Monty and Belle.

Yeah, our little beauty and beast.

And just like mum Dotty,

there's nothing they like better than a good scratch.

Oh, he has definitely made himself at home here, hasn't he?

What a gorgeous pair of porkers they are and great to see them both so

settled in their new home.

Oh!

And what about Tammy? The cat who broke her leg?

Well, although this mischievous moggy isn't keen on cage rest,

she's enjoying cuddles with Ronnie

and her leg is getting stronger every day.

That bit is actually looking a lot better.

It's healed up really well, hasn't it?

Oh, I hope you're back on your feet really soon, Tammy.

Next time on The Pets Factor -

Rory helps a French bulldog who's all out of puff.

It's a bit like breathing while always having a pinched nose.

And vet Cat has to take in her own pet cat to a supersized clinic.

-Come on, Fatty.

-Oh, my goodness!

-It's not that bad!