Rocky, Ruby and Sirius The Pets Factor

I'm Stacey Dooley and I love pets of all shapes and sizes.

but seeing them sick is definitely no fun.

Fortunately, when that happens,

there are fantastic places like this where help is at hand

to fix them up.

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, come for a little swim.

The vet who talks to the animals, Cat.

You are a snorty pig.

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

And the one with all the best moves, Rory.

Oh, look at that.

Wow, that was a snog.

They are the vets with The Pets Factor.

Coming up on today's show...

Cheryl has an emergency on her hands...

A dog with a fractured leg and a foreign body.

..with a dog that's landed in double trouble.

I think this is a first, Sarah. We haven't had many firsts.

Cat the vet gets up close with some irresistible cockapoo pups.

Let me have a look at you.

Hi!

And Rory befriends a cat who's been missing for nine months.

You are good with animals. I don't think she'd let me do that.

She trusts me. Thank you.

But first, we're off to Essex to see what Cheryl is up to.

Let's go, let's go.

Whatever the problem,

Cheryl will always do everything she can to fix an animal in need.

It's either put them to sleep or try, and we always try.

When you qualify as a vet surgeon, the learning doesn't stop there.

I'm constantly training and improving my abilities.

There's not many things I haven't done before.

This is really exciting.

And I'm always so happy when a beloved pet pulls through.

-That's it.

-Come on!

-See?

The practice has been busy since first thing this morning,

but Cheryl's day is far from over.

Six-month-old Rocky has been rushed into the vets by her owner after a

nasty fall off the sofa.

In the red corner, Rocky, a French bulldog.

Although she likes to think of herself as more of a boxer.

And in the blue corner, Brutus the sofa.

DING-DING!

This puppy thought she was a champ.

But she's finally met her match.

Now she's backed herself into a tight corner.

What damage will the X-ray show up?

So, look, I found a fracture...

-Oh, my gosh.

-..which explains why she is so lame.

-Poor Rocky.

-Also, a nail!

A nail in her belly.

Vet Jemima did well to spot that on the X-ray.

This is really serious.

Poor Rocky. Not only has she got a broken leg,

but she's got a nail in her stomach.

And we can't leave that there,

so she's got to have two major operations right now.

-Right, here you go.

-Thank you.

-You all ready?

-Yeah.

-We're on.

Nurse Sarah quickly gets Rocky ready for theatre,

while Cheryl scrubs in for the big op.

Bless her.

I would never normally do two major surgeries on such

a small, young dog, but we have no choice.

Hopefully she'll be OK.

This is advanced surgery,

so newly qualified vet Jemima has handed the job to Cheryl.

Poor Rocky.

She starts by repairing the fractured leg.

This break is a really common fracture in puppies

and really serious if it is not treated because then the

bones will heal in a weird way and she will have a damaged leg forever.

Cheryl needs to fit a pin into the bone to hold the fracture together.

SQUAWK!

If you're squeamish, look away now!

This is the bit of bone that shouldn't be sticking out.

I've done quite a lot of bone surgery before,

but it's always a bit tricky when it's a little puppy.

And it's not Rocky's only problem.

A dog with a fractured leg and a foreign body.

I think this is a first, Sarah. We haven't had many firsts.

I thought we've seen everything, haven't we?

Cheryl pushes in the metal pin to stabilise the bone.

Yeah, that feels good.

Now we have to do my worst bit, which is to cut the pin.

OK, that was good. So this feels really stable, in position.

With the pin holding the fractured bone together,

Cheryl strengthens it by wrapping wire around it.

Rocky will need to rest up for a few weeks until her leg fully mends.

One problem down, one more to go.

Later, Cheryl is on the hunt for the missing nail

that's somewhere in Rocky's tummy.

Come on, big man!

Next, it's over to Sheffield with Cat the vet.

What shall we have a look at first - rats or snakes?

Cat's the cool one in a crisis.

Yeah, it'll be fine. It will be fine.

When pets are poorly or playing up...

-CAT HISSES

-OK. There we go. I know.

..she's the one to stay calm.

It's not rocket science.

Time for tea.

But she likes to party, too.

-I made that. Happy birthday, James. Yay!

-Thank you, Cat.

That's a lovely cake.

And there's nothing Cat and co like better than a good celebration.

Yay!

# Happy birthday, dear James

# Happy birthday to you. #

Yay!

James is the baby of the bunch here,

so of course we're going to spoil him,

and who doesn't love a birthday treat?

But there's someone else here who's looking forward to a special day.

Ruby the black cockapoo is here with her daughter, Bella,

one of the pups from her first litter.

This may be Ruby's second pregnancy,

but it's still quite nerve-racking for owner Ros.

We're coming here today to just have an ultrasound scan to see if

everything is going well and maybe

get a bit of an idea of how many she's going to have.

As a vet, pregnancy screening is one of our favourite things.

Absolute heaven.

It usually means that lots of other cute, little animals

are on their way.

Can we see Ruby, please?

And as James is the baby of the team,

it's only fair he gets to check for Ruby's babies.

Right, OK. How is Ruby doing?

-Is she well?

-She seems a little bit bigger than last time.

We'll have Ruby up on the table, then.

While Ros keeps her calm, James gently prepares Ruby's tummy

for her scan.

Right, we're going to turn the lights down.

With everyone facing the screen,

including Ruby, the excitement mounts.

You see, there's a puppy's heartbeat.

So that's a puppy's head. Yeah.

I think she is pretty close to...

pretty close to giving birth in the next fortnight, I think...

-Yeah.

-Yeah, it sounds about right to me.

The puppies have been growing in Ruby's tummy for six weeks,

but this final fortnight is crucial.

What a good dog. Well done, Ruby.

With Ruby's screening over, James is mightily impressed.

They're all doing great and there's no problems that we can see on the

scan, so we just have to wait, really,

and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

With four or maybe five pups on the way,

Ros can really start to make plans.

Really happy, yeah, really great news, so thanks, James, for that.

That's reassured me.

So, here they are!

Join us later when it's puppy love for vet Cat.

Hi!

Oh, did I wake you up from your nap? I'm very sorry.

And can Cheryl nail the problem with Rocky the French bulldog?

It literally is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Time to hook up with Rory in London.

This cheeky chappie hasn't been vetting for as long as the others.

Every day is a learning curve and I just love getting stuck in.

I want to see what's in the dog.

But he's already making an impression on his workmates...

..and his patients.

What has two thumbs and loves animals?

This guy.

Today he is meeting a new patient brought in by owners Amy and Tom.

This cat has a very long tale to tell.

Sirius's family love her to bits,

but one day she went out and never returned.

Her heartbroken owners couldn't find her anywhere.

But nine months later...

..somebody found her...

..and delivered her home.

"Surprise!"

So Rory needs to make sure she's fit and well.

She's been right around our back garden for the last nine months,

but we haven't been able to find her.

After nine months in the wilderness,

Sirius could have easily picked up all sorts of bugs and injuries,

so it's crucial that Rory gives her a thorough health check.

So, tell me what happened.

She got out into the garden and just got lost in the scrub

behind our garden.

We kind of did search parties every night for a while,

trying to find her and just kind of thought, yeah.

You thought she was gone.

When Amy and Tom first heard Sirius had been found,

they expected her to have lost loads of weight.

She's looking pretty good.

-Yeah.

-She's not the skinniest...

-No.

-..for a cat that's been missing for nine months.

I reckon Sirius has been relying on the kindness of strangers

and she's been probably been getting fed all over the place.

Let's have a little look in that mouth, missus.

Well done. Look at that smile.

You are good with animals.

I don't think she'd let me do that.

LAUGHTER

Well, you know, she trusts me, don't you? Eh?

I normally see a lot of hisses and scratches.

I just wish all my feline patients were like Sirius.

Although there's no sign of a problem,

Rory needs to give Sirius a vaccination booster.

Oh, who's a good girl?

So well-behaved.

Unfortunately, that was the easy bit.

Going well so far.

How will she cope with a worming tablet?

OK, sweetie, ready?

Open wide. You're going to go like that.

-CAT HISSES

-I know, I'm sorry.

And then you swallowed it cos you're awesome.

Well done.

So that's the all clear for Sirius

and now she's protected from fleas and worms,

she should settle back into home life.

Well, after nine months missing, it could have been really serious,

but she's just Sirius.

LAUGHTER

Serious. Sirius.

Get it?

Excuse me, will you come down, please?

Time to get back to Essex with Cheryl and Rocky the French bulldog.

I need another hand today.

It's a hectic day at the practice.

She's in the middle of an emergency operation.

DING-DING!

Rocky the French bulldog lost her battle with the sofa...

..after falling off and breaking her leg.

But when the team X-rayed her leg,

they discovered she'd also swallowed a nail.

-She's been quite stable so far, Sarah.

-She has, yeah.

Cheryl's pinned back the fractured bones,

but this unlucky bulldog now needs a second operation to remove the nail.

-Right, good luck.

-Thank you.

Nail it!

Ha-ha-ha!

Puppies are constantly putting everything in their mouth,

but that's normal for them, that's how they explore.

It's just sometimes they get the wrong things.

But a nail, that's quite dramatic.

Rocky's tummy is cut open so Cheryl can carefully feel through her

intestines to find the nail.

SQUAWK!

If you're squeamish, look away now!

It's definitely not in her stomach, cos you can see on the X-ray,

and I've checked all through the small intestine, which is this.

I can't feel a nail.

It literally is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

When you're looking for something as small and thin as a nail,

rule number one - always double-check.

I don't want to miss anything,

but it's really quite hard to feel because guts are made of muscle,

so they're really thick.

Oh, no, there it is. There.

Yes, that's definitely nail-like, isn't it?

Finally.

Now Cheryl has to carefully open up the intestine wall

enough to push the nail out.

Look at that.

-Phew!

-I almost didn't find it.

I find surgery on the guts really fascinating,

but I get a little bit worried

when I'm doing it because the inside of the gut is just full of bacteria

and if they were to leak out,

they could cause a nasty infection, so when you stitch the guts up,

you have to do it perfectly.

I'm not going to get much sleep tonight, Rocky, thinking about you.

Now they need to wait and see how she copes

on the rocky road to recovery.

ROCKY SNORES

Hey, I'm talking to you.

It's back to Sheffield with vet Cat and Ruby the cockapoo.

Cat has come to see this new mum...

Thank you. Hi, Ruby.

So here they are.

..who's recently given birth to five fabulous pups.

Hi, Mummy. Are these your babies?

Are they? Didn't you do a good job? Aren't they amazing?

Wonderful. So, how long did it take her to have all five?

It was about two and a half hours.

It was pretty much half an hour in between each one...

-That's absolutely copybook.

-..which was ideal, you know.

Well done, Ruby, you read the rules.

Starting with mum, time to give the whole family a health check.

Has she been well? You've been happy with her?

Yeah, no, she's been really well.

Beautiful, clean teeth you've got.

So she's got nice, big, easy-to-find nipples

that the babies latch onto really easily.

Come on, then, Stan the man, let me have a look at you.

Hi!

Oh, did I wake you up from your nap? I'm very sorry. I'm very sorry.

Puppies like this sleep for 18 or 19 hours a day,

so Cat is lucky to see them awake.

Oh, my goodness, he looks like crushed velvet, doesn't he?

Isn't he beautiful?

Cat makes sure the four boys and their little sister

are developing well.

Your little heart is just fine.

Beating away super-strong.

Any teeth in there yet?

Aww, they're just starting to come, aren't they?

Oh, yeah, he's fantastic. Right, perfect.

These pups are just two and a half weeks old,

but they are already growing more independent from Ruby.

They're even learning to feed on their own.

We just start with a little bit of milk, teaching them how to lap,

and then gradually moving them onto porridge and then to puppy food,

and, as you can see, they're more than ready.

They know exactly what to do.

Ros has found great homes for all the pups to go to,

which is a good job, because if I spend much longer with these cuties,

I think I'll have to take one home!

It's amazing, isn't it? To think that those little, tiny dots

on the scan, and here they are, perfect.

DOG HOWLS

Let's get back to Cheryl's place in Essex and Rocky the French bulldog.

Hi, Rocky. You ready for your X-rays?

Cheryl has the day off today,

and vet Jemima has had a surprise visit from a recent patient.

Rocky came back in this morning

because she's got a bit of swelling behind

where the pin is in her leg.

Probably just a bit of a reaction,

but we're going to do some X-rays just in case.

Since having her broken leg pinned back together

and having a nail removed from her tummy two weeks ago...

Come on, cutie pie.

..Rocky has been forced to rest up.

The excitement of seeing her owner last night had her jumping about.

Oh, Rocky!

What are you playing at?

Jemima and nurse Nick need to sedate Rocky for another X-ray to see just

how bad the damage is.

-All right.

-OK. All right.

Now she's safely anaesthetised,

they move her into X-ray to see what's happened to the pinned leg.

I think it might be a broken pin.

Yeah, I thought that earlier as well. X-rays.

If the pin is broken, Jemima will have to operate to get it out.

Ohhh!

But the X-ray results are even more surprising.

It's not even in there!

The entire pin has come out.

Oh, Rocky, Rocky, Rocky.

Time for a third operation.

It's a bit of a scary area to be operating on.

Vet Jemima has only been with us for a few months,

but she's already proven to be a really reliable pair of hands

and I know she can fix Rocky.

Jemima has to carefully feel for the pin with her forceps

and then slowly pull it from Rocky's leg.

SQUAWK!

If you're squeamish, look away now!

That's coming there.

Yeah, it was about there, yeah.

Got it.

There it is.

SHE EXHALES

Success.

Although the pin is out,

there is still wire holding the fracture in place,

which Jemima hopes will help it continue to heal.

She's young, so when they're younger,

their bones heal a lot quicker,

so maybe she would be better just having a lot of cage rest

and seeing how she goes that way.

Done.

-Well done, Jemima.

-Well done, you.

-Good teamwork.

-Teamwork.

# Wake up, it's a brand-new day... #

And four weeks later at home with owner Annie...

Good girl.

..Rocky is back on her feet.

And despite the sofa being the cause of her broken leg...

DING-DING!

..it looks like fearless Rocky is going in for round two.

Oh, it's great to see Rocky on all four paws and fighting fit again.

Now please try and stay out of trouble, girl, eh?

Oh, hello!

Remember Sirius, the cat who went missing for nine months?

Well, after being given the all clear from Rory,

she's settling back into family life.

And now she has a new playmate called Ron.

Hopefully this adventurous moggy

won't be tempted to leave home again.

Next time on The Pets Factor,

it's a testing time for Rory...

-ALL:

-Hi, Rory.

..when he goes back to school...

Oh, sweetie! OK, you've volunteered yourself.

..and James needs a steady hand to perform a very delicate procedure.

One slip now and my needle is going to go straight into his eye.