Episode 4 Animal SOS

Good afternoon, RSPCA control centre.

What animal is your call regarding today?

In the UK, someone calls the RSPCA every 30 seconds.

Exactly what did you see?

So they're left outside in all weathers

and they've got no bedding or shelter from the rain.

24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

I don't want you to go too close to it because swans can be very,

very dangerous.

When an animal needs help, the emergency line is open...

Do you know something, I've had non-stop calls for the past hour.

All right, take care. Bye-bye.

Got a bit of a rough throat, now.

It's cos I don't shut up.

..filming as the calls come in...

..and when inspectors respond on the ground.

I'll pass this information through to the officer.

So close.

Rescuing everything from injured wildlife

to neglected pets.

Every shift is a challenge.

Rhea one, RSPCA nil.

There's no such thing as a typical day as an RSPCA inspector.

Get... Oh, my lord!

We never know what we're going to deal with.

No two days are the same.

-You're keeping a dog out there, it's disgusting.

-Whoa, there!

It can get to the point where you feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall.

It's dirty, sweaty...

It stuns me, sometimes, the smells that I come across.

Sorry.

There's not a lot a lot of glamour in my role.

Even if you just helped one animal...

Hi, mate.

..it's worth it.

Today, a call to a cat badly injured by its collar.

Can you see the flea there?

The Shar Pei with unwelcome visitors.

Just moving along there.

And Inspector Tony Woodley is under pressure, moving two little piggies.

I'd actually been worrying about it overnight,

whether these pigs would run off or not.

Illegally breeding puppies for sale is a rapidly-growing

problem in Britain.

Last year alone, the RSPCA received more than two hundred

calls about alleged puppy farming, and puppy trafficking.

It's exploded, really, over the last sort of two years.

Now what you've got is organised hauliers of puppies bringing

dogs in from Ireland, and from Eastern Europe,

and then selling them for a massively marked-up price.

This footage was captured by an undercover RSPCA investigation.

Quite often, the seller will turn up with half a dozen dogs in the boot

of a car, and you pick your dog, you pay your money and off you go.

Which is... Just seems to me is wrong.

It's wrong because many of the dogs are interbred,

aren't vaccinated, and are harbouring sometimes fatal diseases.

A lot of those diseases will only manifest a few days down the line.

Once the member of the public who's bought the dog gets

it into their home environment, the dog suddenly falls ill.

Today, police in Oldham are raiding a suspected puppy farm,

after an investigation by the RSPCA Special Operations Unit.

The reason why this job came to our notice was,

we were receiving a flood of complaints about puppies dying.

The calls have led to three addresses being identified.

And now the team is ready to swoop on the targets.

We've got contact at the front door, that's contact at the front door.

Yeah, could I have a room please, for a female adult,

arrested on suspicion of unnecessary cruelty to animals?

The police have arrested a suspect,

so now RSPCA Chief Inspector Cathy Hyde can get in and check the dogs.

And there are puppies everywhere.

I can't believe it.

These are Pomeranians.

They're typical of the so-called "handbag breeds" that fetch

high prices.

There don't appear to be any serious problems with their living

conditions.

It's sort of clean, it's warm, it's dry.

On the surface, it's OK.

But Cathy knows dogs sold from this address have fallen ill,

so she isn't complacent.

When we first go in, everything on first inspection looks OK,

puppies are bouncing around, cute, alert,

but it's after observing them for a little while that you then

start to see those that aren't actually all right.

There's this little puppy at the back.

It's not quite as resilient as the others.

I think that's possibly not 100% well.

Here we go, little 'un.

These puppies are live evidence.

Vet Sean Taylor must meticulously ID and check every one.

This one's quite quiet.

And he spots another poorly pup.

Feels underweight, does this one, as well.

It is quite small,

I suspect he's probably slightly younger than the others, too.

Does have a little bit of dehydration there.

We could do with getting some fluids into this one,

because he's got cold extremities, too.

It's not just Pomeranians here. There's also Chihuahuas.

And one is in a bad way.

The little Chihuahua puppy was visibly cold to the touch,

it was shaking, quite underweight and very young.

And a puppy that small is very vulnerable.

After checking all 22 dogs,

the ill puppies are taken to the vet's.

But Cathy's still concerned about the others.

With two of them being poorly from that group,

it's quite likely some of the others may become unwell, you know,

they might seem fine today, 24 hours down the line

they could be unwell, which is why it was really important to

get the sick puppies up to the vet to take some tests and see

what perhaps is making them unwell, and see if that's contagious.

The police are also searching the house for evidence that the

suspects are operating a business selling the puppies.

If puppies are bought in from any of the Eastern European countries,

they will probably cost the puppy trafficker,

if you like, 25 euros.

That individual will then sell them for between £800

and £1,500

They're making millions.

Making millions on the back of nasty welfare issues that we deal with.

And upstairs, they quickly hit the jackpot.

Envelopes were found containing quite a lot of cash,

with dates saying male or female puppy, the name of the person

that had bought the puppy, and how much they'd bought it for.

And it just says male or female,

so they've obviously sold a female puppy for £600 - £700.

£600 for a male puppy.

That was excellent evidence for us,

because it linked people we'd taken witness statements from,

so these people can't deny that they've sold that person a puppy.

And, under the proceeds of crime act,

the expensive car outside is seized, pending further investigations.

The remaining 20 puppies are taken to be checked over, along

with another 16 puppies removed from the second target address.

It's been a successful day.

At the vets, Sean and Cathy check on the two poorly puppies.

The Pomeranian is already showing a small improvement.

It's responding to the fluids it's had,

that would have made a lot of difference.

But the sick Chihuahua isn't doing so well.

It's still showing signs of dehydration.

Doesn't look a happy puppy, does he?

No, that's right. Just want to see how he responds to food.

So, we've just got no interest in that whatsoever, which is

not surprising.

Sadly, they were too late to save the Chihuahua.

It died soon after.

It's a sad example of why it's

so dangerous buying puppies from an illegal breeder.

You want to be absolutely sure

you're buying from a reputable source.

There's thousands of dogs in rescue centres looking for homes.

Think about going to an animal centre

and adopting a rescue dog, and giving that a second chance.

And then you'll know exactly that dog's history

and when it comes to you it will be healthy.

In West Sussex,

Inspector Tony Woodley is on his way to an increasingly common call.

A complaint about a pet pig.

The RSPCA's had quite a few calls over the last few

years about micro-pigs.

It's been quite a big issue for us.

People often buy them small, but then they grow big.

Tony's been given an address on an ordinary suburban housing estate.

Certainly not a pig's usual habitat.

The house that the pigs were at is not the kind of place that

you'd expect to find pigs, unless you knew they were there.

And when Tony knocks on the door, he's in for another surprise.

-Hello, mate.

-Hello. Have you got a minute? To have a chat.

RSPCA inspector.

Oh, right.

I've got some micro-pigs I want you to pick up.

Ah. I think I might be able to help you.

This call came in originally as a complaint,

but immediately it turned into something which I think was going

to be positive and constructive straightaway, because the owner

of the pigs, he was already beginning the process of trying

to find a home, and then all of a sudden the RSPCA's on his doorstep.

-So they're round here?

-Yeah, just round the corner.

Round here to the left.

The owner takes Tony straight outside to see his two "little" piggies.

Right. Two pigs.

Meet Taz. And Socks.

They are a bonny pair.

These growing boys are causing havoc in the owner's garden

and have become too much of a handful.

There are smaller breeds of pigs, but no pigs are going to stay tiny.

And people have been fooled into thinking that the piglet that

they're buying will actually stay that size.

And that's just not the case.

And you've had them for about six months?

About two months.

About two months? Not too long at all.

You're quite happy for me to help?

To re-home them, yeah.

To re-home them. It's going to take a few days.

It's not easy to find homes for pigs.

And that's going to be the fun and games.

Until Tony can find Taz and Socks a new home, they'll need to stay put.

But he's not totally happy with how they're living.

They'd outgrown the house, and he'd done his best to build

a sort of a sty, an area for them to live in, in the back garden.

The garden's got quite a lot of children's toys around,

so obviously not the ideal place for these pigs to be.

It's the bits of metal,

a couple of bits of metal sticking out there, those need to come out.

Just stick it over here,

if you haven't got anywhere else to take it.

Just get it out from where the pigs are.

Obviously you need to keep them in here,

I see that they've got bedding.

He took that advice really well, and I think,

because I was helping him with the pigs, he was even happier to go that

extra mile to ensure their welfare until we could find them a home.

Right, thank you very much.

-I'll head off. That's all right, no problem.

-Lucky for you to turn up.

Well, that was, wasn't it? Good timing.

Satisfied the owner would sort the sty out, Tony was happy to

leave the pigs until he could find them a new, more suitable home.

Finding homes for pigs is quite difficult.

And so I contacted our press officer,

got a press release done, we got the story onto social media as well,

and it was through that process that some people offered the pigs a home.

Two weeks later, and Tony's back.

This time, with transport.

Morning, Jeff.

Morning.

Shall we move these pigs?

Yes.

Moving livestock is never easy, but Tony has a plan.

He's hoping to bribe these greedy pigs.

I know that they're just behind the gate, aren't they?

-You haven't fed them this morning, have you?

-No.

No, good. So, I think they'll follow the food.

Yes, hopefully.

The main thing I wanted to avoid was the pigs escaping

from the garden at the point when we were trying to load them, and

then running around the area, that would be really not ideal at all.

All right, guys?

I'd actually been worrying about it overnight,

whether these pigs would run off or not.

The owner gives a familiar shake of their food,

and the pigs follow their noses.

These pigs loaded with no problem at all,

and it went absolutely like a dream.

That is the easiest I've ever managed to get pigs into a trailer.

For Tony, it's all in the planning.

It's a bit of a boy scout sort of thing.

That, if you're really well-prepared,

and you've covered all of the different avenues, the things that

can go wrong, then actually you can make it a lot simpler on the day.

-Thank you very much.

-Very glad to help. Cheers, Jeff.

-Bye.

Taz and Socks' new home is a smallholding,

45 minutes' drive away.

With nearly an acre of land, it's piggy paradise.

To be honest, I couldn't wait to move them over there.

It was absolutely right, and just the right place for them to go.

New owner Steve is ready to welcome them as they arrive.

The future for these two pigs will be, they will be family pets,

for the rest of their days.

Got an eleven-year-old boy. He'll absolutely love them.

Yet again, it's food that lures them in.

That's it. Good boys.

Nice and easy.

Fantastic.

Good boys.

And the good news is, there's plenty of room to grow.

A happy ending for these pigs,

it was really good to be able to help the original owner, and

great for the pigs, and great for the new owners, so, yeah -

a nice positive job,

one which I went home with a smile about that day.

At Manchester animal hospital,

the RSPCA treats around 100 different pets a day.

She's broken her left front leg.

And hospital director David Yates is used to dealing with

a variety of owners.

Some who seek treatments for their pets quickly,

and some who leave it far too long.

You see somebody that will present

within a few hours of seeing

a problem in their dog.

We also see the other end of the spectrum where things have

been weeks and owners haven't sought veterinary attention.

Amber Fields?

David's next client is Marie Fields, the owner of Amber,

an eight-year-old Shar Pei.

-Are you all right?

-Yes, thanks.

What's the problem?

Yeah. I'll say.

How long's your dog had that for?

It's been on and off for a few week.

You are very scratchy, aren't you?

It's annoying, though, because she's just scratching

and biting all the time.

Some owners present fairly early on,

when the dog's been itchy for a day or a few hours.

This wasn't the case with this dog, the skin had been inflamed

for some time, and similarly with the eye problems, as well.

-Your dog's got what's called entropion.

-Has it?

Where the eyelid's turning in a little bit on the eye.

Can you see how it's got tear staining down its eyes?

Yeah, yeah.

-Has your dog had ear problems in the past?

-Yeah.

And when did they start?

They've been on and off for like a few weeks, as well.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I think it's probably been longer than that, hasn't it?

When somebody's left it too late it's important that they

don't see my frustration, it's important that we both

arrive at the best solution for their animal.

There was a flea that just jumped.

Yeah.

David quickly finds the likely cause of Amber's chronic skin condition.

-There you are. Can you see the flea there?

-Yeah.

Just moving along there.

-Problem is, when you touch them, they ping off, they jump.

-I know.

There were live fleas visibly running around the surface

of the animal's skin and fur.

They lay eggs that drop off your pet,

and they'll be in your furniture.

Yeah.

An infestation with fleas is not a trivial thing,

it needs to be treated promptly.

I don't know whether to give your dog a steroid injection or not,

you know, the steroid will reduce the irritation.

Is your dog vaccinated?

In case David needs to vaccinate Amber,

he decides to use a topical anti-flea treatment,

rather than a powerful steroid injection.

So, this will help to kill the adult fleas that are on your dog.

Even though this owner's presented later than I would like,

we would far sooner treat animals than people be

frightened of coming to the vet, so I'm glad the owner's come,

with a bit of luck we'll engage with the owner and be able to

get on top of the problem and improve the dog's welfare.

-We'll see you again in a week's time, if we can.

-OK, then.

-All right?

-All right, thank you!

-Bye now.

-Bye.

But David's next client, Lisa Durmaz, has wasted no

time in getting her four-year-old cat, Winnie, to the vet's.

Winnie Durmaz?

Usually a housecat, Winnie escaped for a night on the tiles,

and this morning is acting totally out of character.

The owner wasn't quite sure what had happened here.

It makes the diagnosis more difficult for me,

but I'd sooner be troubled by having to solve something early

stages than having to fix something that's been left too long.

So, she's not eaten?

She's not eaten this morning, no.

She's damaged her claw there.

That could have been climbing or fighting with something.

Let's just have a closer look at that if we can.

Yeah, that's very sore at the base there, isn't it?

You're really in the front line when you're examining a cat.

CAT SCREECHES

If you find a source of pain, quite often they'll react,

in this case the cat was quite vocal

and obviously in a fair degree of discomfort.

All right, all right.

David sedates Winnie

so he can continue his examination without risking life and limb.

And he quickly finds the root cause of Winnie's woes.

There we are. We've got a puncture wound, there.

So, it looks like a bite off another cat.

Aggressive cats that are fighting face-on tend to have, obviously,

facial wounds, the loser cat, quite often that's running away,

tends to get the bite around its tail end and I think what we'd got

is, Winnie has come off as the loser from a scuffle with another cat.

So, that's the antibiotic.

But Lisa's speedy response means that Winnie has got the treatment

she needs to prevent a minor wound turning into something more serious.

An untreated cat bite wound, where another cat is introducing

bugs deep into the soft tissues, can result in a slow-boiling infection

that may become an abscess that may burst several days down the line.

That is painful for the cat, so seeing a patient so early on,

with a minor puncture wound, it's much easier to treat.

Well done, girl.

Over the next few days,

I want you to try your best to give her some tablets.

And they'll help to prevent the infection.

-So we'll see you in a few days. Yeah?

-Yeah. Thanks.

Luckily for Winnie, Lisa knew to act fast.

Every animal the RSPCA helps starts with a call.

Keep an eye out.

Any changes at all, obviously give us a call back, let us know.

Someone, somewhere picking up the phone.

And where are you calling from?

We're here because members of the public call in.

Have you actually seen them in the house?

If members of the public didn't

tell us about a dog that didn't

have shelter, or a cat that's not

getting fed, then we don't know.

In Gateshead, Inspector Jaqui Miller is responding.

Hello! All right? Thank you.

She fears the cat could have been injured by a dangerous

fashion collar, a problem she's seen many times before.

There's so many safety snap collars on the market,

I don't even see why these collars, with just a simple

buckle on, are even on the market any more.

So she's quite friendly then, if you've managed to get up to her to cut her collar off.

Come on, big puss.

First walked in the garage, the cat was hiding.

I can hear you! Yes! Hello, gorgeous!

It didn't appear that bad,

and I couldn't quite think there was anything wrong with it.

Whether it was put out and had been abandoned, or it's got lost,

it was obviously someone's cat and it was pretty well looked after.

Can I have a look at you?

But then Jaqui sees why the caller was so worried.

-Oh, yes.

-See it?

-Yeah.

The injury looks and smells infected.

The smell is just, it's just, putrid, rotten flesh,

that's what you can smell.

I mean, she's bright and alert.

But she does have, under this left wound here,

the start of a collar injury, where you can see all the yellow

pus of the infection, and you can smell it, as well.

Hopefully it's just started, and it's not gone too deep, because it's

when they get really, really deep, that's when they just don't heal,

because of the constant movement on that joint, and the skin underneath.

-Have you got the collar with you?

-I have got it, here.

That's the offending collar.

It was just the typical £1 fashion collar.

So, all this is sort of moist. And, smells pretty horrendous.

Goes right through you.

It's all the build-up of all the infection

and all the infection's sort of, pus.

It's not very nice and it turns your stomach.

So all this has been stuck under here.

These type of collars don't have a safety clip that automatically

opens if the cat gets caught.

I mean, that's just horrendous.

And people wonder why I rant on about these.

People know how dangerous they are,

and they cause these horrific injuries.

There's no need to.

Jaqui has no idea how long the cat has been injured or

missing from her home.

And, with no identification microchip,

the chances of reuniting her with her owner are slim.

The next step was to get a poster up to let

someone in the neighbourhood know that we've got it.

I'm just going to stick it up on here,

just because this is the main thoroughfare into the estate.

And you've got a school over there and the shops.

So if it belongs to anyone around here, then,

hopefully they'll see this poster.

It just really emphasises the fact that people need to get their

animals microchipped and they need to keep their details up to date.

The priority now is to get the cat's injury checked and treated,

with local vet Lorna Miller.

Right, what have you got here?

Kitty. Collar injury, the person's gone and cut the collar off.

Come here, sweetie.

When Lorna starts to examine the cat,

it's clear its injury is far more serious than Jaqui first thought.

Oh, dear, dear, dear. It's all right, sweetie, I know.

It wasn't nice, I mean it must have been rubbing,

the cat must've been really feeling that...

pushing against its skin.

That's where it's been caught as well. Round there.

And round there.

The collar had large, encrusted, fake diamantes.

When we did lift the leg up,

we actually saw that piece of diamante was actually physically stuck in its skin.

Despite the infection, the cat's had a lucky escape.

If the cat hadn't have gone in the gentleman's garage, it would've just

got deeper, and deeper, and deeper, and more infected and more infected,

and, you know, she probably would've just died from the infection.

From, you know, severe infection.

I can see why people would buy these collars,

because they've got the bling on.

But it's not necessary, the cats don't care.

Well, there's only one place this is going.

And that's in the bin.

But with the right treatment, the cat should make a full recovery.

She'll need pain relief and antibiotics and everything,

but what it really needs at the moment is a good, deep clean.

To get all that stuff out.

And I mean, she'll have been trying to keep it clean herself,

poor little soul.

But she's in remarkably good spirits.

This little pussy cat, isn't she?

-She's an absolutely beautiful cat.

-She's absolutely gorgeous.

And things did turn out well.

Although the cat's original owner never came forward,

the cat soon found a new, loving home.

It is a good result, at the end of the day, you know,

we started with a cat with a really horrible injury,

it's got treated and then it's got itself in a nice, lovely new home.