0:00:02 > 0:00:03We Brits love our animals.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08From livestock in the fields
0:00:08 > 0:00:09to pooches in the park.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14It's the job of the nation's vets to keep them healthy.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Whether consulting in the countryside...
0:00:19 > 0:00:23There is something very nice about being next to a nice cow.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28..or horsing around in the stables...
0:00:28 > 0:00:32I spend all my job outwitting animals.
0:00:33 > 0:00:34Got him!
0:00:36 > 0:00:39..they're passionate about their patients.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43I am now known as the mad chicken lady.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53On call when the animals need them most.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55If we leave it any longer,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58he almost certainly is going to not going to make it.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01They're the dedicated vets, patching up pets,
0:01:01 > 0:01:07and caring every day for more creatures, great and small.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Coming up - in Teesdale, farm vet Richard
0:01:23 > 0:01:26is called to a cow with milk fever.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29Come on, get up for us.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Equine vet Sybil treats a lame horse.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37I feel awful watching her.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41And, in Dunfermline, vet Megan deals with a toothy chinchilla.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Some decay and it's just not that nice.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Teesdale in County Durham is home to 230 square miles
0:01:53 > 0:01:57of spectacular farmland and a healthy livestock industry.
0:01:59 > 0:02:05Farm vet Richard from Castle Vets has over 500 farms on his books.
0:02:05 > 0:02:06She's big enough, isn't she?
0:02:07 > 0:02:13I like being a professional whose skills are needed.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15I like the fact that people phone us up and they want us to go out
0:02:15 > 0:02:18and help them, hopefully solve a problem
0:02:18 > 0:02:20which they can't solve on their own.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24You are working with animals, and hopefully making them better
0:02:24 > 0:02:26which is obviously a satisfying thing.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29But you're also helping someone with their livelihood,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33and some of the decisions that you make can have a big influence
0:02:33 > 0:02:35on how someone's business is run.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Today, Richard has been called to a farm near Egglesburn.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Farmer Tim has 800 acres and 60 cattle.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51This morning, he's noticed something is wrong with one his new mums.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55She calved a couple of days ago,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59and I was in last night, around about 11 o'clock, to check on her,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03and she was fine. Then this morning, about seven o'clock,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05I popped in and saw she was flat out.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13This cow has got a condition we call milk fever.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16It's an acute shortage of blood calcium.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19It tends to happen to cows around calving time.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Suddenly, they're putting a lot of milk into their udders,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26there's an acute need for calcium, the blood levels drop.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29And because calcium's also needed for muscles to work,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32you end up with a cow that looks like that.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37Now this cow apparently is quite lively, quite motherly.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39We'll get some calcium into her before we do anything else.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42All right, sweetheart, all right.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Cows' milk contains nearly four times more calcium than humans'.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Calves need more as they grow quicker and have larger skeletons.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56This is a device called a flutter valve,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and I'm going to give it to her into a vein
0:03:59 > 0:04:02so that it gets to work nice and quickly.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07If we don't treat her, then she can, what we call, blow up...
0:04:07 > 0:04:09All right, good girl.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13..which basically means she starts to get bloat.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Because she's not ruminating, her stomach fills up with gas
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and that starts to press on her heart and lungs.
0:04:20 > 0:04:26If you leave them too long, they can actually die of it. Here we go.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30That bubbling sound you can hear is the calcium running into her vein.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37It's one of the few sort of almost magical things we do sometimes
0:04:37 > 0:04:41in that a cow like this girl that's off her legs,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44if you give her calcium into her vein, sometimes, not always,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48but sometimes within a few minutes she's up and away again.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51It works almost instantaneously.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55But this new mum is so sick, she needs all the help she can get.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Right, come on.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04So I'm going to give her some oral calcium, as well.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07We've put calcium into her bloodstream,
0:05:07 > 0:05:09and that'll get absorbed straightaway,
0:05:09 > 0:05:13but calcium's also absorbed quite quickly from the gut,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16the gut's got a very good blood supply.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20And the name of the game really is to get her back on her feet and...
0:05:20 > 0:05:23hopefully we're going to do that.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Good, have you swallowed that, Missus?
0:05:26 > 0:05:31Unwell cows struggle to stand up, so Richard and Tim help her upright.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36But weighing over half a tonne, it's backbreaking work.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46That's it. Hey, hey, all right, all right.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Just wedge that in her shoulder there. Brilliant. That's it.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Basically, we need to prop her up until she's feeling a bit better.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Cows have been reared in Teesdale for centuries,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07but in the past treatments were often unconventional.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11They used to inflate the udder with a bicycle pump.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15And the thinking behind that is that the cow's losing calcium
0:06:15 > 0:06:17into her udder, in the form of milk.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20What stops milk being produced is pressure in the udder,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23so they used to artificially raise the pressure of the udder
0:06:23 > 0:06:26by pumping the udder up with a bicycle pump.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Shall we see if she'll get up?
0:06:32 > 0:06:35No, she won't. Not quite.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Erm, I think she needs a bit more time.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42The cow's legs have gone numb.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Will that leg just go underneath her there?
0:06:44 > 0:06:46Rolling her over will help her circulation
0:06:46 > 0:06:48and might help her stand.
0:06:48 > 0:06:49She wants to get up, you can see that,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51but she just hasn't quite got the go yet.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53- If she's not up sort of mid-morning...- Yeah.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56..give us a shout and we'll have another look.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01The longer the cow stays down, the slimmer her chances of recovery.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Back at base in Barnard Castle, it's business as usual
0:07:16 > 0:07:18for the rest of the practice.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Come on, my boy.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27On the small animal side, the first furry patients are arriving.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Hiya!
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Next door, in the equine department,
0:07:33 > 0:07:35the team is busy prepping for the day ahead.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Senior vet Sybil is passionate about horses.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44You're rather nice.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I've always been very keen on horses.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Can I just have it, please?
0:07:50 > 0:07:53I think when I was young, I wanted to be a horse, really.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55I'll get it for you.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57Being an equine vet is a very demanding job,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and not to be undertaken lightly
0:07:59 > 0:08:03just cos you imagine that you quite like horses.
0:08:03 > 0:08:04Got him!
0:08:04 > 0:08:09'We are really emotionally invested in the outcome of our cases,'
0:08:09 > 0:08:11so that can be really, really tough.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Going to put it back together. You can still feel that.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Set in perfect riding country,
0:08:22 > 0:08:27the practice has over 1,600 equine clients on its books.
0:08:27 > 0:08:32Today, Dawn is bringing in her much-loved show jumper, India.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41At their most recent competition, Dawn noticed something wasn't right.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Her whole body coordination was all wrong, and she was lame
0:08:45 > 0:08:48on both back legs and one front leg.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51I had to retire and come out of the ring.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54India is only 12 years old,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57and Dawn is hoping to compete with her for many more years.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02These are my rosettes that I've won over the years.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Being that many things that we've done together.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10She loves the jumping, we've had some fun.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13I've always had a horse.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15You just get so attached to them.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20I don't think I'll ever get another horse like Indie,
0:09:20 > 0:09:22because she's lovely to ride.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25The only time she ever refused to jump for me
0:09:25 > 0:09:29was when I took her to the jumping the last time,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31it was just too much for her,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34and then we knew that there was an underlying problem.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38Senior vet Sybil will give India a thorough examination.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42She's well-versed in the unique anatomy of horses.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Horses were designed by an artist and not by an engineer.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51They are at the very limits of what is mechanically possible
0:09:51 > 0:09:53in most of their systems.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58Their legs are particularly susceptible to injury,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01because below the knee, there are no muscles.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Everything is just entirely down to bone, ligaments and tendons,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10so they're at risk of injuring their legs.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Sybil needs to find out what's making India lame.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Working from the top down, she starts by examining her spine.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21See how she's quivering and refusing to bend?
0:10:22 > 0:10:24And she should be able to tuck her pelvis,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28so that she kind of folds herself in half, and she's really not.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31A lot of tension through here.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34It's probably a problem in her back legs.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Right, shall we go and trot her about?
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Horses, like all prey animals, will go to considerable lengths
0:10:42 > 0:10:44to look as healthy as possible.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Even a modern horse who spends his life in a stable,
0:10:47 > 0:10:52a menage and a trailer will expect to find lions hiding somewhere.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57'So horses will hide things as well as they can for as long as they can.'
0:10:57 > 0:11:01India's instinct to hide her lameness makes it almost impossible
0:11:01 > 0:11:04for the untrained eye to spot.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Just a little bit less movement in there.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08- She's not a happy bunny, is she?- No.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14That's a good sign of grumpiness, yes.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19Well, every so often you can see she's taking a couple of lame steps.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Most of the discomfort seems to be coming from the back legs,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25and both of them are affected,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28but the right hind appears to me to be worse affected.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33On the harder ground,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36India's lameness is painfully obvious to Sybil.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41It's awful to watch.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45OK, let's go the other way round. I feel awful watching her.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50Now I've seen her on hard ground, I can see how bad she is now.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52- She's tottering.- She is tottering.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57We need to have a big chat about how far you want to go down
0:11:57 > 0:11:59investigating a lot of this,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03because she isn't sound in any of her legs, you can see that.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05With lameness in every leg,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Dawn and India's show jumping partnership could be over.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Now, Dawn must decide whether to put India through any more tests.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Farm vet Richard is back on the road.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Three hours ago, he was called out to a collapsed cow with milk fever -
0:12:34 > 0:12:36a potentially fatal condition.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40If we don't treat her, she starts to get bloat.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Her stomach fills up with gas,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45and that starts to press on her heart and lungs.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49If you leave them too long, they can actually die of it.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53But the calcium treatment didn't work as fast as expected.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55She wants to get up, you can see that,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57but she just hasn't quite got the go yet.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Now, Richard is returning to see if there's any improvement
0:13:01 > 0:13:03in farmer Tim's cow.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06- Not quite up, no. - No, but almost.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09- On her knees, sort of thing. - Getting up on her back legs or...?
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Not quite, just sort of that angle,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14then she goes flat,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16- so I'm not wanting to...- No, sure.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Sometimes, the appearance of the vet or just a stranger
0:13:22 > 0:13:26is enough to make the cows get up, you know, do something different.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28It would be nice to think that was the case here,
0:13:28 > 0:13:30but we'll see how she is.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32So she's moved a bit, hasn't she?
0:13:32 > 0:13:36- Yeah, she's moved around a little bit.- Good girl, all right.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38If you can grab her head.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Now then, now then. Oh. Nearly there.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Oh! Come on, Missus.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Good girl, good girl.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50That's what we wanted.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Good girl. Steady, steady, steady. Whoa!
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Oh, come on, sweetheart.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03That's it. She's got that leg out at least, yeah. Good.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07This is what sometimes happens - they just need that extra bit of oomph
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and sometimes a stranger coming along, like the vet...
0:14:10 > 0:14:13- Or a sheepdog. - A sheepdog, yes, exactly.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15We want to leave her quiet,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17because what I don't want her to do is fall over.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20She just wants to stand there and get some feeling back in her legs.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24She's quite a feisty girl, and that's all to the good,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27because those are the cows that get up.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29She's keen to get up and mother her calf
0:14:29 > 0:14:31and us going in there and messing around with her,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34it's just given her the extra impetus to get up,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37- and, great, that's a result. - Yeah, it is.- Happy with that.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39- Very happy, aye.- Good.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Now the cow is on her feet,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45she should be fully recovered within a few days.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01In Fife, Inglis Small Animal Hospital is having a busy shift.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08The team of vets and nurses can treat up to 25 small animals a day.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Hello, are you coming out to say hello?
0:15:13 > 0:15:16We Brits keep over two million small furry pets.
0:15:17 > 0:15:18That's great,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22and she's not even at all bothered by me touching that.
0:15:22 > 0:15:23See that right one all curled round?
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Vet Megan is a sucker for anything cuddly.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29If you're a vet and you've got a space,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31you just end up taking one of them home,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34until you get to the point where you have no more room
0:15:34 > 0:15:37or you get told that your husband will file for divorce
0:15:37 > 0:15:40if you take any more animals home!
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Megan's next patient is Millie the chinchilla.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52These creatures are born with 20 teeth
0:15:52 > 0:15:54which keep growing throughout their lives.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Millie's developed sharp, painful edges that need to be smoothed down.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02No-one likes the dentist,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05so, to keep her safe and comfy, Millie is anaesthetised.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Because we just want Millie mildly anaesthetised,
0:16:10 > 0:16:12just to check her teeth,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14she tends to have spurs on her front molar,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16so we're just going to gas her down,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19rather than giving her an injectable anaesthesia today.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23So, popped her into the chamber, pop the oxygen on
0:16:23 > 0:16:25and now we're just going to put the Isoflurane on.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Soon, she'll become anaesthetised.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Chinchillas come from the Andes mountain range
0:16:31 > 0:16:35in South America, and can live for up to 20 years.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37Just going to pop her in the bubble wrap
0:16:37 > 0:16:39just to try and keep her nice and warm.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45And she's on a heat pad, as well,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48just to try and maintain her body heat.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50So these just open her mouth,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54and these are just cheek pouch expanders.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58That's when your nurses need about five sets of hands!
0:17:02 > 0:17:05I'm just rasping down the sharp spurs at the edges.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Chinchillas need to munch on grass and hay to wear their teeth down.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Drooling and a lack of appetite are signs they need dental work.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20Certainly all the teeth on this side are...
0:17:20 > 0:17:22There's some decay, and they're just not that nice
0:17:22 > 0:17:24compared to the other side.
0:17:27 > 0:17:28OK, that's her finished now,
0:17:28 > 0:17:32so hopefully she's just going to wake up in the next couple of minutes,
0:17:32 > 0:17:33and we'll keep her nice and warm
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and then we'll see her again when she's recovered.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40A few breaths of oxygen and Millie comes round.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Just to keep her nice and warm and make sure she recovers OK.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Back in Barnard Castle, equine vet Sybil is still dealing
0:18:04 > 0:18:06with 12-year-old mare India.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Dawn brought her much loved horse to the practice
0:18:12 > 0:18:13after she went lame.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I don't think I'll ever get another horse like Indie,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20she's lovely to ride.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22An initial examination was disappointing.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26She isn't sound in any of her legs, you can see that.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28We need to have a big chat about
0:18:28 > 0:18:31how far you want to go down investigating.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36But Dawn is not ready to give up on India just yet.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42She wants Sybil to do further tests.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47We're going to take some x-rays of her feet
0:18:47 > 0:18:48to check the balance of the feet.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51That's a common area for a source of pain.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55It's a bit like wearing stiletto shoes, if your feet are not balanced.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58And the only way you can tell is with x-rays.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00She has to be up, because the machine has a limit
0:19:00 > 0:19:03to how far down it can go.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06And the machine's underneath the feet a little bit.
0:19:06 > 0:19:07Easier said than done.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17It can be very challenging and we could be following India around
0:19:17 > 0:19:19with our wooden blocks for most of the morning.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Every girl's got to have high heels.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27There.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29I think we know where this is going.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33That's enough horsing around for one day.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37Right, I'm going to give her a mild sedative so she's relaxed
0:19:37 > 0:19:38about the whole business.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Once the sedative takes effect,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Sybil and nurse Jess x-ray each foot.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Straightaway, Sybil spots a problem.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05One of the main abnormalities I can see here is that the pedal bone,
0:20:05 > 0:20:06which is the bottom foot bone,
0:20:06 > 0:20:10you can see it's virtually parallel with her shoe,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and that means that all the soft tissues,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16that come down the back of the leg and into the foot,
0:20:16 > 0:20:21they are all under more pressure than they need to be.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23So that'll be a source of pain.
0:20:23 > 0:20:30And that can be fixed by changing this angle between bone and the shoe.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Sybil can prescribe special, supportive horse shoes
0:20:33 > 0:20:37to reduce the tension on the soft tissue in India's feet.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39But she also notices the early stages
0:20:39 > 0:20:42of a joint disease called ringbone.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44It's causing small painful bone spurs
0:20:44 > 0:20:47to develop around India's joints.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50This should be much smoother.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53When we have a look at the navicular bone,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57there's definitely extra bone on this proximal end,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59so the top end of this bone,
0:20:59 > 0:21:03which tells me that the ligaments here are certainly not happy.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06And there's another concern.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11Towards the inside, you can just see that there's an opening of the joint,
0:21:11 > 0:21:16a closing of the joint space and fluffing across the joint space.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21There's arthritis definitely in three joints that we've identified so far.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25It's devastating news, but there's some hope.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28We can get rid of some of the pain with anti-inflammatories.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32We can sort out the pain from the feet with changing the shoes,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34so she's comfy in her shoes.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37It'll be like getting off stilettos, back into slippers.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39I can't make her completely better by fixing it,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41but, boy, I can make her happy.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I absolutely hate having to deliver bad news to clients.
0:21:44 > 0:21:45'The sense of loss when they realise
0:21:45 > 0:21:48'that their horse that they had high hopes for'
0:21:48 > 0:21:51simply isn't going to be able to fulfil their ambition.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Really, India's athletic career is over.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58We can make her into a comfortable horse,
0:21:58 > 0:22:03but essentially, she can't go and jump India any longer.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08Yeah, I'll just take it steady with her and then, eventually, you know,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12if she's not happy with me riding, I'll have her as a pet anyway.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18India's show jumping days are over,
0:22:18 > 0:22:20but there's some light on the horizon.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22If her new shoes work,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25she could have a relatively pain-free retirement.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Back in Dunfermline, at the small animal hospital,
0:22:43 > 0:22:48vet Megan has stayed behind to deal with a last-minute emergency.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52A client's just rang to say one or both of her dogs
0:22:52 > 0:22:56have ingested a strip of 12 ibuprofen.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Owners Lorraine and Andrew aren't sure if both their cocker spaniels
0:23:02 > 0:23:04Cassie and Sadie, have eaten the tablets,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06but they do have a chief suspect.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12- We think the young one has sneaked into her...- My handbag.- ..handbag.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15She's always sticking her nose into things.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Anywhere where she thinks there might be some food.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20So she found an empty chocolate wrapper
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and some painkillers instead.
0:23:24 > 0:23:25If not treated quickly,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28eating ibuprofen can be fatal to dogs,
0:23:28 > 0:23:30but luckily, for naughty Cassie,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33she wasn't very good at hiding the evidence.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36It was her that I caught with the wrapper.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39- And it was in her bed.- The rest of the stuff was in her bed.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Who's been naughty?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46The sensible thing is to make them both sick,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49especially if you don't know who's done what.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53- She had all the wrappers in her bed and in her mouth.- You're so silly!
0:23:53 > 0:23:57- You're just so silly.- This one's a troublemaker.- I would imagine so.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01I'm sure it's this one more than this one.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03It's quite easy to get them to be sick,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06we just give them an injection of apomorphine,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09cover the floor with newspaper and we'll wait and see who's done what.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11SHE LAUGHS
0:24:12 > 0:24:13This will be...
0:24:13 > 0:24:17You'll not have any in there, will you?
0:24:17 > 0:24:18Cassie.
0:24:21 > 0:24:22Excellent.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27A small injection will make the spaniels sick within minutes.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30And it's not long before Cassie coughs up.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44It does look like some sort of white, flecky bits.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Cassie's been caught red-handed...
0:24:47 > 0:24:51but Sadie's not so innocent after all.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54- I think you've eaten some, too. - Aye, you've got some.
0:24:54 > 0:24:55See, you get the blame.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58It's your fault.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03After plenty more vomiting,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Megan's satisfied the tablets are out of their system.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11I'm happy for them to go now.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Hopefully, these sneaky spaniels will think twice
0:25:15 > 0:25:18before snooping around anyone's handbag again.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35It's been six weeks since India's visit to the vets.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Sybil diagnosed the causes of her lameness,
0:25:39 > 0:25:44and prescribed some medication and more comfortable horseshoes.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47It'll be like getting off stilettos, back into slippers.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49India's been trying out her new footwear
0:25:49 > 0:25:54and today farrier Oliver has arrived to fit another set.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57The vet's recommended she wanted egg bar shoes.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01An egg bar shoe is a normal horseshoe with a bit on the back,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03which makes it into an egg...
0:26:04 > 0:26:08..which is designed to support the heel region of the foot.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Dawn has already noticed a difference
0:26:10 > 0:26:13with India's new horseshoes.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16She's changed the way she's walks quite a lot
0:26:16 > 0:26:17since she's had the shoes on,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20cos that's helped with the lameness in the front.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22So, we're just taking it easy with her
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and just doing a little bit of riding.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26she gallops round the field and everything
0:26:26 > 0:26:29and she comes in on a night, and she's quite happy.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33India's lameness means her show jumping days are definitely over.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36She's such a bonnie horse
0:26:36 > 0:26:40and she used to really enjoy what she did,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43but, yeah, it is a bit of a shock,
0:26:43 > 0:26:49because I thought she'd do me another 10-15 years competing.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54And, now India is a lady of leisure, Dawn has a new concern.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57She's very fat. Well, she tends to put lots of weight on.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00So she gets weighed every time she goes to the vets.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10It's just like your fingernail. You need to gauge how much to trim off.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15Then the sole is trimmed out just to tidy everything up
0:27:15 > 0:27:17and keep it all nice.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Then you get your rasp on it, just like your nail file.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Well, well, well.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27She doesn't like the smell.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31India has never liked having the shoe burnt on.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34It's been a bit of an ongoing issue.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Hopefully, she'll make a partial recovery, anyway.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Don't know, it's like humans, some can run marathons, some can't.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Her competing days may be over, but with new shoes,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Dawn and India can still enjoy gentle rides together.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54'I think a little bit of riding, it does her good,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57'and it keeps her joints going, as well,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01'with her having the arthritis, rather than retire her completely.'
0:28:01 > 0:28:06Today, especially, she feels practically back to normal.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08But, no, she's just her normal cheeky self.