Episode 2 More Creatures Great and Small

We Brits love our animals -

from livestock in the fields,

to pooches in the park.

It's the job of the nation's vets to keep them healthy...

..whether consulting in the countryside...

There is something very nice about being next to a nice cow.

..or horsing around in the stables...

I spend all my job outwitting animals.

Got him!

..they're passionate about their patients.

Hello, puppy!

Why I stroke them a lot is to try and reassure them.

..on call when the animals need them most.

If we leave it any longer, he almost certainly is going to not make it.

They're the dedicated vets patching up pets

and caring every day for More Creatures Great And Small.

Coming up - in County Durham, Richard has some tricky customers...

Now, no spitting!

-..Steve deals with a gundog emergency.

-Oh, my dog.

Unfortunately, she's just got shot in the face.

..and in Dunfermline, Jenni operates on some baffling bunnies.

They can retract their testicles at any give time, so...patience!

Teesdale, in County Durham, is home to 230 square miles

of spectacular farmland, and a healthy livestock industry.

Today, farm vet Richard, from Castle Vets, is heading to Gilmonby.

The next job is to go and see Paul,

who has a herd of Belted Galloway cows.

These guys are the kind of teddy bears of the cow world.

They're fluffy little cows, predominantly black,

with a white belt or band round their tummies.

Farmer Paul has 170 acres of land...

Comer on, girls. There's good girls...

..and 90 cattle.

You're in your normal place, Richard.

I'll take up my position.

This hardy hill breed produce high quality beef.

If you really want to enjoy a steak or a roast,

-and you want real quality beef.

-Can't beat it.

Three to three-and-a-half-year old beef, reared only on grass,

which means the meat is very mature.

It's dark in colour, it's got marbling, and it's very tasty.

It shows in the eating, you know.

So tasty, Paul sends his beef to Rules, one of London's

oldest restaurants, known for serving British food.

They seem to have quite a following.

They let their gourmet eaters know

when the Belted Galloway is coming in.

You go back there... Come on, girls.

-MAN:

-Are you ready?

-Yes.

-Yes.

Good girl.

First, Richard is pregnancy testing two older ladies.

Come on, girl, have some hay, there's a good girl.

Most breeds are fertile for around nine years,

but Belted Galloways can last double that.

You see, this one is just over 20 years old,

which is very old, really, to still be breeding, hopefully - well, we'll see.

And Paul's wondering if they've reached the end

of their breeding life.

She's probably had about 17 calves.

Quite...

She doesn't owe me anything, this cow!

-And she's run with the bull all summer?

-Yes, until an hour ago.

I'm basically feeling for fluid in the womb,

which tells me if she's in calf or not.

-She's too early to tell.

-There's a good girl.

She doesn't look particularly old, does she?

No, they have a very relaxed life, I think,

which probably pays off in the long run.

It's a retirement home for cows!

Next, another old girl.

-So, she is almost as old as the other lass?

-Slightly older.

-21 this one.

-21, good heavens! There's a good girl.

All right. Good girl.

Now, she's like that other girl.

-Again, she's not in calf, she's early on.

-Right, OK.

-That one done.

-Come on, girl.

But with still no sign of any calves,

Richard decides to test a younger cow, to see

if Paul's bull is firing blanks.

-So, she is just a youngster.

-Yep.

So, tell me about the old bull.

Seven to eight years old, home-bred, been brilliant up until now.

She's in calf, and she's seven weeks in calf.

Is that a Saturday or Sunday she'll be born, Richard?!

Ah, now you're testing me!

-So, the bull's all right?

-Yep.

He's definitely doing his job!

But Paul's not giving up on his old girls yet.

I wanted to check

whether they're coming to the end of their breeding life or not.

It looks as though they could be. I'll try them a little longer with the bull.

And then we can check them later on.

Back at base in Barnard Castle,

working dogs are regular customers.

You're not going to bite, are you?

Small animal vet Steve has a steady stream of canine consultations.

We've got a strong population of working dogs, right from the tiny ones,

up to the big ones.

Collies, obviously, but Labs, quite a lot of terriers, as well.

And Barnard Castle's very own Dr Dolittle loves to talk to them.

Hello, puppy!

A lot of the way I approach animals, and why I talk to them and why

I stroke them a lot in a certain way, is to try and reassure them.

Hiya, hiya!

'I hope that's why my clients'

can relate to me and are happy with me treating their animals.

A little pinch of skin...

Oh, Bruiser, what's the matter?

Good morning, Emma speaking, how can I help?

An emergency call has just come in.

We've just had a phone call from someone who's up on the moors

shooting and their dog has been shot accidently.

The worrying thing is they say she has been shot in the eye.

Steve, Maud's here.

The month of August sees the start of the grouse shooting season.

There, there, there!

Grouse fly low and change direction in the blink of an eye,

which makes shooting them difficult and potentially dangerous.

Owner Patrick has rushed his three-year-old Labrador, Maud,

straight to the practice.

Right, oh, my dog, tell me what happened, then.

Well, my wife was holding her, and, as I understand it,

unfortunately she slipped her lead,

and ran out and got shot by someone, I don't know whom.

Unfortunately, it's in the face. Nobody's fault.

Poor Maud has been accidently hit by a shotgun blast containing

lots of tiny pellets.

Come on, Maud, baby...

I think what we need to try and ascertain...

-is where have they gone.

-There's a pellet there.

Yeah, we've got one there, another little hole there.

-OK, so it's both eyes.

-Both eyes, I'm afraid. That is desperate.

It's sore.

There's no eye there, really, is there?

No, the eye is there, it's down there behind the third eyelid.

But because it's so sore, the muscle round the back of the globe

is actually retracting it down, pulling it back into the socket.

So both the eyeballs are there.

I just don't know where the pellets have gone,

and if they've gone right through.

Just wants reassurance from her dad, doesn't she?

She's such a loving dog.

-Maud?

-Good girl.

-Hello, my poppet.

Hello. Good girl. I know.

She's just a very, very... nicely natured dog, aren't you?

Maud's eyes aren't Steve's only worry.

More pellet wounds could be hidden under her fur.

I think what we need to do is get a head and neck X-ray,

and that will tell us where they are, and then

we'll take it from there.

-Right, well, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

-That's right, be positive.

-All right, my baby.

-Thanks very much.

-OK, no problem at all. Bye now.

Come on, my baby, that's it, good girl.

Patrick's wife, Liz, was with Maud on the moors

when the accident happened.

She was behaving very well until a grouse came over

the top, which was shot, and that's when she slipped the lead.

And...

It all happened so quickly.

Another one there.

She turned round to come back because I called her, so she

was sort of face on to the guns, and that's when she got these pellets.

Looks like she's got one right on the end of her nose, as well.

Tiny little hole.

I felt awful, I thought she's going to be blinded for life,

because she had blood coming out of her eyes.

It was basically my fault, really, I should have had better control.

I just wasn't tough enough, you know,

and I'll have to live with that.

And all I can do is do the best we can for Maud.

She's such a loyal dog, really...very, very special.

Maud is sedated and X-rayed to find out where the shotgun pellets are.

My worry would be finding a pellet in an eyeball,

which I'd be surprised, given that the eyeball's intact.

Or possibly down the side of an eyeball,

that would be a bit more of a challenge as well.

X-rays!

The X-ray is developed here, and, unfortunately, I am seeing shot.

There's one right next to her jaw there, on her muzzle.

These ones here, and three in the neck area, here.

They're all superficial.

But, actually, that's the eye that's got all the damage.

You can see there's a pellet.

So, that's the one that concerns me,

that's probably the one that's caused the bleeding in the eye.

The injuries aren't life-threatening but

they could cause Maud to go blind.

Come on, sleepy girl.

Steve will need a closer look to find out how likely that will be.

On the moors above Barnard Castle, farm vet Richard has been

pregnancy testing farmer Paul's Belted Galloway cows.

-She's not in calf unless she's early on.

-There's a good girl.

Next, Richard is castrating two six-month-old bulls

that will be raised as beef cattle.

Only a proportion of bull calves get kept for breeding.

The others will be castrated

so that they're no longer a potential risk from the point of view of getting things in calf.

I'm doing what's called an open castration,

an incision into the bottom of the scrotum and removing each testicle

in turn.

I'm just giving a little bit of local anaesthetic,

just so he doesn't feel anything.

Just pull him that way a little bit, that's it.

That's a testicle, so I'm detaching that, twisting the cord...

Good lad, and then...

COW BELLOWS

I know, I'm sorry.

To stop the wounds getting infected, Richard uses an antibiotic spray.

Good job. Well done.

You normally find they're probably a little bit sore tomorrow,

but after that you wouldn't think anything had happened. Amazing.

This is the last one. Oh, here he comes! At a high rate of knots.

Well done.

COW BELLOWS

Good lad, all right.

Whoa, my lad. Eh? Yeah...

Steady, my lad. Steady, now, steady.

That's him, all done.

His testicles are numb. What he doesn't like is being in the crush.

-Just let him out, that's it.

-Come on, boy.

It's the first time they've been handled, really, you see.

Been with their mothers, all quiet, and suddenly they come here and get

in a crush and it's just the stress of being tightened up, I think.

He's got another...at least three years life in front of him.

Quiet in the hills around here.

And then, after three years, down to London.

He'll have had a good life.

-Good job, Paul. Yes, went all right, didn't it?

-We'll watch those two.

Keep an eye on them. If they're going to have a problem, it will be within a week or so.

They're normally absolutely fine.

It's not just farm animals that need neutering.

At the Small Animal Hospital in Dunfermline,

Austin and Victoria have brought in their two male rabbits.

The six-month-old bucks have been fighting,

so vet Jenni is planning some anger management.

As they get older, quite often they start to become

a bit territorial and aggressive.

So, to try an stop them attacking each other,

we're going to castrate them.

This one is my one, and his name is Hugo. And that one, he's Alfie.

A couple of timely snips will stop these rabbits

breeding...well, like rabbits, should the chance arise.

-Alfie's up first.

-Quite cute, aren't you?

Hello! Are you coming up to say hello?

Hello, nosey, hello.

Right, I need your bottom again

because I'm going to give you a wee jab.

Unlike the bulls, rabbits have a trick up their sleeve.

Rabbits have a unique ability, even under anaesthetic,

that they can retract their testicles at any given time.

So, you might think, "Oh, look, there's the testicle,

"I'll just put a clamp on that," and then it goes pop and it disappears.

So...patience!

I'm just incising over the scrotal skin.

And this is the testicle here, and it goes all the way down to here.

He's being very good, he's not shown us his party trick.

So, I'm just going to tie off the testicle,

making sure that we've tied off all the blood vessels.

Two quick snips, and they're gone.

With Alfie all sewn up, next it's Hugo.

We are just doing exactly the same.

There we go - perfect.

A dab of vet superglue, and Hugo's all finished.

So they are going home just a little bit lighter than when they came in!

And hopefully a little calmer too.

In Teesdale, at the rural practice,

Maud the gundog was rushed in

when accidently shot in the face.

That is desperate. Oh, Lord.

X-rays revealed Maud was peppered with shotgun pellets that

could cause blindness.

That's the eye that's got all the damage.

I felt awful, because she had blood coming out of her eyes and I'll have to live with that.

Now, vet Steve needs to examine Maud's eyes closely,

to assess the damage.

You can see there there is a little bit of blood

in the front chamber of this eye

but right on the outside the actual pupil itself is fine.

We know there's two pellets on that side,

really superficially placed under the skin here.

There'll be one of them there, the other one has gone in...

Literally, just another five mils inwards

and it would have hit her eye.

At least 50% of her vision is all right.

That's a really lucky escape.

Maud's left eye is intact, but the right eye is worrying him.

Hello.

20 minutes into the examination, Maud wakes up,

allowing Steve a better look.

Now she is fully awake and obviously

less uncomfortable...

Bingo.

We've got a little wound, right on the inside, just there.

So it has actually punctured the eye, through the cornea, down the side,

and hopefully travelled away from the main structures

at the back of the eye.

We'll only know for sure once that blood clot has gone

and we can test if the eye is responsive to light.

Poor Maud still has eight shotgun pellets embedded in her,

but Steve has decided not to operate.

They actually cause quite a lot of trauma trying to

dig them out. We tend to leave them be.

Occasionally the body will actually just spit them out.

I'm happy to send her home.

It's going to be a case of recuperation,

just a little bit of rest and the right medication.

Maud's been at the vets for five hours.

Her owners, Liz and Patrick, are desperate to find out how she is.

We are both very concerned indeed. We just absolutely adore her.

Maudy, Maud.

She is just a perfect Labrador.

Hello, my puppy.

She's a very important part of my life. Hope it's good news.

She's remarkably alert. A lot of bruising coming out.

The whites of her eyes are now pretty much red or purple.

You'll get better, won't you?

She's proper soft!

Come on, then.

Come on, baby, come on.

-That's it, good girl.

-Hello!

-Now we're happy.

-Hello!

That's it. Are we coming back for more cuddles?

-She's very, very cuddly.

-She is, isn't she?

Luckily, Maud's wounds are mainly superficial

but she could still lose the eyesight in her right eye.

Pellets in a small wound like that,

going through the back of the retina, that can heal.

But the inflammation of the inside of the eye is what will cause

the damage. That is the biggest risk to her sight.

This next 24 to 48 hours is really the critical bit

in trying to prevent her actually losing her sight in that eye.

-Thank you, Steve, very much indeed.

-We're really very grateful.

Excellent, safe journey. Bye now.

Thank you, bye now.

We're on the right track and we've got two eyes to work with.

I don't like to make too many predictions this early on.

But I'll know more a few days down the line

and see what the body's actually managed to achieve.

Got everything crossed for her, because she's a wonderful dog

and it'd be nice to see back seeing 20-20 vision and doing what

she loves doing.

Farm vet Richard is heading east towards Headlam, to see

another rare breed.

We are going to see Carole, who's fairly recently started

keeping alpacas.

She's got some baby alpacas to microchip.

It's an identification thing.

If an alpaca were to go missing,

you'll be able to tell instantly who it belongs to.

These animals come from the Andes mountain range in South America.

Alpacas are members of the camel family

and are bred for their luxurious fleeces.

There are over 33,000 of them kept in the UK.

New breeder Carole got her first alpacas a year ago

and now has a small herd of 13.

Eventually I'll be selling

alpacas and I'll be showing alpacas.

I find them just a pleasure.

Real characters. I can spend hours in the field, just watching them.

Oh, stop it, you, don't even think about it, you're just being greedy.

-Hi, Carole.

-Hi, Richard, nice to see you again.

It's nice to have something a little bit different to work with.

That's it. First catch your alpaca.

These animals may look cute but they do have one antisocial habit.

I haven't got anything to eat.

ALPACA SPITS

They actually only spit if they're asserting themselves

or they're distressed or something.

Or they sense somebody who's innately untrustworthy!

So, the three littlest ones are to do, is that right?

The alpacas are microchipped in case they go missing,

and to prove their provenance.

-Who shall we do first?

-You choose, little Indigo, if you like.

What I am going to do is put a microchip, which is a little bit bigger than a grain of rice,

under the skin.

I'm just going to put it there.

Ooh, my love.

Good girl. Oh, I know.

Hang on, don't let her go just yet.

We'd better check that it's where it should be.

-There we are.

-Good lass.

BEEPING

Yeah, there we go. It's a microchip scanner

and it's picking up the unique code that's in the microchip.

Because alpacas are so fluffy,

you can put the microchip in the fluff.

I'm just checking whether I can feel it.

Good, I'm happy. That's great, as easy as that.

Next is Butterscotch.

Good girl...

BEEPING

Yep, that feels fine.

-OK?

-Yep, that's good.

And then Unidorn.

I feel it for them, Richard.

Just double-check it is where it should be.

I know, I know.

That's fine. Good, easy as that.

The baby alpacas are successfully microchipped

and Richard is spit free!

-There we go.

-OK, girls.

It's a quick job. It's basically about making sure that they're well restrained

and making sure that the microchip has actually gone under the skin

rather than into the fluff.

It went absolutely fine.

Come on, then, come on, girls.

Three days ago on the moors,

gundog Maud was accidently shot.

-There's a pellet...

-One there, another little hole there.

Small animal vet Steve found shotgun pellet wounds in both eyes.

Three in the neck area here, but, actually, that's the one that

has caused the bleeding in the eye.

Luckily, the vision in Maud's left eye was intact.

That's a really lucky escape.

But she couldn't see out of the right one.

It's punctured the eye through the cornea.

That is biggest risk to her sight.

Come on, Maudy.

Three days since the accident, Maud is back

with her owners for a vital check-up.

Come on through.

Maud, Maudy, hey, this way, baby! Hello, my poppet.

There's not a lot of discharge from that eye, I'm pleased to say.

The wound on her muzzle has already healed up.

Right, we'll get the ophthalmoscope. We'll have a look and see.

I'm amazed how much of the blood in the chamber has actually

dissipated already.

The hole in the actual cornea looks to have sealed off nicely.

I can't see into the back of the eye yet.

That clot is still obscuring that bit.

But that's brilliant, I'm really pleased.

Once that dissipates away further,

we'll be able to get a better look into the eyeball and look at

the retina at the back of the eye

and see what damage has actually been caused.

Are you quite optimistic that she might not have lost the sight?

It's so difficult to know, really.

What we don't know is what trauma did that pellet cause as it went through?

The first, what, three days, have been really positive.

-So, I'm really pleased.

-Less than 72 hours.

And look at this, tail going, wouldn't know anything had happened.

I'm very pleased.

Keep up the good work, all right?

-Excellent.

-I can't thank you enough.

You're very welcome, and keep up the good work.

You're doing very well. Bye now.

Maud's recovery goes from strength to strength.

Eight weeks later, she's outdoors, gundog training.

Nobody really knows whether she can see out of her right eye

and, apparently, you know, it could be six months.

She is managing perfectly all right.

Now sit and stay.

Maud is doing so well, she's even been on a shoot.

Get on.

We were worried since she had this accident that she would be

afraid of the guns and things.

Good girl.

And, I mean, she couldn't have cared less.

Stay!

You know, she's enthusiastic to go out

and do what she's been trained to do.

Thank goodness, she's bright and healthy

and still able to enjoy life. That's wonderful.

Good girl.

Sit. Tail wagging. Yes, you're very happy,

aren't you, dog?

No, I haven't any more biscuits, no.