Episode 6 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!

And 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 Teesdale, farm vet Richard helps a herd to grow...

Cross our fingers and say a little prayer.

Small animal vet Steve gets in a flap...

Woooah! No, no.

And in Fife, vet Adam helps a dog who's been hit by a train...

He's gone into shock. The whole system goes "survival".

In County Durham, the farm vets of Castle Veterinary Practice

are out and about.

Hello, how are you doing?

Being in the heart of Teesdale farming country

guarantees every day is busy.

Amongst the team heading out is senior farm vet Richard.

I do genuinely enjoy going to work in the mornings.

I have to get my children out of bed and take them to school first,

which is a bit of a battle!

20 years in the job, and he never tires of his patients.

There's something very nice about being next to a nice cow.

If you haven't done it, you maybe don't get it!

Good girl. All right, sweetheart, sorry about this.

This morning Richard is treating some cows

rarely seen in the Teesdale area.

Peter and Ann's farm is just outside Barnard Castle.

A few years ago, they started breeding Welsh Black cattle.

We're hoping to have 100 eventually. We've only been doing it

for about four years. We started with two.

They soon multiply!

They have ten cows so far and would like more,

but without paying for an expensive bull.

The job I've got to do this morning is to inseminate four of these cows.

And we're going to do that by a process

called artificial insemination, which basically means using semen

that's been frozen and kept stored under liquid nitrogen.

It's a very useful technique because you can buy semen

from an absolute top quality bull

for a fraction of a percent of what he's actually worth.

What it would cost to buy him.

Inseminating the cows together should also make it easier

for Peter and Ann, as the calves will be born at the same time.

Forward!

Right, so we're ready to roll.

Yeah.

Richard is treating four cows this morning. First is Eve.

So, this is a heifer. That means a cow that's never had a calf before.

And we're going to serve her just now. She's in season.

He has a clever way of checking the cows are ovulating.

As you can see, we've put these oestrogen detectors on the backs

of the cows, these pink stick-on tabs.

Originally covered in a grey coating, the pink is revealed

when the girls are in season and getting frisky.

The coating gets rubbed off so this bright colour shows.

Richard has the frozen semen stored in long straws.

Don't need him.

That's him. So that's the one we want.

Once he's found the right chap, he's defrosted and placed

in the long syringe.

I cut the end off, squeeze until a tiny bit of semen appears at the end.

To keep it at body temperature, Richard has an unusual method.

And then I stick it down my back! How weird's that?

HE LAUGHS

One hand up her backside, and I'm gently feeling through

the rectal wall and I'm feeling her cervix. And then with the AI gun

I'm passing it up her birth canal and gently, gently...

COW MOOS

..passing it through her cervix.

Gently, gently, gently. Deposit the semen where it should be,

and cross our fingers and say a little prayer.

That's it, that's her done.

It's Molly's turn next.

Good.

Followed by Branwen.

But there is one special lady who Ann has high hopes for.

Gwen was one of the first heifers we bought. We love her to death,

because she's the most fantastic-looking cow.

But we haven't managed to get her in calf yet.

She's four years old now.

Time is going on and she needs to get pregnant.

Every time we AI her I say, right, this is the last time!

This is her last chance. Again.

COW MOOS

This lass has been a bit of a problem.

She's twice been in calf and lost it.

And as you can see, she's starting to put on the pounds a bit

as a result of not having had a calf. So we're hoping against hope

that this time we can get her in calf and that she'll hang to it.

Right, fingers and toes crossed, guys.

They'll have to wait five weeks to find out if the girls are expecting.

Hooves crossed for Gwen.

COWS MOO

Across the Firth of Forth in Dunfermline is the busy

Inglis Veterinary Hospital where over 100 patients

come through the door each day.

Oh, gorgeous! Hello, Ozzy.

Oh, where are you going?!

Senior vet Adam loves his job.

There's no greater feeling than when you've made an animal better.

How are we doing? CAT MIAOWS

You want to go home?

That's the best part of our job.

But he has to be prepared for anything...

Sometimes we don't even know if it's a dog or a cat.

We just know there's something about to come through the door.

So we get everything ready.

OK. Just waking up now. He's been so brave.

It can be emotionally draining.

He's been through so much. Er... Sorry.

You want to cry, but you can't cry

because the adrenaline's pumping through your system, you think,

"I need to make this animal better."

Inglis Veterinary Surgery, Dunfermline.

It's all hands on deck today as an emergency is arriving.

A German Shepherd has been hit by a train.

Dog Warden Dave took the emergency call.

I got a call this morning about half past nine,

indicating that a dog had been struck by a train.

I made contact with British Rail, who guided me to where the dog

was lying at the side of the track.

The poor dog is barely alive.

The idea is to really get him stable.

So we've got all this fluid running into him just now,

which will help to rehydrate him. He's gone into shock.

The whole system goes "survival". And so everything that's happening

just now is just us trying to get his body systems

working again properly.

Can we just whip him in to take a quick X-ray? Is that all right?

Whilst he's unconscious and unable to move, Adam gets some X-rays.

He's fractured his skull. It doesn't look like it's affected

the actual limbs or anything like that.

It's just quite high up.

Right, let's get him out of here, cos you guys need to come here.

The primary injuries he's got are a crushing injury to the head.

Which is where the train has probably hit him head on.

And you can actually see a fracture there, so there will be some damage

to the brain.

His microchip reveals his name is Leo.

Along with the head injury, poor Leo has a nasty chest wound.

Leo's really not fit for anaesthetic at the moment.

But at some point, we're going to have to address some of the things

that actually has happened to him.

But all of these things are secondary to keeping him alive.

We can see that he's starting to wake up. And what we don't want

is for him to wake up on this table and get really distressed.

So moving him to a kennel is going to really help because we'll still

be with him by his side. But at least if he wakes up, he's going to be

on the floor so it's going to be a more manageable situation.

You ready? Let's go.

Leo's moved to the ward where he'll be watched closely.

Just be very gentle, that's where he's actually fractured his skull,.

just there.

OK. Right.

Leo's owners have phoned the surgery looking for him,

but they don't yet know the full extent of his injuries.

Adam must give them the distressing news.

He's still on that knife edge, if you know what I mean. So...

But if you'd like to come in and see him, that's probably the best thing.

Because I think, you know, he's stable now.

So really, what we're doing is we're keeping him going

and really, he's fighting for his life. Speak to you later. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Oh, dear. He's got a lot of people supporting him just now.

Owner Kim and her friend Mark rush to the practice,

desperate to see Leo. But even this could be a risk.

When he sees you, he's going to probably...

His adrenaline's going to surge and he's going to...

That's not going to make him any worse?

Well, that's what I'm saying to you just now.

If I say to you, "Look, you need to go now"

it's not because I'm trying to shoo you out, it's because I don't want

-him to get too stressed.

-I totally understand.

Because if his blood pressure gets too high, then it could cause

problems with the brain and stuff like that. OK.

Right, you want to come through and see him? Come on through.

Oh, Leo! Oh, my boy!

-Shushhhh.

-Oh, son! Oh!

SHE SOBS

You and bloody cars! Oh, Leo.

He's kind of sat up. Because normally he's lying down.

-So he's obviously very pleased to see you.

-Oh!

You can see his tongue, can't you?

And that's just where he's bitten his tongue.

But that's fine, honestly, that's fine.

-Oh, what a shame!

-You're OK.

-He's getting excited.

I might just give you another minute or so with him, if that's OK.

-No worries.

-Because he's nice and settled. It's really good for him

to know you're still around and there for him and stuff like that.

That will help him no end.

I'll come and see you in the morning. I will. Aye.

You're OK. OK.

I'll get some tissues for you, is that all right?

Any peak in blood pressure could have caused more bleeding

into his brain and could have been fatal. So I had to really limit

their time with Leo. But I really wanted them and him to know

both were still alive. And that's key, because Leo needed to know

his mum and dad were still there for him.

And that will give him a reason to fight.

But with such severe injuries, Leo's life hangs in the balance.

In Teesdale, the small animal team are in the middle

of morning consults.

Take care, now. Bye.

Come on, my boy.

There's always a queue of little patients.

-Five altogether, yeah?

-Five altogether.

-OK.

-Vet Steve loves his clients...

-Hiya!

..but they don't always love him back.

CAT HISSES

Hey!

Yet Steve wouldn't to do anything else.

Where's my love bites? Good boy!

Nobody's going to kid you that it's an easy road,

but, erm, boy, is it a fulfilling job.

And, yeah, I love it.

Today, Steve's trimming Little Yella Fella's claws.

They're clipped several times a year, as they don't wear down

naturally inside his cage.

All right, sunshine. What a good bird, aren't you?

You can tell he's well handled, cos he doesn't... you know,

he's not struggling at all. Birds that we get in

that sort of don't come out and are handled and things,

they spend their time biting and make an awful lot of noise

and trying to get away and getting really stressed.

But feathered patients aren't always so well-behaved.

The little birds are really quite difficult.

I've seen them, you know, bite right through fingers and things.

So, again, he's a bird who's had all this time put into him.

Obviously, the bigger they get, the more it hurts if they don't

like being handled!

They can be a bit of a challenge.

Oh, dear.

Look who's in the waiting room!

Sunny Foster, please.

-Hi, there, come on in.

-Hi.

-Come on, wee bird. Hiya, come on this way.

-Over here?

Yeah, that's fine.

So what are we doing for Sunny, today then?

Just a general sort of check over.

How has she been handled?

We haven't had her all that long,

so we don't try and grab her.

It doesn't bode well.

Obviously, they can get quite stressed

by being handled if they're not used to it, so...

So we need to be as gentle as we can.

-It's OK, sweetheart.

-All right.

Really careful...

BIRD CHIRPS

That's it, I got you, I got you.

Ooh, you're biting me, you're biting.

Don't bite, not nice.

OK, all right, I know.

Sunny needs her claws trimmed too.

Ooh-oh! No, no.

BIRD CHIRPS

Ooh, you're losing all your feathers now, come on.

OK. If you can just do me a favour here...

Just gently, gently keep her like that, I'm going to...

I'm going to be very careful with these...cos they can bleed.

Not quite as pretty as, as perhaps when she came in.

It's all right, just take it back, that's is.

She's nice and... Ah, ah!

You made me bleed.

A budgie's tail feathers take around eight weeks to regrow,

so she won't miss a few today.

Tail-feather-less budgie.

Oh, sweetheart!

Whatever is loose is going to fall out and she's got to grow new ones.

All right, my wee bird?

Sorry about your tail.

-OK, then.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome. Bye now.

-Bye.

Naughty budgie dealt with,

but Steve's skills don't stop there.

I'm armed.

Is there nothing this man can't do?

THEY WHINE

Back in Dunfermline, German Shepherd Leo is fighting for his life

after being hit by a train.

The impact left him with a skull fracture and a chest wound.

At some point, we are going to have to address some of the things

that have happened to him,

but all of these things are secondary to keeping him alive.

His owners were distraught.

Ooh! Leo!

Leo needs to regain his strength before Adam can begin

to repair his battered body.

Just yesterday, Leo ran off while on a walk.

His owner, Kim, heard he might have been taken to the vet's.

I phoned the vet's, and they said, "A dog has been handed in."

They had to scan him for his chip to make sure that it was Leo, eh.

And I just thought,

"Oh, great! Someone just happened to hand him in,"

and then she gave me the bad news,

"No, he's been actually, he's been hit by a train."

I just started screaming. I couldn't believe it.

Leo's adored by all the family.

He's brilliant-natured. Really good.

He's my favourite.

He's the main man.

But Leo's a fighter and when Kim and Mark return

just 36 hours after the horrific accident...

-OK.

-Hello, Leo.

..they can't believe his progress.

We're going to try and take him for a wee walk.

Oh, my God! I didn't know he could get up like that.

With slings for support, incredibly, Leo is back on his feet.

That's it, that's it...

-Here you go!

-Here's such a boy... Oh, dear!

You never expect it to happen to your dogs, eh, and still be alive.

And actually walking from there to here.

It's just a miracle, it is.

-Good boy!

-Very good!

-Yes!

Leo's head X-rays show he may have had a miraculous escape.

He's been extremely lucky because it's actually here,

which is the frontal sinus, which is, if you like, just above his nose.

So when he's breathing, you can see the skin going in and out.

But if it had been even, like, a centimetre that way,

it would have crushed the actual skull above the brain itself.

And it could have been immediately fatal.

I think it's just of a size which should heal of its own accord.

Leo's doesn't need cranial surgery,

but Adam is worried he's yet to find other injuries.

He's such a well-loved dog that, you know, you really feel the pressure

of making sure you can get him better.

Now he's out of immediate danger,

he can be anaesthetised for more X-rays.

Straight away, Adam finds something.

Slightly concerned about that area just there.

There's a definite compression there of that first bone in the tail.

That's a difficult area to deal with

and it's not straightforward surgery to repair that.

I have to think about that one.

Still under anaesthetic,

Adam can stitch up Leo's wounds,

and examine his tail.

I'm trying to move his tail about just to see how far it would move.

And there's quite a significant amount of movement there.

Already, it's started to heal

that, that bit of bone, which is fantastic.

I'm minded to give this some time and allow this to heal,

because the other option is to amputate his tail,

but I think he's quite attached to it

and he's survived everything else, so let's give it a go.

Adam then repairs Leo's injured chest. It's a deep wound.

OK, so I'm just stitching up the muscle now,

which has been damaged in there.

It's going to get together quite nicely.

I have to say Leo is probably the luckiest dog I've ever known.

To have come through such a huge incident like this

relatively unscathed.

If a cat has nine lives, Leo has got about 29 lives.

LEO WHINES

Groggy and sore,

Leo is taken back to the ward to sleep off the anaesthetic.

Adam can finally begin to relax.

All the worries in the world you've got personally

are completely out of the window,

you're just worrying about that wee dog and making sure they survive.

The beautiful countryside of County Durham is perfect

for raising livestock, so along with horses and sheep,

the area has over 100,000 cattle.

And farmers Peter and Ann are hoping to add a few more.

It's been five weeks since vet Richard artificially

inseminated Gwen and three other cows.

Gently, gently, gently.

Deposit the semen where it should be

and cross our fingers and say a little prayer.

The time has finally arrived

to find out which of the ladies are pregnant.

It is a quite a big day when they say if it's in calf.

They're holding out hope that even overweight Gwen

might at last be in calf,

despite trying four times before.

If Gwen is in calf, we'll open a bottle.

The moment of truth.

They won't all be in calf, that would be too good,

but hopefully, at least half of them will be.

When I do this, I always feel very responsible,

because I AI them

and so, yeah, you kind of feel...

you feel if they're not in calf, it's my fault.

No pressure, then(!)

First for the scan is Eve.

So, here we go...

Yes, she's in calf.

How do I know that? Because this is her womb here.

The black bit is the fluid.

That little white blob there is the embryo.

So good news! She's in calf!

That's great!

It's a good start.

Let's stop there! Yeah.

-Stop while you're winning.

-Come on, darling.

Next is Molly, Eve's mum.

Well, good news is, she is in calf. Good!

So it's two out of two.

Can Branwen make it a hat-trick?

Right, OK, three out of three?

-No, she's not in calf.

-Not in calf?

-No.

Ah, how disappointing!

And lastly, the one everyone's rooting for - Gwen.

Her extra weight won't be helping,

but perhaps she's been eating for two?

I think she's even fatter than ever...

I don't think she's lost weight.

The suspense is terrible.

Now, I think we better get one thing straight,

and do we still get the cake if she's not in calf?

-I think we need to know this.

-I suppose so.

-Good, because I'm afraid she's not, no.

-Little rat.

Unfortunately, what she is now is she's very fat,

and that has more of an effect

-on cattle fertility than being thin, if anything.

-Yeah.

She needs to be booked into some health spa.

What a shame!

Fertility to single AI is about 50%,

so we've got 50% in calf,

so yeah, I'm happy enough.

It would have been lovely if Gwen had been in calf,

but life's not like that sometimes.

Cake for Richard. No pies for Gwen, though.

But with a few less pounds, she may well become a mum in the future.

COW MOOS

In Dunfermline, Leo the wonder dog has survived a horrific accident.

Despite being hit by a train, he's overcome life-threatening injuries.

He's had two close shaves, basically,

his head end and his tail end,

a couple of millimetres away from complete disaster.

His head, chest and tail were badly wounded.

It was a huge shock for owner Kim.

You never expect it to happen to your dogs, eh, and still be alive.

Nice and steady!

It's almost two weeks since the accident,

and Leo's made a miraculous recovery.

Adam still needs to keep an eye on his tail,

but Leo can now go home, for good.

His owner Kim has arrived with family and friends.

Hello there, come on through.

Come on through.

I know as soon as you see him, you're going to go, "Hey, Leo!",

he's going to jump up and down and get really excited, so let's just take a minute

to have a look at the X-rays first.

-This is Leo's skull. You see this fluffy, cloud-like stuff?

-Uh-huh.

That's new bone, and that's him healing in the space of almost,

not even two weeks. Amazing healing.

Magic. Brilliant.

I'd like to say that...the praise for that,

there's nothing to do with me.

That's Leo healing himself. Fantastic, really pleased with that.

Let's go and bring the boy up, OK?

At last, it's home time.

-Here he is!

-Oh, watch out!

He's such a happy chap, isn't he?

Cheerio there! Bye-bye!

It was a miracle, this.

Totally, totally, definitely a miracle,

because he shouldn't have been here with what he's been through,

for the amount of injuries that he's had. Aye, it's unbelievable.

A few more weeks recovering at home,

and Leo will be back to his old self -

and having safer adventures from now on.