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Fern Britton Inside the Vets Season 1 Episode 4
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00:00Oh, that's why they spelt out V-E-T instead of saying it.
00:06Clever.
00:07Oh, well, I always get treats when I'm here anyway.
00:10Oh, hello.
00:11Fern Britain Inside the Vets, brought to you by Petplan Insurance.
00:17She's so beautiful.
00:21Can I have a quick check over?
00:24Known as a nation of animal lovers,
00:26the UK is home to 36 million household pets,
00:3112.5 million cats,
00:3413.5 million dogs,
00:37and not to mention all the other creatures,
00:40great and small,
00:42that we welcome into our families.
00:44And in this new series, we'll be finding out what happens
00:48when our fur-legged friends are in need.
00:52I'll meet their devoted owners
00:55and the expert staff who treat them,
00:58from the routine...
00:59Emergency ward 10, I'm your girl.
01:03..to the life-saving
01:04and everything else in between.
01:07I could sit here all day and talk to these doggies.
01:10..we'll capture the intense bond between owners...
01:14Hello, darling. Hello, sweetheart.
01:17..animals and the vets.
01:19I love you too, yes.
01:22..and we'll meet the working dogs
01:24given a well-earned second chance at life.
01:27There's a good boy.
01:29It's just a wonderful feeling to see those dogs
01:31go off to new homes and new families.
01:34So, join me, Fernbritton,
01:36on a rollercoaster of emotions inside the vets.
01:40Husband and wife team Andy and Amy Valencia
01:58met studying veterinary science in Bristol 17 years ago.
02:02And it's here, in the pretty Edwardian suburb of Henlees,
02:08that they chose to build their home
02:10and independent veterinary practice
02:12dedicated to the needs of the local community
02:15and their four-legged friends.
02:17Oh, look at me.
02:22Veterinary surgeon Dr James Greenwood
02:24works closely with Andy and Amy,
02:26their friendship and working relationship
02:29first established back in their student days.
02:34Together, they have welcomed me behind the scenes
02:37to join them and their dedicated nursing team
02:40to see first-hand what it's like to be inside the vets.
02:45They are so cute.
02:47On a brisk spring morning in Bristol,
03:01owners are lining up at the vets,
03:03here for vaccinations, check-ups,
03:06and a little reassurance that their beloved animals
03:09are in the very best hands.
03:11Come on.
03:13The first appointment of the day, however,
03:15happens to be outside the consultation room
03:17with Labrador Bailey.
03:20Let's go and go again.
03:21OK.
03:22Come on, Bailey.
03:24Come on, buddy.
03:26Good boy.
03:27Bailey's been reported by his owners
03:28to have a bit of a limp in his walk,
03:31and so Ella is walking him up and down with Andy,
03:35watching and observing to see
03:37which limb or limbs are being affected.
03:40Bailey is eight and a half.
03:47He'll be nine in June.
03:51I've always described him as an Oxbridge candidate.
03:53I think he's very intelligent.
03:56We've had Bailey since he was eight weeks old.
03:59I've had labs now for over 20 years.
04:03I genuinely believe that the dogs are pack animals.
04:05These two dogs absolutely adore each other.
04:10They play all the time.
04:11Typical Labradors would eat the shoes off your feet,
04:15but Bailey is so well-trained
04:19that he will wait to be given food.
04:23He's very smart.
04:25He understands me.
04:26He's very gentle, very kind,
04:28and very, very supportive.
04:30He'll follow me everywhere.
04:31I'm pretty tough with my dogs.
04:35I like them to be well-trained.
04:37Every walk is a training opportunity,
04:39is one of the phrases my children laugh at.
04:45Labradors are particularly prone to arthritis,
04:48a progressive breakdown of cartilage within the joints,
04:51with symptoms often worsening with age.
04:55In January this year,
04:58we noticed suddenly that he was limping
05:01from the moment he woke up
05:03and got out of his bed in the morning,
05:05just literally to walk from one room to the other.
05:07We knew there was something wrong.
05:10Let's just do one at trot.
05:11Yeah.
05:12I'm discovering that veterinary medicine is detective work,
05:16a constant process of investigation
05:18and piecing clues together.
05:20The next step is to continue Bailey's diagnosis
05:24inside the vets.
05:27We looked at the way he was moving
05:29and we could see quite clearly
05:30that he's laying on this right for him.
05:33So, obviously, if he was a person,
05:34we would just ask, but we can't ask him.
05:37So, unfortunately, what we're going to need to do is
05:39carefully and systematically work our way up the limb
05:41and give things a bit of a squeeze
05:44and move it a bit and look for a pain response.
05:47OK.
05:48So, Amy's just going to hold him still for me.
05:50So, you're testing his toes.
05:51So, I'm squeezing his toes.
05:53I'm looking for a pain response.
05:54So, there's a little bit of a swelling within his paw there.
05:57I'd say that is a pain response.
05:58That knuckle, so to speak, feels quite thickened.
06:01So, that's certainly something we're probably going to want to x-ray.
06:03So, now I'm just manipulating his, what we call his carpus,
06:06so his wrist joint.
06:07So, unfortunately, we're having to be cruel to be kind in this situation.
06:12So, now we're moving up to the elbow.
06:13Now, being a Labrador, this is where I would expect the issue.
06:17The Labrador's elbows are...
06:19They suffer with a condition called elbow dysplasia.
06:22This is a developmental disorder of the elbow joints
06:25where the bones fail to align correctly.
06:28It can lead to pain, lameness and, over time, arthritis,
06:33a common issue in larger, fast-growing breeds like Labradors.
06:38Let him just shake it off.
06:41He's a bit fed up.
06:42Which is completely reasonable.
06:43Yep.
06:44We're not going to get much more that we can interpret.
06:47I'm only 50% convinced that the problem is Daphne's elbow.
06:51I can't say this for certain,
06:52but he's likely to have a degree of arthritis
06:54secondary to this thing called elbow dysplasia,
06:57which we then have to figure out how we're going to manage it.
06:59There might be things like physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.
07:02There's also things we can do specifically at the level of the elbow.
07:06Things like cortisone injections.
07:08Yes.
07:09And then there's also stem cell therapies that we can consider as well.
07:12He's settled quickly, hasn't he?
07:13Yeah, Amy the dog whisperer.
07:14So it's a good time to have some pet insurance.
07:17I mean, we're in a situation where we don't quite know
07:20where this investigation is going to lead.
07:22And it might be a quick fix,
07:24or it might be a lifelong condition
07:26that we're going to be managing for him.
07:28And yeah, that can get expensive.
07:32While I stay with Bailey,
07:34in the next room,
07:35Vet James is getting ready to examine Bamboo,
07:39a mature rabbit who's approaching 11 years old.
07:43Hello.
07:43Come on in.
07:47Bamboo belongs to veterinary nurse Ella,
07:50who's brought her long-time companion in
07:52for a routine annual check-up.
07:55A vital part of preventative care,
07:57especially for senior pets.
08:00It is nice to bring your own pet to work.
08:02I can be there with him,
08:03so that's a perk of the job.
08:06How is lovely Bamboo doing?
08:08For a nearly 11-year-old rabbit,
08:10it's not doing too bad.
08:11It's fantastic, isn't it?
08:12Yeah.
08:13I think he's possibly one of the oldest bunnies
08:15we've got on the books.
08:1711 is definitely...
08:18We'll take that, won't we, Bamboo?
08:19It's a great age.
08:20He's a very special boy to me.
08:22He has been with me for a long time now.
08:24I got him when I was 16.
08:26I did some work experience on a farm,
08:29and I couldn't leave said farm without him, basically.
08:31So he's been with me ever since.
08:34There's something a bit strange going on.
08:36Yeah, he's got a few little nodules over his nose, hasn't he?
08:38Yeah.
08:39We'll do the consult on the floor
08:41so that he stays nice and chilled.
08:42A few things that we're looking out for in healthy bunnies.
08:45First of all, we're looking for a nice, clear nose with no snot,
08:48with no sort of discharge, no snuffles.
08:50Sometimes bunnies can get a very creamy,
08:53quite a sticky discharge coming out of their eyes,
08:55which is then obviously a sign of an infection.
08:58Skin-wise, we want to sort of see a nice, healthy coat
09:01with no bald patches, no red patches,
09:03nothing that's too itchy.
09:05OK, right, let's just have a listen to his chest as well.
09:11That sounds good.
09:12Is he passing nice, regular firm stools?
09:15Yeah.
09:15Yeah?
09:15Yeah.
09:15OK, so the next thing we need to somehow do
09:18will be just see if we can have a look at his teeth.
09:21Rabbit's teeth grow continuously, up to two millimetres a week.
09:25Oh, you've been very good.
09:28Without the right diet to wear them down,
09:30they can develop sharp spurs or overgrowth,
09:33leading to pain, abscesses and difficulty eating.
09:36It's not got any spurs.
09:40They look great.
09:42And then lastly, it's looking at his back end.
09:44Sometimes they can get poo stuck to the fur
09:46and that can attract flies to their skin.
09:49And if flies lay, well, we've seen it a few times,
09:51if flies lay eggs, leads to maggots hatching out
09:54and that's called fly strike.
09:55And that very quickly can become an emergency,
09:58which is obviously not pleasant for anybody.
10:02Great.
10:02And his hocks are nice and clear.
10:04Yeah.
10:04Yeah, good.
10:05And you can see some of the soreness on his feet.
10:07Yeah, so he's obviously licking his front feet a little bit there, isn't he?
10:11I know we've treated him for all sorts of different things,
10:14trying to rule out things like rabbit syphilis,
10:18reticoptosis, parasites.
10:20But he's had that now for nearly a year.
10:21Is that right?
10:22Yeah.
10:22Another possibility is a viral infection
10:24because he's got a few little lumps through his ear there as far as he has,
10:26hasn't he?
10:27So sometimes rabbits will lick their paws or lick their feet
10:30if they have got arthritis and it is actually a pain thing.
10:33So it might be worth us maybe seeing whether we increase his pain relief,
10:37possibly repeat the antin-parasite treatment.
10:40Again, we could potentially trial his antibiotics
10:42in case there is a secondary skin infection.
10:44We don't want to rush to do stuff unless we really need to.
10:48Should we get a weight on him as well?
10:49Yeah, let's see what he's weighing.
10:50Great.
10:54All right, 2.24.
10:55Let me just pop that on his record.
10:57So we can certainly put you up to more medication.
11:01Yes, please.
11:01You're looking really well, aren't you?
11:03Thanks, James.
11:04OK.
11:06While Bailey and Bamboo are learning to take life a little slower
11:10in their later years,
11:11one much younger patient is just getting started.
11:15Etty, a Hungarian Vizsla,
11:17has been visiting the vets since she was a playful pup.
11:20And today, she's in for a final check-up before keyhole surgery.
11:25I decided to get Etty spayed because we definitely don't want to have puppies.
11:29The vets here and the nurses are just,
11:32they're so wonderful.
11:33They're really caring.
11:34And you know what?
11:35I never worry about dropping Etty off here.
11:37I completely trust them.
11:39She is so gorgeous.
11:41You're such a good pup.
11:42You are.
11:43How old is she now?
11:4421 months, so she's June.
11:46OK.
11:47And how many has she had?
11:48One or two seasons?
11:49Great.
11:49And when was the last one?
11:50Ended in end of October.
11:53October, November, December, January, February.
11:54Perfect.
11:54She's not getting interest from, like, the dogs.
11:57Today is more to check for any sort of false pregnancy signs as well,
12:01which by now I'm pretty sure you would have spotted at home
12:04if there were anything to worry about.
12:05But good girl.
12:07As well as looking for signs of a phantom pregnancy,
12:10James will carry out a full check-up,
12:12an important step,
12:13before any animal undergoes a procedure that involves anaesthesia.
12:17Good girl.
12:18Can I see your teeth?
12:20And how is she in herself at the moment?
12:21Yeah, fine.
12:22Are you happy that she's really well?
12:23Yeah, really well.
12:23No vomiting, eating, drinking as normal?
12:26Eating, drinking as normal.
12:27Brilliant.
12:27No issues from my side.
12:29Is that better?
12:30Is that what we needed to do?
12:32Is that what we needed to do?
12:34Oh, you've got a full business.
12:38I'm sorry.
12:39Hello, baby.
12:40Oh, I love you too.
12:40This is a very business thingy.
12:42You are very adorable.
12:44You are.
12:44Right, let's have a listen to her heart, if she will.
12:47What's that?
12:48I do need to just have a little feel of her glands.
12:55Yeah.
12:55So we'll just see if she'll let me do that.
12:59Good girl.
13:00It's okay.
13:02Good girl.
13:03Right, beautiful.
13:05So she doesn't feel like she's got any sort of false pregnancy.
13:08Timing-wise, it's perfect.
13:09Heart sounds lovely.
13:11She's obviously nice and fit and healthy.
13:12We'll have another listen to heart on the day of the surgery.
13:15Right, great.
13:16Lovely.
13:16We will see you on the day.
13:17Coming up, we meet the heroes giving vulnerable dogs the fresh start they so desperately need.
13:25Every dog that leaves us, we've given a second shot at life.
13:29Visit the globe-trotting cat who's racked up more air miles than the average holidaymaker.
13:34And I scrub up for surgery.
13:37Wow, what a piece of kit that is.
13:41Oh, I thought we were here about my allergies.
13:44No, no, it's fine.
13:45It can be about you.
13:46Fern Britain Inside the Vets, brought to you by Petplan Insurance.
13:50Uh-oh.
13:51Vet bills.
13:52Don't worry, Dad.
13:53I'll eat them.
13:54Ha-ha.
13:54See you later.
13:56Fern Britain Inside the Vets, brought to you by Petplan Insurance.
14:04Nearly one in three households in the UK now owns a dog, as more than ever before.
14:11Come on in.
14:12Come here.
14:13Come here.
14:13We're a nation increasingly shaped by our canine companions.
14:18How old is she?
14:20She's 15 weeks.
14:21Oh, so she's very young.
14:22Yes.
14:23And with that love comes responsibility and investment.
14:28The UK's dog owners spend an average of £1,800 per year per dog on food, vet bills and insurance.
14:38You never know with any pets that you have what health issues are going to arise.
14:42We're in charge of Petplan.
14:44Oh, I love them so much.
14:45They're wonderful of dogs.
14:46They are literally one of our family.
14:49What are you feeling for him?
14:51So, I'm sort of feeling the shape of his liver, feeling the shape of his spleen.
14:55And for many of us, they're not just pets.
14:58They're family.
14:59Good boys.
15:01Good boys.
15:02Claire has been a devoted mum to Bailey for the last eight years.
15:08Bailey is my third child.
15:10But Bailey is more than that because he's been an absolute rock through the last eight years of my life.
15:18So, in those years, my children have left school.
15:21They've gone to university.
15:23I've been through a divorce.
15:25And the one person who's been there all the time is Bailey.
15:29It's a partnership.
15:31And he is my rock.
15:32I will do anything for Bailey.
15:35Bailey is being prepared for x-rays by vet Andy to see if he can locate the source of the problem for this well-loved pooch.
15:47Okay.
15:47X-rays.
15:48Rhyming.
15:50Taking.
15:52Vets use x-rays to help diagnose problems like broken bones, joint issues and internal illnesses across a wide range of animals.
16:01Can you just pull the x-ray up for us?
16:04To get a clear picture, patients need to stay completely still.
16:08Even the slightest movement can blur the results.
16:11That's why sometimes sedation, or even a light general anaesthetic, can help.
16:17Right, let's get him on his left lateral now.
16:20Yeah.
16:21I'm going to just dip on the big plate, I think.
16:23X-rays.
16:28Priming.
16:30Taking.
16:31Taken.
16:35So the results of Bailey's x-rays are in.
16:38So we've x-rayed the good limb and the bad limb so we can compare the joints.
16:44If you look along this edge, there's all these kind of sharp little shardy bits.
16:48It's got a big knobbly bit of bone there, which shouldn't be there.
16:51What that means is bits of bone are going to be rubbing on other bits of bone and the cartridge is going to wear away.
16:57And once that happens, you get an inflammatory process.
17:00And once that inflammatory process starts, the body starts doing slightly silly things like laying down new bone growth.
17:08We can be pretty convinced that the main issue is right elbow inflammation.
17:14It fits with what we saw on clinical exam and the x-rays are pretty clear there.
17:21As with humans, arthritis can be painful for our pets, causing stiffness and inflammation.
17:28It's estimated that one in five dogs in the UK suffers from arthritis.
17:33And Labradors are particularly prone, especially as they reach their senior years.
17:38Does that mean his pain has been bad for a long time?
17:43The process of arthritis has clearly been going on for some time, but it doesn't necessarily mean that he's been in pain this whole time.
17:50So his owners didn't do anything wrong? They didn't leave him in pain unknowingly?
17:53No, absolutely not. That's the thing to say.
17:56Arthritic changes on x-rays don't necessarily mean that that's the source of the problem, which is why we spend so long doing that pain investigation.
18:04If you only looked at x-rays or if you did the x-rays first, you can get absolutely veered off in the wrong direction.
18:11And his little knuckle that you were pressing that was painful, there is a sign of arthritis there too.
18:14There is a sign of arthritis there too.
18:17As we're all getting as we get older.
18:18Absolutely. We're going to do everything we can to bring that baseline level of pain down.
18:22What is the treatment?
18:24What I would say is there's never a one-size-fits-all approach.
18:27What we want to do is make sure he has as much good quality, happy, enjoyable life as we can.
18:33This is going to be a progressive condition.
18:35We're going to be using anti-inflammatory medications.
18:37We're going to be using other pain-relieving medications.
18:40Is that tablets? Is it liquid?
18:42My plan in this case is we're going to be using an anti-inflammatory, which generally comes in a liquid form, which just gets added to his food.
18:48We're then going to be using a veterinary-licensed version of paracetamol.
18:52So that's an everyday thing.
18:54An everyday thing.
18:55The third medication, we're going to use antibodies to block a certain protein, which hopefully will reverse some of the changes that have caused him to be so painful.
19:03If you're now blocking the pain and the dog's running around and having a wonderful time, is that damaging the joint further?
19:11The whole point of doing this is to make sure we've got a patient with a good quality life.
19:15The more that he rested, the less you're going to have these bones rubbing together and it's going to slow down that arthritic process.
19:23But there's always a trade-off.
19:24So it's about balance, absolutely.
19:26Eddie is returning to the vets for her spay operation.
19:37Are you going to come with me?
19:39Come on, Eddie.
19:42Performed by Andy and assisted by vet nurse Alice.
19:46The surgery is a minimally invasive keyhole procedure that removes the ovaries through just two tiny incisions in Eddie's abdomen.
19:59Can I get the light source on, please?
20:03Andy is fully masked to maintain a sterile environment while he operates on Eddie.
20:07But because this is keyhole surgery, Alice and I are removed from the action and can remain mask-free.
20:16This operation is a spay, which is like a hysterectomy for a woman.
20:21And having her ovaries removed as a woman, we'd get hormone treatment for that.
20:25Will Eddie get it?
20:26What we definitely see in domestic pets is we don't see any major adverse effects from a behavioural perspective.
20:32Good.
20:32But you can see significant adverse effects if we spay them at the wrong time.
20:39So a female dog, a bitch, will very often go through a phase of something called a phantom pregnancy or a pseudo-pregnancy.
20:45Yes, yes.
20:46And if there's even a remnant of that going on, we could be in a situation where a couple of things can happen.
20:52Number one, all of the mammary glands could really fill up full of milk.
20:56That wouldn't be ideal.
20:57But at least if that happened, we can see it and we can give a treatment to get rid of it.
21:00But what can happen if it's subclinical is that the only things you're going to see are behavioural changes.
21:06And that means that she's going to stay in the state of a phantom pregnancy, kind of hormonally,
21:10which means she'll be quite on edge, reactive towards other dogs and everything else,
21:14which is why we are very, very hot on making sure we see these patients in pre-op.
21:19But she presented perfectly fine.
21:21Yes.
21:22There's a dry tongue sticking out here.
21:24Oh, bless her.
21:24It's all right, Eddie, you're going to be great.
21:26Running down the centre of a dog's abdomen, from the sternum to the pubic bone,
21:32lies a key structure known as the linear alba, or white line.
21:36That white line is a line of connective tissue, which means as we go through it, it doesn't bleed, it doesn't hurt,
21:41there are no nerve endings, so it's a nice way to get in there.
21:45When we do keyhole surgery, what's really important is that we've got room to operate.
21:50So what I'm going to do now is we are going to what we call insufflate.
21:55We're going to put a bunch of carbon dioxide into this abdomen and balloon it up.
22:01Eddie's abdomen is gently inflated with carbon dioxide,
22:04a safe, body-friendly gas that gives the surgical team space to work with precision,
22:10making the delicate procedure much safer.
22:12Why did you want to be a vet?
22:16I grew up in the Middle East and I used to run around the desert just obsessed with animals
22:21and I had a nickname, I was called Mowgli, for everyone that knew me.
22:24You were Mowgli?
22:25I was Mowgli, that was my nickname growing up.
22:26I was just obsessed with animals.
22:28So now I'm going to stop talking because this is a critical bit.
22:30OK, we're going to just watch.
22:30I need to make sure this goes in very carefully.
22:33So what I need to do is I need to make a decision big enough that I can get everything through,
22:36but small enough that it provides a degree of tension.
22:39And the thing about this procedure is you're very reliant on your ports.
22:44The port is the thing that I'm going to be sticking into the abdomen.
22:48This small sterile tube is used as an entry point in keyhole surgery.
22:53It allows Andy to insert a fibre optic camera,
22:56giving him a clear, detailed view inside Eddie's body.
23:00So I heard that click, which means I'm pretty much in.
23:06I'm going to have a quick look in there.
23:07It's just the camera.
23:08It's just the camera.
23:09Right.
23:10Wow.
23:12It's rather wonderful, isn't it?
23:18Stung by a bee.
23:19Don't judge me.
23:21It'll probably happen again.
23:22Oh, I thought we were here about my allergies.
23:30No, no, it's fine.
23:32It can be about you.
23:33Fern Britain Inside the Vets, brought to you by Petplan Insurance.
23:41Eddie, a Hungarian Vizsla, is in the operating theatre.
23:45Can I get the lights off on, please?
23:47Veterinary surgeon Andy has inflated Eddie's abdomen with CO2
23:51in preparation for her spay surgery.
23:54So that opens up the space for you?
23:56Exactly, because otherwise there's no...
23:58I can't see anything because everything's just going to be collapsed in on it.
24:01And dark?
24:01And dark.
24:02And there's no room either, so I could poke something that I shouldn't poke.
24:07Andy has inserted the ports which act as access points for the operation,
24:13allowing him to position a camera for visual guidance,
24:16along with the necessary surgical instruments.
24:20My nemesis as a laparoscopic surgeon is the spleen.
24:23The spleen's right in your way, and if you poke it, it bleeds.
24:28There's her spleen, getting in the way.
24:30Scooch around, that's the liver.
24:32That there is the diaphragm,
24:33which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity.
24:35Wow.
24:36And you can just see beating on the other side, that's the heart.
24:38The heart.
24:38I didn't think the diaphragm would be that translucent.
24:42Yeah, so you've got two parts of it.
24:43So you've got the muscular part, and then you've got the ligamentous part.
24:45So that ligamentous part is translucent.
24:49And now we are going to very carefully tilt,
24:51which is why we have strapped her into the table.
24:55So right now we're going for her left ovary.
24:57What's that bit there, a kidney?
24:59So yeah, absolutely.
25:00Yeah, kidney shaped.
25:01That's the spleen.
25:03That's the liver.
25:04This here is the colon, and this bit over here is the uterus.
25:08Oh my goodness.
25:08So it's very, very thin and long compared to a human uterus.
25:12Now you've got two prongs in there.
25:14What's the bit that you're holding?
25:16So these are called rat tooth forceps.
25:20And what you'll see, it's almost like dogs would desire to have keyhole space,
25:24because there's a little handle in there that we like to grab.
25:27I'm going to be putting a stitch through the abdominal wall
25:28to hold this up and out of the way of everything important while we dissect it off.
25:32Feeling for my forceps.
25:34So I know the ovary's attached, but I'm going to be putting a stitch down, through.
25:39We're going to have a look now, see if I've caught it.
25:41Yeah.
25:42Gotcha.
25:42Well done.
25:44Because the reality with keyhole surgery is that it's an absolutely different skill set.
25:52It's a different learning curve.
25:53How many years in vet school do you do?
25:55Five years.
25:56Since graduating, Andy has spent years developing his expertise in keyhole and advanced laparoscopic procedures.
26:04With over 2,000 surgeries to his name, he's highly skilled in this minimally invasive approach.
26:11So I've got these forceps, and these are sending an electrical current to heat up and seal the tissue.
26:17So it's making the collagen bind to itself.
26:21So I've grabbed that, and now I'm going to press this foot pedal, and we are sealing that tissue, sending an electric current through.
26:28Now I'm going to pull a trigger, which is going to send a blade through to cut it.
26:33So that's almost cauterized it, really?
26:35Absolutely.
26:36It's called vessel sealing.
26:37You should hear the sound go, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo.
26:40Well, that's the sound to tell me that it's sealed.
26:41I'm going to carefully pull this out of the abdomen, trying not to drop it, otherwise I'll have to go hunting for it.
26:49And there it is.
26:50The ovary.
26:51I make sure I visualize the ovary every single time.
26:53We need to make sure we've got all of it.
26:55Is that there?
26:56Yes, yes.
26:56That is the ovary.
26:57It's teeny.
26:58Teeny little thing.
26:59This is a completely inert ovary, so there's no evidence that she's anywhere close to being in season.
27:05You all right there, lady?
27:06Like most female mammals, Etty has two ovaries, so Andy moves to the opposite side of the operating table to complete the spay.
27:18That there is the ureter.
27:19So that's what takes urine from the kidney down to the urinary bladder.
27:23Right.
27:23And it's imperative when doing spays that that does not get damaged.
27:28Let's have a look at everything over here.
27:30You can see that major blood vessel pulsing.
27:32You don't want to mess around with that.
27:34Kidney's over there, hiding under the liver.
27:37That all looks extremely healthy.
27:39It's like looking under a bonnet.
27:41So what I've done is I've put this stitch through the actual ovary.
27:45Is it just the ovaries you're going to take out?
27:48You don't go near the uterus at the same time?
27:50No, we are just going to be removing the ovaries.
27:53We've established it's absolutely fine to only remove the ovaries rather than having to remove the whole thing,
27:57unless the uterus itself looks unhealthy, in which case you should remove it all.
28:01We're going to pull the trigger, which is going to send my blade through.
28:05Wow, what a piece of kit that is.
28:07It's pretty good.
28:09Recovery after spay surgery is usually straightforward.
28:13And with keyhole procedures, it's even quicker, with most dogs back on their paws after just a few days of rest.
28:19Because the incisions are so small, the chances of the stitches splitting and there being a major issue is so low,
28:27my patients are generally doing 40 minutes off the lead's worth of exercise within five to six days post-operatively.
28:34Now we just need to close up these little holes.
28:37Stitching that small incision can sometimes be, for me, the most frustrating part of this procedure.
28:41So she's still looking good, Alice.
28:43Still looking good.
28:45This is an easy one.
28:47Right there for me.
28:48Got it.
28:49Got the muscle wall there.
28:51So we're going to put, stitch through one side.
28:54So this was a beautiful surgery to do because she's so well cared for.
28:58We treasure our animals.
29:00Absolutely.
29:05Etty was taken in by her owners as a pup.
29:08But not all animals have such a smooth start to life.
29:11Across the UK, hundreds of rescue centres are working tirelessly to give dogs a second chance.
29:18From large national charities to small local shelters, an estimated 110,000 dogs are rehomed every year.
29:27Each with a story and all hoping for a fresh start.
29:33And this local rehoming charity is making a big difference to dogs' lives.
29:38Gerry Watkins and the team at Bristol Dog Action Welfare Group, or D.O.R.G., offer sanctuary to dogs without homes across the UK.
29:50Our mission is to rescue as many greyhounds and lurchers as we can.
29:56Every year we rehome between 75 and 100 dogs.
30:01There's an absolute abundance of greyhounds looking for rescue from both the racing and the coursing industry.
30:07Come on, darling, there's a good girl. You're a little bit timid, aren't you?
30:11The dogs which we get arrive from Ireland in the middle of the night.
30:14They don't look the tidiest.
30:16Their coats look a bit raggy and a bit untidy and they could do with a really good brush.
30:22We then bring them to the rescue.
30:24They may have had a rough start in life, but things are about to get a whole lot better.
30:29Oh, bless.
30:30We keep all the greyhounds which arrive initially for a two-week assessment period.
30:36So we can assess their suitability, what sort of homes they're ready to go to.
30:41We make sure that they've got no medical issues.
30:44They spend time with them.
30:45The dogs get lots of attention.
30:47They get brushed.
30:48They get fed well.
30:49As kennel supervisor, Nina Atwood oversees the welfare of every dog from the moment they arrive at the rescue centre,
31:00making sure that they receive the medical care they need to be fit and healthy for their new lives.
31:06The best thing about my job is definitely the dogs.
31:09They are completely built for speed, so they've got a big, long tail, which is like a rudder for when they go around the corners.
31:24They've got a different heart to a normal dog because they go so fast, so quickly.
31:28All the blood goes to the left ventricle, so it's bigger because otherwise they'd pass out.
31:33Everyone's under the preconception that they take masses and masses of exercise,
31:40but they're quite happy with little two 20-minute walks a day.
31:44These dogs have spent two, possibly three years in kennels.
31:48Come on then.
31:49There's a good boy.
31:50The human connection is what they value when they get here because it's something that most of them haven't had before.
31:59Come on then.
32:00Good boy.
32:01Good lad.
32:02Come on then.
32:03Ben is from Racing Kennels.
32:06He's only two years old.
32:07He's got such a gentle nature and a lovely, lovely temperament.
32:12When Ben first arrived, he was a little bit underweight.
32:15We've had him now just over two weeks and he's already put on a kilo.
32:18He's now ready for rehoming.
32:23We have about 60 to 70 volunteers who we couldn't manage without.
32:29That's a good boy.
32:31Nigel Stevens has been a dedicated volunteer at the rescue center for the past three years.
32:38Greyhound.
32:39Greyhounds are special.
32:40Greyhounds are special.
32:40They have got the most beautiful souls ever.
32:44I first started volunteering here because my greyhound died and my wife saw that I was missing her.
32:54Stop.
32:54My Labrador's Penny and Lila help to socialise the greyhounds here.
33:05A majority of our dogs come from the racing industry.
33:05It's likely that they have never met a different breed than a greyhound.
33:11We're going to bring him in here with a muzzle just for his own safety, not because he's dangerous.
33:28Good boy.
33:30Can I come and see?
33:32Come on up.
33:33Hello.
33:34What's that?
33:35Good boy.
33:36Good boy.
33:38We walked Ben around the paddock to see how he interacted with the dogs.
33:42Body language was really good.
33:44He was really chilled.
33:45Good boy, Ben.
33:47Good boy.
33:49Ben is a very even-tempered dog.
33:52When he came in, he didn't seem at all bothered by the Labradors.
33:55Perfect. Well done.
33:58Ben's reaction today with the pack was absolutely amazing.
34:02Ten out of ten from him.
34:03I love him.
34:06I am always a great believer that the dog picks their owners.
34:12I just feel very, very emotional when a dog does go.
34:16Every dog that leaves us, we've given a second shot at life.
34:21It's just a wonderful feeling to see those dogs go off to new homes and new families.
34:26Come on in.
34:26Let's go.
34:31Coming up, we find out how Bailey, the lovable Labrador with a painful limp, is getting on.
34:37Bailey.
34:38And meets the ex-racer, setting her sights on a new career.
34:42You can go and train to be a therapy dog.
34:45Uh-oh.
34:47Vet bills.
34:49Don't worry, Dad.
34:50I'll eat them.
34:50Ha-ha.
34:52See you later.
34:52Fern Britain Inside the Vets, brought to you by Petplan Insurance.
34:56Uh-oh.
34:57Vet bills.
34:59Don't worry, Dad.
35:00I'll eat them.
35:00Ha-ha.
35:02See you later.
35:02Fern Britain Inside the Vets, brought to you by Petplan Insurance.
35:05Flossie, a rescue greyhound, has come a long way since her days on the track.
35:15Today, she's going back to grow vets with her new owner, Molly Rose.
35:20Right.
35:21Come on in.
35:23Here they are.
35:24Hi.
35:25To meet Vets, James, for a follow-up routine vaccination.
35:30Ooh, two of them.
35:32Nice to see you.
35:33Who have we got here?
35:34So, we have Flossie here.
35:35She's an Irish greyhound.
35:37Mm-hmm.
35:37And Remy.
35:38And he's a whippet.
35:39He's a whippet.
35:40And then Flossie here.
35:42Mm-hmm.
35:43Greyhound, obviously.
35:44Irish greyhound, yes.
35:45And they're good friends.
35:46We had Remy for, like, nine years before we got Floss.
35:49Remy tolerated her at the beginning.
35:52Was very patient.
35:54Flossie is a rescued racer.
35:56She had no idea about manners, toys.
35:59She didn't know how to play.
36:00She didn't know how to run for fun.
36:02And she learned all of it from Remy, like, he was a wonderful teacher.
36:06So, she loves him.
36:09He handles it.
36:14Each year, thousands of people across the UK
36:17welcome rescue dogs into their lives.
36:20Not just for companionship,
36:22but also to give an animal in need a second chance.
36:25My husband and I had always liked the idea of having a second dog.
36:30Being able to do something small, like adopting a greyhound,
36:33it made me remember, actually, there are little things that we can do
36:37that can make a difference.
36:38Flossie has changed a lot since we adopted her.
36:43She needed a lot of TLC.
36:46She was very timid before.
36:49She was very jumpy at loud noises.
36:51And now, she is an absolute queen.
36:56Remy, yes, I know you've been a very good boy.
36:59But it's not about you, is it?
37:01It's all about your mate here, Flossie.
37:02This is her appointment.
37:04What are you going to do, James?
37:05So, Flossie's come down for her second vaccination, hasn't she?
37:07Second vaccination, yes.
37:08So, we did her first vaccination about four weeks ago
37:11to get her immunity levels boosted back up to speed.
37:15So, how old is she?
37:17She is six.
37:19Six, but she hasn't had any injections before?
37:22She was vaccinated when we got her.
37:23She came with her pet passport and all her jabs,
37:26but we needed to get them up to date
37:28because I want to register as a therapy dog.
37:30And so, to register as a therapy dog,
37:32you have to have vaccinations all up to date.
37:33And she's fitting well in herself, you're happy?
37:36Yeah, she's all good.
37:38How was she for the first vaccination?
37:39Did she help or was she...?
37:41No, she was absolutely fine.
37:41Ah, good.
37:42She is a strong Irish lass.
37:43Yeah.
37:44She's very stoic.
37:45You say she's rescued.
37:47Where did you rescue her from?
37:48I was volunteering at a local greyhound charity
37:51and I just remember Flossie,
37:54she looked up at me from the kennel
37:55and she was really quiet and very still
37:59and I felt really affected by it.
38:01Fascinating that she spoke to you
38:03and you heard her.
38:04There's a proper communication with animals, isn't it?
38:08A hundred percent.
38:08And I think the rescue story is so beautiful, you know,
38:11because rescue dogs,
38:12they do kind of carry this stigma
38:13that they're either broken dogs
38:15or there's something wrong with them.
38:15Troubled.
38:16Or troubled.
38:17And often they are in rescue centres
38:19through absolutely no fault of their own.
38:21So I think that that journey
38:23and that relationship can just be so special.
38:26Well, you carry on with this second...
38:28Yeah, we are right.
38:28This is the important one, darling.
38:30Once you've got this in you,
38:31you can go and train to be a therapy dog.
38:35So, should we do the vaccination?
38:37Yes, do it, Flossie.
38:38I'm going to inject into her neck back here.
38:40You have to have a little hold of her collar for me.
38:42Good girl, Flossie.
38:45Good girl, Flossie.
38:47Good girl.
38:47Good girl, Flossie.
38:49Flossie, congratulations.
38:50Well done.
38:52And I'm expecting to hear good things from you, all right?
38:55Yes.
38:58Flossie has found comfort, care
39:00and a family to call her own.
39:04But second chances aren't just for dogs.
39:08This well-travelled rescue cat
39:10has recently arrived in Bristol.
39:13She's been brought in by her new owner, Imogen.
39:16Hi.
39:17Hi.
39:17How are you doing?
39:18I'm fine, thanks. How are you?
39:19Very well, thank you.
39:20For a follow-up with James to check a wound
39:22that reopened after spay surgery
39:24performed shortly before her adoption journey to the UK.
39:29Right.
39:30How are we doing then?
39:32She's settling in very well.
39:34Good.
39:35Hello.
39:35Now, last time I saw you, we didn't have a name, did we?
39:40Have we got the name sorted?
39:42Buffy.
39:43Buffy.
39:44Oh, I love it.
39:46The Slayer.
39:47Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
39:50Hi, Buffy.
39:51I love what you said that we have to wait
39:53until you've kind of got to know her personality.
39:55Yes.
39:56Especially with rescues, I think,
39:57because they are their own little characters, aren't they?
40:00Yes.
40:00Good girl.
40:05Buffy's personality is very sweet.
40:08She purrs the second that you touch her.
40:11There are a lot of cat rescue groups in the Middle East
40:14who really want to re-home their cats in the UK
40:17because they know that we're such a nation of pet lovers.
40:22She was flown over from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow
40:26and then somebody couriered her to Bristol.
40:30Quite strange to just have a little cat from the Middle East
40:34suddenly appear at my doorstep, but very lovely.
40:39The thing that I love most about my cats
40:41is that they are really calming and soothing
40:44whenever I feel overwhelmed or stressed.
40:48I was diagnosed with autism when I was 21.
40:53The world isn't built for autistic people
40:56or neurodivergent people,
40:58so we have to have different ways to cope.
41:01And for me, the way that I do that
41:03is coming home to my cats and having a cuddle with them.
41:07Buffy is very special to me.
41:11I had Buffy for three days before.
41:13I noticed that her spay wound had opened.
41:16I checked with her fosterer in Abu Dhabi
41:20and she said that she'd only been spayed a few weeks before.
41:23We took her in for an emergency appointment the next day.
41:26James put three staples in her with the help of Amy.
41:30Thankfully, they were able to see me quickly
41:32because I was quite concerned.
41:37And obviously what we're looking at today
41:39is how these staples might have helped.
41:43This was the surgery done by the rescue centre abroad, wasn't it?
41:47We just had the wound open up slightly.
41:49Hopefully those staples have brought it back together.
41:52Has she been leaving them alone?
41:54She doesn't seem to have noticed them at all, to be honest.
41:56Right. She does look like she's left that alone beautifully, actually.
42:00Let's take those staples out today,
42:02but what we'll do is one by one
42:03and we'll just sort of make sure that the wound
42:05is genuinely held together.
42:08You're being very brave at the doctor's, aren't you?
42:10Okay, so would you be happy to almost sort of hold her
42:15with her belly facing me?
42:17Sure.
42:17And then I can go down the line and see.
42:22Okay, okay, let's have a look.
42:26That's brilliant.
42:28That looks good.
42:28Right, that's one out.
42:29We'll just do the next.
42:32It's okay, little sausage.
42:35It's okay.
42:36Third one.
42:37Beautiful.
42:39And that's number three.
42:40Well done.
42:42And that has held really nicely.
42:43So that's great.
42:45That's saved us having to do any further surgery there.
42:47So the skin's knitted together really well.
42:49The muscle underneath feels absolutely fine.
42:52She's so chill, isn't she?
42:53Considering everything she's been through.
42:55So that's us all done with Buffy.
42:58So this is the bit she's not quite so keen on, is it?
43:01What do you think?
43:02Do you want to go back in your little basket?
43:05Oh.
43:06Yay!
43:07There we go.
43:08Oh, what a good girl.
43:09They often know, don't they?
43:10They never want to get in the basket at home, but they always know when they're at the vet's.
43:13Yeah, it's over.
43:15Exactly.
43:17I'm really pleased about that.
43:18Perfect.
43:18Thank you so much.
43:19Great. No worries.
43:19Back at home, one much-loved patient has been following his recovery plan.
43:31Labradors on the whole don't show pain.
43:33They won't yelp.
43:36They will be very stoical about the whole thing.
43:39Previously, Bailey was limping, his right leg causing him pain.
43:44When we went to the vets, the first thing they suggested we do is to find out exactly what's
43:49happening, get a baseline.
43:51And to do that, they were going to x-ray the right leg.
43:56Three weeks later, we're back with Bailey and his owner, Claire.
44:00Bailey!
44:01To see how he's been getting on, from joint supplements and slower walks, to carefully
44:07managed medication.
44:09Boys!
44:11But has it all been enough to help Bailey feel more comfortable and bring back some spring
44:16in his step?
44:17When the x-ray came back, they found that he has arthritis.
44:22He's never going to not have arthritis, but we can manage it.
44:27We are injecting him once a month for three months.
44:31For the chronic arthritis, we give him anti-inflammatories every day with his evening meal.
44:38Already, it's made a significant improvement, and we've only had one injection.
44:42I'm hoping that this improvement will continue over the next three months, and then maybe
44:48you won't need to have those injections again.
44:53There is such an improvement in Bailey's daily life.
44:57You feel you've done your job as a dog owner.
45:00It's so nice to see that he now wants to run, and he wants to play, because he didn't for
45:08a time.
45:08You just want them to have a full standard of life, and that means going out for walks,
45:16running, playing with other dogs, playing with his brother.
45:22Their happy place is when they're together.
45:25It also makes my job as a dog owner very easy, because there's a lot of exercise going on
45:30there, which I don't actually have to instigate.
45:32When I went to the vet, whatever the vet said, we were going to do that.
45:35That's what matters, and it's worth every penny.
45:38We are a nation of pet lovers.
45:41If you enjoy your pet, it adds an awful lot to your life.
45:46Not just a companion in the house, but the reason to get out on a cold, wet, rainy day.
45:53Good for all our mental health.
45:55Good boys.
45:56What does the future hold for Bailey?
45:57Well, he's got a couple of weeks in Cornwall, coming up soon, so he'll be doing a lot of
46:00swimming.
46:01Hopefully another good four or five years of a really lovely life.
46:07I adore that dog.
46:09Absolutely.
46:09Bailey is my dog.
46:10Next time, all is calm at the vets.
46:40As I'm given a front row seat in the operating theatre.
46:43He's not in any distress.
46:44He probably doesn't even know what's happening.
46:47He's a bit snoring.
46:47He's just having a nice little snore.
46:51And Barney, a Macedonian rescue dog, goes under James' knife.
46:56He's nice and relaxed, my end, which is exactly what we need.
47:00He's nice and relaxed.
47:17Mmm, I'm loving this place.
47:34Fern Britain Inside the Vet, brought to you by Petplan.
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