CHRISTOPHER TIMOTHY: Across Yorkshire's moors and dales,
the world's most famous vets set the benchmark for animal care.
And James Herriot's legacy lives on.
COWS MOO
His former trainee Peter Wright...
All my life, I've enjoyed doing this.
...has been a Yorkshire vet for over 40 years.
I'm getting the impression that you wouldn't take me on as an assistant.
Is that right? Probably.
THEY LAUGH Peter's old partnerjulian Norton...
With a gloved hand and a lubricated finger,
I'm well-equipped. ..now runs two practices...
Come on, young man.
...one of them in the town where Herriot worked,
surrounded by the North Yorkshire landscape he loved.
Look at that. What a sheep!
And in the foothills of the Pennines...
I'm armed and ready.
...a new generation of town and country vets...
This is the closest tojames Bond I think I'm ever getting.
...also uphold the Herriot ethos.
Another day in paradise (!) The teams are united...
We can probably knock this off ourselves, do you think?
HE SCOFFS
...never taking their eyes off the ball.
Oh! Howzat!
THEY GRUNT AND LAUGH
...as they help animals of all shapes...
Didn't think I'd be hugging a turkey today.
Whoa! ..sizes...
That's more like pulling a calf out. ..types...
Nearly clone, nearly clone, Bertie. ..and temperaments.
Ow! Bit me. It's definitely not glamourous...
Penile amputations still make me squirm a little bit.
ENGINE ROARS ..but it's varied.
Heehaw!
LAUGHTER You ought to know better.
It's rarely easy... THEY GRUNT
...but they continue the Herriot tradition...
Whoa. ..treating all creatures...
That's it, there we go, there we go.
...Great... Aw, Merlin.
Come on. ..and small.
CHUCKLING: Hello-ho-ho!
BRAYING
BIRDSONG
MOOING
In Yorkshire's embrace, lie moors unfenced and free...
...blanketed by heather, like a quilt compiled.
A rich tapestry of unchanged hills woven through time,
crossed by ancient paths.
There's a welcome for all who wander here.
And for those in need, a helping hand.
The bond between Peter and the farmers
on the fells and dales has been cemented over decades.
Today, he's heading up to the North York Moors
after an emergency call from old friends Clive and Libby.
I've just been requested to go and see Clive
who is having difficulty with a ewe that's lambing.
LAMB BLEATS
One has been born naturally about two hours ago,
and he's having problems with the other two.
BLEATING CONTINUES He has two pals, she's a triplet.
I think there's four feet and one head coming.
Ancl he's not a big ewe, just not too much room.
There's quite a jumble of heads and feet.
And it is quite a while, isn't it, since she had...?
It's a while since that lamb was born.
He's up and running, is that, so we'll just see what we can find.
Certainly, you would have expected a second one to have been born by now.
So the fact that she hasn't got on with it could be an issue
because if the placenta starts to separate,
then the lambs lose their oxygen and can die.
Now, Clive. Now, Peter.
Have you got a problem? She's had one.
Right. Ancl there's two still in there.
Is this our patient here? This is her. As you see, he's, uh...
Yeah, he's up and about. ..up and about.
But his mates are all jumbled up by the sounds of things.
They are. We've got to catch this girl first.
She's... She's quite lively, and I think she's...
BLEATING By, that was a very good...
I was very impressed there, Clive. CLIVE LAUGHS
Very impressed. You've clone that before haven't you?
Aye, but I don't do it as easy as I did 20 years since, Peter.
PETER LAUGHS
Right. Let's have a look and see what's going on here.
They're not massive. No, I see what you mean, though.
But they're jumbled up, aren't they? They are jumbled up.
There's a leg there,
ancl that doesn't belong to the head that's coming.
Now, that leg belongs to the right lamb,
that leg... doesn't, so that leg'll have to go.
Sorry, you're going to have to wait your turn.
BLEATING
just be patient, missus.
Just be patient and concentrate on the job in hand.
BLEATING just a minute.
Right, here we go. Here we go.
BLEATING
Yeah. Lovely.
This one's absolutely fine,
shaking his head and glad to be out in the world.
There you are, missus.
Have a look at that one, that's yours.
Yes, now you're shaping. Right.
On this second one... Head back?
No. This one's kicking its way out, Clive.
This one's coming the other way. Backwards? Backwards.
So there is a little problem.
Whoa, girl. Steady, pet.
Dogs love dinner time, and a tasty treat or two.
WHISPERS: Do you want a biscuit?
But some struggle to sniff out what's on or off the menu.
You clever girl!
And at the practice in Wetherby,
the next patient finds everything irresistible.
Good boy. Archie and his grandad, Herb,
have brought in their two-year-old black Lab, Buddy.
He's here because he's been eating a load of rubbish.
You just can't leave anything. Yeah.
And they really do mean anything.
About a week ago now, he ate all of our tea.
Two steak pies.
Sausage roll, pizza,
a sock, rubber, a gift card.
£20 on that gift card.
Julian has met this serial-offender before.
Buddy, do you want to come through? He looks very pleased with himself.
And Buddy's latest unusual meal
really is something to write home about.
What he's eaten today is a letter that came for me.
When did it happen? Sometime after lunch.
It was sitting on the table,
and it's obviously been a bit of a temptation to him.
And has he been sick since, or...? No.
Not been sick.
Paper doesn't digest, so it can form an obstruction.
A proper, full-blown obstruction, the serious ones,
make dogs vomit all the time,
but if it's still in the stomach, we should be able to get it out,
which is probably the easiest way to go.
And I guess you'll probably wanna see
what's on the contents of the letter. Yeah.
If we give him an injection, that'll make him sick,
and then hopefully everything'll come out.
If it's left his stomach, and it's gone into the intestines,
then it probably won't come out,
and then we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.
Well, what I'll do, I'll take him through.
It's best if you don't watch him being sick cos it's not very nice.
HE CHUCKLES
So, this is totally the opposite to what we like to do to dogs
cos mostly we want to stop them being sick.
I hate doing this,
but it saves possibly more serious consequences down the line.
Like all the team, Nurse Kaitlin has come to know Buddy quite well.
We had Buddy in last week.
We definitely seem to have reoccurring patients that come in
for things they shouldn't be eating frequently.
But hopefully, they get out of the habit.
Good boy. Good boy, Buddy. I'm really sorry about this, mate.
Oh, well clone. Good boy.
You look very worried, mister. He does.
He says, "Well, the last time I was here,
"it was every bit as bad."
Initially, he'll be starting to feel a bit confused and a bit queasy.
He'll be wondering why he's suddenly not feeling very well.
And then, eventually, he'll throw it up.
So, if we can get it out by making this come up,
then that would be very much preferable
and worth the... worth the nausea, Buddy.
Oh, poor old fellow. I'm sorry about this.
Oh, he's going.
Oh, here we go. Oh, yuck.
Good boy. Oh, God.
BUDDY VOMITS Oh, wow.
What's that?
BUDDY WHIMPERS
The lamb's out backwards...
That's it, you shake it out. That's it.
...but things still aren't straightforward.
Sometimes when they're coming backwards, Clive...
It can be t'death of them. It can be.
And Matt meets a much-loved meerkat...
Oh, I know. It's all strange, isn't it, sweetheart?
...with teeth trouble.
Come on. We'll get you fixed up, eh? Eurgh, that is nasty.
CHRISTOPHER TIMOTHY: On Clive and Libby's farm,
Peter has just delivered the second of two stuck triplets.
Right. But the third lamb is coming backwards.
This fella is kicking his way through. Here we go.
Nice and gently, just ease him out.
Ease him out. That's it, there we are.
There. What do you reckon?
A little bit of fluid on him as well.
That's it, you shake it out. That's it, get rid of it.
Yeah, quite a lot of fluid on him. Hasn't he just?
Sometimes when they're coming backwards, Clive,
that sometimes happens. It can be t'death of them.
It can be. It can.
It forces it onto the lungs, doesn't it? It does.
Ancl yeah, this chap...
just going to swing him a bit, really.
You're all right, we're just checking a drop of gravy out of him.
It's still coming out. It is.
BLEATING
That's no good on your chest, is it? In your airways.
Right, I think that's... I think that's got it, Clive.
There you are. Here you are, look.
That's it, there now.
What a lovely sight.
That's an excellent result.
I don't think Mrs Gray is going to be particularly happy, though,
because ewes only have two teats.
And that means we're going to have a pet lamb,
unless Clive could be very clever
and foster this one onto a ewe that's only got one lamb.
Can you manage? Yes, thank you, Peter.
CLIVE IMPERSONATES SHEEP
There you go, lass.
Good outcome. Three nice lambs.
We'll mother one onto a single one when we get chance.
Ancl they'll both rear two each, hopefully.
That's turned out quite nicely. Yeah, very satisfying, really.
Nice, small lambs. Well, they would be, being triplets.
Just a bit of a jumble. Yeah.
Ancl the chap behind was wanting
to push his way past the lady with the head there.
The other thing I want to say - this is very luxurious, you know.
Hot water, soap and a towel.
I feel quite spoilt. What more could I want?
Oh, you can have a job if you want! PETER LAUGHS
You know, joking aside, lambing time,
it's a hard time cos you get so little sleep, don't you? Mm.
You get to about clay 15, and you're very tired.
You're flagging a bit, aren't you? You're flagging.
We start to have words then. LAUGHTER
I can understand that, you know. Yes.
Well, that's a lovely outcome. Yes.
I know what you're gonna say -
"|'d like to see you, but I don't want to see you over soon."
That's about fight. And not at work.
That's about right, Peter. Yes.
In the pub for a pint would be better, wouldn't it?
Certainly would. It certainly would! THEY LAUGH
While delivering spring lambs is one of a vet's greatest pleasures,
in Wetherby, Julian's patient has just delivered something
that's not quite first-class.
JULIAN: Doesn't look like a letter. KAITLYN: No, it does not.
Unlike most days at the practice,
Julian and Kaitlyn have actually made
two-year-old Labrador Buddy sick.
Definitely not something you'd want coming through your Letterbox,
I don't think. No.
Because the canine dustbin has eaten the family post.
There we are. Oh, yes. That's an envelope.
It's an unreadable letter, I think.
Gosh, look, oh, it's one of those letters with a little window in.
"Return to sender." KAITLYN LAUGHS
Buddy's owner, Archie, and his grandad, Herb,
are hoping for clearer communication fromjulian.
So, the bad news is you won't be able to read your letter.
That's fine. THEY CH UCKLE
But with that much less in his stomach,
I think he'll feel quite a bit better.
So, where we always get worried
with potential foreign bodies in clogs
is if they get lodged somewhere like the stomach or the intestines,
it can be really serious.
If that is the case, dogs'll vomit all the time
and they get really poorly quite quickly. Yeah.
So the fact he's not doing that, I think it's not kind of critical.
Yeah. So...
he needs to, yeah, stop eating so many abnormal things. Yeah.
How's he getting on, Kaitlyn? All right.
We've had a little bit more sick, but only a little bit.
I'll give him this to stop him feeling sick,
like the antidote. Fabulous.
Ancl then I reckon he could probably go home.
Good boy. Good boy.
We need to keep a close eye on him over the next few clays,
just in case there's anything else in there.
Right, come, Buddy, home time.
Good luck. Sorry, Buddy.
Thank you, Julian. No problem.
Ancl the next job... the next job is clearing everything up.
All right. Come on. Thank you.
All right. Cheerio. Cheers.
'Well, Buddy's gone home probably feeling very sorry for himself.'
Came in initially quite pleased
that he'd had a whole array of food that he shouldn't have eaten.
ARCHIE: Good boy. Good lad.
'But sadly, he'll be feeling not very well now.'
THEY CHUCKLE
I suspect this isn't the last time we'll see him.
And the saga of Buddy and the foreign bodies
is no doubt set to continue.
The Labrador is the nation's most popular dog breed,
which, along with their boisterous nature,
makes them a familiar sight in veterinary waiting rooms.
But at the hospital in Huddersfield,
Matt often helps much rarer creatures.
Blooming hell, we're off, aren't we? He is. Eh?
Although, the one who's just arrived with Charlie and Grace
doesn't compare to the rest.
Today, I've got Myshka coming in, and Myshka is a meerkat.
Unfortunately, Myshka has got an abscess
coming from the top of her nose,
and it looks like she's got problems with her canines.
We don't see many pet meerkats come in
because they don't make very good pets.
However, Myshka is a bit of an exception.
While the RSPCA now advise against keeping meerkats as pets...
Morning, you all right? Come on through.
...Charlie rescued Myshka from an exotic-pet shop
ten years ago, when she was just a baby.
Oh, look at her little face! She's so cute.
MYSH KA CH I RPS
She were the last one of the litter, and nobody seemed to want her.
She didn't get on with any of t'others either,
but brought her home, introduced her to my cats. Yeah.
Got on like a house on fire with t'cats. Yeah.
Really? They cuddle together, yes.
Oh, fantastic. They play.
They chase each other round. And so she's...
Other than this teeth problem, we've not had any other worries,
concerns that we've got historically? No. Well...
No. No.
But while Myshka gets on with the cats,
her teeth are a problem in more ways than one.
I can do whatever I want with her. Nobody else can.
Really? Is she not a fan of you? No.
I had to go to A&E once when she bit me. Really?
Yeah. If I tried to touch her now, she'd have my fingers.
Doesn't like anyone else apart from... apart from you? Yeah.
Oh, I know. It's all strange, in't it, sweetheart?
MYSH KA CH I RPS
Well, I'd like to think I can develop
some sort of friendly relationship with her, but you know what?
The main thing is that she comes in, we get her teeth sorted
and she gets back home and we have plenty of TLC there.
Just to keep her comfy, I might give her a little initial sedative
into the muscle now, if you're happy with that. Yes.
Obviously, if we can keep stress levels low,
it reduces risk further. Yeah.
Three, two, one. Oh, we're in. Shh. Shh. Shh.
There we go, well done.
I'll let you just bob her in there.
You don't do it unless you have to, and, you know, by the sounds of it,
we need to get those teeth sorted, don't we, really? Yeah.
Eh?
She's just having a snooze. I know, I know...
She's having a snooze.
Don't worry, she's in safe hands, eh, Myshka?
Speak soon. All right? See you later.
Come on, Myshka.
I know, it's all a bit strange, isn't it?
And you're a bit sleepy.
Come on. We'll get you fixed up, eh?
MYSHKA BARKS
We're just giving her some oxygen,
and we're going to give her a little bit of gas an aesthetic as well.
And once she's nice and settled,
we're going to put a tube in and get started on those teeth.
LAUGHING: Aw! I'm all right.
You'll be all right. I'm all right. OK.
CHARLIE INHALES Oh, clear.
Eurgh, that is nasty.
Coming up...
I'm a carb queen. I just love carbs.
"Julian and Lucy have a dietary disagreement.
Have you ever had a beetroot and feta salad?
That probably sounds like my worst night...
I don't even know what feta is.
And a cheesed-off bull...
ROHIN: Stubborn little guy, isn't he?
...has no appetite to meet Rohin.
He knows what's up. FARMER: Oh, he knows, he does.
CH RISTOPH ER TIMOTHY: In Huddersfield,
Matt and nurse Kiera are in theatre
with much-loved but moody meerkat Myshka.
MATT: Right, let's get this one off.
They need to remove the elderly girl's infected teeth
that have caused an abscess.
Canines are massive teeth,
and to remove them is always quite a big undertaking,
so I've got to slowly move the gum away.
The last thing that I want to do is snap the canine
cos then there's a root left, and then... job's over then.
Turns into a real mess.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Ancl if you're too aggressive or you put too much force in,
you can break the jaw.
Eurgh, I can even smell that.
If I didn't remove this tooth,
unfortunately, the infection would continue to persist,
and if Myshka was in the wild, then she'd likely die.
The steadier I do this, the more successful the surgery will be.
We're going. MATT GRUNTS
The source of all the problems, that little, tiny tooth there.
The tooth's come out.
Some of the root has been eaten away,
so certainly the end of that tooth has been destroyed.
Ancl I'm just now making sure that there's no remaining infection
that's in that tooth root area.
This lower canine is actually worse than the upper one.
Here we go. Here it comes.
Eurgh. That came out really quite well,
but I'm concerned there's another root
that's deeper inside her mouth.
Right. Let's get that x-ray.
Right, ready? MACHINE BEEPS
Right.
I'm really happy I've got the root out there.
I've got the bottom canine out as well,
so it's time to clean up the rest of those teeth
and get Myshka onto the recovery table.
Apart from these two canines,
I don't think she'll need to have any more out,
but we'll give them a scale and polish
and get all that bacteria and nastiness away.
Right. All clone. Sorted.
Scaled, polished. Hollywood smile. Those canines out. Roots all gone.
Plan now is to get Myshka into some warm blankets,
some more fluids under her skin just before she wakes up,
make sure her energy levels are high and get her into a good recovery.
Over in Wetherby, as thoughts turn to lunchtime,
Lucy is telling Julian her dos and don'ts of dining out.
If I go out, right,
my boyfriend got a Caesar salad once,
and I just thought, "That is just embarrassing."
LAUGHING: Why? Cos he's a boy.
So, like, they came up to me,
they went, "Oh, is the Caesar salad for you?"
I went "No.
"I don't go out and think, 'Oh, let me go for a lovely meal,
" 'first time I've been for a meal in two week, let me get a salad.'
"The calzone's for me, the Caesar salad's for him."
I'm a carb queen. I just love carbs.
All I eat is ca rbs.
And when it comes to carbs, Lucy does do things by halves.
You can have halfy-halves,
so you can have half pizza, half pasta. What?
What? You have half pizza and half pasta? Yeah.
I don't think that's healthy.
Well, it's not like I do it every night.
Why don't you have half pizza, half salad?
That is the last thing I'm gonna do.
Have you ever had a beetroot and feta salad?
That probably sounds like my worst night...
I don't even know what feta is.
What about a calzone with, like, chorizo and chicken?
Do you not think they're much better than a salad?
You haven't had some of my salads. LUCY LAUGHS
I can make a perfectly good pizza and fold it over at home.
Ancl I'd rather have that than if you said,
"Oh, do you wanna come round for a salad?"
JULIAN LAUGHS
Would you like me to bring one back from town?
If you want, but I don't think...
I've got a ham and cheese sandwich with Gouda and ham,
so I know what I'd rather have. JULIAN LAUGHS
Recently, Julian's team met Buddy... a two-year old black Lab
who wasn't so particular about his food.
Two steak pies, sausage roll, pizza,
a sock, a rubber, a gift card.
£20 on that gift card.
And after they made him sick to deliver the letter he'd eaten...
Bud, here!
...Buddy's feeling much better at home with Archie...
He was really happy to be home.
...and his mum, Becky.
It's basically like having a child
that you have to move everything off the side from.
And that's what we have to do with Buddy.
Give me paw. Good boy.
Buddy is a troublesome child. You can't leave anything around.
Oh! What have I got? ARCHIE LAUGHS
'But we love him anyway.'
But thankfully, Buddy's never been so hungry...
Come on, Bud, let's go! ..that he could eat a horse.
Quite often, Archie goes for a ride, and Buddy will come with us.
It's keeping him out of trouble.
Bud, look! Bud!
While Archie is in there playing ball with Buddy,
then I don't have to be worrying
about him eating socks or eating paper.
Ancl it just means that everybody's happy and everybody's safe.
Right, you ready?
And I love him! SHE FUSSES
Right, you ready, Bud? Let's go.
Come on. Come on. BUDDY BARKS
In Thirsk, jean Green's cats never go hungry...
Here comes the ginger one, sauntering up. Come on!
...despite an ever-increasing number...
PETER: I've a young lady here wanting a new home,
and I couldn't think of anywhere better.
Oh, she's gorgeous, Pete. She's lovely.
...many of whom the Greens rescued after a tough start in life.
The box and blanket they were in had been set fire to.
We've got Phoenix, which is the ginger one,
cos he rose from the ashes.
Maisie. Right, let's have a listen.
It just doesn't bear thinking about, does it?
That anybody could be so cruel.
But today on the farm...
Come on. Bup-bup-bup-bup! CATS MEOW
...sadly, there's one hungry mouth missing.
Poor Dougie, he was eight months old...
...and he was out walking,
and we think somebody'd run him over with a car,
and we had to put him to sleep.
He was only a kitten, enjoying life to t'full.
And I put him in a cardboard box, and I give Peter a call.
There was no chance of saving him,
so I said to Pete, "just quietly put him to sleep."
Best place for him. So we did.
And we buried him next morning on the farm
like the rest of the animals.
But, by, we do miss him.
We miss him crazy.
And Peter's making a follow-up visit to comfort his friend.
Hi, stranger. How are you?
Sad day, innit, when we lost Dougie?
It is, jean. It is. But...
I've been thinking about it a lot. I have.
Your cats have always had freedom to come and go as they please.
They can live in, they can live out. Yeah.
Ancl when you look at this morning, they're all out sunbathing. Yeah.
The alternative would be to keep them fastened up.
Well, that wouldn't be right.
That wouldn't be right. I wouldn't do it.
It would be cruel.
Ancl even though horrible things happened,
like happened to Dougie,
it just wouldn't be fair to keep them cooped up.
It's just one of them things. That's life.
It is, jean. Ancl I know you were very upset.
I was very upset, cos Dougie was a lovely character, wasn't he?
There was nothing we could do, just quietly pop him to sleep.
Well, what I've got, I've got a little something here,
because you probably remember that Dougie, Maisie and Phoenix,
they came to be neutered.
Ancl there's a little present here,
and it's really just a little memorial.
Oh, I like it! Do you like that?
Isn't it cute, Steve?
It represents all three of them, doesn't it?
We've got Phoenix, we've got Maisie,
and we've got Dougie on the end there.
Nice, isn't it? I like it. Thank you very much.
No, you're very welcome.
You remember every one of your cats, don't you? Yeah.
From the first one you gave me, which was Fluff.
PETER CHUCKLES I can picture her now.
And she lived to a good old age, didn't she? 27.
Yeah. Your cats do live to a ripe old age,
and I think it's because the way lead the lives, really.
They can live in, and they can live out,
they can take their pick, can't they? Yeah.
I've got to say, your husband's reached a ripe old age now.
Does he have as good a lifestyle as your cats?
Oh, yes. He can go in, and he can go out.
LAUGHTER
He can sleep with Mother Greenfield if he likes, or he can come indoors.
Ancl I've got to ask, is he house-trained?
Oh, very well... LAUGHTER
...very well house-trained, yes.
It'll always remind me of him.
I think it's absolutely fantastic. Fan-tabby-doo-dah.
PETER CHUCKLES Yeah. Magic!
I think that's gone down very well with Mrs Green.
It's always very, very sad as a veterinary surgeon
when we see one of our clients losing a clear, beloved pet.
Ancl certainly, Dougie, he had a very short life but a very happy one.
Ancl I think what we brought today will help her
just to remember Dougie as he was,
sitting there, just watching the world go by
and just enjoying life as all her cats do.
Across Yorkshire, since graduating as a vet,
Rohin has already had to deal with his share of tough times.
Whenever one of our clogs passes away, Rohin,
we bury them, and we plant a fruit tree.
He won't be forgotten, isn't it? It means you'll always...
TEARFULLY: You'll always remember that.
And while always learning...
VET: Are you familiar with this sliding knot?
I've not. I've done walking sutures,
but I've not done a knot like that before.
...he's also enjoyed plenty of highs.
That's amazing.
It's such a remarkable story, you know,
for him to overcome that many odds.
Although today, vet student Emily is eager to learn from him
as he attempts to carry out a size able task.
We've come here to see Tim, who's one of our local farmers,
and he's got a nine-month-old bull who when he was younger,
his testicles hadn't dropped, so he hasn't been castrated.
So we're here to solve that problem.
And it will be, yeah, nice to have Emily along as well
to be able to, you know, show her how we do it.
I've never clone one on a bull this big, so should be exciting to see.
But their young patient already has
something of a reputation on Tim's farm.
He's a little bit lively. Erm... a bit flighty.
The hardest part'll be getting him in the crush, to be honest.
He's a bit more like a gazelle than a cow.
All right, Tim. How'd you do?
How's it going? Good to see you. Good. Yeah.
You too. This is Emily.
Hi there. Hiya.
And the first job... is to catch the patient.
Come on, you. Come on.
Do you want to try and get him at t'back at that gate there?
This normally takes about twice as long as the actual procedure.
It can turn on a sixpence.
Come on. Come on.
He knows what's up. Oh, he knows, he does.
Go on, then. Come on, mate. There you go. That's it.
Your friend's coming too.
Nearly had him. Nearly there. He knows exactly what's going on.
He's not stupid. We'll keep trying.
BULL MOOS
Give up, give up! Come on. Go on, then. That's it.
Stubborn little guy, isn't he? Go on, mate!
There you go. That's it. There we go.
That could have gone a lot worse. That's fine.
He's clever, but we got him in the end, so it's OK.
Can't go anywhere now.
So, step one, we're just having a feel to see that he's got...
We can feel he's got both his testicles there.
On a cold day like this, they can... CHUCKLES
I think he'll be... he'll be trying to hide them, won't he?
He has got them. They are pretty small, aren't they?
So, I think probably the best way to do it is if we give him an...
give him an injection. Yeah.
We'll give him that,
then we can just get him into the pen somewhere over there.
Yeah. No bother. Right. I'll get some stuff.
Give Up!
Like a gazelle. CH UCKLES
Probably a bit wilder than normal.
Sedation, it's a bit more of an art than a science, to be honest.
So we're gonna try and get the right dose
to get that perfect level where he's... we're able to do it.
That's Mum, come to make sure her baby boy's all right.
There we go. Yeah, we can let him go now. Yeah.
So, now it's just a waiting game.
He looks a bit dopey, but he's fighting it, in't he?
No, he's gonna...
I think he needs a bit more, doesn't he?
Still to come...
Good girl. Are we friends now, eh?
...Matt gambles on Myshka the meerkat's mood.
She wasn't a fan of me picking her up last time,
so let's see if we can come away with all our fingers.
And Peter reminisces with an old friend...
Clive. Now, Peter!
...about taking his first steps as a vet.
It was a tricky lambing, and I just thought,
"What's gonna happen when I'm a qualified vet
"and I've got to do this on my own?"
CHRISTOPHER TIMOTHY: Rohin and vet student, Emily, have made the trip
from the Huddersfield hospital to castrate Tim's bull.
Steady, mate.
But because it wasn't possible when he was younger...
Shall we just let him settle down again or...?
...he's proving a bit more stubborn than most patients.
He is fighting the sedation.
It's what tends to happen when they're really worked up,
when they're full of adrenaline.
We've given a little top-up of sedation.
And when he can finally get to work,
Rohin knows this won't be a routine job.
I think the reason he's managed to escape uncler the radar
is that his testicles are not actually in the scrotum,
so they never fully descended.
So it will make it a bit tricky now,
actually trying to... trying to access the testicle.
That's the stingy bit, isn't it getting a local in?
But he'll thank us for that after, won't he?
You empathise with him, don't you? Cos that's the bit he will feel.
DEVICE WHIRS
I'm glad I'm not him.
I'm having to force it into the scrotum
and it's really small.
After being talked through one half of the job...
Sometimes, if you wrap it round your finger like that, it helps.
...it's now crunch time for student Emily.
Would you like to scrub up and do the other half? Yeah, I'd love to.
I may have set Emily up slightly
cos the other one's the one that hasn't properly descended.
But I think if she can do this,
she can do any castration, can't she?
Can you feel it?
It's just an awkward one, to get it in the right spot.
My hands are super cold, which doesn't help. Yeah.
Do you want me to have a little feel?
Are you gonna hold it? Yeah, I'll hold it for you,
and it should pop out. Mind you don't get kicked.
A nice firm stroke.
Yeah. Deeper than that.
Yep. Go on, deeper than that. That should be enough.
Yeah, you can extend that a bit more, just at the top.
There you go.
If you've got rid of everything else,
you can start doing the twisting and pulling then.
You're getting there, nearly there.
Are you happy for me to pull now? Yeah. Go for it, yeah.
Give it a little pull.
Perfect.
Ancl then last bit for you, the best job. Go on.
My favourite job. Get the spray on. Ah.
Yeah, get some of that on.
Give him his jabs, then he's good, good to go after that.
That was really good there. Well clone.
There we go. Can let him go now. All clone.
Yeah, it's just a worry that you don't have to think about now.
He can run with his sisters and mother and cousins,
and, you know, we've no problem now.
Glad we got it sorted out.
One less thing to worry about, anyway. Yeah, good.
Aw, thanks guys. Yeah.
I think it's gone really well.
Calf castrations don't come any more difficult than that,
so that was a really tricky one to access.
I think the fact that Emily's been able to do it
is pretty impressive, to be honest.
It was a really good experience. It was good to get one like that
so that I know what to do in the future.
It's a bit of a funny feeling, really,
cos it was only three years ago, it would have been me
being taught by the other vets how to do that.
Ancl to come here and be able to, sort of, pass on that knowledge,
it kind of feels like coming full circle in a way.
Three years has just flown by,
and now suddenly, you're the experienced vet.
At the Huddersfield hospital,
Matt's removed Myshka the meerkat's infected teeth.
Good girl. Are we friends now, eh?
The only person Myshka's ever been friends with
is Charlie, for whom it's been long a day.
I've been worried, obviously, about Myshka.
With her being of a senior age now, it's always a bit more of a risk,
so I was just praying
that it wasn't gonna be last time I saw her, this morning.
I've had her, like, ten year, from 12 week old.
She was just a tiny little ball of fluff.
I just want to see her and pick her up and scoop her
and give her a good cuddle.
She wasn't a fan of me picking her up last time.
So let's see if we can come away with all fingers.
All right? H E CH UCKLES
I think I might have made a friend.
Aw! You're an absolute champion, aren't you?
Aw, Myshka'.!
You're gonna be so happy to see your daddy.
Come on through.
Come on and see Daddy.
Hello!
She wasn't happy with me to start with, that's for sure,
but I've just gone to get her now and she just climbed all over me.
Fantastic. It's the most adorable thing ever.
I'm glad that she's all back to herself,
cos I were a bit worried this morning.
But she seems to be fighting fit again.
I'm shocked to hear that she was giving Matt cuddles,
cos she's normally just very loyal to me.
But obviously, she knows he's a good guy.
Thank you so much. Any time, any time.
It's been a pleasure working with her.
Oh, oh, I know, I know.
Oh, she hates it in the box.
Thanks again, Matt. Thank you. Bye.
It's so nice to reunite Myshka with Charlie.
I could see when I called him in, he looked so worried.
Ancl to see his face,
when she came out of her little basket to greet him,
was absolutely priceless.
And a few weeks later, Charlie's partner, Grace,
is also benefiting from Myshka's improved post-op mood.
MYSHKA BARKS Oh, shush.
Everything has changed since she's had her dental.
She's just a completely different creature.
I never would have been able to pick her up.
I don't know if it's cos she's had her teeth out
and I'm more confident around her,
or she just feels like she's got less capability of biting me.
To see that they've finally bonded,
it's better for her, it's better for Grace.
She's got extra love now. Absolutely extra love now.
With her being of an older lady,
I was very worried about the operation.
When they told me that she were fine,
just to know that she was safe and were gonna be all right,
it were better than winning t'lottery.
Myshka isn't the only unusual creature in this house.
We've got about ten tarantulas,
a trapdoor spider,
two snakes and two lizards. And a gerbil.
Oh, and a gerbil and a mouse, just to be normal.
Just one big, happy, weird family.
THEY CHUCKLE
And while Myshka's ancestral family
are more accustomed to the African plains,
she's content with the cold Yorkshire countryside.
We try to get out as often as we can.
She likes digging for bugs and grubs
and it's fascinating to see her actually find stuff,
cos nine times out of ten,
she starts digging and she finds summat.
When I first met Charlie,
I did think it was very strange he had a meerkat,
but I just loved it. It's different.
And how often can you say you've taken a meerkat for a walk?
She's definitely enjoying being out,
even though it is a bit chilly for her.
Gives her some exercise, cos in the wild,
they're used to running quite some distance.
Looking forward to summer, when she gets to walk a lot more.
Come on, bit more snug now.
Come on, Myshka. Let's get you home and get you nice and warm.
A few weeks have passed
since Peter helped Clive's ewe give birth to triplets.
Thank you.
And today, he's arranged to meet his old friend
for his favourite kind of house call.
Clive. Now, Peter.
How are you? I'm all right, thanks. How's yourself?
Well, I'm very well, thanks. Got to say,
it's nice to see you outside work, isn't it? Yes.
Ancl I think I've got to have a pint while I'm here.
That lambing we did, Clive, where we had triplets
and two of them were in a bit of a jumble.
There's a leg there,
ancl that doesn't belong to the head that's coming.
Here we go.
Ye p, lovely.
This one's kicking its way out, Clive.
This one's coming the other way.
Backwards? Backwards.
That's it. There we are.
Did everything go all right? Yeah, they did.
We took one off and mothered it onto another ewe,
and yeah, they all survived, rallied.
Job was good.
Triplets can be a bit of a nuisance sometimes. Oh, they can.
As your wife would testify,
because she's got to bottle feed them. That's right.
Farmers wives, they take some keeping happy, don't they, really?
Because if they had none to feed, they'd be grumbling,
and if there's too many to feed, they'd be grumbling!
You've about hit the nail on the head there, Peter. Yes, yes.
It's always nice to get good news, which Clive has given me now,
so I know that the ewe and her three lambs are thriving
and are out grazing away, enjoying life.
As vets, we have to do a significant number of house calls,
and probably the best one is a public house call.
And you can't ream] go wrong,
especially when you've got a farmer buying you a pint.
Do you remember, Clive,
the first time I actually came to a lambing on your farm?
I do. You were still a student. Ancl you came... I was!
You came with jimmy White. Yeah, you're right.
Ancl I rememberjim talking you through it.
"What can you feel in there, Pete? Can you feel a head?
"Can you feel two legs? Are they the front legs?"
But I remember that. It was a tricky lambing,
and I thought, "l'm glad Jim's here.
"What's gonna happen when I'm a qualified vet
"and I've got to do this on my own?"
You learn fast, Clive.
Oh, you do. You do.
Right. We'll have another before we go.
Aye, go on, then. THEY CHUCKLE