(upbeat music) - [Narrator] In the hearts of glorious North Yorkshire lies the quaint market town of Thirsk.

Here, the world's most famous vet, James Herriot lived, worked and wrote his best selling books.

His former surgery and home are now a museum, but his practice lives on nearby.

(upbeat music) (phone rings) - Good morning , Skeldale Veterinary Center.

- It's a great privilege really working in this practice, and it very much is in the footsteps really of James Herriot.

(rattling) (men groaning) Makes me very proud really to be part of that heritage.

- [Narrator] Julian Norton is the Yorkshire vet.

- Aha!

We have a wide range of different species that come in to see us and that gives us this tremendous amount of satisfaction.

I don't think I'd have it any other way.

- [Narrator] Julian runs the practice alongside senior partner and former Herriot Trainee, Peter Wright.

- Everything's yours, isn't it?

- There's no finer view in England.

I've had a long relationship with the Heriott practice.

And I feel pretty privileged to work in the most famous veterinary practice in the world.

- [Narrator] Here together with Skeldale's dedicated team, they treat animals of all shapes, (men chattering) sizes, - Gone!

(man shouts) - [Narrator] Types - Oh, cranky.

Get off me.

- [Narrator] And temperaments.

(pig snorts) It's definitely not glamorous.

- Agh, no.

- [Narrator] But it's varied.

- That comes back in there like that.

There little Bobby, (indistinct) - [Narrator] It's really easy.

- [Speaker] He's a fast one.

- [Narrator] As the Yorkshire vet carries on the Herriot tradition, treating all creatures, great and small.

(intense music) (birds chirping) (upbeat cheery music) All across Yorkshire, golden crops sway lazily in the summer breeze, ready for harvest.

(upbeat music) (combine harvester roaring) Julian's on his way to an emergency call from one of his favorite clients.

- I'm going to John Bell's farm today.

There's a calf that's quite poorly.

It's got a nasty sounding swelling underneath its tummy.

And these things can be quite serious depending on the cause of the swelling.

And even more serious is Jack, who's the farmer's son, he's at home by himself.

(gate clangs) - Dad's on holiday at the minute and whenever dad goes on holiday and I'm in charge, everything starts to go wrong.

And so we've got a calf, he's got a navel infection and I don't wanna tell dad because dad never leaves the farm apart from one week a year.

So I don't wanna spoil his holiday.

- [Dr. Julian] Is it, will we just follow you?

- So if you just follow me down.

- And then left turn.

- Oh, I know, I know where that is.

Yeah, yeah, perfect.

Right, let's go.

See you down there.

Poor old Jack's been left home alone.

Suddenly, it's all hit the fan.

- Come on.

(cow moos) - Here we are.

And that's the calf.

Ah, I can see what's wrong with it from here.

Right.

You can see this calf.

There's a massive swelling around it's umbilicus, which is where it's stomach button is.

It shouldn't be like that at all.

At the moment, it's rock hard, isn't it?

Right?

I'm gonna have to put a needle in there.

Yeah, that's a big abscess look.

- [Jack] Is it full of pus?

- Yeah, it is.

This is a massive umbilical abscess.

I'll just put a needle in to try and examine the fluid that's coming out.

God, I can smell it from there.

Can you smell it?

- Yeah, it's horrible.

- It's like custardy pus.

So that will probably be making the calf feel very ill. And it's pretty painful as well.

He's very tight and sore and I just need to check its temperature.

Usually, calves with a abscess of that size, they've got quite high temperature.

Yeah, temperature's 103.

So it's all, she'll need some antibiotics.

I'll give her a big jab now.

- Yeah.

- A big long acting jab.

And just see what happens over the next few days.

How long are you in charge for?

- Until Friday.

And then dad can take control.

- Just give enough drugs for over Friday.

- That's a good idea.

Yeah, let's, let's do that.

Right there, little calf.

So this should last until your dad's back.

- All right, that's fine.

There we go.

- Thanks very much.

- Thanks, Jack.

- I'm quite worried about this calf.

The swelling is very big and if we can't get the infection to subside with antibiotic injections, then we're gonna have to resort to a surgical solution, which can be quite serious.

(car engine roars) (calm music) (combine harvester roars) - [Narrator] At the practice, anxious and stressed pets can sometimes make life difficult for the vets.

Animal lovers, Colin and Audrey have brought in two pigmy goats to be castrated by Peter.

But Bourbon and Twix don't seem to have a care in the world.

- They're both getting to the age where they need separating from their dangly bits.

They're not gonna be used for breeding and we'll probably sell them as pets to somebody.

And as pets, they're much easier to handle if they're castrated.

Plus they're happier.

I think they're a lot happier if they're not thinking about girls all the time.

- Especially Bourbon.

He's definitely been practicing with the girls.

He just tries to mount them and tries to get his little way with them.

- [Narrator] And there's a good reason why Colin's goats are so calm.

- It's going to sleep now.

- [Narrator] Collin's a big believer in alternative therapies.

We previously saw his relaxing massage techniques used on his alpacas.

- So this is J.Z.

You can actually feel his muscles along his back just relaxing.

Just massaging the upper gum, rotate the tail, all the ears.

The technique called wrapping is supposed to encourage the release of endorphins.

A couple of years back, If I'd been doing this, I would've been cud and spit by now.

- Good morning.

- [Audrey] Morning.

- [Collin] Morning.

- These are the two chaps that's come to get the bits off.

- Yeah, indeed.

Looking forward to it.

- [Peter] He's- - He'll fall asleep shortly.

- He looks as if he got had some cap cam, so.

(indistinct) - Dosed him up before we came out.

- Guy's very laid back.

Very fine pair.

He's a- - Oh yes.

Oh yes.

- He knows what they are for as well, I think.

- [Peter] Does he?

- [Collin] Yeah.

- [Peter] There's two ways of doing it as you know.

One is to surgically remove them.

- [Collin] Yeah.

- And the other is to use a bloodless technique.

- [Collin] Right.

- At this stage, at this age, it's less risky to use what we call the bloodless technique.

- Yeah.

- Which involves cushioning the spermatic vessels.

- Yeah.

- So I think with testicles like that, I think we'll go for the bloodless technique.

Does he have a name?

- [Collin] Yeah, Bourbon.

- [Peter] Bourbon?

Is that Absolutely Skit?

- Yeah, it's the skit.

- Yes.

- [Peter] My God, he's laid back.

All your stock is laid back as this.

- [Colin] Oh yes.

- [Dr. Julian] Yeah, absolutely.

- [Collin] Take after owners.

- (laughs) Right.

They look like an instrument of torture, but what they do, they cut the vessels but they leave the skin intact.

We don't need because we're not carrying out any surgical procedure, we don't need to scrub the site up either.

Around his nipple, he might just tense up a little.

Just leave that on a short turn.

You can hear the vessels and the fibrous tissue crunching under there.

As a man, it makes you want to cross your legs.

(all laugh) - Just seeing some, my legs have been quite tense at the moment.

- [Peter] Right.

It can come round.

- Come on wake, lad you're costing me money.

- [Peter] It's too laid back really Collin, that's the problem.

(all laughing) - The anesthetic's probably wearing off and he is just laid there, thinking I'll stay here a bit longer.

- Yeah.

Right.

Excellent.

- [Narrator] Bourbon's chilled-out brother Twix is next up.

- Hello.

(goat bleating) All those are perfect as well.

Basically what we are doing, we're stopping the blood supply to the testicle.

So over the period of time, those sure have looked like a little pill and virtually disappear.

(cheerful music) Oh, yeah Twix.

You're fixed.

- [Collin] I wonder what are they dreaming about?

- [Peter] Of what might have been.

(all laughing) Twix?

Oh, Twix.

(laughing) You learn a lot from looking into an animal's eyes.

- [Collin] Yeah.

- And those eyes are so relaxed.

Alright.

Champion.

I think Colin certainly has a way with his technique for calming animals down.

I think it went fantastically well.

I think we should employ him full time at the surgery so that when animals come in a bit stressed, I think we'll get Colin just to work his wonders on these with his calming down techniques.

And I think it would work very nicely for us.

(car door bangs) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Coming up... (murmurs) - Oh, Jesus.

- [Narrator] Julian faces feisty feral felines.

- You almost get the feeling that they're just kind laughing at us, don't you?

- Down on the farm, Peter gets the run around.

- Oh no, oh no, oh no.

(laughs) - Yeah, I don't think Usain Bolt has anything to worry about.

(laughs) - [Narrator] And Fern the spaniel is rushed in for life saving surgery.

- That's about 10 times as big as it should be.

If we didn't do this operation to take out all this pus, then she would yeah, almost certainly die.

(calm music) (birds chirping) - [Narrator] Across North Yorkshire's countryside, livestock meander in the late summer sunshine.

But on Wendy's farm, some crafty creatures are causing her a bit of a headache.

But it's not her beef herd.

Wendy's place is overrun with feisty felines.

(playful music) - Two kittens arrived last summer and so they kept coming every day, wilding for food.

Anyway, I've decided to feed them 'cause I felt sorry for them.

But now a year on, they've had kittens and I can't catch them.

They're very wary.

I feed 'em every day and they come out for food but you can't really get near them.

We need Julian to help us.

I'm hoping he'll able to catch the mother cat and spay her.

(dramatic music) (suspenseful music) - Right.

Haha.

So this is what we need.

This is the cat trap.

I wonder whether we should take a net.

Right, that should be handy.

We've seen this in action before for catching ducks and other things but actually might work for catching a bunch of kittens.

Right.

There we go.

- Come on, Kitty, kitty, kitty.

It costs over 30/40 pound a week feeding them all.

Three to nine packets in here.

And then the (indistinct) and the old milk, I'm forever at Tesco.

- This is a nuisance for any farm because the cats just multiply out of all recognition and there's hundreds of them I think running around on the farm.

I've blocked off most of the afternoon in case it does turn out to be a kind of cat rodeo.

- If we don't catch these cats and kittens, we're just gonna be inundated with cats everywhere.

Cat woman of Britain.

(laughs) (dramatic music) (cat meows) (lighthearted music) - [Narrator] Whenever there's cause for celebration, it's something that's shared with the whole team.

- I've just passed my driving test, second time so I was a bit nervous but I just thought, just go with it.

I'm really excited, I'm really happy.

It feels really good to finally have done it.

- Oh!

- Yippee!

- My God, you're number one on the road.

(all laughing) - Congrats!

- I'm so happy.

- Did you get any minus A or both?

- Both.

I'm so happy.

- Oh my God.

- Ha!

- I passed!

- Ooh my darl.

- Oh, I'm so pleased.

- You looked a bit stunned.

(laughs) - So proud, I had to come and see you.

I had to come and see you.

Well done.

- Thanks, Mom.

- Love you.

- I phoned my mom to tell her that I'd passed but she couldn't just leave it.

Now she had to come in and she was so excited.

(lighthearted music) - [Narrator] Flocks of sheep are an ever present sight all around Thirsk, but looking after them can be a challenge.

Peter's had a call for help from an old friend and rookie sheep owner.

(lighthearted music) - We're going to go and see Mrs. Newball this morning and her daughter have horses and they have got a considerable amount of grass and they thought it would be a good idea if they bought some sheep which they thought would help keep the grass down.

And I think three of them have got diarrhea.

So it's not a very good start.

- When it's an animal that you haven't had before and I had very little experience with, you are obviously quite nervous and you want to keep them healthy.

So it's just a case of really Peter's fantastic.

He will, I know he will help us.

- Right.

Morning.

- Morning, Peter.

- Now what have you been doing?

- I really don't know, bad news.

- [Peter] And what's the matter with them?

- We've got one that's really runny on the back end and the others are now starting to get a bit runny.

- So I see we down out to five.

- Yeah, not bad then, is it?

- No, that's sheep for ya.

- Pretty typical for me.

(all laughing) - Right.

We'll have a look.

So will the next step then be to get a spinning wheel?

- We went for three lambs but unfortunately, I took my husband with me who was persuaded to bring another two back.

It's a little bit like going shopping with men.

Your trolley always gets a little bit more full when you go with a man - One of them had died there when he came.

- Yes.

The one that, yes.

So the one Mavis, we've named Mavis.

- [Peter] Mavis.

- [Speaker] Bongo, that one.

- Bongo.

(laughs) Have you had a Zippy as well?

- Not yet.

- We might find a Zippy when we get in there.

- Well, you might.

(all laughing) - And Tobacco, I think has been named.

(sheep bleats) - The thing that stands out first and foremost, is mucky bums.

We've got three murky bums outta five and we have a lot to consider as a consequence, the flies are very prominent at the moment.

If the sheep have a worm burden, then they're not going to thrive.

And in some cases, worms can be killers.

So it's something that we need to sort out.

So we're going to play safe and give 'em all a good quality worm and then we know where we are then.

Now do you think we'll be able to hold them and catch 'em?

- Yeah, yeah definitely.

- Right.

Are you able to, are you ready?

Can you hold for me please, Jackie?

Are you alright to deal with?

- Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely fine.

- Sorry Jackie, if you do feel a stabbing sensation, just let me know, won't you?

(sheep bleats) That's one.

Lovely, that's fine.

Thanks, Jackie.

Is that one we want?

We've lost one of our patients.

(laughs) Right.

Let's have the next contestant.

(playful music) - Right?

- Just taking him back.

- Are you okay just to stand?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(sheep bleating) - That's one.

I know we need to push one as well, right?

- Right.

Just a minute message.

- Not you.

- Hey, you are a natural.

(laughs) - [Narrator] But you queue backers still on the loose.

- Light.

No, we just have our little escapade, have we now?

- [Speaker] Yeah.

- Oh.

Oh, no.

(laughing) - Come on, girls.

Down that side.

That's it.

(laughing) - Right, Mavis.

Beat the way.

(laughing) - Right?

We near there, right?

- That's all we want.

That's all we want.

That's all we want.

- Well, I think Phil Dublin would've given us eight outta 10 there for pegging.

(laughing) - Go hear, Martin.

Go here.

- Yeah, I don't think you saying bolt has anything to worry about.

(upbeat music) - Thanks, Jackie.

Lovely.

Excellent.

Job done.

(indistinct) Right, children?

- Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?

Right.

(upbeat music) Obviously, this is a new venture for Jackie.

She's not had sheep before so she's out of her comfort zone.

And rather than just leave things quite rightly, Jackie's contacting me to go and have a look at them.

She will make a success of her sheep and I'm pretty sure that within the next year or so will have doubled the flock and maybe even trebled it.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] On the farm, Julian and Wendy are on a stealth mission.

- It's actually a fishing net.

- [Narrator] To catch a gang of feral cats.

- So far, listen, I'm gonna come rushing out of there.

- No.

(gentle music) - Some Of these kittens are very wild and nervous.

So there's one sitting right on top of that blanket.

So my first plan if we can, is just to grab it quickly.

Don't go anywhere, you wait there.

This is a nice net.

No, right there it's okay, don't worry.

It looks quick, Wendy.

Good look.

- Don't count that way.

- Oh, oh Jesus.

- This is a trouble isn't it?

They're that quick.

It what's that've caught a sponge.

There's the mother in here as well.

We'll never catch her, will we?

She's far too quick, I would imagine.

You're almost getting the feeling that they're just kind of laughing at us, don't you?

I don't think we're gonna catch them by means of Annette, but what we can do, I get the trap and that I think will be a much more stealthy way of doing it.

(upbeat music) Right, this will be the answer.

Right.

So that goes like that and then they'll go in, stand on that plate there and then it might be a good idea to put some of this in as well just to make it look a bit more tempting.

Right?

Good luck.

Go on, kitten.

No, go in.

Go in.

Turn left.

Oh, there we go.

(door bangs) - Hey, yes we've got it.

- Way to go!

- Fantastic.

Well, I wasn't expecting now to happen.

Oh, fantastic.

Got you.

Excellent.

I've never seen it work as quickly as that.

That was nothing short of miraculous.

Good luck really.

I suppose that's all I can say.

- You have 14 To catch.

- Well, one out of 14 isn't bad, is it?

It's a good start.

(laughing) - [Narrator] But the mother cat is still at large.

(upbeat music) Coming up, Jack's calf takes a turn for the worse.

- If I lance there and there's bowels in there, that's a disaster 'cause the calf's intestines will fall out and land on the floor.

- [Narrator] The surgeries overrun with Great Dane puppies.

- I'm sorry, Cooper.

So you're lying pig.

You're not sorry at all.

Lovely.

Good to go.

- [Narrator] And can life saving surgery save Fern the spaniel?

- So this is the uterus, and it can burst.

It literally can go any minute.

(playful music) - [Narrator] The waiting room at Skeldale is full.

Pets and their owners wait anxiously to be seen.

But when a life threatening emergency comes in, the team needs to act fast.

- They're good to go, Chloe?

(dog howling) - [Narrator] Fern the spaniel is seriously ill. (Fern howls) - Oh, Fern!

Come here.

- [Narrator] Assisted by Nurse Chloe, Julian is prepping her for immediate surgery.

- This is a little dog called Fern and she came in today with a very heavy discharge from her vulva.

And this is symptomatic of an inflammation on the pymetro, which is an infection in the uterus and literally the uterus fills up with horrible pus, and it can be life threatening in its seriousness.

So we always treat them as a priority.

You should start to go sleeping up.

Oops, there we go.

Actually feeling now, you can feel the uterus.

It's really quite big and quite bulging.

So there's gonna be a lot of infection inside and the best way to solve that is to take the uterus out.

(gentle music) Right.

Good to go.

So this is the uterus that's about 10 times as big as it should be.

Should be about as thick as a pencil and it come burst.

And then you've got the big risks of contamination within the abdomen.

It literally can go any minute.

If we didn't do this operation to take out all this pus, then she would be at home and certainly die.

So we're at the point we've taken off both ovaries from their attachments and the only thing that's keeping the uterus attached now is the cervix.

So I'm about to cut it away now.

So the next stage really is the home stretch from a surgical point of view, which is just to stitch up and then let her wake up.

- [Narrator] Julian's keen to take a closer look at Fern's infected uterus.

- Don't get too close with you.

- No, I'm not.

- So this is very interesting.

This is really very severe endometriosis as well.

Grim.

Anyway, it's out now, which is the main thing.

(cheerful music) This kind of operation is exactly my favorite operation of all.

We can instantly diagnose the problem, immediately operate and instantly bring about a cure.

So from my point of view personally, it's probably the most satisfying of all operations that we have to do on a dog.

(somber music) - [Nurse] Oh dear.

- And that today was a perfect example of that.

(lighthearted music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] It's lunchtime at the surgery and the team have downed tools for a surprise celebration, Yorkshire style.

- We're going to go through.

- Excuse me, cups of tea, cups of coffee and bringing on that tray salad.

Is it special occasion?

- [Narrator] It's Peter's 60th birthday.

Hey, we're expecting.

- Anything?

- No, he's just told me he's a grumpy old booger coming.

- Oh, great.

(crowd cheering and clapping) - Happy birthday.

- Oh gosh, Oh gosh.

- Yeah.

(clapping) Hey come on.

Once a Victor Meldrew, always a Victor Meldrew.

There's work to be done.

- You might be Victor Meldrew, but you're our grumpy but oh gosh.

- Oh God.

Oh, God.

I dunno what to say.

Well, cheers everybody.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

Happy birthday.

- Well I've got to say though, we might have our up and downs and glimpses but we are a family.

Cheers everybody.

- Cheers!

- [Narrator] The staff have clubbed together to buy Peter a glider flight.

- Oh wow.

First tomorrow.

- Well thank you very much everyone.

- They're trying to kill you dear.

They sending you in a glider.

I'm actually booked in for tomorrow 12 noon and I just worry, you know about these things with no engines in whether we can, hopefully it can get back in one piece.

It's very, very kind of, of them to buy me this.

I'm quite touched.

So again, thank you.

Whoa, look at that.

Whoa.

What a beauty.

- That's what you used to say when he couldn't do an abscess feed.

(all laughing) - First gig sells at everything in my opinion including pork pies.

These are beautiful pork pies made in Thirsk.

(people chattering) Well I'll just be looking, watching the view banking on the fellow driving that he knows what he's doing.

I wish I was a bit more worn here.

They've had me will updated before I.

- [Narrator] There's barely time to enjoy Peter's birthday pie before they're back to work.

And with a whole load of young visitors arriving, it's all hands on deck.

- Well we've got a fantastic litter of great Dan puppies so we're gonna check them over now and then we're going to microchip them as well.

How were children?

Beautiful.

You washed your as out this morning, haven't you dear?

Hey.

And the next contestant, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry Cooper, you lying pig, you're not sorry at all.

Lovely.

No, you are the first one that's really created aren't you?

Very good.

Really healthy cracking litter.

Excellent.

Well, it's been too much fun.

Now tie them out.

- [Speaker] Yes.

- So this is all us contestant hopefully isn't it?

What is she called?

- [Speaker] The Yorkshire Lass?

- [Peter] The Yorkshire Lass, oh.

- Yes.

Well, we're very proud of that, aren't we?

Hey, we're very proud to be associated with the Yorkshire and born in the Yorkshire.

You and me are alike, aren't we?

Hey there's worst places to be, you know, and I hope you stay in Yorkshire but you'll always be the Yorkshire last one.

And as we say, hear all, see all, sign out.

- [Nurse] That's not right.

(Peter laughs) - [Peter] Lovely.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Not far from Thirsk, Julian's out on a call.

- We're going back to see a calf that I saw last week.

It was a calf with a very swollen navel and Jack, the farmer's son was in charge of the farm for the week whilst his dad was on holiday.

Dad's come back from a holiday and the swelling's still there.

So from what John says, it's still pretty bad so we might have to take more invasive action.

It can have longer term consequences if the abscess doesn't get resolved.

- [Narrator] At the farm, John and son, Jack are still friends.

- I have too many disasters, did he?

He got the balls out with the cows.

Everything seems be fine.

- Everything is still standing and I didn't get turning off when dad got home.

(car engine roars) (lighthearted music) - Oh, it still looks pretty swollen down there, doesn't it?

When it's as big as that, you've usually got some degree of hernia in there and that would obviously be a bad thing if we started cutting into it.

Oh God, there's pus pouring out it already.

Oh well.

Well God, again, I get all the smelly jobs.

I think it would be a good idea to put this, the ultrasound scanner on 'cause if I lanced up and there's bowels in there, that's a disaster 'cause the calf's intestines will fall out and land on the floor.

So I'm just clipping the hair off.

I'm gonna have a look with the ultrasound machine to get a view inside this swelling.

We mainly use this for pregnancy testing but it's just the same type of facilities as you use to look inside things.

Well, the smell as with any abscess in any animal is a rather a putrifying kind of smell.

Disgusting really is the best way of describing.

It's just smells like rot, rotting flesh and dead tissue.

There's nothing that looks like intestines in there.

So I'm reasonably confident that we can make a cut with some safety, fingers crossed right then.

Now the trick possibly could be nice and quick.

Oh, there's a lot of liquid coming out already.

- [John] Bloody Julie and not this - There's a pocket that goes all the way up there like you can can get my finger right into this abscess and that's where the pus is.

But there's another round blob right in the middle, like a kind of tennis ball and I just wonder whether that is a hernia, a small hernia.

- Right.

- But I think that middle bit might be the bit to avoid.

So I think we've been quite lucky there 'cause if I'd have gone in any further with that hole - Would have been in a pickle.

I've had more of a problem.

Yeah.

- Right.

What I'll do, I'll give this a good flushing out.

It's the worst thing to do really just before lunch time.

'Cause the smell kind of lingers in your nostrils.

- Yeah, when you get something flow on your fingernails, and you're eating sandwiches.

- Oh!

(rattling) Oh!

That's enough of that she says.

- [John] Right?

- Yeah, will that do then?

That's done now, I don't think there's more we can do.

- Thanks a lot, Julian, thank you.

- I'm pretty happy that there's not gonna be many serious long term complications.

(cow moos) (cat meows) - [Narrator] Still to come.

- Managed to trap her yesterday.

God, it stinks.

- [Narrator] Wendy finally gets her claw into a fragrant feline, and will Fern make a full recovery?

(upbeat music) (cheerful music) Earlier, Julian was called to Wendy's farm to help with her feral cat population explosion.

Finally, Wendy has caught the chief culprit.

(cat mewls) - Managed to trap her yesterday.

God, it stinks.

So hopefully, she'll get spayed today.

- Success then?

- [Wendy] Yep.

Great success.

- Brilliant!

- Got her yesterday.

- So that's the mum then, she's only young, isn't she, poor little thing.

- She's only about a year old.

Not quite a year.

- Oh go that way.

Well, actually considering she's a feral cat, she doesn't look too bad, does she?

She's reasonably relaxed.

A bit nervous but reasonably relaxed.

- Well, she's never been handled at all.

- Little Blackie obviously.

She's a young cat.

She's already had a litter of I think six kittens.

So if we don't spay her at this time, it's a problem for her because poor cats that keep getting pregnant never grow properly and they're always feeling exhausted and drained.

Lucky, you're doing you, you just need to go to sleep now.

All right.

- [Narrator] Assisting Julian is Nurse Kate.

- [Julian] She's all prepped and ready to go.

- [Nurse Kate] Yep.

- Young female cats are pretty rampant and it's actually, it's the Toms that are more rampant.

They're the ones that come roaming around often from quite long distances to the farm and they'll travel for miles really in search of a young attractive female cat.

So a cat could have 30 kittens in a year and that really does exemplify the scale of the problem that we're up against.

So that's the reason why we haven't got any option in this, in this case.

- Here we go.

(playful music) That's our last one.

Good.

(lighthearted music) Hello, Blackie.

You alright in there?

Time to go home.

- [Narrator] Just hours after she left, Blackie's heading back home.

(lighthearted music) - It's gone very well.

She's been done.

The operation went very well.

- [Wendy] We can let her out of cage now though, can we?

- Yeah, we'll put her in the band.

- We'll just have nine left to catch.

- [Julian] Nine.

- [Narrator] While mum's been away, Wendy's managed to trap four more of her kittens.

They'll be re-homed away from the farm.

- Look at them for cute.

Hi folks.

And say look, it's mom.

So mum, shall we let you out?

Yeah, now your days of breeding kittens are over.

There she goes.

Brilliant.

Excellent.

No, you've done a good job.

It can be really difficult keeping cat numbers under control and just as you think you're nearly on top of the problem, a whole new litter of kitten seems to appear from nowhere.

It's a difficult job.

And Wendy's got her work cut out.

- [Narrator] Earlier, Fern the spaniel was rushed in as an emergency.

(dog howling) - They good to go Chloe?

- [Nurse] Yeah.

- [Narrator] She was in a critical condition.

- This is a condition called a pyometra, which is an infection in the uterus and it can be life threatening in its seriousness.

- [Narrator] But with immediate surgery.

- So I'm about to cut it away now.

- [Narrator] Julian hoped to save her life.

- Once we've taken this infected uterus out, then that's pretty much the cure that she's been been waiting for really.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Now Fern is back home with owner, Ben and best friend, Dolly.

- My wife or I, neither of us knew exactly what pyometra was.

We had left it, it could have ended up sort of killing her.

We were relieved that we found it when we did.

Coco spaniels in general are very affectionate dogs.

Fern's particularly special in that way.

Most nights, she'll get on my wife's knee and just sleep on the knee most nights watching the telly.

Now she's sort of better and everything's going back to normal.

She's just back to her old self again.

Nothing changed at all.

Both of us are very relieved 'cause it could have been a very different outcome had we not taken it to the vets.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] It's Peter's 60th birthday, and on the windy North Yorkshire moles, he's about to take to the skies.

- That's a lovely morning.

- [Speaker] It's beautiful Morning.

I've got you will updated dear.

- [Peter] Thank you.

Good morning.

- [Speaker] Morning.

- I've got an appointment with fear.

- [Speaker] It's just a short bit of paperwork for you to do.

- Right.

- And then we'll take you out onto the launch point.

Okay.

Launch point.

(laughs) Next of kin?

What next of kin?

God isn't wish to them is it?

- [Speaker] No.

Oh, you'll be fine.

We'll get you wedged in.

Yeah, you're a bit tall, really.

- Well these wings are strong.

- I have to move your seat back a bit.

You've got a very laid back pilot here.

- Yes.

- Andy, Andy, how are you doing?

- Hello.

- How're you doing?

- Please to meet you.

Happy birthday.

Let's get you, let's show you, first of all, we're gonna get you to put this on.

You are going in the front seat, right?

'Cause that's the best view.

Slip that on like a waist coat for me.

- What's this?

- This is a parachute.

Don't worry, we won't be using it.

(propellers rattling) All right, any questions before we go?

- No, don't think so.

- [Andy] All right, mate.

- I'm just relying on you either those.

- Oh yeah, don't worry.

- Yes.

- [Andy] I check that I can move the controls all around that.

(announcer speaks faintly) - Here we go.

(lighthearted music) (glider engine roaring) (lighthearted music) (lighthearted music continues) - Wow, this is fantastic.

- [Andy] It's a good view, isn't it?

- Oh it's fantastic.

- [Andy] So you've got was down on left outside?

- Yeah.

- [Andy] Cox Mold is just in front of us to the right.

- Yes.

- [Andy] And then of the right wing tip is Gilbert.

(indistinct) And the river is down there.

- River's there and fountain's there.

- Yeah, it's there, - [Andy] Different view.

Oh brilliant.

All right sir, we are getting ready to go into land.

- You're very good, sir.

- [Andy] We ain't got there yet.

- I love the confidence.

- Whoa, look at that.

(laughing) - Thank you very much.

- Pleasure.

- Really enjoy that.

That was lovely.

- Oh, you're back?

- Yeah.

You didn't expect me back, did you?

(laughing) - Hope you enjoyed it.

- I really enjoyed it.

Absolutely brilliant.

I'm feeling exhilarated.

That was wonderful.

Very relaxing actually.

- [Speaker] They're not very big.

- No, not much of them, is there?

Quite flimsy.

Don't we suppose have to be.

- I'm quite concerned.

- I think we'd have to go on a diet if we are going to be out.

- I don't think I'd fit in it.

(laughing) - [Narrator] Next time.

Julian struggles to save a newborn's life.

Come on, take a breath.

- [Narrator] Is it too late for a poorly foal?

- To see her like she is, it's horrible.

We're dead nervous to know the outcome, really.

I just don't want to lose her.

- And first time mum-to-be, Coco.

- She's not in any in, but I think the baby is out.

- [Narrator] Needs Peter's help to save her puppies.

- [Peter] Is that okayish?

- [Speaker] We're just trying if can get it going.

(upbeat music)