♪ ♪
KAITLYN: It's a girl.
I've had Cookie for almost two weeks.
(giggling)
NARRATOR: Kaitlyn's new pet isn't feeling 100%.
So grandpa's on guinea pig duty.
DAVID: My granddaughter, Kaitlyn, it's her guinea pig.
It's not eating and it's not feeling good, apparently,
and so I was asked to bring them over, and so I did.
DR. POL: Tater, you stay inside.
(door chime) Okay, you don't.
What happened here?
DAVID: All I know is something about the eyes.
DR. POL: The eyes look good.
Hey, kid, talk to me.
So, he's a young one?
KAITLYN: Yeah.
DR. POL: What happened?
KAITLYN: She's just sick.
DR. POL: What?
KAITLYN: My mom said that she was sick.
NARRATOR: Cookie's symptoms are not exactly clear to this crew.
DR. POL: Is Mom there?
AMBER: Hi!
DR. POL: Let me talk to Mom.
Nobody knows really what the problem was,
so we get Mom on the phone.
Hello.
DAVID: Hey, Dr. Pol wants to talk to you.
DR. POL: And she explains to us what was going on.
What's going on with the little one?
AMBER: We got her two weeks ago,
and she just has not been eating.
I just notice like her eyes
were really, really gunky yesterday.
DR. POL: Okay, the eyes really look good now.
AMBER: Yeah, I mean, I've been giving her
like vitamin C drops.
DR. POL: Yes.
AMBER: So, I just wanted to make sure that she was okay.
DR. POL: She has a little snot in her nose yet, too.
Eyes now look good, so what I think
is that either the traveling
or going back and forth through the pet store
just made a little bit stress.
What I'm gonna do,
I'm gonna mix up a little antibiotic for her,
so I'll figure out how much and go from there.
She's a cute little kit, though.
Outlook for Cookie is good,
just hopefully that she turns healthy in a little bit
and hopefully everything will be turned out alright.
Thank you. You take care.
DAVID: Thank you.
DR. POL: Take care of that little thing.
I'm coming after you if you don't.
KAITLYN: I think Dr. Pol is cool
and he's a very good vet.
(giggles)
DR. POL: Bye, kids.
GIRL: Bye.
KAITLYN: I think Cookie's gonna be okay.
♪ ♪
(whimpers)
(meow)
ANITA: What's the matter, Smoke?
(meow)
Smoky is a two-and-half-year-old Bombay.
He's the largest cat I've had. He's Mister Personality.
(meow)
NARRATOR: Lately Smoky's personality is irritated.
ANITA: He's licking all the time around the collar.
It's itchy, he's starting to scratch it.
We're trying to figure out what it is
so that it doesn't spread to my other six cats.
♪ ♪
(meow)
DR. LISA: Hello.
ANITA: Hi there. DONALD: Hi.
DR. LISA: And what's going on with Mr. Smoky?
ANITA: He has like plaque psoriasis
that has spread.
DR. LISA: And does he stay inside mostly, an indoor cat?
ANITA: Mostly inside.
I take him out with, and I stay outside with him, so.
DR. LISA: I'm gonna take a look at it
and we'll go from there, okay?
ANITA: Okay, great. Thank you.
DONALD: He's a hefty one.
DR. LISA: Oh, my goodness, yes.
ANITA: Yeah, he weighs about 30 pounds.
DR. LISA: Ugh, this is gonna be my arm day, then.
(Anita laughing)
Itching in cats can have quite a few different root sources.
Does that feel good? Are you itchy?
He's got some crusties back here, too.
Crusty.
The number one thing to rule out is fleas,
so I want to check Smoky very thoroughly.
♪ ♪
Oh, that looks suspicious.
♪ ♪
Oooh.
Ha! Flea-ea-eas!
(cymbal splash)
Cats can have allergies to fleas,
which makes them extra, extra itchy.
And I think that's the case with Smoky.
I have so many treats for you, sir.
I'm gonna treat him for the fleas.
Fleas also carry tapeworms, very commonly.
Yum.
So I'm also going to deworm Smoky today
to take care of those tapeworms.
One more, I'm sorry.
Alright, little friend.
So, I did find some evidence of fleas.
My guess is that he has an allergy to them,
and that's why his skin is breaking out in other places.
ANITA: So that means I go home and treat everyone else.
DR. LISA: Yup, everybody else, too.
Probably wouldn't hurt to flea treat your house as well,
just to cover as much ground as we can.
I think if Anita's able
to get this flea situation under control,
Smoky should recover pretty quickly.
ANITA: Thank you so much. DR. LISA: You're very welcome.
ANITA: Alright.
I'm relieved.
I'm ready to take him home and do laundry, strip the beds,
anywhere that the cat has laid, which of course is my bed!
There you go, Smoke.
So, it's a big job.
It's worth it to protect my animals.
He's part of my family.
I love him.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Smoky's not the only itchy critter around.
DR. BRENDA: So, what's going on with your pig?
NARRATOR: Isaiah's fair pig has a few bumps of his own.
ISAIAH: He had a rash, we didn't know what it was.
DR. BRENDA: Okay.
Anybody else look like this, or just the one pig that's sick?
ISAIAH: A little bit, but not nearly this bad.
DR. BRENDA: Okay.
ISAIAH: We're taking him to fair. I'm pretty worried.
He's really behind all the other pigs.
DR. BRENDA: And how long's that been going on?
ISAIAH: A couple weeks.
DR. BRENDA: Okay.
There was a note that you've tried dewormer.
Did that make a difference
about how far it was spreading or how many pigs had it
or make it look any different?
ISAIAH: No, it just continued to spread on this pig.
DR. BRENDA: Okay.
ISAIAH: But it was only this pig.
DR. BRENDA: Usually pig skin diseases are parasitic,
or some of them can be bacterial.
This looks to me like a problem called erysipelas,
which is also called diamond back skin disease.
Erysipelas is an environmental problem
that's a specific bacteria
that causes blood clots in some of the blood vessels,
and that's why we get these triangular
or diamond-shaped lesions on the skin.
This is actually getting better, I think.
Looking at this pig, most of the skin issues it's having
are starting to heal,
so I think we're past the prime of this disease.
So, this is a one-time antibiotic for him.
Hopefully that'll get his skin disease under control
so we don't have to worry about it anymore.
There's really nothing for him to have to do for it at home,
it's just the antibiotics will last for a few days,
and hopefully, you know,
it'll be all healed and the pig will go on.
I would go through and clean the whole pen again,
clean it all down, wash it down
and then re-bed it again with fresh straw.
Long-term outlook for this pig is good.
I think the skin is gonna heal up and be fine.
Hopefully that'll take care of everything.
Alright? ISAIAH: Let's hope so.
DR. BRENDA: Any other questions for me?
ISAIAH: I do not think so. DR. BRENDA: Okay.
ISAIAH: Yeah, I'm pretty happy
just to know that it's gonna be fine for fair
and everything's gonna do alright, so.
♪ ♪
DR. POL: Who the heck is ordering this?
My glasses would help, you know that?
♪ ♪
Where the heck are they?
♪ ♪
WOMAN: What are you looking for?
DR. POL: My glasses.
♪ ♪
WOMAN: Right here.
DR. POL: Oh, my gosh.
Yeah.
♪ ♪
Bingo!
♪ ♪
ERIKA: Yeah, you're a good girl.
(kiss) How you doing?
Athena is an amazing puppy.
She is a full-blood husky.
Technically got the last pick.
I was hoping for her, and I ended up getting her.
DR. LISA: Hello.
AUSTIN: Hello. ERIKA: Hi.
DR. LISA: Oh, I see a little baby over there.
Today Erika is bringing in her little puppy Athena
for her second round of puppy shots.
Oh, big baby!
We're just making sure she's happy and healthy,
growing the way she's supposed to,
and that she's up to date.
Hi, sweetheart. (dog yawns)
Oh! Big yawn.
(woman laughs)
We vaccinate puppies about every four weeks
before they're 16 weeks.
Look what I have. Dewormer.
Go over there.
WOMAN: Yummy.
Oh, look at her.
DR. LISA: Uh-oh, she tasted the bad part.
WOMAN: Look at her. (laughing)
DR. LISA: Up until that point
they're kind of relying on the antibodies they got from mom.
Did you eat it too fast? Are you choking on it?
Which tends to not be enough to carry them all the way
to their full immune system potential.
Okay, you're checked out.
Everything went really well today.
ERIKA: There she is.
DR. LISA: I was hoping they would just leave
and I'd have a new dog!
She's growing excellently well, and she's adorable.
She's very sweet.
So I gave her another dose of dewormer,
she got vaccinated, and she is perfect in every way.
ERIKA: Sweet! That's what I like to hear.
I think she's feeling good.
She's tired, she's ready to take a nap.
I am very proud of her.
♪ ♪
(mooing)
(bleating)
(quacking)
(mooing)
(neighing)
SANDY: This is May. She's 31 years old.
Today I went to feed her
and she grabbed her grain before I could wet it down,
and, uh, she's been choking ever since.
(labored breathing)
♪ ♪
Called Dr. Pol, and he said he'd come out and look at her.
She's trembling. I'm very worried.
DR. POL: Sandy, how bad is it?
(coughing)
SANDY: I thought she was going to die before he got here.
DR. POL: So, she drank,
and it didn't come back out of her nose?
SANDY: Yes, it did, constantly.
DR. POL: Then it's still plugged, I think.
May, the horse, has choke.
(coughing)
It's not in the windpipe.
So, no, they're not choking.
But they eat too fast, then they cannot swallow
because something is stuck in the esophagus.
Ride it?
SANDY: No.
She never let me near her.
May is definitely a fighter, but she's a very good mom.
That's her kid.
They were drop-offs from somebody abusing them.
Those people didn't feed them right.
They're both aggressive about food because they were starved.
So, when it comes to food,
they'll inhale it instead of eat it.
DR. POL: Okay, watch out, 'cause they don't like it.
The main thing is to get there as soon as you can
and with a tube up the nose, flush it out.
Come on.
SANDY: Come here, big girl.
She's not been around people.
May, May, May, May. Stop.
She's never trusted.
May.
DR. POL: Ooh!
Stop it!
This one wouldn't stand still,
so we control them with a twitch.
Come here.
It doesn't hurt the horse, it is just a way to control it.
Okay, watch out. It'll come all over you,
but hang on to the twitch.
(squirting)
See that?
Look at this.
You have to force the water through the tube
to dissolve the plug.
There's so much in there, it's unbelievable.
I think we got it. Yes.
And then suddenly, hey, the water is running down,
and then you know that the plug is gone,
and you can put the tube all the way down in the stomach,
and you're done.
There you go, see?
Going down.
Okay. I want to see the grain.
Hi, sweet, how are you?
SANDY: A scoop of that and that in the morning.
DR. POL: Beet pulp?
SANDY: Yes.
DR. POL: Yeah, okay. That's the problem.
When you have this in water,
it expands.
Look at the difference in size.
Beet pulp really expands with water,
and when the food can expand,
then you have a big chance that it will plug up the esophagus.
That's what they call hygroscopic.
See, when there's not enough saliva,
it goes down and then it sticks.
I'm gonna give her a shot of penicillin right now
and a shot of cortisone, and hopefully that'll do it.
Ho, stand still.
When she buys grain that doesn't expand,
everything should be good.
SANDY: I feel much better.
DR. POL: Okay, thanks, we'll see ya.
SANDY: First thing I'm gonna do is change up her grains,
and we'll go from there.
♪ ♪
CHARLES: Today's a little bit different for me.
I'm coming to the clinic with a sick animal of my own.
We got a sick tortoise, stat.
And my daughter's going to accompany me...
Gonna see Opa.
because it is her favorite pet
and she's mightily concerned.
DIANE: Hi!
DR. POL: Hello. Oh!
DIANE: Who did you bring?
Did you bring a turtle today?
CHARLES: Who's that?
DIANE: Is that your tortoise?
CHARLES: Is that Malcolm?
Malcolm is a Russian tortoise.
He has been in my possession for close to 14 years now.
So, he's doing alright.
But his poop.
Is that normal?
Malcolm has been having a lot of, uh, tortoise diarrhea,
so I just want to make sure that he's in good health.
But look at the color of his pee.
DR. POL: Yeah.
CHARLES: Every morning, his bowl is full of that stuff.
DR. POL: Malcolm is a tortoise.
It's not a turtle, it's a land being,
so he doesn't swim in water.
See, they only have one hole, Charles.
And the stool and the urine come out of the same hole.
But normally the stool that they have is hard,
so when it's loose and diarrhea like this,
the first thing you do is do a fecal.
Well, I'll do this right now and see what it is.
CHARLES: Abigail has really taken a liking
to feeding Malcolm.
Say, "Malcolm!"
(Abigail laughs)
She's gonna be really upset if he doesn't pull through.
DIANE: Is that your nose?
CHARLES: What?
DR. POL: Loaded with worms.
CHARLES: Really?
DR. POL: How in the heck is that possible?
Lo and behold, it's full of worm eggs.
Main thing is we'll just worm him a couple days in a row
with a very easy wormer, and everything should be fine.
Don't bite the, oh, yeah.
CHARLES: So, it's got to go in in the side.
Sometimes they say you have to poke 'em in the butt
in order to get them to stick their head out.
That's what I've heard.
DR. POL: Easier said than done.
(laughing)
So, take this home.
CHARLES: Yeah.
DR. POL: I want you to do it three days in a row.
Half a cc.
CHARLES: On the lettuce.
DR. POL: On lettuce.
Three weeks, I want to do a fecal again.
CHARLES: Yeah.
I have to chalk this one up to Abigail.
The fact that she has taken a very active interest in Malcolm
allowed us to kind of catch this really early.
DR. POL: Can I have a kiss?
(laughs)
Oh, yeah!
DIANE: Give Opa a kiss.
DR. POL: Thank you! (laughs)
♪ ♪
MARCIA: Yeah, see, there's her ear.
She had a lot of pus and gunk coming out of her ear.
DR. POL: Okay, we have a duck.
MARCIA: Yep, the duck is right here.
She's our nursemaid duck.
She helps raise all our younger ducklings
and teaches them how to be ducks.
I'm worried for her!
DR. POL: Oh, my gosh.
MARCIA: There's like this hard crusted pus
that's around her eardrum.
Up until three weeks ago,
she was a perfectly healthy, normal, happy duck.
This was all red, puffy, swollen, and bloody...
DR. POL: Yeah, yeah.
MARCIA: when I called you.
And then all of a sudden, it just keeps festering,
and pus keeps coming out of her ear.
Now she's totally lost her balance.
DR. POL: Yeah.
MARCIA: She just cannot hold herself up.
DR. POL: No.
Marcia already talked to me over the phone,
and I told her to treat it with antibiotics,
but this is not good enough.
So now he is losing his balance almost.
Bring her in.
Can he walk at all or not?
MARCIA: She could up until Tuesday.
I'm just really worried about what we're gonna find
and are we gonna be able to really make her better.
Okay, you're alright.
(whirring)
DR. POL: Hold still. There.
(whirring)
Hmm. Good.
Oh, my gosh.
The whole thing inside is busted.
When I look at the duck's ear,
there is a whole pile of solid pus in his ear.
That's the equilibrium.
See, in the ear, there's the anvil and all that stuff,
the little bones that tell you if you're upright or not.
MARCIA: Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: The inner ear regulates the duck's balance
with a system of delicate bones, canals, and nerves.
When inflamed by infection,
the entire system can be knocked off-kilter.
DR. POL: No wonder, it's a bad ear infection
so that he loses his equilibrium and he falls over.
Holy cow.
I've never seen anything like that.
So, yes, I'm taking that pus out
and see how we can kind of clean it up inside.
And say a prayer.
She already was on antibiotics, but not good enough,
so now we're gonna put her on an antibiotic
with an anti-inflammatory.
That's done.
MARCIA: Okay, good.
DR. POL: Outlook for this duck is guarded
because sometimes the infection in the inner ear is so bad
that it doesn't respond.
Hopefully this infection will heal from the inside out.
And what about the pig?
(squealing)
MARCIA: Ha ha! The pig.
NARRATOR: Marcia's duck isn't her only patient of the day.
MARCIA: My Jeep is gonna smell like a pig for days after this.
(squealing)
NARRATOR: Her pig has had a hard couple of days.
DR. POL: She has a pig that is constipated.
The pig had a rectal prolapse a couple days ago
that many times comes from diarrhea from straining,
so when this is pushed back in,
we put a purse-string suture in there,
and then many times they get constipated
because the stool gets too hard when they get better.
MARCIA: First off, I can't get the stitch out that we put in,
but I don't know if that's what's plugging him up.
DR. POL: We'll cut that stitch out.
So now that stitch has to come out so he can defecate again.
Here, hold him, hold him like that.
Watch behind you, he squirts.
(squealing)
Okay. So that's done.
MARCIA: Dr. Pol just gives you peace of mind.
He takes wonderful care of our animals.
Now we just cross our fingers.
(laughs)
And if he can't fix it, nobody can.
(oinking)
NARRATOR: Even the dirtiest jobs...
DR. POL: I got to have a sandwich.
NARRATOR: can't stop a busy vet
from squeezing in a quick lunch.
♪ ♪
As the weather warms, the farm calls pour in.
Two vets saddle up...
DR. NICOLE: How are ya?
DR. BRENDA: Hi, how are you?
(snorts)
NARRATOR: and get the story
straight from the horse's mouth.
DR. BRENDA: So, which one of the horses
is having a problem today?
ELAINE: This one right here has been coughing real bad.
DR. BRENDA: How long has he been coughing?
ELAINE: I'd say about a week or so.
DR. BRENDA: Okay.
DR. NICOLE: So you have two horses
that may need to be floated?
KIRBY: Yeah.
Just wanted to do some general maintenance and make sure
that their, their teeth are as healthy as the rest of them.
DR. NICOLE: Hey, bud.
Would you mind holding her tongue for me?
Kirby is helping me out.
(scraping)
I don't want the tongue on the side that I'm working on.
If you wouldn't mind stepping on the other side,
I'll hand you the tongue back.
You can accidentally scrape it,
and by holding the tongue on one side of the mouth,
they don't bite down because they're not gonna bite down
on their own tongue.
Good girl.
A little bit on this front top tooth,
but that's about it.
Okay, girl.
KIRBY: All done?
DR. NICOLE: All done. You go relax.
ELAINE: The other day, it was almost like somebody
was chopping wood, that's how bad he was coughing.
DR. BRENDA: So today we're looking at Show Off.
When we do his physical exam...
That's good.
I'm not finding much that's abnormal.
His color's good. His temperature's normal.
Good boy.
His lungs sound good.
He's been quiet, not coughing.
Hi, how are you?
I'm not actually finding anything wrong with him today.
ELAINE: Nothing?
DR. BRENDA: Which is good!
He's not wheezy when I listen to his lungs.
What are you feeding them for grain?
Is it like a sweet feed, so it's got molasses on it?
ELAINE: Yeah. DR. BRENDA: Okay.
ELAINE: It's usually when he got his grain.
DR. BRENDA: Okay.
ELAINE: That's when he started hacking and coughing.
DR. BRENDA: So, I'm like, it's either something
where he had some inflammation at the back of his throat,
or the grain's just a little bit dusty.
ELAINE: Okay.
DR. BRENDA: So that's making it cough.
ELAINE: Alright.
DR. BRENDA: I don't think it's an anatomical problem with him,
I think it's more of a dust problem from the grain.
I would just add a little bit of water to the grain
and see if that solves his problem.
ELAINE: Alright.
DR. BRENDA: Okay, he's all set.
DR. NICOLE: Okay. You're not as tough as your sister!
Tongue.
KIRBY: Am I the official guy again?
DR. NICOLE: Official tongue holder.
KIRBY: Alright.
DR. NICOLE: Let's see, girlie.
(scraping)
A little bit on this front.
They're really not that bad, so, lucky.
All set.
KIRBY: Okay.
DR. NICOLE: Both the horses' teeth look pretty good.
Should be good for quite a bit with their teeth done today.
Okay. You're all set. Have a good day.
KIRBY: Alright. Thanks.
I'm glad the teeth got the thumbs-up, so we're good to go.
♪ ♪
MIKE: You're a good girl.
You're a good girl, yes, you're a good girl.
Ah, she's pretty sore.
Well, my little dog got ran over by a four-wheeler.
She just run out in the way of it, you know?
Kids were on it, and she got rolled over.
(growling)
MIKE: Chloe, quit.
Quit being the mean little thing you think you are!
I'm a Great Dane owner, but I've had her about six months,
and I've attached to her pretty good, so.
She lived with a Great Dane for a while.
She thinks she's bad.
NARRATOR: Chloe puts on a brave face...
(bark)
but something is wrong with her hind legs.
MIKE: Her back hip.
DR. NICOLE: Yeah.
MIKE: She gets up, walks a little bit,
but she'll sit right down and just sit.
She don't want to lay down.
DR. NICOLE: Since Chloe was hit by a four-wheeler,
I don't know what's going on with her.
It could be every bone in her body's broken.
It could be nothing.
There you go. Good girl, see?
MIKE: She just comes up, gives me hugs and stuff all the time,
dancing around.
She's a nice little dog, let's put it that way.
DR. NICOLE: How you feeling?
Hi.
It's okay.
I listen to her heart and lungs,
and those sound normal, especially for being ran over.
Can I feel your belly?
Nothing?
Hi! (kissing)
I want to feel her neck, make sure everything is intact there.
Good girl.
And then slowly move down her back and then her legs.
Nothing?
Okay, can you walk for me?
Go on. Come on, let's go.
Good girl.
(yelping)
Oh, oh, sorry!
That hurt? It's okay.
She seems very painful in her back end,
and it seems to be more the pelvis than anything.
Okay, let's take x-rays back there.
Looks like she has a fracture here,
then also right here 'cause this is kind of overriding.
On x-ray, I find that Chloe did break her pelvis
in a few different spots.
So, on her right side, she broke this part.
She broke this part as well.
So, two spots.
MIKE: Oh, baby.
DR. NICOLE: Mike has a few different options.
Up here, the top of her hip,
they can put some plates and screws
in order to get that back together.
NARRATOR: While the break on the top of Chloe's pelvis
is more severe, it can be mended surgically.
DR. NICOLE: This we can fix, this usually not.
But once they get this aligned,
this down here will be aligned better.
That is just a whole bunch of fibrous cartilage connections
that hold the two parts of the hips together.
And that will heal with time
as long as it's aligned up correctly.
This would be done at a referral center.
Unfortunately, we're not able to treat her here.
The best thing to do is to take her to an emergency hospital
where they have surgeons that can go ahead
and fix everything for her.
MIKE: That should be done.
DR. NICOLE: Sooner rather than later.
Usually once they get the surgery,
they feel ten times better.
MIKE: Oh, pretty sad, I didn't know it was this bad, you know.
I didn't know she was in this much pain.
DR. NICOLE: So, I will get her started on some pain meds.
The best you can do is just keep her rested.
MIKE: Take her home, make an appointment,
get her down there within the next couple days hopefully,
then get her in there and get her fixed up.
Looks like she's gonna need surgery.
Get her back to being a little pup.
Just like she was, hopping and jumping around, chasing things.
Lay down, Chloe.
♪ ♪
DR. POL: So, what's going on? Where is the lump?
Shawn is bringing Teddy in.
He has a bump that broke open underneath his eye,
and he, Shawn really doesn't know what that is.
SHAWN: Right underneath this eye.
All of a sudden, the dam burst
and blood all over his fur and stuff.
NARRATOR: Teddy's problem may seem simple,
but there's more to his issue than meets the eye.
DR. POL: Yeah, that's a tooth.
Come on in, we'll get a good look at him.
The root of the tooth is very close to the eye.
So, when you see a lump underneath the eye
right above where the molars are,
many times that's an infection.
Let me have a look. Hi, sweetie.
Oh, yes. It's loose.
SHAWN: Oh, is it?
DR. POL: Here, look at this.
When you have an infected tooth,
the infection travels actually through the sinus,
through the bone, makes a bump.
That's an abscess coming through.
And finally, it breaks through to the outside.
I'm gonna pull it right now.
That way you take the cause of the infection out,
and Teddy's abscess will heal up a lot faster.
Just, just hold him.
Just take it easy, buddy.
SHAWN: I know, bud.
(yelp)
DR. POL: That's what I mean.
See what I mean? How rotten that thing is?
The tooth looks like the dickens,
and, yeah, it came out easy
because it was completely loose in there from infection.
Yeah, I'm gonna clean that up.
We put him on antibiotics,
and then locally you can put some Neosporin on.
So now he'll feel better.
SHAWN: Uh, wasn't what I expected.
But we got her out.
DR. POL: Take that home, he gets a quarter.
SHAWN: (laughs)
Ah, not gonna put it under his pillow.
No. I'm afraid he might eat it! (laughs)
♪ ♪
(mooing)
♪ ♪
DR. LISA: So, what's the story?
PHIL: Yesterday she was pushing a lot, but nothing coming out.
DR. LISA: Okay.
NARRATOR: Dr. Lisa's at an emergency call
with a first-time mom, in labor for nearly 24 hours.
PHIL: Today this has been hanging out of her
most of the day, so we thought, hey, she's gonna calf,
but nothing's happening.
DR. LISA: Okay.
JOHN: We reached in earlier ourselves,
and couldn't reach the calf, so we knew it wasn't on track.
DR. LISA: I can feel two feet here.
First glance at this cow, she looks pretty uncomfortable.
She's been calving for a while now.
There's a head that's kind of twisted off to the side here.
PHIL: Okay.
DR. LISA: There's not a great deal of space.
I think she's still maybe not fully dilated.
What I'd like to do now is try and get her standing.
I don't think I'm gonna be able to get where I need to
from this position.
PHIL: Yeah. Come on, come on.
(moo)
Come on, let's go.
Come on. Get up. Come on.
Come on. Get up.
DR. LISA: I'm gonna try and get chains around these feet
and start to pull the calf.
PHIL: Okay.
DR. LISA: I'm hoping that pulling will help
to stretch the cervix.
Probably have you try and keep her from swinging too much
once I'm in there.
A situation like this definitely involves multiple people.
Cows are very large animals,
and we're all kind of in a small space.
It's just really important to be aware of their size
and the dangers involved.
Stay up, Mama. Stay up.
NARRATOR: The cow has been in labor for 24 hours.
She's exhausted, in pain.
DR. LISA: Ho! Ho!
NARRATOR: And she's reached her limit.
DR. LISA: Let's just give her a second.
(moo)
DR. LISA: You okay?
PHIL: Yeah.
DR. LISA: Nice fence-climbing skills.
Ho! Ho!
Cows tend to not be aggressive on purpose,
but in this situation,
this cow has been calving for quite some time,
so it's kind of a reaction to the pain from the labor.
Alright, let me try again from here.
She's just totally out of energy reserves.
Okay. I got one foot through the cervix.
They're pretty big feet,
which could be part of the problem.
But I got two feet in the cervix now.
It's an extremely large calf.
The feet are almost as big as my hand.
I'm just trying to kind of sneak the head in there with the feet.
If the nose and the feet
aren't all coming at the cervix at the same time,
sometimes it doesn't have the pressure to dilate properly.
Okay.
My concern with this cow is that we may have missed our window
and we might not be able to get it to dilate again.
So, I do have my hand, like, in its mouth,
and I'm not getting any sort of--it's not alive.
I think most likely this calf wasn't alive
by the time I arrived.
♪ ♪
Try and pull on those legs a little bit.
At this point, my biggest goal is to get the calf out
so that the mother can survive.
NARRATOR: The decomposing calf has to come out
for the mother to survive.
DR. LISA: Okay. Hold steady pressure.
NARRATOR: With a closed cervix, this is a long shot.
DR. LISA: Okay. Yeah, I lost it.
I got like a small snare.
I'm gonna try and get that around its jaw.
It's starting to get hard to breathe.
Try pulling again while I hold the head.
Okay, stop a second.
And try and pull that way.
(chain releases)
♪ ♪
Okay, stop again.
(exhales)
I don't think it's happening.
I don't think it's gonna come out.
NARRATOR: The options for the heifer
are now extremely limited.
DR. LISA: We aren't getting any more dilation.
The last ditch would be trying the calf jack,
but I think it would just tear everything. Yeah.
Basically, the calf is already starting to--
PHIL: Mm-hmm, decompose.
DR. LISA: Right.
There's a lot of things to take into consideration
as far as the cow's quality of life,
what we want to put her through.
♪ ♪
JOHN: The shape she's in, should we just put her down?
DR. LISA: I hate to say that.
I don't want to give up one till we've tried everything,
but I think we've gotten to that point, I'm afraid.
PHIL: Yup.
DR. LISA: It seems like the most humane choice for this cow
in this situation is euthanasia.
♪ ♪
I'm sorry.
PHIL: It's alright.
It happens.
JOHN: It's part of the job.
We hope it doesn't happen, but it happens now and then.
Thanks for tryin'.
PHIL: Yeah, thanks for everything.
DR. LISA: Sorry for the poor outcome, though.
PHIL: Yeah. That was not meant to be today.
JOHN: Dr. Lisa did a remarkable job
trying to get the calf out to save the cow.
PHIL: Well, good job, thank you.
Appreciate you coming out and trying so hard.
DR. LISA: Yep. Just sorry.
JOHN: We have 21 healthy calves, so hopefully we'll have 21 more.
♪ ♪
KORTNIE: Come here, Patches.
I got Patches last year at an animal swap.
DR. POL: Whoa ho! What a big Jeep.
KORTNIE: She has been escaping the fence
to graze on the grass.
DR. POL: Hello.
KORTNIE: Hi.
DR. POL: Oh, that little guy.
KORTNIE: Yes.
I've treated for lice and mites,
and her hair is not growing back.
She's losing hair on her legs and in patches.
And when it was feed time,
I went to go put her back in the pen.
I felt a lump on the bottom of her belly.
DR. POL: How old is this one?
KORTNIE: About a year.
DR. POL: So, where's the lump?
KORTNIE: Like on the underside of her belly right here.
With the lump and the hair loss, I was worried about CAE.
DR. POL: CAE is caprine arthritis encephalitis.
It's a bad bacteria staph infection
that gets into the joints, and it is very contagious,
so all goat owners are very scared of getting it.
Okay. Let's pick her up and bring her in.
I want to see a better look
and where she's not pulling away.
When you get it in the herd,
the only way you can get rid of it
is by culling animals that carry it.
KORTNIE: You're okay.
DR. POL: How long has it been there?
KORTNIE: I just noticed it the other day.
And it's, it's gotten bigger since.
DR. POL: Okay. And there is a soft spot.
Okay, I'm gonna stick a needle in there first.
KORTNIE: Yep.
DR. POL: It looks like pus.
KORTNIE: Okay.
DR. POL: It definitely is an abscess
where she climbed through the fence some place.
This is not CAE.
The abscess is just liquid pus, and it's not in a joint,
so it's just from an injury.
Okay, we're gonna lay her down.
I'm gonna open that abscess first.
You know how goats are, they're always rubbing on something.
And if there's a wire sticking loose,
then you poke it through the skin, you get an abscess.
This one we can clean up, and it'll heal up.
KORTNIE: Oh, gross.
I was not expecting that much pus to come out of that at all.
DR. POL: And there's a lot more coming.
(laughs)
KORTNIE: There was definitely lots of pus in there.
DR. POL: That's goats.
This is an injury, and, yes, it stinks.
KORTNIE: And should I just clean it at home with peroxide as well
and just keep it clean?
DR. POL: Yeah, go ahead, push it out.
KORTNIE: It's kind of cool to see, though.
DR. POL: (laughs)
KORTNIE: I'm a medical assistant.
It's different coming from animals than humans, though.
DR. POL: That should heal up.
I would use that syringe with peroxide a couple times.
KORTNIE: Okay.
DR. POL: So, the hair.
I don't see lice.
This is a vitamin A problem.
What kind of hay do you have?
KORTNIE: Grassy alfalfa.
DR. POL: So, there should be enough vitamin A in there,
but this is typical lack of vitamin A.
Patches' hair looks like it's a vitamin deficiency.
I don't see any sign of ringworm or anything,
so hopefully with a shot of vitamins, she'll get better.
I'm gonna give her a shot.
KORTNIE: Okay.
DR. POL: And see if that works.
KORTNIE: Okay.
DR. POL: It doesn't work instantly, it'll take some time,
but let me know if that works, and then what we have to do
is just get a little bit better hay
maybe sometimes that has vitamin A.
KORTNIE: Yeah.
DR. POL: Outlook for Patches is real good.
You know, I hope that the skin will get better,
and that abscess should heal up without any problems.
There's the syringe, I cleaned it, flush it,
and that's about it.
KORTNIE: It went great.
Doc Pol reassured me that it was not CAE,
and that's a big relief because I have lots of goats.
DR. POL: Okay, thanks.
KORTNIE: Thank you.
I hope Patches does not continue
to have me back here with the same problems,
but she does like to escape, so.
♪ ♪
(moo)
(goats bleating)
(snort)
MIKE: Good puppy.
Good girl!
DR. NICOLE: Okay, can you walk for me?
NARRATOR: Chloe was run over by a four-wheeler...
(yelping)
DR. NICOLE: Oh, oh, sorry!
NARRATOR: severely damaging her pelvis.
DR. NICOLE: She broke this part.
She broke this part as well.
NARRATOR: After surgery to repair her pelvis...
MIKE: Come on, Chlo. (whistles) Come on!
NARRATOR: Chloe is back to her energetic self.
MIKE: That night, they put a steel plate in her.
Next day, went down there and picked her up,
all good to go again!
Yeah, it's the side right here. Hair's almost grown back.
She had a chicken leg for a while. (laughs)
As far as the recovery, running like it never happened.
Such a puppy, yeah.
She's just great.
Maybe a little ornerier, you know, just a little bit.
(barking)
Quit!
(bark)
Chases gophers around.
Fights with the cat. (laughs)
Personality didn't change at all.
(laughs)
Good girl!