Young Vets

The Young Vets have been studying for four years at the Royal Veterinary College and it's finally time to put their textbooks to one side and get hands-on with real animals. They have just two weeks to master and pass each essential area of practical veterinary knowledge and the first day of their placements has each of them feeling like a total beginner. Elly Berry is starting one of the most-feared rotations, anaesthesia, at the RVC's Queen Mother Hospital for Animals and must anaesthetise a kitten with serious breathing problems. But when Morris becomes seriously ill and nearly dies, the head of anaesthesia has to intervene and Elly realises just how much there is to learn in the year ahead. Charlie Tewson faces a baptism of fire when an aggressive dog enters his consulting room. Catherine Needham familiarises herself with the reproductive anatomy of a rabbit making a strange buzzing sound and horse-loving Amy Clithero discovers the stress of life-or-death surgery when a critically ill Shetland pony arrives at her practice. Mature student Judy Puddifoot is under serious pressure as she must perform surgery for the first time. It might be a routine procedure, but cutting into a healthy animal with owners who are expecting it back is incredibly daunting.

It's late summer at the Royal Veterinary College and the students have just 11 months to go before they qualify. They're under a lot of pressure as they need to master every discipline of veterinary medicine - whether it's first-opinion general practice or complex surgery. The students learn to diagnose and not make assumptions. Judy Puddifoot is at the RVC's Queen Mother Hospital for Animals in Hertfordshire in the neurology department when Holly, a border collie who has jumped off a cliff and broken her back, is rushed into the ER. Holly's condition is critical - she cannot walk and is in considerable pain. Surgery is her only option or she will have to be put to sleep. Will the team at the RVC ever get her back on her feet? Judy must use all her animal skills and care to help Holly recover. Charlie Tewson is back home in Norfolk on a farm rotation, where he learns how to treat a cow with an ovarian cyst, which has the side effect of making her friskier than usual! Amy Clithero learns the tough lesson never to make assumptions when diagnosing patients. She tries to treat a spaniel with walking difficulties and develops key reptile skills when she helps a wounded tortoise get back on the move with a bit of ingenuity and some very useful wheels. Dru Shearn is on his anaesthesia placement, where he has to look after a golden retriever puppy having lengthy life-saving surgery. Unfortunately for Dru, the machines and alarms are starting to give him nightmares.

The Young Vets learn not to underestimate the amazing ability of animals to recover from illness, while getting to grips with the serious business of surgery. But for some of the students, the intense pressure is starting to take its toll. Matt Wilkinson is in his home town of Eastbourne assisting with the removal of a huge tumour from a mouse; Elly Berry is learning how to do surgery on a cow in the middle of a working farm; and Danni Willey discovers that surgical procedures don't need to be high-tech to be effective. Judy Puddifoot's anaesthesia placement ends in tears as she struggles with maths and calculating drug doses, causing her to have big doubts about her ability to be a vet. But when she moves to intensive care and has to look after a dog called Biscuit, struggling for his life after surgery, it renews her determination and puts things into perspective.

The Young Vets are gradually getting into the swing of the final year and gaining confidence with live animals. This time they knuckle down to some really smelly jobs and learn that not all cases end happily ever after. Jo Hardy is in anaesthesia with an emergency case, a chihuahua called Rex, who has swallowed a fish hook that has pierced his oesophagus. Rex already has serious heart problems and will die if surgeons cannot remove the fish hook. Jo must stay focused as the surgeons battle to save Rex. Hannah Nevin discovers the least glamorous side of veterinary medicine when she is taught how to express urine from a shih-tzu. Meanwhile, Charlie Tewson toughens up when he learns to castrate a stallion using emasculators. Elly Berry is out of her comfort zone in equine surgery. Vinny, a much-loved rescue pony, is brought in with a very large lump on the side of his face. Vinny survived a difficult early life, but can the vets save him now? Judy Puddifoot is working in a small animal practice in Luton when a member of the public brings in a hedgehog which seems to have been mauled by a fox. Judy must learn a difficult but valuable lesson about doing the kindest thing for severely injured wild animals.

It is late autumn and the students are starting to learn some tough lessons about what being a vet really means. In this episode they realise that not all cases have easy answers and get a taste of what it means to deliver bad news to owners. Matt Wilkinson is working in the notoriously challenging neurology department. His first case is Blue, a large rhodesian ridgeback dog who is brought in by his distraught owner because he has had a series of seizures and cannot walk or respond. After a series of tests, Matt must help the dog's deeply upset owners to make the difficult decision of whether to put the dog through cancer treatment, which will give them some precious extra time with Blue. Judy Puddifoot is on a farm placement pregnancy-testing cows. She helps head vet James McFarland to castrate a pet ram called Pierre. Catherine Needham is at the RVC's Sainsbury's Beaumont practice in Camden, where she discovers how to worm a reluctant tortoise. Charlie Tewson is on the highly challenging small animal medicine placement. He discovers just how complicated a case can be when he has to turn detective and solve the mystery of a jack russell with a serious autoimmune disease. Dru Shearn learns important lessons about the competitive equine world. Dru's patient, Darcey Bustle, is a foal destined to be a dressage horse. But Darcey has a complicated problem with her shoulder and she will have to be put to sleep on the operating table if the equine surgery team cannot fix the problem.

It is the middle of winter at the Royal Veterinary College and the exhausted students are just weeks away from their well-earned Christmas break. They will all need to be able to perform simple surgery on day one as qualified vets - and in this episode they find out it is definitely as hard as it looks! Charlie Tewson is at the Queen Mother Hospital caring for a king charles spaniel with a badly swollen larynx who almost dies after surgery. The team have to use all their skills to save her life. Jo Hardy is on a farm placement and discovers the life-saving lesson that beef cattle are very difficult - and dangerous - animals to examine and treat. Judy Puddifoot is working in equine surgery - not easy for a young vet with a horse phobia. But she learns to love horses thanks to one-eyed gentle giant Wallis, who is admitted with a serious bout of sinusitis. Judy must carry out some spectacular surgery on his head to cure him. Matt Wilkinson has high surgical ambitions and is delighted to scrub in on complex and very delicate heart surgery on a seven-week-old jack russell puppy. Can he prove himself a capable assistant to the hospital's head surgeon, world-renowned Professor Dan Brockman?

It is early January at the Royal Veterinary College, and the young vets have just three more months of clinical placements before they face their all-important final exams. That also means only three more months to master all the skills they need to go into practice as fully qualified vets. At the same time they are learning how hard it can be to lose a patient they have grown fond of. Elly Berry grows very attached to her patient Finn, a seriously ill golden retriever with swelling and infection around his heart. Elly joins world-renowned surgeon Professor Dan Brockman for the surgery and touches Finn's beating heart. Charlie Tewson is assisting in orthopaedic surgery. His case is Ruby, a toy poodle who fell and broke her leg coming out of a beauty parlour. The surgeons must use innovative orthopaedic techniques to save Ruby's leg. Amy Clithero is helping to anaesthetise Stuart Little (by name, not by nature), a sheep whose unusual addiction to ginger biscuits has made him overweight and seriously ill. Judy Puddifoot has a hard time at the PDSA, where her dyslexia and difficulty with maths makes calculating anaesthetic doses a serious issue between her and her supervisor. Dru Shearn is based at a vets in rural Somerset and learns a hard lesson about the cost of TB for cattle and dairy farmers. He also takes a trip to Longleat, where he helps treat a zebra with a suspected sinusitis.

It's February and our young vets only have a few months left before their student days come to an end. They'll soon be the ones making decisions about their patients, with no-one to fall back on. They learn that these decisions about what's best for patients and their owners can be very difficult indeed. Charlie Tewson wants to work with small animals in general practice and emergency care is a vital part of this. He's working in the intensive care unit at the RVC's Queen Mother Hospital for Animals and it's crucial he does well. Charlie's first case is Polly, a flat-coated retriever involved in a serious road accident. Her injuries were so severe that surgeons removed one of her hind legs. But infection has set into her wound and it's not responding to antibiotics. Can the vets find a way to treat her before she dies? Matt Wilkinson is working with exotic creatures great and small at a practice that treats animals in a nearby zoo. He has to get to grips with an angry mangy monkey and helps to treat a lovesick rockhopper penguin. Horse lover Jo Hardy is in equine bliss as she helps to treat Hughie, a valuable eventer with a dangerous heart condition. Judy Puddifoot is learning to solve veterinary mysteries. Vets refer sick animals they can't diagnose to the RVC, so Judy needs to turn detective. Her first patient is Marnie, a nova scotia duck tolling retriever who keeps developing a high temperature and fever. Judy must learn that a good vet asks questions, follows the clues and comes up with the answers quickly. Can she work it out in time to help Marnie?

It's early March, and there's only a month to go before the students start their final exams. So far our young vets are all on target to pass their practical placements - but they're running out of time to make sure they've learnt all the skills they need to practise - so this month really is make or break. Dru Shearn is at the RVC's Queen Mother Hospital for Animals when a medical emergency is rushed into the ICU. Young labrador Alba is suffering from a new illness known as New Forest syndrome which is sweeping the country and killing dogs within days. Every dog the hospital has seen with the disease has died. The odds are not looking good for Alba, so the vets decide to try a pioneering new type of blood transfusion called plasmapheresis - but can it save Alba? Judy Puddifoot is at a local practice trying to tick off all the skills on her bucket list before it's too late, and is challenged to spay a dog via keyhole surgery. Danni Willey is at the PDSA where she has to help repair a shar pei dog's face lift, and she operates on a cat with severe constipation. Elly Berry is living the dream working with a farm vet in rural Devon. She soon learns that, whatever the weather, animals come first as she delivers a ewe of two lambs in an emergency caesarean in a barn, an experience which convinces her that this is definitely the life for her.

It's mid-March and, with just one more practical placement to pass, our students are trying to cram in as much vital experience as they can. Amazingly, even at this late stage, they're all tackling procedures they've never attempted before. But it could all be a complete waste of time if they don't pass those all-important final exams! Matt Wilkinson finds himself dealing with the worst job a vet can face, as basset hound Lolly is diagnosed with terminal cancer and her grief-stricken owners need to make the decision whether or not to end her suffering. Judy Puddifoot is thrown in the deep end by her supervisor during life-saving surgery on a dog with an infected uterus, and she tackles her first chicken consultation! Amy Clithero learns that dehorning cows is better exercise than a gym session, and gets to roll a cow upside down to cure a twisted stomach. Charlie Tewson has somehow managed to reach his final placement without learning how to do a very basic operation - spaying a cat. He finally gets his chance to practise on tortoiseshell Tilly - but will he pass muster? Finally, all our students face their dreaded final exams and find out once and for all whether they've succeeded - or failed - in becoming fully qualified young vets.