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00:00Many of the hardest-to-treat pets in Britain
00:02Right, it's hedgehog time.
00:04are brought to one extraordinary practice.
00:08Run by the man known as the Bionic Vet,
00:11Professor Noel Fitzpatrick.
00:14What we're going to do has never been done before, ever.
00:17He performs some of the most advanced procedures ever attempted.
00:20It's the smallest total hip replacement in the world today.
00:23This is a textbook result.
00:25Actually, it's not even in the textbook yet.
00:28As the lives of his patients and their families hang in the balance.
00:31I've never seen an infection take hold this quick ever in my life, actually.
00:35Noel continues to find new ways to give them a chance.
00:38Of course, we don't know if it will work.
00:39That dog is the only thing that even makes me carry on.
00:43Offering hope against all the odds.
00:51She wants to say,
00:52Hiya, this is my new bionic leg.
00:54It's just a miracle.
00:58It's the start of a new week at Fitzpatrick Referrals.
01:13Oh, another one.
01:15Teddy bears.
01:16Hello.
01:17Hello.
01:18Hello.
01:19Hello.
01:20Hello, baby.
01:21Hello, baby.
01:26Noel's first patient of the day is a fox red Labrador puppy, Oscar.
01:31Hiya.
01:32Hi.
01:34Oscar is six months old.
01:36In the early days, it was a little bit more challenging, wasn't it?
01:39It was like, are we ever going to get any work done again?
01:41Because Oscar just wants to play.
01:43Or what's worse was when you'd just hear the sound of crunching from another room and you'd go through, oh, there's a laptop charger.
01:51Matt is a musician and Iles has recently become a vicar.
01:59I'm planning a funeral and people have come to the house.
02:02He's a lovely kind of welcome and he's often a great, you know, someone's turned up on the doorstep feeling really sad and they see Oscar and he's just quite soothing.
02:11Oscar has intermittent lameness and the couple suspect he has elbow problems.
02:18First, Noel needs to observe Oscar walking.
02:22Tight lead, tight lead.
02:24Okay, he's very lame.
02:25Yeah.
02:26Okay.
02:27Just stand in here for me, please.
02:29Just here.
02:30This may hurt.
02:32Yeah, it hurts a lot.
02:35Okay, I'm sorry about that.
02:37We can see there's pronounced puffiness right there.
02:40You see that?
02:41Yes, we noticed that.
02:42Yeah.
02:43So that's really puffed up.
02:44Yeah.
02:45Really puffed up.
02:46That's fluid swelling in the joint.
02:47Right.
02:48His tail never stops wagging.
02:51No.
02:52And that's the thing.
02:53He's a Labrador.
02:54Yeah.
02:55Now, the frustrating thing is that Labrador puppies can be affected by developmental elbow disease.
03:00Okay.
03:01You hope it's not going to be you.
03:03But it is.
03:04Massive big deal.
03:05This is probably as bad as it gets at six months with that amount of puffiness.
03:09So we have to figure out what to do and we have to figure it out quickly.
03:14Okay.
03:15All right, big guy.
03:16Should we go see the girls?
03:17All right, Francesca.
03:18Off you go.
03:19Go on.
03:20Go play.
03:21Go play.
03:22Oscar will need CT scans and x-rays for Noel to work out just how bad his elbow disease
03:27is.
03:28Okay.
03:29I'm sorry guys.
03:30Have you got children?
03:31Two.
03:32How old are they?
03:33I'm one on the way.
03:34Oh my lord.
03:35Congratulations.
03:36So there's not enough chaos going on in our lives.
03:37Congratulations.
03:38You have a house of chaos.
03:39We do, yeah.
03:40Oh my lord.
03:41The growing family live in the vicarage in Chertsey with Matt's two young children from
03:52his first marriage.
03:54Jemima is nine and Noah is eight.
03:58Three.
03:59Yeah, we've got another one on the way as well, which is very exciting.
04:04Oh, he's so cute.
04:07I always wanted a dog.
04:09It's very exciting to get Oscar.
04:11The kids were delighted with the idea of getting a puppy.
04:15I loved him instantly.
04:18He was just so cute and so playful.
04:23Oh, that's when we can go in the plasma pool.
04:26I love that.
04:27You kind of have all these lovely hopes and dreams for being out with your dog running
04:31around and suddenly it's all, yeah, kind of not quite as we imagined it.
04:44We see Labradors, Cocker Spaniels, Miniature Dashens and German Shepherds, so it is really
04:50nice to get a much rarer breed through the door.
04:53I love him.
04:54Is it a Shishon?
04:55Is it a Shishon?
04:56Yeah.
04:57Is it a Shishon?
04:58Yeah.
04:59Is it a Shishon?
05:00Yeah.
05:01I'm assuming Shih Tzu and Bishon.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Shishon, Shisho, Shisho.
05:04Shisho.
05:05Oh dear.
05:06One couple who live with not one but two rare breed dogs is Lynn and David.
05:19They've driven 300 miles from County Durham with Raz, their seven-year-old Russian Black
05:25Terrier, who's already been seen by their local vet.
05:29So, unfortunately Raz has got on his left paw a growth and it's cancerous.
05:35Bone cancer.
05:36Bone cancer.
05:37Bone cancer.
05:38Raz's recent diagnosis has been particularly hard for the family.
05:42We've had an awful two and a half years.
05:44My dad was diagnosed with cancerous lymphoma two and a half years ago and then mum had
05:51a massive stroke and then we had seven months of hurt.
05:55Seriously, seriously, he'll think she died.
05:58We're hoping to have Lim salvage.
06:01I don't think we can watch him suffer.
06:03No, no.
06:04It's not like I've watched my mum.
06:05I can't do it.
06:07Hello, Raz.
06:08Lynn and David hope Noel can save Raz's leg and that the cancer hasn't yet spread.
06:15I'm Noel.
06:16Lynn.
06:17David, hi.
06:18David, nice to see you.
06:19Hello, mate.
06:20How are you doing?
06:21How old is he?
06:22Seven.
06:23Right.
06:24So aggressive, isn't it?
06:25It is very aggressive, yeah.
06:27Is that what you expect?
06:28Yes, it is.
06:29We love him to pieces and we want the best for him and if the best for him is Lim salvage
06:36surgery, we can have him for longer then that's what we want.
06:38If it's not, then really we want to do what's best for him.
06:41Well, first of all, we're not going to be doing a Lim salvage surgery if we find gross
06:46evidence of spread elsewhere, then we'll be having a very different conversation.
06:50Yeah.
06:51And that conversation will either be palliative care with drugs, full limb amputation or
06:58euthanasia.
06:59Stereotactic radiation whereby we zone in on the CT and zap it may be a possibility.
07:05We'll see.
07:06All right big guy, we're going to get your scans and we'll see how you do.
07:09Just slap that off.
07:10Now you'll be a big, brave boy and we'll see you later.
07:14Lin and David will wait for the scan results.
07:18Only then can they make a decision on Raz's future.
07:21He's going for a scan and we've got to wait and see because it's bone cancer.
07:26He's going to be fine because I can't cope if he's not so he has to, doesn't he?
07:30Breathe.
07:31Go to the pub.
07:32I know.
07:33I'm on the brandy again.
07:34I've started that off.
07:35I'm on the brandy big time.
07:39I'm on the brandy.
07:58Oscar the labrador pup is having CT scans to establish the extent of his elbow disease.
08:04Right, Oscar, please.
08:08Hi, guys.
08:09Hi.
08:10All right, so you'll know from the delay that it's not good.
08:13Okay.
08:15That's the humerus.
08:17That's the radius.
08:18That's the ulna.
08:20There's a massive erosion here, massive.
08:24That's as big as I've ever seen in a six-month-old dog.
08:28You've got three of the manifestations of developmental elbow disease.
08:31The first one is OCD, which is where the cartilage did not develop properly into bone and flaked away.
08:38The second is that there's too much pressure between the humerus and the ulna, and the ulna is crumbling away.
08:45The third is that the joint doesn't fit, so you've got elbow incongruity.
08:49Goodness me, yeah.
08:52Noel doesn't believe that medication will be enough to manage Oscar's pain, now or in the future.
08:58The bottom line is we have a collective responsibility here, either to do major surgery or to euthanise.
09:06I promise.
09:09Anything less than a state-of-the-art, I think, would be a mistake here.
09:13Yeah.
09:15I think we would need to know the cost of medication.
09:17We will need to look at that, yeah, absolutely.
09:21You can't make a decision.
09:22No, of course you can't.
09:25With investigations, surgery and other treatments potentially costing more than their insurance will cover,
09:32Isles and Matt have a difficult decision to make.
09:35If it's going to be thousands and thousands over the insurance, then we, I think we need to have a serious talk with the kids this weekend.
09:52Actually, Bozzie might be a bit.
09:54There's...
09:56I think we have to take him home.
10:09Because that made us a little fun.
10:11Absolutely.
10:17Oscar, please.
10:18Before Matt and Isles leave, Noel wants to discuss a way of helping the couple fund Oscar's desperately needed surgery.
10:29I'm sorry to put you through this.
10:31That's all right.
10:32You do not have to make a decision today, by the way.
10:35Okay.
10:36There is a couple of altruistic individuals that have said to me that if deserving people come into my life, they might consider helping.
10:43You are certainly deserving because you're helping other people.
10:45So, but it would take me a couple of days to reach out to them.
10:52We just haven't got...
10:53Of course, you've got young kids.
10:53No, I get that.
10:54I get that.
10:56Matt and Isles will need to wait a couple of days to see if a donor will fund Oscar's surgery.
11:03I don't really feel deserving of it.
11:07Well, I don't think there's any guarantee.
11:09Well, no.
11:12And if we, I mean, if we can't fund it, then we...
11:14It's quite devastating, really.
11:21It's very good to stay.
11:24Now I know.
11:25It's fine.
11:26One, two, three.
11:43Raz, the Russian black terrier, is having scans to find out if the cancer in his leg has visibly spread elsewhere in the body.
11:51Lin and David are waiting for the results.
11:58I'm so, so frightened.
12:04Raz, there's mum and dad, please.
12:06Hey, please take a seat.
12:11I know it's nerve-wracking for you out there.
12:13The lungs at this point are clear.
12:16Okay, good.
12:17The rest of the body, we cannot find evidence of growth spread.
12:20All right, good.
12:21That doesn't mean it hasn't spread.
12:22No, no, no, no.
12:23No, this is an X-ray picture of the leg.
12:24This thing is growing at a rate of knots.
12:25I mean, it's literally getting bigger by that day.
12:26Yeah.
12:27We are anticipating a median survival time of 11 months for this dog.
12:30What do you think about the limb salvage?
12:31I think that it's viable at this moment.
12:32So that's the best option.
12:33Um, that depends on whether you're an advocate of three legs or four.
12:34We're an advocate of four.
12:51Don't misunderstand me.
12:53misunderstand me this dog would actually do fine on three legs we're dubious because of his weight
13:00limb salvage is where you cut out the primary and you put in a spacer which and looks like that
13:07and it goes inside the leg like that with the four plates yeah we've only seen one mechanical
13:14failure yeah the risk with this is infection right okay because it's good yeah yeah we've
13:20definitely lost limbs and we've definitely lost life as a result of infection Lynn and David must
13:28decide either to amputate Raz's leg or to save it by replacing part of it with the implant
13:34if you want to save this leg my best advice is that i crack on now okay all right so you want
13:40me to proceed with the endometriosis all right that's fine let me instruct the team okay just give me one
13:45okay guys we've got to go ahead end on now as quick as we can to theater thank you
13:56the sad side is that it's growing as fast as it's growing yeah but we've caught it now
14:01yeah but the prognosis isn't as good no no he's a fighter yeah
14:07noel already has the components to piece together raz's implant based on the ct scan
14:16and he'll operate straight away here it's really important we don't cut into the tumor
14:22because you will have seeded the local environment with tumor cells
14:29i know from the ct scan that that tumor is growing up inside the bone
14:32to about that level so i'm going to cut right up here noel must remove all of raz's tumor to
14:38minimize the risk of it growing back in the leg there we go tumor out we'll pop that over here
14:47okay so we've put the uh dirty table over there which is the table with the tumor on it
14:53we've now got a clean table noel pieces the modular implant together to fit the length of bone he has
15:00just removed he spends the next two hours securing the implant with screws and plates to the foot and
15:08the top of the forearm so this is the position his paw is going to be for the rest of his life so i better
15:14get it right he's in with a real chance now keeping his leg hi big fella you're still in there good boy
15:28all right let's go next day thank you raz will stay at the practice for a few days to recover
15:34hey lynn hi hi well we've come out of the surgery uh it went fine good raz has uh had the tumor removed
15:43great you have my permission to have i have a little tipple now i think there's some brandy on
15:49good good good you have some brandy and i'll give him something slightly stronger on the opioid front
15:56all right take care
15:58the labrador puppy and his family are back to discuss the operation to fix his severely diseased elbows
16:17mat and vicar isles who is expecting their third child can't afford to pay for the full treatment
16:27themselves hello how are you hello oscar um right the gentleman i was talking to you about who wishes
16:35to remain anonymous has uh donated the money for the surgery yes we are so grateful yeah yeah so what
16:43we're going to try and go for is to mechanically unload as well as biologically stimulate i would
16:51cut the humerus in half shift the weight over to the good side and try and use stem cells from bon
16:59marrow from this dog to recapitulate cartilage here by injecting it and gluing it in place
17:07let's set your expectations right now it's never going to be normal
17:10okay the risks are infection fracture failure to heal or failure for the joint to settle down
17:19adequately to provide quality of life all right we're ready to go
17:26unusually noel will operate on both elbows at the same time because his condition is deteriorating fast
17:33noel's gonna look after you you're under strict instructions hi big guy thank you so much
17:46please god everything go okay absolutely
17:50matt's grown up with dogs i haven't and i've been quite amazed at how you know we've only had oscar four
17:56months but how much a part of our family he is absolutely traumatized we are at the thought of life
18:02without him the gift that we have been given is a gift that will hopefully benefit us and the children
18:09and the child yet to be born for years that's just extraordinary really oscar will have surgery later today
18:18it's been several days since raz had major surgery successfully replacing a cancerous tumor in his leg
18:30with a metal implant but noel is concerned about his recovery we've got a problem raz has an infection
18:39so this is a recognized complication of putting a large chunk of metal inside a leg it's not good
18:50there's only one silver lining to the cloud and that is that the immune response to the infection
18:57up regulates certain kinds of immune cells within the body those specific immune cells actually
19:05reduced the tendency for cancer to grow elsewhere so that means that even though raz has had an infection
19:15he may live longer than what would otherwise be predicted without the infection
19:21noel talks to her about what can happen and he certainly told us about the
19:26infections but you almost put that to the back of your mind you look at the positives rather than the
19:31negatives raz will stay in isolation while noel and his team do all they can to try to beat the infection
19:41have you got a beautiful smile do you have a beautiful oh i know he's right on my eyeball
19:47you give me kisses right on my eyeball
19:52oscar the labrador puppy is being prepared for his double elbow surgery
19:56noel will screw on the top part of the custom plate cut the humerus bone
20:07using screws pull the lower part of the bone towards the stepped part of the plate
20:13insert bone graft then inject specially selected stem cells and glue to try to heal the worn surfaces in the
20:20joint
20:25first noel needs to explore the diseased elbow using a camera to see into the joint
20:36i'm so upset for this dog it's very very unusual for me to see
20:42that degree of erosion in a six-month-old dog
20:49right hold again he checks the condition of the other elbow give it to me
20:58so this elbow is at a less advanced stage than the other elbow
21:02then he removes pieces of damaged cartilage
21:10and then i'll just pull it out using oscar's bone marrow the team will extract specific cells
21:17to then inject with glue onto the joint later
21:24next he moves on to cutting the humerus to shift oscar's weight away from the damaged joint surface
21:32a custom plate has been designed specially to fit oscar's leg
21:37normally i would never do this operation on two sides at the same time
21:41but in this case oscar does not have time to wait
21:51so you can see as we tighten these two screws sequentially we pull this segment of bone up
21:55towards the plate and that means that the body weight is now going to go towards the outside of the joint
22:02so he repeats this procedure on the other leg
22:09oscar's extracted stem cells have been specially enriched
22:13and can be immediately injected back into his elbow mixed with biological glue
22:19okay so here we go
22:21it will take 12 weeks to find out if the cells have helped to heal the joint surface
22:26good boy
22:34all right let's get your text right
22:36surgery has taken nearly four hours
22:39having had both elbows operated on oscar will need to be kept calm for a few weeks to prevent damage to
22:46the implants
22:54it's early sunday afternoon
23:06and an emergency case has been referred to see no
23:10my corky cat i think he's been run over
23:13before he we took him into our local vets he just
23:19wasn't really moving very much at all and then when we tried to lift him into the box he was in
23:23huge amounts of pain it was almost like he was screaming and that was like dreadful
23:28to hear corky please grab a seat so um and corky is oh baby one year three months is that right yeah
23:37yeah oh shmolly and what happened so i went out and he was lying on the patio and he didn't move
23:47and then i realized that he looked really like startled and not right at all
23:53yes
23:54i hope you can do something for him
23:55come on
23:57beautiful uh beautiful device here you've got a modified coat hanger i think it should be patented
24:03okay big fella hey beauty how you doing beauty now mate come on mate jesco thank you you go down on the
24:13mat and talk to him mum now you definitely can't stand up you're just gonna see if you can feel his legs
24:20come on come on come on yeah you can feel it good boy your vet felt he couldn't feel his tail
24:31it's pretty limp okay this isn't it's not good i mean we've got a we've got to crack on all right
24:40big fella no big kiss then mum because i'm going to take him through okay i love you baby okay all right
24:48big fella okay in the box i'm sorry sweetheart i'm sorry all right cork we're gonna have to figure
24:55out what's wrong mate i'm gonna try and get you fixed corky will need extensive checks including x-ray
25:01pictures to find out how severely he's been injured ron and joe will wait at fitzpatrick's for the results
25:09people do get up that's not cool
25:18don't worry don't worry don't worry they're in safe hands i know i know that was corking okay
25:26cats do all cats make a noise like that
25:29you don't know it is out there aren't any other cats here
25:33you see only one there's others out the back
25:37two hours later and noel has the results
25:41all right this could be a lot worse it could be a lot worse could be worse so the bottom of the
25:47pelvis is crushed the top of the pelvis is separated and shunted forwards corky's tail is particularly
25:54badly damaged we can't see that the tail is fractured now the chances of the nerves that are going down
26:02here surviving that amount of pull now that could affect the ability to urinate
26:11noel could mend the fracture but the feeling in corky's tail may never return my advice at this
26:18point would be take the tail off and at least not have to lift it yeah yeah yeah yeah okay okay i mean
26:26it'll affect his beauty but that's well you know that's life that's just the way it is yeah small
26:33price to pay oh i'm so pleased could be worse right yeah yeah yeah i really like last night
26:40i was ready to just say goodbye to him you know really
26:46corky's not gonna have his tail anymore a small price to pay really losing his tail yeah
26:52i just grateful
27:09corky the cat is ready for emergency surgery after a road traffic accident
27:14first noel will fix his pelvis all right here we go he'll use a screw pinned through the pelvis onto
27:25the sacrum bone at the base of the spine to hold it in place
27:33he must ensure he gets the right alignment
27:37you only get one shot at this because the bones are very very tiny
27:41as i drive this screw through the side of the pelvis which is the ileum the threads of the screw
27:51are grabbing into the sacrum the ileum will be pulled onto the sacrum
27:57okay so that's that's pretty good now
28:02with the pelvis secured in place noel moves on to cork his tail
28:07it's a lot of hemorrhage in here a lot of damage here we go tail coming off
28:15he amputates below the fracture site leaving a little stump then stitches up the wound
28:23okay that seems fine just a little roof over the poo hole there to stop the rain falling on it
28:29job done let's go to extra thank you
28:32corky will be monitored closely to check if he is able to urinate on his own and to see how he copes
28:39without his tail
28:42the cat's burrito
28:52good boy well done raz the russian black terrier is being treated for his infection
29:03after the operation to remove his bone tumor good boy the implant itself is working fine and he's
29:10walking very well on the leg actually but unfortunately there is infection we've been
29:15giving him antibiotics for quite a few days now and the infection is under control but we don't know
29:22if it's going to be gone or not noel thinks raz can continue his antibiotic treatment at home
29:31with his family
29:35lynn and david have arrived with their other russian black terrier lishka
29:40so noel's got the family today whether he likes it or not
29:46lishka is raz's niece this is the first time the dogs have been separated
29:51yeah she's lost without him yeah and he's lost without her and we lost without them
30:00look who's here hi guys hi hello
30:05hello daddy
30:08yeah yeah unfortunately lishka also has health issues she's been diagnosed with possible
30:15lumbosacral disease by their local vet noel has offered to assess her and to check her for any
30:23cancerous tumors as well i've got a video of her if you want to look at watch that that's what she's
30:29i need to turn halfway through she's really limping on her back leg
30:43yeah yeah she wants to sit down right okay yeah well that's classical for lumbosacral pain
30:48let me have a clinical exam first um i'll get my helpers
30:53check on do you check on raz do you think yeah i'll go and check on raz
31:02wait wait wait sit down sit sit right
31:15wait
31:18probably won't like this whole time
31:23well you'll be pleased to hear i'm not feeling any tumors
31:29just giving raz some uh no problem there's no question you've got sciatica on both sides
31:37you've got significant pain coming down the back of both legs but you didn't seem to be in that
31:42that much pain you think she's in she just she was yelping about oh was she
31:46she's in pain but she just doesn't show it because she doesn't know life any different
31:52i would recommend that you have a dynamic mri study performed yeah
31:58i'm sorry that you're having to go through all this no
32:02if you take on the dogs and you have to do the right thing by them yeah
32:05yeah well let's get her in the car come on lishka will have an mri in a week's time while raz has his
32:14first round of chemotherapy to help prevent his cancer returning yeah but for now the family can all go
32:21home together
32:30it's eight days since oscar the labrador had his double elbow surgery
32:35today he's ready to go home okay the elbows now then you can see it's red raw on both sides
32:43and poor mess so that's red raw horribleness yeah so this is the post-op x-ray picture of
32:54the sliding human osteotomy this looks brilliant and this is the best i can humanly achieve in 2017
33:02but it could all go hideously wrong if all the screws were to break so the one reason he can't
33:08run or jump is the screw breakage possibility the second reason is the biological healing
33:12mm-hmm so outside the front door i'll be with you in two minutes all right see you in a minute
33:22hello mate hello darling there we go hello family how are you doing oh hello
33:28well done really happy to see you good it's just marvelous having him back um a member of our family
33:36has been missing actually the next few weeks are crucial oscar must behave
33:42himself as he recovers from his major surgery
33:52it's been three days since corky the cat had surgery after a road traffic accident
33:58he's had his tail off which isn't fantastic for any pussycat but he's been very brave aren't you corky
34:03yeah hi mate okay it's okay the good news is today he's peed for the first time so that's fantastic
34:12it's just been freshly cleaned out he's like yes i will sit in the litter tray you love a little bit
34:18of ear scratching don't you mate yeah
34:27lin and david are back
34:31it's about time now i run a bad luck challenge
34:34lishka their russian black terrier is having a dynamic mri scan to find out if she needs surgery on
34:41her spine raz is having his first round of chemotherapy to try to prevent his cancer returning
34:50unfortunately his infection remains a potential issue
34:54the family are not very keen to have him on three legs but
35:00when faced with death or three legs most people choose three legs and i think quite rightly so
35:05in an ideal world we would save his leg we've tried very hard but we've not been lucky and that's
35:10the very nature of surgery with both their dogs having treatment lin and david have an anxious weight
35:18the real worry at the moment is is raz because we don't know what's going to happen for the for
35:23the long term i'll feel happy even if we lose him that we've done everything we possibly can we've
35:28brought him to the best person in europe that's you have to live with that don't you that's that's
35:34that's a good way of living with it sweet dad
35:44it's a week since corky had his tail removed and joe and ron have arrived to collect him with
35:50their daughter francesca well this is going to have a few weeks where he can't really run around
35:56he's going to be have a harness and a lead and have to be kept in a cage corkey
36:03isn't the absolute prettiest of cats he is a character he's got very big pointy ears looks a
36:09little bit like a gremlin so i think not having a tail might actually quite suit him
36:17yeah he's still with us that's the main thing
36:19so uh no tail no tail no here you've got uh the amputation i left those three on because i want
36:27to just leave a little flap of skin here to cover the the poo hole
36:31okay okay yeah all right guys ready he's doing great there you go yep
36:45so he's quite active and he is able to walk
36:47so you'll be able to go he's peeing and porn fight he's going yeah yeah and he's getting
36:54stronger each day yeah we're going home yeah amazing have you got the rod thing
37:00oh brilliant look at all i i wish i i wish i had invented that oh yeah beautiful wow good all right
37:10mate fantastic thank you so much no problem
37:16it's great to see him back now and um i'm sure within a few weeks he'll be back to his old self of
37:23running around jumping and terrorizing our other cat crunchy
37:36it's 9 pm noel is ready to update the family on raz and lishka's conditions
37:43okay raz you've still got infection yes in which case it's not going to heal probably
37:49and if it comes to crunch and and we can't get this leg to work for him because of the infection
37:56then it would you know being brutally frank it will be a decision between euthanasia and amputation
38:04i mean we were sort of coming down the fact it wouldn't be fair on him on three legs he he will be
38:07okay on three i have had dogs his size on three happily if you got it down to the point that it was
38:15just a single point discharge then i think that would be culpable with yeah okay i think you
38:19should give it another four weeks oh that's fine yeah yeah we're happy to do it but we don't want
38:24to do it beyond no sure and then amputation when you're talking about that is if it's more getting
38:28used to it i think he's still on chemo and then he's got a life-limiting disease anyway is that fair
38:33that's all very valid their other dog lishka has had a dynamic mri study of her lower spine
38:41so um i'm not going to drop any massive bombshells with with lishka her major problem
38:47is in her lumbosacral spine where the disc in her lower back is completely dried out
38:53and it's squishing nerves if we categorize things as mild moderate and severe this is severe
39:00unfortunately you're really unlucky lishka is likely to need surgery but dealing with two
39:06recovering dogs at the same time is too much for lynn and david we need the clip for an epidural please
39:15so for now the family have decided to manage lishka's pain with a series of three steroid injections
39:21and now we just inject the steroid we're done very very simple it's very unfortunate that the family
39:35have two poorly dogs at the same time and we're doing everything that we can for us but it's not looking
39:40good most dogs will manage fine on three legs but the family don't want to have him on three legs and
39:51if this infection isn't controllable then they may have a very very difficult decision to make
40:08so we can't put him through any more he's he's gone through enough
40:34so we decided about a week ago on the thursday that we'd go to our local vets and get him put to sleep
40:45one of the difficulties was that although his leg was really puffy he was quite happy wasn't he and
40:52when he came in to to be put to sleep he really really happy it really really sad not happy that we
40:57lost him but we're happy with the decision that we made in the end so yeah i've had dogs forever
41:03and you have sort of one or two that was special he was your favorite yes yes yes
41:15uh lish kiss mom and dad please
41:19you know where to go
41:23hey lish how you doing sweetheart she knows exactly where to go hello i know
41:27hi nice to see you thanks very much for all your help i'm sorry hi so sorry
41:36raz could not have wished for a more loving family than you and i said that in my card
41:40uh i mean that's the truth of it we knew the risks we knew that when we came and we just because he
41:45was such a big dog we just wanted to be on four legs with us as long as we could at the end of the
41:50day have peace yeah because you've done your best is the injection working yeah brilliant oh it is yeah
41:58well that's a brave light yeah but when we're out of the house particularly her tail is much more right
42:03right really curled up lishka is still likely to need surgery in the future
42:12but for now lynn and david are determined to enjoy life with her and have taken her on holiday
42:18well we're in portugal in the algarve we've come over here with lishka to sort of relax and have a nice
42:29time it's a shame that raz is not here but lishka's here and she's doing really really really well
42:39it's been two months since her last steroid injection she's in and out the sea she's rolling
42:45in the sand she's doing all the things that a dog can do it's obvious that she's missing raz because
42:52she was never without him there was the day that she wasn't with him so that's the next thing that
42:57we need to be doing is to get a puppy and as soon as we get one that'll be at the end of the story
43:03really we hope we hope oscar the labrador is back 12 weeks after having surgery
43:17noel has performed an arthroscopy of his elbows to check if the joint surfaces have healed
43:23so thank you please take a seat you're good i haven't got the baby out yet no no
43:31this baby will is uh is fixed in so far as is possible to fix at this point so looking that's
43:37really nice new bone you see that yeah it's effectively a new shape that yeah in terms of
43:42the arthroscopy we can see that's a scar of fibrocartilage which is fibrous tissue that's laid down
43:49on the inside of the elbow where previously it had been rubbed away there and that's present on
43:55both sides yeah but he's fine he's literally raring to go come on that's not a surprise
44:01i'm sure he is come on oh hi hello hello gorgeous hello hello look at that
44:10hi when he's in the car safely pop his back on him okay yeah oh now what do you say to uncle no
44:18well done mate i want to say thank you we're just hugely grateful aren't we yeah yes by the generosity
44:28of somebody who doesn't know us and and you know we're looking at years now just you know having
44:35a dog being able to go for family walks all the things that we really wanted to do that we haven't
44:39been able to do um and uh have him chewing slippers and all the reasons you buy a dog yeah all of that
44:49five and a half months after surgery oscar is at home in chertsey continuing his recovery
44:56with their latest addition to the family 10 week old joel all right there joel this is your furry
45:02brother with oscar's double leg surgery recovery is a slow process oscar's doing well given that he's
45:10spent most of the last six months of his life just in a crate poor dog he wants to run and his body's
45:17not quite capable of it but he's still his cheerful self and still very optimistic
45:29in wiltshire three months after his accident corky is finding his balance
45:35i don't think he realizes the time's gone no it all looks very neat actually
45:39and his fur looks so much better now doesn't it remember when we first got him home he reminds me
45:46of a chicken being ready for the oven his bottom the way it was so bald today joe and ron are letting
45:53him go outside without a lead for the first time okay what are you doing do you want to go to the loo
46:01looks like it oh very good first one outside for a while
46:13to finally get to this stage now where he's back in the garden he's running free on his
46:18his own and it is it is almost like a miracle really
46:37so
46:39so
46:46so
46:47you
47:00you
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