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00:00Hello mate, you understand Irish?
00:02Animals from all over the world
00:04Ah bonjour
00:06Come to see one extraordinary man
00:08Who's known as the Bionic Vet
00:11High five!
00:12Yes!
00:13Professor Noel Fitzpatrick
00:15We only get one shot at this, here we go
00:18Noel and his team offer some of the most advanced treatments available anywhere
00:23The perfect marriage of mechanics and biology
00:25This is what we have now, a brand new knee
00:28Oh wow!
00:30For some, it's a last chance
00:33It is a life or death situation because we cannot leave him like he is
00:37I just want you to do anything you can for him really
00:40Sorry
00:41As Noel continues to devise new ways of healing
00:44You're going to be Bionic, thank you so much
00:47He transforms the lives of his patients
00:50Oh that is just unbelievable
00:52He's raring to go
00:53Against all the odds
00:55Boom!
00:56One small step for a dog, one giant leap for mankind
00:59Well done
01:10Morning handsome!
01:12Good start
01:13Take a seat
01:14Thanks a lot
01:15At Fitzpatrick referrals, the appointment schedule is chock-a-block
01:20There are animals needing Bionic limb replacements, 3D printed implants and pioneering stem cell treatments
01:30But this patient's family don't know exactly what's wrong
01:39So this is Skylar, she had an injury where she came up lame on her hind leg as we took her to the vet
01:45They've done some scans, MRI, X-rays, but unfortunately they haven't been able to get to the bottom of what the issue is
01:52So it's a real mystery
01:58Australian Shepherd dog Skylar is Andy's first dog
02:02Being brought up surrounded by dogs through mum breeding Australian Shepherd
02:08It was kind of a no-brainer that I'd get her Australian Shepherd
02:13But because of her injury, the 18-month-old can't join in the fun
02:18She wants to play
02:21And as a young dog, it must be very frustrating for her
02:24Separated from the pack, the excitable Aussie certainly makes her frustration known
02:33Australian Shepherds, they like to use their voice
02:37When she sees other dogs, she just wants to go over
02:40Say hi, play with them
02:42So yeah, she can be quite noisy
02:45I'm really, really desperate to get something done about this, to be honest
02:50I just want someone really to be able to say, this is the problem
02:53And these are the steps that we need to take
02:55In order to make her become a fit dog again
03:02Andy and mum, Lynn, have brought Skylar to see Noel
03:06Hoping he can shed light on her mystery ailment
03:10So we're about to see a bit of a diagnostic conundrum
03:14An Australian Shepherd dog
03:17Nothing on x-ray pictures
03:19Nothing on clinical examination
03:21Nothing on MRI scan
03:24Welcome to my world
03:29Skylar, please
03:32Hiya
03:33Hi
03:34I'm North, who are you?
03:35Hi, Lynn
03:36Lynn, L-Y-N-N-E
03:37Yeah, Andy, nice to see you
03:39Hey mate, how you doing Skylar
03:40Hey mate, how are you?
03:41You're pretty, aren't you?
03:43How you doing mate?
03:44It's alright, buddy, it's alright
03:46Alright, let's roll back to time
03:48When did it first begin?
03:49And how old was Skylar at that point?
03:52Nearly nine months old
03:54Okay, what happened exactly?
03:56Where were you?
03:57What did it look like?
03:58Well, we'd been out for a walk
03:59And I noticed that she was holding her right hind leg up
04:04I wouldn't put it on the floor
04:06And it seemed to be from that point that every time she laid down but then got up, she'd be holding the leg up
04:12Okay
04:13And with running, she bunny-hopped the two feet together
04:18That was new
04:19She's quite vocal, isn't she?
04:20Very vocal
04:22It's because she's been confined such a lot while we've had all this problem
04:26And was she on medicine at the same time?
04:29Yep
04:30We also had some physio as well
04:33Okay
04:35And what do you think, Strong?
04:38I wonder whether she had a trapped nerve
04:41Probably also worth mentioning that when she's got a toy and she's shaking a toy, her back end lowers
04:48Okay
04:49All of those provide me with clues, by the way
04:52We're gonna go for a walk
04:57Off you go, yep
04:58This way
05:00That's great
05:01Off we go
05:03Keep going, keep going, keep going
05:05Stop suddenly
05:08Very interesting
05:10Okay, so that's me pressing on the lumbosacral junction
05:15I'm now gonna press the sciatic nerve on the right hind leg
05:18All right, I apologise for this
05:21This is called the fit's finger test
05:25Good girl
05:27Good girl, good girl
05:29Good girl
05:31Turn off
05:32So that was me putting my finger on the nerve inside the pelvis
05:35Yeah
05:37Okay
05:38So I think your diagnosis is right, ma'am
05:41This is almost certainly a trapped nerve
05:44No, no, no
05:46All right, so what's probably happening here is that in certain positions there's a disc which is bulging in the lower back
05:53Mm-hmm
05:54Specifically when jumping up or twisting
05:57There's three treatments, one is medicine, physiotherapy, which you've already tried
06:01Mm-hmm
06:02The second is steroid injections, which will probably work medium term
06:07Mm-hmm
06:08And if that doesn't work, then ultimately we would use surgery
06:11Yeah, yeah
06:13So we need to do a test called a dynamic MRI
06:17And then usually that'll give you the diagnosis
06:19Right
06:20Okay
06:21All right, bye girl, come on, come with me, you can bark all you like in here
06:23Thank you
06:24Thank you
06:27Skylar will have one more diagnostic test whilst Andy and Lynn wait to see if it will finally solve the mystery
06:34Brittany the pug has arrived at Fitzpatrick's
06:54Shush
06:59Shush, Brittany, be quiet
07:01She's got the Napoleon complex
07:05I'll sort you out
07:07The boisterous puppy has come in with surrogate parent Alison and her best friend Carol
07:16Brittany's family live in London, so she spends a lot of time at Alison's house in the South Downs
07:22I'm Brittany's grandma and I take care of her whenever my son who owns her and his girlfriend go on holiday
07:36She's not my dog, but I love her as if she was my dog and we get on really well together
07:42Well if you're a good girl you get a bit of a good girl chicken
07:47She's named after Brittany Spears
07:52Very debrief and very sassy, you know, she knows exactly where she wants to be and who she wants to be around
07:59She's also rather gorgeous
08:00She's also rather gorgeous
08:01I lead a very quiet life normally but when Brittany appears she makes a grand entrance
08:07You immediately know she's around, she's just cheeky and very lively
08:12Yeah, she's definitely a Brittany
08:14She's a very noisy young lady
08:23Despite Brittany's animated appearance, the 11-month-old has been having problems walking
08:28and has been referred by her local vet
08:31Hi, this is Brittany
08:33Yeah, would you like to come through?
08:35Assessing the prima donna pug is Dr Jeremy Rose, one of Fitzpatrick's senior neurologists
08:40So, I had a little look through the notes, but I just wanted to get the story directly from yourself
08:46Okay, for the last four or five months she hasn't got a lot of control in her back legs
08:51Right
08:52She wobbles and falls over sometimes if she's on uneven ground
08:55Right
08:56I think she's slightly incontinent
08:58But I take her, when she's with me I take her out frequently, you know, so
09:02Oh my goodness, she's a vicious guard dog
09:04I've got a lot to say to yourself
09:07And in terms of the back legs, have they got worse? Stayed the same?
09:12I think they've got slightly worse
09:14They've got a bit worse
09:16Have you got the MRI scan?
09:18Yeah, so I've got the MRIs, that's right
09:20And what I'll do is just have a quick look at her, make sure that everything from the exam
09:23tops up with what they've found on the MRI
09:26Am I safe to do so? She seems like she's going to be a friendly girl
09:30Hello
09:32Oh, thank you
09:33Yeah
09:34Shall we pop you up on the little table up here?
09:36And I'll just have a quick look at her eyes
09:40The snore
09:42Oh, she's good at the snoring
09:44Do some little hops
09:46I like that too
09:48As soon as her front foot touches the table, she lifts it up
09:53But the back, obviously, it's dragging against it
09:55Yeah
09:56The information's just not quite getting through or back
09:59Brittany is showing signs of neurological damage
10:03Jeremy needs to check how far up the spine she's affected
10:07So what we're doing here is we're pinching the skin
10:10And we're waiting to look for the little flick on the skin
10:14So you'll see that she's not really flicking her skin
10:16Until we get to about this level
10:18And then that correlates to where you can feel the bump in the vertebra of the bones
10:22That's right
10:24Hug dogs seem to be particularly prone to malformations of the spine
10:27Right, yeah
10:29So I think from examining Brittany, what's happening is that
10:32That bony malformation seems to be squashing and injuring the spinal cord
10:37And if that continues, you're going to get worsening incontinence, most likely
10:41Or you'll get to the point where she's actually not able to use the back legs
10:45Where she becomes paralysed
10:47There are very limited options in this situation
10:51You've obviously been through some conservative management
10:55The other option is to go for surgery
10:57So we basically fuse that area of the spine together
11:00With an aim that we try and prevent further deterioration
11:03The surgery comes with a number of risks, unfortunately
11:06Basically we have to drive a lot of pins into the vertebra
11:10If you get the angle of one of the pins slightly wrong
11:13You can go in against the spinal cord and cause permanent damage
11:18Yeah, yeah
11:20What are your thoughts at the moment?
11:22Um, she belongs to my son
11:24Okay
11:25So I need to obviously speak to him
11:27Fine
11:28All right, thanks very much
11:29Give me a knock on
11:30Okay
11:33You've actually got very little choice, haven't you?
11:35Well, I think you're thinking the same way I'm thinking
11:39Hello darling
11:41Yeah, I'm at the vet's, right?
11:44Um, just been through the whole scenario with, um, one of the consultants
11:50Are you still there?
11:52Can you hear me?
11:53Can you hear me?
11:54I think I would go for the surgery because at least then you know you've tried your best for her
11:59Because I don't think there would be much quality of life if she's paralysed
12:04No I don't
12:06Oh, yes
12:07Sweet
12:09Okay
12:10It's a difficult situation in that my son's not here to make an immediate decision
12:15So unfortunately I had to go through it all again with my son
12:19I'm upset really
12:21Yeah
12:22I am upset
12:24It's worse than I thought it was
12:26Yeah
12:28With a choice between possible paralysis or major surgery, Brittany's family head home with a very difficult decision to make
12:49Eighteen-month-old Australian shepherd dog Skylar is at Fitzpatrick's where the team are trying to confirm the cause of her mystery lameness
12:59She's already had MRI scans at another practice
13:03However, Noel wants to use an innovative technique known as dynamic imaging, which he and his team have developed
13:10So sometimes the disc that might be causing the pain won't actually be impinging until it's in a certain position
13:17If you have them just lying straight on their back, it won't show up
13:20So that's why we sometimes do the dynamic MRI
13:23It basically puts the dog into an active position almost as if they're running or jumping over a fence
13:29And you can see how the discs actually are acting in that position
13:32All righty, so it's not going to come as any surprise to you that it is what we thought it was
13:42Yes
13:43A dynamic, intermittent nerve compression
13:46I'm going to show you the difference between a dynamic MRI and a non-dynamic MRI
13:50The white discs, they've got fluid in their center and that's like the jam inside a doughnut
13:54If you look closely at that one, you can see that the dough in the top of the doughnut is just beginning to bulge, right?
14:02On hyperextension, as if the dog was jumping up, you can see there's a much bigger bulge
14:09You can also see that the roof of the sacrum moves down, giving an hour-last compression of the nerves
14:15Additionally, if you look in that in cross-section, what you can see is that the disc bulges up to each side
14:24there and there and squishes the nerves
14:28That's the cause of your problem in my opinion
14:31Skylar may need surgery, but it's possible a series of steroid injections could alleviate the pain
14:39I propose we try the epidural steroid
14:42And if we can't get a response, then we may have to go down the route of fusion
14:47With having this steroid, what's the minimum length of time it's likely to last?
14:52It might not work at all
14:54It might not work at all, right
14:56Some dogs go into remission indefinitely
14:59Right
15:00Unfortunately, it's from zero to hero
15:02Yeah, every dog's different
15:05But I would recommend we try steroid first, this is moderate rather than severe
15:09Okay, so the first of three we're going to do now
15:12And we'll see you in due course, we'll see how you get on
15:14All right?
15:15Yep
15:16Thank you very much
15:17Thank you
15:20All right, have we got an epidural steroid ready for me?
15:25So I think the thing is like if you have the three
15:28Yeah
15:29It might be that she's fine without the surgery
15:31Yeah
15:46Okay
15:47Yep
15:49Skylar will need to return in two weeks for her next injection
15:53Wow
15:56Oh, look at you
15:58There we are
16:00Hello, sweetie
16:01I'm a bit drunk
16:02Yeah
16:04Feels incredibly positive now that we've actually got kind of a diagnosis
16:07And we've got a way forward
16:09And in the kind of event that that doesn't work out
16:11We've actually got something else we can kind of progress with as well
16:14So, yeah, I'm really happy
16:27Eleven-month-old pug Brittany is about to undergo neurosurgery
16:33Her family have decided to go ahead with the operation
16:36To try to stabilise a deformity in her spine that could cause her to become paralysed
16:42Brittany is very, very small, so the bones are very small
16:45So it doesn't give me a lot of leeway
16:47But if everything goes well, it will give her a quality of life back
16:55A 3D model of Brittany's severely deformed spine has been created from her CT scan
17:02It will help Jeremy accurately guide the pins into place
17:06So we've dissected all the muscles away from Brittany's spine
17:12Now what we're left with is something resembling this 3D model
17:17And we can identify the same landmarks
17:19So this one looks curving around like that
17:22We can see that same shape here
17:24Obviously you can see that's probably about 3mm wide
17:27And the pin that we're going to try and put in there is 1.5mm wide
17:31This is where, if you're a millimetre out, you can make a big difference
17:33The pins will fix the vertebrae into place to prevent further deterioration
17:44Set to 30 yet?
17:47About there?
17:49Each of the 18 pins will need to be positioned at precisely the right angle
17:53So we've driven these metal pins into each of the bones along the spine
18:13And we're now going to put a few more pins through the top here
18:17And then fuse everything together with one big mass of cement
18:21And that's what's going to hold them all together
18:24And hopefully keep the bones of the spine completely solid
18:27Go for long please
18:29All right, all done
18:31It's been an intense 4-hour surgery
18:34The next few days will be critical
18:37It's the end of a busy day at the practice
18:53And an emergency admission has just arrived
18:56Yeah? Yeah, yeah, just get it back on your lap a little bit better
19:02Bella, a 9-month-old Jack Russell puppy
19:05Was involved in a freak accident 2 days ago
19:08And has a serious fracture to her pelvis
19:11It's all right, sweetie, hold her, hold her
19:13Right, Bella, please, sorry about the delay, guys
19:16Her local vet has referred her to Noel
19:18How are you doing? What's your first name?
19:20Emma
19:21Bella
19:22And? Scarlett
19:23Scarlett and?
19:24Stanley
19:25Stanley, hello, mate
19:26This is Bella
19:27Hi, Bubba
19:28All right, I'll take her, it's fine
19:30All right, let's come with me
19:31Come on, Bella, good girl
19:33Yeah
19:35Good girl, you can grab a seat here, please
19:37Thanks
19:38There we go, thank you
19:40There we go
19:42So what time did the accident happen?
19:44Um, Saturday afternoon, about
19:47Yeah, so it'll be 2, 2 o'clock about
19:50OK, so she was out and about on a walk and a car hits her or what?
19:53Oh, no, um, we have this, like, basket thing that goes on my dad's bike which she sits in
19:58Oh
19:59And she jumped out and then he ran over
20:01Oh, no, so she sits in a bicycle basket?
20:04Yeah
20:05Yeah
20:06And she jumped out and then he accidentally ran over
20:08So I guess he's feeling terrible
20:10Yeah, he's away in Serbia at the moment
20:12Oh dear, so he had to go
20:14Yeah
20:15And work? Yeah
20:16Lordy Lord
20:17Distraught dad, Peter, rushed Bella to the emergency vet, who took an x-ray picture to assess the damage
20:25So she's got a fractured pelvis, as you know
20:27Mm-hmm
20:28Yeah, it is a pretty bad fracture
20:31Oh, sorry, sweetheart
20:33Sorry, sweetheart
20:35Yeah, if you don't move, Baba
20:37Don't move for a couple of minutes
20:39OK, so this is, um, the x-ray picture and we can see here that there's a breakthrough here
20:46Here
20:48Here
20:50Here
20:51And here
20:52Now
20:54I'm not too worried about this area here
20:57Because that's the base of the pelvis and you can cope with that
21:00And it looks to me like the socket is still intact
21:05And that's good
21:07I'm very worried about this area here
21:09That whole side of the pelvis is displaced
21:11So it's broken there and it's broken back here, so this is all pushed in
21:17So it would not be a good idea in my view to leave her without treatment
21:22Mm-hmm
21:23And that means that somehow we're going to have to repair that side of the pelvis
21:27So we're going to get more painkiller on board now
21:30I'm not going to do this tonight, I'm going to stabilize her tonight
21:33Good God
21:34All right, sweetheart, I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you, all right
21:36You're going to have to learn how to cycle more safely, sweetheart
21:40All right, sweetheart, I'll be right back, okay?
21:47I'm so sad
21:49I don't like that squeaking noise
21:51I mean, Dad said that's what it was when, you know, that was the worst bit of it, the noise that went
21:56So
21:58Yes
22:00All right, so can you get better Jay-Z on board, please?
22:02Don't panic
22:05This is hopefully fairly straightforward
22:08You know, it's a pelvic fracture, there are risks
22:11There's a risk of blood supply problem, there's a risk that I might not be able to get it lined up properly
22:16There's lots of risks, but if the socket isn't fractured, that's good news for us
22:20Okay, so although Daddy will be beating himself up a lot, tell him it's under control, okay?
22:25All right, take care, guys
22:27Thank you, bye-bye
22:28Hiya
22:30So, is she staying in with us?
22:31Yes, yeah
22:32Did she get very cold?
22:33No, my husband accidentally ran over on his bicycle
22:35Oh, no, oh, I bet he feels so young to you
22:37He's probably, you probably ought to ring him, actually, because he's probably rang about three times
22:40Just kidding
22:42I didn't really know it was that bad until yesterday, when I just came to the realisation that she could die from it, um, and that it was really serious, her injuries
22:54Um, and then we got into my screen, just to make me feel better
22:58Hopefully she's going to be better
23:00Hopefully she's going to be better
23:01Thank you
23:02Thank you
23:03Thank you
23:04Nine-month-old puppy, Bella
23:05Nine-month-old puppy, Bella
23:06has been in a stable condition overnight
23:09And then we got in some ice cream just to make me feel better.
23:14Hopefully she's going to be better.
23:31Nine-month-old puppy Bella has been in a stable condition overnight
23:35while she waits for surgery on her crushed pelvis.
23:40I hate broken puppies.
23:42What was your puppy done?
23:43I got run over by a bike.
23:45I jumped out of the basket.
23:47Oh, no.
24:00Bella has several fractures through her pelvis,
24:03causing the left-hand section to become displaced inwards.
24:08Noel plans to fix the main fracture of the wing of the pelvis
24:12using a metal plate and screws that will pull the bones back into alignment.
24:18Then the remaining fractures will hopefully be held securely enough
24:21to heal themselves with callus.
24:24So we can see here where I've anchored the plate down to the back end of the fracture.
24:43And now I'm going to pull that all off and anchor it onto the front end.
24:46The section of bone from the wing of the pelvis
24:50has to be levered into precisely the right position
24:53so that the fractured segments line up.
25:00Oh, there we go.
25:03Yeah, there we go.
25:04Now you're sucking these up.
25:05So the difficulty was getting this back segment up.
25:19We had to use this lever to hook under it
25:22to bring it back out of where it had sunken into the pelvis.
25:26I'm just a little worried that this plate alone
25:30won't be enough to hold everything
25:31given that we're not repairing the fractures at the back end at all.
25:35We're just pulling that into alignment
25:37in the hope that that will heal itself.
25:40To make sure the fracture is completely stable,
25:43Noel decides to add some extra support.
25:48OK, so I put a second plate on for added stability.
25:52I expect Bella to be up and walking tomorrow
25:56and hopefully heal within four weeks.
26:00And maybe get in her bicycle basket again,
26:04but this time with a safety belt.
26:09OK, let's go to X-ray.
26:13OK.
26:22Morning, everyone!
26:28Seven o'clock, three o'clock.
26:28Seven o'clock, pre-med-roxy.
26:30Have you just got on that?
26:34Morning!
26:37Oh, lovely!
26:39It can get very noisy working in the vets.
26:43When one dog starts,
26:45they can all start.
26:48You've got a whole choir,
26:50you've got a banging headache,
26:51and you've just got to try and calm them all down.
26:55I'm really sorry.
26:56Can you say that again?
27:01Amongst the chorus this morning,
27:03a bark with an Aussie twang
27:05can mean only one thing.
27:06Sounds like Skyla's here.
27:09Skyla has been having steroid injections
27:11for a trap nerve in her spine.
27:14A month since the final treatment,
27:16Andy and his mum, Lynn,
27:17have brought her in for a check-up.
27:21There's lots of talking going on
27:33out here in the schoolroom.
27:35Where is my naughty school child, Skyla?
27:38What are you doing?
27:39So, what's happening now?
27:43Well, she'd been responding to the injections well,
27:47I felt.
27:48Yeah.
27:48And then about ten days ago,
27:51I've noticed that she's started holding her leg up again.
27:54OK.
27:55All right, let's have a look.
27:56All right, Bubba.
27:56I think she probably knows what's coming this time as well.
28:00OK, good girl.
28:01Good girl.
28:04Yeah, it looks like she's sore again.
28:06Yeah.
28:07We're back at square one.
28:09There's no real point in repeating the epidurals again.
28:12No, no.
28:12So, our choices at this stage is either do nothing
28:15or do surgery.
28:19Fusing the sacrum and the last lumbar vertebra together,
28:22there are risks of doing the procedure.
28:25Some of them don't wag their tail for a while.
28:28Some of them have difficulty paying for a while.
28:31It should work, but there's no guarantees.
28:34And that's the challenge, because it's not life-threatening.
28:37Yeah.
28:38So, the question then is, do we proceed to fusion?
28:40And only you can answer that.
28:42I think we...
28:43Because it took us quite a long time to get to this point.
28:46And, as I say, we haven't really got any further forward,
28:49so I think it's a question of, like,
28:52well, having to do something about it.
28:54But you've tried?
28:55Yeah.
28:56I think you had to try and know
28:58before you would go down the route of surgery.
29:00Thanks, Stephanie.
29:01I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
29:03Looks like I won't be able to cure you
29:05without taking a scalpel blade, unfortunately.
29:07I think, really, at this stage,
29:11the surgery gives us the best option.
29:13Obviously, there's risks involved in that.
29:15But if we can get her sorted
29:17and back to enjoying a properly active lifestyle,
29:21then that's good for Skylar as well.
29:22Hi, Brittany.
29:37Hello.
29:38How are you doing?
29:39Seven days have passed
29:42since 11-month-old Brittany underwent neurosurgery.
29:47Hi there.
29:48How are you?
29:49How are you?
29:50Alison and best friend Carol
29:52have come to take the precious pug home.
29:55I'm excited, actually.
29:58I'm really looking forward to seeing her.
30:00I hope she remembers me, that's the thing,
30:02because I'm just a grandma, you know?
30:04So what we've basically done
30:06is we've put about 18 metal pins
30:08into Brittany's back.
30:10So if we look at this 3D model here,
30:12you can see that we've got pins being driven down,
30:15and then the cement is this blob here.
30:18Yeah.
30:18Neurologically, I think she's about the same
30:21as when you brought her in.
30:22And to be honest with you,
30:23at this stage, that's great.
30:24That's great, isn't it?
30:26So realistically now,
30:28the hard work starts,
30:29and that's the rehabilitation.
30:31So it's rest,
30:32which is going to be difficult,
30:34because she is like a little bouncy spring
30:37at the moment.
30:37Yeah.
30:38And she wants to do loads,
30:39because she thinks she's normal.
30:45It'd be difficult to keep her calm and quiet, you know?
30:49Come on then, Cheeky.
30:51Hello, baby.
30:56Hello, darling.
30:58Oh, wow.
30:59Here you go.
31:00Hello, hello.
31:02Hello, beautiful.
31:04Oh, I've missed you so much.
31:06Yeah.
31:07Yeah.
31:10Is she sleazy?
31:11Yeah.
31:13Yeah, it's wonderful to have her back.
31:15It's a huge relief that she's come through it fine,
31:19and she's going to improve from here on, I'm sure.
31:21It's been two days since little puppy Bella had surgery
31:40after being run over when she jumped out of her bicycle basket.
31:45Yeah, it must be, because it's fine when I'm on my own.
31:47I'm on my own.
31:48Yeah, it's better.
31:49Dad, Peter, who was riding the bike at the time,
31:52hasn't seen Bella since the accident.
31:54Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going to have to get some breathing.
31:57I have to get some breathing, guys.
31:58Nervous, Scott.
32:00I, I, when I handed over, the emergency vet was almost crying.
32:03What, did she look really horrible, did she?
32:06She was shaking, and it was horrible.
32:08It was, um, that's my abiding memory at the moment.
32:11It's a very, um, dog in pain.
32:14Caused by me running her own back.
32:18Right, hi, guys.
32:19Sorry about the delay.
32:20Come on in, come on in.
32:21I'm sorry about this, buddy.
32:23And then you had to go away and work.
32:24Oh, I, I almost didn't get on that plane.
32:26Yeah, no, what a tough day for you, mate.
32:28Oh, it was, it was awful, yeah.
32:30I just looked around, and there she was,
32:31just going straight over the, over the wheel.
32:34It was, and then that scream.
32:35I've been reliving it over and over again.
32:37It's been horrible.
32:38Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:39Now, this is the post-op.
32:41Oh, yeah.
32:42So you can see here that I've, uh, managed to pull
32:45that part of the pelvis that way.
32:48Yeah.
32:48So you can see that this gets pulled back into alignment
32:51by being kicked out.
32:52Yeah.
32:52And this bit should heal itself.
32:54Yeah.
32:55Um, so there's no running, no jumping,
32:57no slipping, no sliding,
32:58because otherwise if it rocks and rocks and rocks,
33:01then that rocking motion can still loosen screws.
33:04Right.
33:06Any questions before she comes in and creates mayhem?
33:09Oh, it's so good.
33:11Come on in, then.
33:12Hey, Bella.
33:14Come on in.
33:14Bella.
33:14There we go.
33:15Good.
33:16There we go.
33:17You can give, no, give her to Mum.
33:18Give her to her.
33:19So let me show you how to walk her.
33:27Okay, so.
33:31Like this.
33:32Yeah.
33:33So as you can see, come on, Bubba.
33:36Good girl.
33:36See?
33:37Come on, Bubba.
33:37Good girl.
33:38So this, this supports her.
33:40See?
33:40So she can put it down.
33:42Okay, well done.
33:43Well done.
33:45She's a sweet little girl.
33:46She still loves her daddy, so it's all good.
33:49She's always loved him the most.
33:51Oh, did she?
33:51Just not bad.
33:52Is she a daddy's dog?
33:53Is she?
33:54Yeah.
33:54Like my mum sorts out everything for her, and he just loves her.
33:57Oh.
33:58Yeah, she's on his lap all the time.
34:01Bella.
34:02Oh, that's beautiful.
34:03She's forgiven you.
34:05She's forgiven you.
34:06That's fantastic.
34:08Hey, Bella.
34:09We're going home.
34:10We are headed home.
34:31It's all a bit scary, isn't it?
34:33It's all a bit scary.
34:34Skylar, the barky Australian shepherd dog, is being prepped for surgery.
34:45After steroid injections only worked short term, the 18-month-old is now going to have
34:50to have an operation to release pressure on the trapped nerves in her lower spine.
34:56All right, here we go.
34:57So we're just cutting down through the muscle here.
34:59We're going to drill out the roof of the spinal canal.
35:02We've got to be careful as we do this, because the nerves that go to the urinary bladder,
35:08the anal sphincter, and the tail are directly under a rather thin roof here.
35:13You can see the nerves are being exposed like guitar strings.
35:36I'm just cutting into the disc now, like so.
35:40I'm going to take all that out.
35:46The primary problem for Skylar is that the lumbar spine, where it meets the sacrum, is
35:51actually moving and squishing the nerves.
35:54So when we push the vertebrae apart and stabilise them rock solid, that shouldn't happen.
36:00Noel inserts one of his own inventions, a spacer with threads on it that slowly pushes
36:06the vertebrae apart, as it's screwed in place.
36:20Just moving the nerves back into position, like so.
36:24Noel now needs to fuse the last lumbar vertebrae to the sacrum to prevent further movement in
36:30this area.
36:41So we've got four screws in now.
36:43We're going to link these with some rods using the clamps.
36:46Using barbell shaped rods, Noel braces the clamps.
36:50Hopefully, that will get Skylar out of pain.
36:55It's fairly unlikely that she's going to wag her tail tomorrow.
37:00She might, however, want to bark a lot.
37:03So we'll keep her sedated for her own good, so she doesn't do too much and for the good
37:09of those around her.
37:11Because I have a feeling she's going to get quite vocal.
37:13It's been a major operation that Skylar's family had hoped to avoid.
37:21Only time will tell if it will finally get her out of pain.
37:37Eight weeks have passed since mini diva Brittany had life-changing neurosurgery.
37:43Just like her namesake, she's made a great comeback.
37:51She's got a lot more strength, you know, particularly in her back legs.
37:57And she's like a normal little dog now, running around.
38:02She's looking good.
38:04Oh!
38:05Oh, she's just getting a bit noisy.
38:12I could hear her barking from the console room.
38:15So, she looks like she's doing well.
38:17Hello.
38:18She's doing extremely well.
38:22She seems to get stronger each week.
38:25Yeah.
38:25Good.
38:26She's just as feisty as before.
38:28Yeah, probably.
38:30All right, well, have a little look at her then, if that's OK.
38:33Hello.
38:33Let's do a few little tests on your leg, shall we?
38:36Let's have a little look at a little hop.
38:38Good.
38:39Good.
38:40Before her operation, Brittany only had sensation halfway up her spine.
38:47Ooh!
38:48Yeah.
38:49She didn't even notice that before.
38:51So, that reflex has come all the way back to here now.
38:56So, that's a big change.
38:57It's brilliant, isn't it?
38:58It's fantastic.
38:59She's doing really well.
39:00Yeah.
39:01On you.
39:01Really, really pleased.
39:02I think she's done better than I imagined she would have done at this stage.
39:07There's no reason now she can't go on to have a really good quality of life for a really long time.
39:12Oh, she's good.
39:15Can we take her?
39:16Sure.
39:16To confirm Jeremy's assessment, Brittany is having a CT scan to check that the 18 pins are still fixed in place.
39:25Here we go, Bubba.
39:27Oh, you don't like my mask.
39:32Happily, all is secure and Brittany can be signed off.
39:36But only, that is, if the pug princess can be separated from her adoring fans.
39:43Are you taking Brittany?
39:44Do you know Brittany actually walks?
39:46Yeah.
39:47No, it's what's this.
39:48She'll sit down straight away.
39:49She'll sit down at the beginning.
39:51Come on, the Britons.
39:51Come on, Brittany.
39:52Yay!
39:55There she is.
39:58Hello, little darling.
39:59So, she's a little bit sleepy and a little bit wobbly.
40:03Thank you, Jeremy, for everything.
40:05No problem at all.
40:07It is an incredible transformation.
40:09I mean, she's a totally different dog.
40:12You know, she was slipping downhill quite quickly and she would have been disabled and would have had no quality of life, really.
40:19But she's just like a normal dog now.
40:22Oh, yeah.
40:23It's four months since outspoken Aussie Skylar had spinal surgery.
40:37Skylar's been doing really well.
40:38And she's full of energy.
40:40She absolutely loves tearing around the place.
40:42But just as Skylar's mystery is resolved, Andy has turned up an injury of his own.
40:49I broke my foot, unfortunately.
40:51Ironic, really, that Skylar's just coming towards the end of her recovery and then I have a setback.
40:56Skylar's now allowed to play with the pack.
40:59She seems much happier, but she's still just as noisy.
41:05You can see the pleasure she gets from it, where the frustration was there before.
41:10She can now run and play and the injury is way in the past.
41:18I think she'll only go from strength to strength, really, now.
41:20Alison has been nursing feisty Brittany back to health after her operation.
41:31That's it.
41:31Good girl.
41:35She's still regularly visiting her granny.
41:38Brittany's absolutely fantastic now.
41:40She's running around like a normal dog, as if there's never been anything wrong with her.
41:45She's jumping up and down.
41:46She runs up and down the steps.
41:48She races round the lawn.
41:50I can't thank Jeremy and the team, you know.
41:55It's not coming.
41:56What they've done for her has been absolutely amazing.
41:59They've given her a new lease of life.
42:02And without that, I'm sure she'd be totally disabled.
42:05But now she's so lively, I have difficulty keeping up with her, actually.
42:08She wears me out.
42:12I just love having her around.
42:14She's full of it.
42:15Yeah.
42:20It's seven weeks since Bella was run over by a bicycle and needed her pelvis reconstructing.
42:36You want a nap?
42:38Yeah, we all want a nap.
42:39Oh, my God.
42:40Well, you napped all the way up here.
42:42You just had an hour and a half keeping in the car.
42:44The Jack Russell puppy seems to be making good progress.
42:48Peter and Emma have brought her in for her check-up.
42:51Yeah, we're just slightly apprehensive that, you know, she seems great externally, but maybe
42:57internally it's not looking as good.
43:00So, yeah, we'll see.
43:03Yeah, here we go.
43:04Hello there.
43:06So, shall we walk you in, Bella?
43:07You have a little walk.
43:09Show how good your legs are.
43:10Look at that.
43:11Hi, you're walking.
43:12Yes, yeah.
43:13Hello.
43:14Hi, Mrs.
43:15Hi, how are you?
43:16How are you?
43:17Hey, Mrs.
43:18How are you doing?
43:18Oh, there we are.
43:19Oh, thank you very much.
43:21So, you're getting over your trauma?
43:23Oh, God, yeah.
43:24It took some time.
43:25Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.
43:26But she seems to be very strong.
43:28She's definitely not as strong in that back left leg there.
43:31I mean, you know, when she puts pressure down with her right one when you hold her,
43:34but the left one she won't.
43:36Well, all that muscle will be damaged as well, remember?
43:39Yeah.
43:39Because the muscle, as with any fracture, if it was a human, you'd have to do some rehab.
43:45So, today is about determining on the x-ray picture if it's healed.
43:49Let's get that done.
43:51Good.
43:53Please, God, all is well that it ends well.
43:56We live to ride another day.
44:00Don't put all your dogs in one basket.
44:02No.
44:02Oh, Bella, we're being sitting.
44:12We're being sitting, aren't you?
44:14We're rearing a little bit.
44:16Not really.
44:19It's a little bit walkie this way, but...
44:21It's a little bit walkie.
44:25You know, it looks nice like this.
44:26Thank you so it's good news overall you can see here these fractures are healing in with
44:54callus so do you remember i told you if this was stable enough that would hold those others until
45:00they healed yeah which is happening so happy days you can get over your basket phobia yes hopefully
45:10hey hello bella bella will need six weeks of physio but with no need for any further surgery
45:18the outlook is rosy have you been gone bye-bye just a few weeks ago we weren't even sure where
45:25we were going to be taking her home so a few weeks ago she might not survive the weekend
45:29yeah the kids are going to be really pleased so yeah looking good so far
45:34two and a half months after her accident and the plucky pup is ready to get back in the saddle
45:50so yeah i still think i'm more scared than you bella
45:52i'll connect it first i'm one of the projects
46:00now i hope this doesn't bring back tough memories are you ready bella i'm a little
46:04bit worried myself about getting back on the bike with her let's give it a go then bella
46:11but she seems to have forgotten luckily but i don't know how long before i forget
46:14that might take a little bit longer there you go yeah she loves him so much she definitely prefers
46:22my dad to the rest of us even though he was the one that ran her over
46:29it was such a horrible thought of losing her
46:35the change from when she was injured it was you can't describe it she's back to her old self really
46:40it's unbelievable
47:10we're not so happy with that you don't get it
47:13we're not happy to get it
47:16you
47:17i'm sorry
47:18you
47:19we're about like
47:19let's go
47:20that's
47:22you
47:23i am
47:24i am
47:25i am
47:26i am
47:28i am
47:28i am
47:30i am
47:30i am
47:32i am
47:34i am
47:36i am
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