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Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs - Season 14 Episode 4
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00:03we can all struggle at times you're all right gorgeous girlie but with the right support
00:10let's check you over even the biggest challenges can be overcome
00:21this week i scrub up to help a collie cross work through past trauma
00:25good boy it's a bit strange isn't it i meet a bulldog who can barely breathe
00:32is he all right i'm so shocked at how long he is yeah and i head out to east london
00:38to meet the vets
00:39hello treating dogs out on the street what does she mean to you she's my world
00:58it's not unusual to see a dog with medical issues at battersea and fixing a dog's physical problems
01:05can be life-changing for them how are we doing but sometimes the treatment itself can have an
01:13emotional toll
01:21meet three-year-old collie shepherd cross eddie
01:27oh this has to be eddie
01:28hello eddie how are you hi luv hello tell me a little bit about eddie he looks gorgeous yeah he's
01:36a great
01:36boy he was given in to us because he wasn't getting on with animals in his home i think it
01:40was the cats
01:41that was kind of winding him up a bit and how wise he looks really well he is well yeah
01:46the only thing
01:47that you will notice when he stands up um he's got three legs oh my goodness should we have a
01:52look
01:52well i can see it now yeah it's been about a year we think since it's been amputated
01:58eddie had his leg amputated because of severe hip dysplasia and it seems the experience has had a lasting
02:06impact so something we've noticed with eddie on site is he's a little bit nervous with our clinic
02:11team at the vets in what way so he does a couple of little grumbles right we think it's because
02:16of
02:16his amputation it's just caused that bit of trauma in his life oh my darling it's really important eddie
02:24overcomes his fear because even healthy dogs should visit the vet regularly for check-ups so we're building
02:31up his confidence gradually so we'll just do some happy vet visits where we take him to the clinic
02:37keep it happy lots of positive association and we'll just work on that while he's with us
02:41because he needs to be able to go to the vet and we don't want it to be stressful for
02:45him
02:48it really breaks my heart that he's been through this horrendous trauma but he's still so gorgeous and so
02:54kind the team have a big job ahead of them to help eddie get over this but at least he's
03:09received the
03:09medical treatment he needed for some dogs access to veterinary care isn't always guaranteed head
03:17behaviorist ali is part of the team trying to change that ali how you doing yeah good what's
03:24going on we are getting some goodie bags ready because you will be going out later with street
03:29vet oh wow street vet are a charity who provide free veterinary care to the pets of people experiencing
03:37homelessness it's estimated that around 300 000 people in the uk are homeless and up to 25 of those
03:45have a pet we've got toys leads are really important and coats because they're out on the street
03:54battersea have been supporting street vets since 2018. recently they've helped them to begin to
04:00expand their pop-up clinics which are now in over 30 locations across the uk and with some help from
04:08our resident toy connoisseur olive what about that olive is that a good toy do you think a dog would
04:13like
04:14i'm loaded up and heading out to one of their pop-up clinics in east london to meet vet and
04:20co-founder
04:20jade jade hello hi how you doing you've come laden hey i'm not messing around excellent what we're
04:27doing today then we're here to meet a few of our clients and patients and can you treat anything
04:32out here we try and do as much as we physically can on the street we take bloods we test
04:37urine sample
04:38lumps and then if there are things that need further treatment then we refer them into a practice and
04:43bathsy obviously help us with surgery and they won't have to pay for that nope no charge at all
04:49first up today is matthew who has been bringing bulldog cross roxy to see vetville for the past few
04:55weeks to get help with a skin issue hello hi roxy hello hi hi matthew so how's roxy doing she
05:03itchy still no no no no so we gave her some medications right i got the steroids and the
05:08antibodies and that's working she does look a lot more comfortable herself yeah definitely
05:12so what does roxy mean to you matthew literally everything you know i said she got me through hard
05:18times when i was homeless uh on the streets but now i'm lucky enough to have a hostel that's pet
05:24friendly
05:25you get them times when you think is it worth living and she showed me unconditional love so now i
05:32have to
05:32embrace that and embody it because i never had it that's so lovely
05:39so we've got a bit of crusting here but that's just normal healing it looks like things are on
05:44the up for roxy it's amazing i can't rate street that enough seriously what they're doing to help
05:50other people it's amazing absolutely amazing
05:56around the corner lenny has brought along his five-year-old american bulldog sky to be checked
06:01over by jade hello she said give me a hug oh now we're going i got snog
06:09lenny found street vet when sky needed surgery on a hematoma in her ear and didn't know where else
06:14to turn look at that scarred up but it's moved up really nicely what a good girl and has she
06:20been
06:20okay since she's not been shaking her head no no she's been great you guys have done an amazing job
06:24and do you know the amount of treatment they've given her is worth thousands of pounds and i could
06:29never have afforded that what's your situation at the moment i'm at a friend's house so my situation
06:33is actually quite stable at the moment so your friend's looking after that and doesn't mind sky
06:37doesn't mind the dog loves the dog i say to people all the time people let you down but she
06:41never
06:42lets me down ever so i trust her more than most people oh prison company not included across the
06:52road vet janavi is checking over 13 year old staffy candy who's been brought here by owner maria
06:59for one of her regular checkups how are you doing nice to see you all hiya oh she's gorgeous hello
07:06candy can i give her some chicken yes you can she's a little bit of a piggy actually i wish
07:12she
07:12tell me a little bit about your story maria i'm living in a high school at the moment i mean
07:17i was
07:17lucky that they took her in i wouldn't leave her ever she's so good how's she doing ladies she's had
07:23a few mobility issues oh the way she's standing with her feet kind of tucked underneath it might give
07:28us an indication that she's got a little bit of pain i know in her hips and her legs or
07:32back
07:33a back leg buckle yeah so we'll get her on that joint supplement okay i've got some toys here if
07:38you want maria okay thank you and some leads and stuff and a little coat in there so that's for
07:43you
07:44thank you enjoy darling lovely to meet you maria lovely to meet you god bless
07:52as the day draws to an end there's just time for lee and his staffy cross shan to be seen
07:59hello darling who are you with the waggly tail this is shan shan nice to meet you
08:06how's she doing so we did some ear treatment last week so we're going to have a look in her
08:12ears make
08:12sure that they're nice and clean now amazing what does she mean to you she's my world oh she hasn't
08:17left my side since i got her she was two months old oh really baby yeah i would never be
08:25parked with
08:26her never how long have you been homeless for probably about seven months now my ex-partner
08:31wasn't really a dog person so the dog came with me yeah she was always going to be with you
08:37anyways
08:37always i reckon you can tell from a dog what their owner's like absolutely i can see you're just a
08:43lovely doggy daddy oh you're gonna make me cry oh don't cry you'll make me cry oh she's gorgeous
08:50look how good she is with shan's ears looking good there's just one last thing she needs and this is
08:58a real first for me shan just needs some vaccines as well okay so we'll do that now all right
09:03oh brilliant
09:04we're gonna do a vaccine on the street yeah absolutely she won't even notice yeah all done
09:09yes bless you guys thank you so much so nice to meet you you too nice to meet you oh
09:16oh bring it
09:17in bring it in babe i've never seen anything like that in my life what an eye-opening day
09:23that was it's so lovely to see these vets give up their own time to give back and then to
09:29see
09:29how life-changing it is for these people honestly it really touched my heart today
09:38with their regular check-ups these street vet dogs are all doing well
09:43but for many dogs arriving at battersea their medical journeys often just beginning
09:51at intake a three-year-old bulldog has just arrived he's been transferred from another rescue center
09:58as he needs specialist veterinary treatment meet ronnie yeah i love him he's so sweet
10:06i'm catching up with handler beck to see how he's settling in hello hey allison come in
10:13so this is ronnie he's a lovely lovely boy you can see that yeah he's he's very sweet
10:20but almost immediately it's clear that ronnie doesn't sound well at all is he all right i'm
10:27just taken back by the sound i'm so shocked at how loud he is yeah with brachycephalic dogs it's
10:33really difficult we do see quite a lot of them struggling especially with being able to breathe
10:38dogs with short noses are known as brachycephalic breeds
10:42they often have serious health problems because of their extremely flat faces
10:47and sadly this year battersea has seen a 35 increase in these breeds coming into their care
10:55i've seen quite a few brachy dogs yeah this is probably the worst one i've ever seen he's
11:00really quite stressed it's such a lovely dog he just feels so sorry for them
11:05yeah the vet team need to assess ronnie urgently so it's straight to see head vet sean
11:14good boy here we go hi sean hello allison what's going on sean so some of these flat-faced dogs
11:21they have multiple levels of obstruction that contribute to sometimes difficult
11:25disbelieving so it's very worrying it is a worry because i think inability to draw
11:29breath is sort of inspires feelings of dread and panic is there anything you can do you grade them
11:34from sort of naught where there's no noise at all to three quite marked noise and sometimes actual
11:39breathing distress he's around a sort of a two it's a real problem so what are the next steps then
11:46we will need to examine him under anesthetic because you can't really tell until you knock them out
11:50actually what the cause of obstruction is it is sad to hear him breathing like that it makes me think
11:56about you know people who breed these dogs because they're so cute there's actually quite a serious
12:02side so it isn't there that's absolutely right we have to really think about dogs in terms of health
12:07rather just how they look the problem is maybe as a society we started to normalize it a bit yeah
12:12and
12:12people refer to it all the snoring or snuffling or it's quite cute but if you have a child that
12:17was
12:17making that noise when you're breathing you'd be down to any in a in a flash it's so true it's
12:22really
12:23it's a lot of airway obstruction there that we're hearing yeah and that sort of noise we're breathing
12:27it's just not normal and it's something we need to address i just hope there's something that can
12:31be done to help ronnie breathe a little easier things are always on the go here and in clinic
12:44the operating theater is as busy as ever too the surgical team carry out around 75 operations every
12:52week today three-year-old bulldog ronnie is being examined by vet henry who is checking to see if the
13:04soft palate in the roof of his mouth is the cause of his noisy breathing yeah that's a big one
13:10and it
13:10looks like surgery to open up his airways could definitely help hello henry how's he doing he's
13:18doing well but we have quite a big op to do we're going to address that really long soft palate
13:23at
13:23the back of the throat which is the major issue so all that tissue at the back of the throat
13:27we're going
13:28to cut out an appropriate amount so that he can breathe properly and the bigger the op you know the
13:33higher the risk as well so even this operation today is risky for ronnie yeah the biggest risk to
13:39him really is uh after the operation there's a risk of swelling at the back of the throat and if
13:45that
13:45swelling is too severe then you know they can you know really be at risk of post-op complications
13:50and how do you do it we're using a piece of equipment called electrocortery right so it
13:56essentially is both cutting and and stopping the bleeding at the same time using a little electricity
14:01and some wire i feel like i want to become a vet yeah yeah this is amazing well they say
14:06see one do
14:07one teach one yeah so you know next one's on you all right better watch closely
14:14as henry begins to operate it becomes clear just how much excess tissue is blocking ronnie's airways
14:21he's got a really long soft palate so it's going all the way back over his windpipe oh god gosh
14:27look
14:27how far that goes yeah it's literally blocking it could be struggle to get any breath out at all
14:32it must be like breathing through a straw poor little thing coping with that having to
14:36breathe through that you know it's literally blocking his airway this is quite possibly the
14:42longest soft palate i've ever seen if i'm honest so i've sort of just pulled it back and i'm just
14:46going to clamp that
14:51it's so thick it's taking a little bit of time yeah
14:56there it is there we go that massive flap was blocking his airway look at that
15:01oh my gosh okay the most attractive thing is it i feel no i feel good that you have done
15:06that bit
15:06i'm going to leave you to it now uh good luck with the rest thank you very much amazing
15:11that was unbelievable i've never seen anything like it the flap was literally blocking ronnie's airway
15:17when you see a vet who's had a really long career say that this is the biggest blockage he's ever
15:23seen
15:24on any dog you know that it's very serious i'm just hoping fingers crossed and praying that he's
15:30going to be okay as henry finishes up with ronnie my three-legged boy eddie who's terrified of vets
15:40has still not quite made it to clinic yet should we go this way come on then
15:48so the team have started working on desensitizing him to vet equipment in a chill out room where he's
15:55more comfortable it's okay ready just show you oh good boy see it's not so bad using his favorite
16:02treats to help you all feel a bit less scary you're being very brave so today i'm wearing some scrubs
16:10to
16:10see if i can help with building his confidence around vets but first we've got to get him into the
16:17building i don't even think he's going to come in come on eddie you can do this
16:26he's coming he's coming here he is alone that's amazing well done eddie can you believe it
16:35we got in here how's he getting on so he's doing really well yeah we've been doing some positive
16:41association so obviously now the set was having somebody in scrubs that looks like a vet what do
16:46you think do i do i look good look great do you think he knows i'm not a vet he
16:50has met you so we
16:51start off using scrubs on somebody who is more well known for him and that just builds up that positive
16:56association whilst eddie appears okay with the scrubs the equipment is a different story he wasn't too
17:04sure about the stethoscope on his initial health check so what we'd like to do is just to show him
17:09that stethoscope again let's just see what his reaction is to it so we just put some treats here
17:14near the stethoscope just to make that positive association and so it's not scary good boy he's
17:20having a good sniff eddie is making good progress so lucy thinks he's ready to move on to the next
17:27phase
17:27and actually go into a treatment room shall i go and get myself ready yeah it's time to meet vet
17:33hammond hello guys i'm vet hammond so as you can see i've got my stethoscope i've got my vet's room
17:41i've got my heart and i've got my bones oh god put that back
17:52okay next client please hmm maybe i need a bit more training come on then come on eddie
18:00so you see he's straight away sniffing everything because it's a new room for him it just smells
18:05strange in here in a clinical setting it's just so different so we can give him some treats here
18:09just make it a positive experience oh yes i've got you a cushion once eddie's settled and comfortable
18:15there you go there we go we can take the training up a gear so just very lightly to put
18:22the stethoscope
18:22on him there no pressure good boy so when the vet would do it for real they put a bit
18:28of pressure on
18:28it but we start off moving it gently and very light pressure so he's having a look saying it's a
18:34bit
18:34strange but yeah it's a bit strange isn't it that's it by pulling his ears back and panting eddie's
18:40showing us that he's a bit worried so it's time for some positive reinforcement there you go my darling
18:46so that was great and we would just probably keep it a short session like that just in and out
18:51i love you too i know if all the vets were like this it would be easy wouldn't it
18:56and i'm not gonna lie i actually loved being a vet i loved it you did a good job
19:02i just hope eddie's as calm as this when he gets in front of a real vet
19:09it's been a couple of days since ronnie's airway surgery and the great news is hello puppy he looks
19:17and sounds amazing that's it you good boy the swelling has gone down and he's been hand-fed
19:26soft food rolled into balls good boy which are easier to swallow to help him recover
19:33it's all gone you can lick the bowl if you want there you go good boy well done is this
19:38ronnie
19:38it's ronnie oh my gosh sophie this is like a different dog i know he sounds so much better
19:44he's so chilled out he's so much better how's the throat mate i saw that operation it didn't look great
19:50it was a massive chunk that was blocking his airway it was so big how's he getting on he's getting
19:55on
19:55really well as you can see his breathing sounds so much better i can't even hear it i know i
20:01cannot
20:02believe what i'm seeing it's like two different dogs can we just take a moment for the breathing
20:07absolutely let's have a listen it's beautiful it's amazing how that physical operation yeah has
20:15changed his temperament i know i feel like before because he couldn't breathe properly it was sheer
20:21panic yeah and that's why he was all over the place and now it's just like it's just chilled this
20:27his life changing yeah it really is do you think he can be rehomed soon oh absolutely really yeah
20:32definitely he's a silly boy he's a silly boy he's a lovely boy oh he's so gorgeous he's gonna make
20:40someone so happy aren't you but whilst he waits for that forever home ronnie's chilling out on foster
20:53with jonathan in south london ronnie's definitely settled in very nicely ready he's an absolute
21:02character unique unique personality
21:07we're very happy to give ronnie all the time that he needs until he finds that forever home
21:16back at battersea eddie's also making great progress with his fear of vets
21:22he's now confidently walking in good boy barely batting an eyelid at a stethoscope
21:28it's all done and even letting vets and nurses check his ears beautiful ears and teeth
21:46and now he's had the all clear i'm delighted to say that he's found his forever home
21:51with emily in oxfordshire eddie just loves a cuddle he is just the softest sweetest boy if he could sit
22:01here doing this all day he would just be in heaven and so would i to be honest i haven't
22:07taken eddie to
22:08the vets yet we'll just be slow and steady and have lots and lots of treats he'll be staying with
22:15us
22:15forever absolutely i can't imagine life without him anymore you take it easy bud
22:24you
22:45you
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