Scottish Vets Down Under

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A BBC TV channel for Scotland which will broadcast every evening and will show drama, factual, comedy and news programmes made in Scotland

BBC Scotland

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Factual: Pets & Animals

Documentary following two Scottish vets who have relocated to Australia.

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Scottish Vets Down Under: Series 1: Episode 8

Episode 8

Series 1

BBC Scotland - Scottish Vets Down Under, Series 1, Episode 8

Dr Chris helps a dragon with brittle bones.

Dr Chris helps a tiny dragon with brittle bones and meets Australia’s deadliest snake. Meanwhile, Dr Mike assists a newborn foal to take its first steps towards a career as a racehorse.

In this episode, the team at the Bendigo Equine Hospital are working around the clock to care for an influx of newborn foals in the region. Every week, Dr Mike covers a distance three times the size of Scotland on his rounds of stud farms. He performs up to 50 ultrasounds a day to monitor the progress of pregnancies in brood mares.

While at the stud farm, Mike gets the opportunity to observe a healthy horse giving birth in a paddock. It’s a rare treat for the Scottish vet as he is normally only called when there’s a problem with labour. It’s all over within 30 minutes and the foal is up and about quickly – as a prey animal in the wild, horses have evolved to hit the ground running to escape predators.

Meanwhile, there’s an emergency at the animal hospital where a cat has been brought in with a suspected snake bite. Family pet Shadow has been playing with a highly venomous eastern brown snake, a single bite from which can be fatal within minutes. Dr Clare takes some blood to find out if the venom has entered the cat’s circulatory system, as if toxin is present, the sample will remain fluid in the activated clotting test.

Dr Chris catches up with local wildlife handler Chris Page, who has just removed an eastern brown snake from a nearby property. He wants to take the opportunity to see this deadly reptile up close before it is released. Last year in Australia, 5,000 people were admitted to hospital after encountering venomous snakes, with eastern browns being responsible for more fatal bites than any other snake. Its venom is the second most toxic of the world’s land snakes.

Back at the equine hospital, Dr Mike’s next patient looks extremely familiar - it’s the foal he watched being born at the stud farm. The young horse has a slight bend in his back leg which if left untreated could eventually develop into arthritis, one of the most common reasons for retirement amongst racehorses.

Over at the animal hospital, Dr Chris’s next patient has a big name for a small animal. Dinosaur Roar is a juvenile lizard with swelling on one of its front legs. The bearded dragon is known for the covering of spines under its chin – it is native to Australia and a popular pet but challenging to care for. In captivity, they need an enclosure with specific amounts of UV light and heat and a balanced diet to replicate conditions in the wild.

Scottish Vets Down Under: Series 1

A BBC TV channel for Scotland which will broadcast every evening and will show drama, factual, comedy and news programmes made in Scotland


Series following two Scottish vets who have established practices rural Australia.

Series following two Scottish vets who have established their own practices in a small rural community in Australia.

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Scottish Vets Down Under

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