Janie Smith visits Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the setting for a new Prime documentary series.
Whether it is X-raying an injured tui or performing lifesaving surgery on a horse, the Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital is the place for the job.
At any given time there are dozens of creatures being assessed, diagnosed, treated and put in recovery.
A quick tour of the complex reveals dogs, cats, birds, horses and an extremely pungent goat named Rudolf.
The Palmerston North hospital is the focus of a new Prime series called The Animal Files which showcases the work carried out on a variety of animals, from native birds and domestic pets to tigers.
Hospital director Janet Molyneux says the show is a great opportunity to let people know about what takes place at the facility.
"I think there's a very small part of the public who know what we do, or that we're here at all, so it's a great opportunity to let people know and profile what we do so they can get help for their pets. And the same for vets... we've got a really good relationship with vets around the country and it's always good to remind them that if they want that next tier of help and support that it's here."
The hospital, in which final-year veterinary undergraduates work alongside senior clinical staff, has four specialised units - the companion animal hospital, which deals with small pets, the equine hospital, the? farm services clinic and Wildbase, which is the country's only dedicated wildlife hospital.
Wildbase also has an oil response team which works at disaster sites, such as the sinking of the Rena, to help animals affected by oil spills.
Although the unit does a lot of conservation work with rare species, Molyneux says it also deals with non-endangered breeds so if they do become endangered, there is up-to-date expertise available.
The equine hospital also features a padded room used to safely anaesthetise horses and a CT scan machine big enough to use on them.
The machine allows vets to see a large range of images from which they can build 3D models of complex fractures so they can decide how to approach them before going into surgery.
Molyneux, who is originally from the UK and worked as a veterinary nurse, says staff can become attached to the animals they help.
"The vast majority of us own slightly dysfunctional animals because we end up adopting them."
Her own cat suffered brain damage after being hit by a car and Molyneux found herself in the position of being a client at the hospital.
"It was a wake-up for me about what it's like to be a client. If you're not careful, you can end up thinking decisions are really obvious and easy to make. We're really aware that our clients have huge decisions to make and we're asking them to make them when they are really emotional and might only have 10 minutes because we're resuscitating their animal while we're talking."
It is the kind of choice the owners of a border collie, which features in the first episode of The Animal Files, had to make when they were told that surgery to repair their dog's shattered front legs could cost more than $5000.
The episode also features a racehorse with a paralysed throat, a kereru (NZ wood pigeon) with a suspected broken wing and a calf with a broken jaw.
When they are not repairing pets, the vets work with Wellington Zoo.
"In the last six months at the zoo we've worked on giraffes, a bear, a tiger, some chimpanzees," says Molyneux. "The staff love it. It's great to get involved in those other things."
The hospital also boasts the country's only anaesthetist to work on a giraffe.
"The real challenge," says Molyneux, "is that the giraffes have such long necks and you have to keep them straight and supported."
Did you know?
Unless indicated by plumage, the gender of birds can only be determined internally.
Dogs can react badly to chocolate. There is an app available which uses a dog's weight and the amount of chocolate it has eaten to calculate how severely it has been affected and whether it needs veterinary attention.
In winter, male ferrets retract their reproductive organs, making it difficult to determine their gender.
Birds have hollow bones which makes them light for flying
The Animal Files - Prime Thursday
- ? Fairfax NZ News
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv/8742505/Inside-the-pet-hospital
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