Original subtitles

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(honking)

Ben: Hey, you.

Erin: Hey honey. I bought you a coffee.

Ben: Thank goodness. Is it busy in there?

Erin: Yeah.

I didn't know owning a hotel would be that much work.

Well, obviously ben and I love to help animals,

But we also really have a passion

For restoring and refurbishing old buildings.

A couple of years ago,

We decided to buy a historic hotel

Right in the middle of town.

Ben: It was built in 1917,

But it was sitting vacant for over 20 years.

Erin: We're not contractors.

We're veterinarians who just have this dream and this vision.

The first day that we had the keys,

It was incredible.

I mean, we knew there was a lot of work,

But once we started stripping away boards off windows

And letting the light in,

It was like, "what did we do?"

Ben: My goodness, did we put in some hours.

Erin: But it looks beautiful now.

Erin: Love the old stuff because there's so much character.

It's like an old dog. You know, they're just the best.

They have a story to tell.

Ben: We're giving that building a heartbeat again.

It's a good thing. Erin: It's a great thing.

Ben: We're busy, right?

Erin: I love that place.

Ben: Erin, she just is never content unless she's busy.

She's not going to let us be lazy.

Erin: I got you to paint

That one time I really wanted to repaint our house.

I painted naked. It's amazing.

Ben: Absolutely.

Erin: Not.

Ben: We have to switch hats now, hon.

We got to go work some longhorns.

These horns are long,

And they had a few that they were wondering

If they were pregnant or not.

So, I'm going to preg-check a few.

You're welcome to if you want.

Erin: We each know what our strengths are.

I make a mean latte, um,

And I can spay something with my eyes closed,

But I think I'll leave all the preg-checks to you.

Ben: You do make a mean latte.

♪ ♪

Good morning, guys.

Doug: Hi, ben.

Ben: Longhorns are kind of rare in nebraska.

They're from texas originally,

And a few of them made it north here.

Brent: We have about twelve longhorns in the herd.

Doug: These longhorns live an excellent life.

We're not raising them for beef, we're raising them as pets.

Brent: I like the majestic look of them,

And being able to look outside

And see a longhorn in your pasture,

It's not every day you see that.

It is something we take pride in.

Ben: Those big longhorns, they see the chute,

And they say, "well, maybe not."

Doug: This is probably going to be the toughest one to get in.

Erin: Well, good. Glad to get her done first.

We see animals with horns all the time,

But not that stick out 3 foot on each side of their head.

Ben: And they don't make it through chutes very easily.

We'll just take it nice and slow so she can get it figured out.

Erin: Yeah, there you go.

Ben: Look how gentle she is with those horns.

Unreal.

Doug: Look at her turn that horn.

They know exactly where the end of that horn's at.

Ben: Well, that's a perfect spot for a longhorn head.

Can you get her wormed, honey?

Erin: Yep. Yep.

Ben: Looks like they've been itching

With the end of their horns here, guys.

They might have some lice starting.

Can you see any hair loss on her?

Doug: Yeah, on this side. Ben: Oh, wow yeah.

That pour-on, that'll kill the life cycle of these lice,

And the hair will grow back.

We never even knew if they had lice.

Doug: Great.

Ben: Lice are really a cold-weather parasite.

When the cows huddle together, they pass it from cow to cow,

Just like they're in a daycare.

Erin: Ooh.

That's not very nice of you, madam.

We didn't really like my dewormer.

Ben: I'll go put my ultrasound on,

And we'll get her preg-checked quick, ok?

Doug: Sounds good.

Ben: Well, she is not pregnant at this point.

Back up, sweetheart.

There you go.

Doug: You can go in the longhorn business, ben,

Now that you got this figured out.

Ben: You know, this is pretty fun.

I'm starting to like this.

Oh, look at these horns.

♪ ♪

Ben: Alright, guys. We got a pregnancy in here.

Brent: Awesome. Awesome.

Ben: She's about five months pregnant.

So four months from now, she'll have a baby for you.

Doug: Perfect, perfect.

Brent: She's my favorite one out of them all,

So that's a plus.

Ben: Well, good, I'm happy for you guys.

Longhorns are extremely intelligent.

They're very docile animals.

They've got varying color patterns.

No two longhorns are ever alike,

Kind of like a fingerprint.

He's a nice bull.

Doug: This is herb. He's the pet of the farm.

Erin: He's so handsome, and he seems so nice.

Ben: Hon, before we let this guy go,

I just gotta check out a longhorn's balls.

Erin: Whatever suits your fancy.

Doug: Ben, we don't call him big herb for no reason.

(ben laughs)

Ben: Oh, yeah.

They're all there.

Doug: Alright, you had me worried, ben.

Erin: Because he's weird.

Ben: Uh, I've never seen a longhorn's testicles

Right up close and personal,

And I had my chance right there.

So, why not take a look?

Doug: I never thought he'd look at them.

Brent: Yeah.

Ben: Alright, is that it?

Doug: That is it.

Ben: Well, we figured out how to work longhorns in nebraska.

♪ ♪

I see that we've worked you too hard.

(woman laughing)

You're going to have a great companion here, patty.

Patty: Oh, yeah. She's my baby.

Erin: Hi, paige! Paige: Hello.

Erin: Hi, guys! Hi!

Ruckus and rebel are here today.

They're just awesome.

They're great dogs.

They both are rescue dogs.

Paige: Ruckus and rebel are bonded.

They absolutely go everywhere together.

They can't be separated.

If you separate them, they cry.

Rebel loves ruckus more than the other way around.

Erin: So, what happened?

Paige: Well, we were at the dog park,

And I threw a frisbee,

And they both went after it and smashed heads.

Erin: Oh, no.

Paige: Yeah. So, he broke his tooth off on her head.

There was blood everywhere.

I heard a terrible, like, popping noise.

It was not good.

So, I called the vet right away, and here we are.

Erin: You bit your sister in the head, huh?

Paige: Basically.

Erin: Did anybody get the frisbee?

Paige: They both did,

And then they continued to play tug-of-war with it

While they were bleeding, and I was like, "wah!"

Erin: The fact that her eyebrow is right there,

Kind of she has that little cowlick

Where her eyebrow hairs come out,

It really masks it,

But that is a firm little nodule.

Paige: Yeah. I don't know if it's just a scab,

Or if there's actually something in there.

I really hope it's not the tooth.

Erin: Oh, he did a doozy, didn't he?

Paige: Yeah. It was bleeding

From the actual tooth and everything.

Erin: Oh, yeah.

You can actually see that pink portion is,

You know, it's the center of the tooth,

That pulp cavity where all of the tenderness is,

And that is the blood supply to the tooth

And also where all the innervation is.

So, that is all exposed.

So, it's like when you crack your tooth

And all the ouchy parts are just out there?

That's what's going on in his mouth.

And how is everybody eating, acting?

Fine? Happy?

Paige: You can tell he hurts when he holds a toy.

He holds it on the other side,

And like, if he bites on something,

He'll like jerk back sometimes.

Erin: We certainly are going to want to address that tooth.

We don't want him to be uncomfortable in pain,

We don't want infection to get down there.

Let's go ahead and get that scheduled

And get that tooth out.

Paige: Ok.

Erin: And then why don't we see

How she's doing in a couple of days,

And when you bring them both,

Let's bring a buddy system together.

Certainly, if that still has a lump there,

Let's take a little x-ray

And see just to make sure we don't have the missing tooth

In her eyebrow.

Paige: Yeah, that would be bad.

Erin: Not an easy day for the dog park.

Paige: No.

Erin: You're going to have to get another frisbee.

You'll have to do two. You'll have to be able to--

Paige: Two frisbees from now on, not one.

Erin: You need to come back and see me. No?

(laughing)

♪ ♪

Erin: We'll take good care of you.

Oh, thank you.

Ben: Hi, how are you guys?

Mikayla: Good, how are you?

Ben: Good. You brought us a little duck.

So it looks like he's definitely used to

Being handled every day.

Mikayla: Yes. We're bird people.

It's ok, buddy.

This is my oldest daughter's call drake.

His name is kronk.

We've had him for about six months.

Been a little joy to have in our family.

He's kind of one of our own.

He's our little family duck.

He's had a rough couple days

'cause his mate died on Sunday, suddenly.

They were the dynamic duo,

And he kind of, you know,

Lost his will to live for a little bit

And just decided to stay in his water bowl,

Laying on his side, not moving.

Ben: Kronk just lost his mate, and that's a big deal.

They feel. Kronk is mourning.

They go to the same place,

Looking for their partner, you know?

They sleep kind of on the same spot,

Looking where the other one used to sleep.

Mikayla: In the process of

Putting him back in his enclosure the other night,

He got a little scared and flighty

And fell out of my daughter's hands

And ever since then, he's been a little wobbly.

He won't bear on one leg.

Ben: Ok.

Mikayla: And she's really worried about him

'cause he's kind of her baby.

Ben: He can't pick up his right leg,

It looks like to me.

They need to walk around, they need to swim.

They have to use those legs a lot,

And a lameness in a duck is a big deal.

Mikayla: You can see this one here?

He's kind of got those two marks there.

Ben: So, there's a couple wounds there, even.

Mikayla: Mm-hmm.

Ben: I'm kind of just putting a little pressure on it.

That doesn't feel good, does it?

I'm sorry.

So, those are both right where the joints are.

It almost looks to me like

We've got a joint infection that's opening up.

To further examine what's going on with kronk,

I want to get him back to x-ray as soon as possible.

We'll be back shortly.

Mikayla: Alrighty.

My concerns are it's something that we can't fix.

You know, when my girls come home from school,

They go straight down and they see him

And they pick him up, they give him snuggles.

Their day is not complete until they have their snuggles.

Ben: Ready?

(beep)

Mikayla: He's our baby.

Ben: Oh, man.

Kronk, no wonder you're hurting.

Ben: Oh, man.

Kronk, no wonder you're hurting.

A duck named kronk is in the clinic today

Because he's not bearing weight on a leg,

And an x-ray just gave me a clue why.

Alright, you guys, first of all,

He was very, very good for his pictures.

I did not see any obvious fractures.

Tell your daughter to be rest assured,

She did not do this to this poor little guy.

Mikayla: She'll be relieved.

She was worried.

Oh, she'll feel like the world is lifted off of her shoulders.

Ben: But we do have some problems here

That need to be addressed.

This is where the lesion was on that joint

And also right here.

And that's not just a nice, defined joint surface.

So, I think he's kind of got like a polyarthritis we call it,

Which means it's going all around his body.

When you talk about arthritis in young animals,

It's usually due to an infectious cause,

And this infection is so bad,

It split apart the skin around kronk's joint

From the inside out.

We just have to stop this in its tracks

To prevent any more joints from being affected.

We're going to prescribe him an antibiotic.

We're going to give him some anti-inflammatories.

Open up that little beak.

Mikayla: Good boy.

Ben: We're also going to keep those feet clean

With an antiseptic.

We'll just take a few of these swabs,

Dip them in the iodine scrub,

And basically just roll it right on the wound.

There.

Think you can handle that a couple times a day?

Mikayla: Oh, yeah. Ben: Yeah.

Mikayla: We definitely do not have a shortage

Of tlc and snuggles in our house,

And he's got a very happy family

That is more than willing to take care of him.

Ben: I'd like you to come back in,

And we'll just see how this arthritis is developing.

Hopefully it's not permanent.

Mikayla: That's what we're hoping for, too.

Ben: Because he's just a young guy.

We want him to have a pain-free life.

I don't see that many ducks around here,

But when I do, it's a great ducking day.

Mikayla: Can you say, "thank you"?

Yeah? Yeah.

♪ ♪

(meow)

Erin: Oh, you're so happy.

Yeah?

(nom nom nom nom)

Nom nom nom nom nom.

Val: Kitty nom-noms.

Erin: I love our kitty nom-noms.

Good girl.

Linda: Don't growl at me.

Erin: Hi, how are you guys?

Keith: Good.

Erin: Today bandit is in the clinic,

And he is a super senior pug.

Hi, handsome.

Keith: Bandit has a lump on his side,

A big lump that we need to get checked out.

Erin: Holy smokes, val.

I don't think I've ever seen anything like that.

This is really firm.

I don't smell a smell to it.

I mean, usually I do.

It doesn't smell infected.

This is really draining.

This black is just kind of--

I know, I know, we won't poke at it too much--

Is, uh, is just dead skin over top of it.

How long has this been going on?

Keith: It's been there for a long time,

But it was small,

But then in the last six weeks or so,

It's really started to blow up.

Linda: Saw a vet down in the south.

We were going to have surgery after the holidays.

We took him in, and it just started growing

And became very large very quickly,

And he said it was too big.

He didn't want to do surgery on that size of a tumor,

And he thought maybe it was malignant,

So it was probably the end.

Keith: Keep him comfortable.

Linda: Keep him comfortable.

Keith: And we're not comfortable with that.

Linda: He had a lot of life in him.

His ears were up, his tail was up,

So we thought, well, let's just see if somebody

Can take it off and get rid of it,

And maybe he'd have a quality of life

And be fine for a while after that.

Erin: Any preexisting health conditions that you know of?

Linda: No, he's been a pretty healthy animal his whole life.

Erin: Just him being up on the table,

He's bled all over the place.

Linda: Yeah.

Erin: I can only imagine what this is like

Having him in your home.

All those things that you want to do

And love him and hold him and... It's really tough.

Linda: Yeah.

Erin: I'm not afraid of this lump.

So, I can tell you that.

I feel like I can get this off for him and for you guys.

Linda: Excellent.

Erin: That in and of itself is a pretty big surgery,

But he's also a pug,

So he's a brachiocephalic, or a smushed-face breed.

Because pugs are predisposed to having breathing issues,

It just makes anesthesia that much riskier.

If you're ok with potential risks...

I've got val here.

She's my right-hand lady.

I think as a team, we can, we can take this on.

Linda: Ok. Erin: Ok?

Linda: Thank you.

Erin: I'm hoping that I can get their dog back to them

And have him even better than when they brought him in,

But this is always a tough time to have to say goodbye

Because this may be the last.

Woman: Come on.

Come on.

Val: Now, you don't want to fall off the table.

You're a stinker!

Don't do that!

♪ ♪

Ben: Sorry, you have to wear this

So you don't lick your butt.

It will all be better soon.

Erin: Hey, honey.

Ben: Look what I got.

Erin: Oh, hi, baby kitty.

Look what I got.

Ben: "history nebraska"? What in the heck is this?

Erin: We won an award! Ben: Read it.

Erin: Ok. We have been selected to receive

Nebraska's preservation award for doing the hotel.

Ben: Are you kidding me?

Erin: No! This is being recognized state-wide.

What we're doing here matters.

Ben: Downtown rural america is in trouble a little bit,

And it's falling down.

We don't want that to happen to our town.

Our town we want to rise up.

Erin: If we don't preserve all of these buildings

And the history that they represent,

It will be lost.

There is a ceremony

At the nebraska history museum in lincoln.

Ben: The boys have to come.

They were a huge part of getting these buildings done

And doing a lot of grunt work.

We had four tons of concrete that had to go into the basement

In bags, in 50-pound bags.

I didn't tell the boys that.

Erin: Oh, I can't wait.

Ben: Let's put the coveralls away

And go get dressed up.

Erin: That is awesome, honey.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Ben: It's kinda like a bone bruise.

Zeus, you're under house arrest here

For two or three weeks, ok, bud?

He says, "I'm ready to go, doc. Get me out of here."

(laughs)

Katelyn: Dr. Erin, we got koda here.

Erin: Ok, room 2? Katelyn: Yes, room 2.

Erin: Alright, let's go.

Emily: I'm here

With my 11-month-old golden retriever, koda.

She's been acting very depressed and lethargic.

She's one of my kids,

And I want to see her get better.

Erin: Oh, my gosh.

You look like you don't feel real good, koda.

Emily: Nope, it's going on like nine, ten days.

Erin: Wow, ok. Let's face her head out here.

She's a little tiny girl, isn't she?

Emily: She is.

I think she's lost like 4 pounds.

Erin: Oh, man.

Ok. Can you give me her kind of full story?

Emily: We noticed blood all over our comforter,

And it was coming from her mouth.

Erin: Ok.

Emily: She's just drooling constantly.

Erin: Oh, she's got some ulcers in there.

Emily: Initially we just thought it might have been a toy.

So, we weren't that worried, but it kept bleeding.

Emily: She's very playful.

She's normally obsessed with her ball.

She wants to play 24/7,

Whether we're outside or even in our hallway.

So, this is not like her to want to be sleeping 24/7.

Erin: Ok, katelyn, if you can get her temp...

(heart beating)

Got a really low heart rate.

Katelyn, what's the temp?

Katelyn: It's 104.

Erin: Yeah, that's pretty high.

I think you have a pretty sick doggie here.

She smells, um, necrotic.

She smells like infection.

There's no doubt that koda has an infection in her mouth.

I'm not sure what caused it or what's making her sick,

But the first step is to run some tests

And see what we can rule out.

We're going to start with a cbc and chemistry,

And that will let us know the extent of this infection

And also if her organs are all functioning ok.

Her blood is black.

Her blood is really a very, very dark color,

Which potentially means she's not oxygenating well.

She definitely has some noise in her lungs,

So she may just have a very bad pneumonia,

Which would explain some drooling,

She doesn't want to swallow.

But those bleeding gums doesn't fit into that very well.

So, I'm not 100% sure what's going on with this gal,

But she is extremely sick.

Erin: I think you have a pretty sick doggie here.

Koda is an 11-month-old golden retriever

Who is in the clinic for a mysterious illness.

She has an infection in her mouth

And signs of pneumonia.

So, katelyn, we'll get this iv in her.

Katelyn: Do you want to start fluids right away?

Erin: I'm going to grab those now.

While fluids and meds are going in,

We'll also treat koda with supplemental oxygen.

The dark blood I pulled

Indicates that she's not oxygenating properly

And needs some help.

I'm going to go get her mom.

Erin: No, that's ok. You're allowed to ugly cry.

Come on back, ok?

On her bloodwork, clot times were normal.

Kidneys, her liver, sugar, her electrolytes

All look really, really good.

Emily: Oh, good.

Erin: So, that's great news.

She has a really pretty high white count.

Emily: Ok.

Erin: Which indicates infection.

I would love to get a good oral exam on her,

But in order to do that, we have to sedate her,

And I feel like we're not quite stable enough.

Emily: Ok.

Erin: Because I think if we sedate her at this point,

We could... Emily: Lose her?

Erin: Mm-hmm, and I don't want to do that.

So, here is my suggestion.

I would like to keep her here.

I'm hoping that she'll look a whole lot better

With some fluids and just some supportive care.

Emily: She's just a baby, and she's just beginning her life,

So we want to see her live a life.

Erin: We'll just see what tomorrow morning brings.

Emily: Ok.

Erin: She loves you so much.

Emily: We love her so much.

♪ ♪

Ben: I bet he didn't think

This was gonna happen to him today, did he?

Woman: He's hoping there's feed in that bag.

Ben: Poor guy. Yeah.

Well, that's a lot of poop.

At least things are moving through.

I'm going to go down and run the fecal sample on him.

Girl: Yech!

Erin: So, val, were you able to get weights on 'em?

Val: Yep, I have their weights here.

She is 67.6, and he's 69.4.

Erin: You guys are too big. Ok.

Today, ruckus and rebel are back in the clinic

To repair the damage from their disastrous frisbee collision.

Rebel has a really painful tooth

That we're going to need to pull,

And ruckus might have the tip of that tooth

Stuck in her forehead.

We're going to sedate her and get an x-ray of that.

Ooh, my goodness. What was that?

We're going to go ahead

And just see if we can see anything under the skin.

(beep)

He's sleeping.

Well, val, good news.

No foreign body.

Val: Ok.

Erin: I think that's just maybe some scar tissue,

But that's good news for her,

And it means we can wake her up and get moving with rebel.

This is going to fix your tooth, buddy.

When rebel broke his tooth on his sister's forehead,

It left the pulp cavity and the nerves exposed.

This is extremely painful,

And he's really susceptible to an infection now,

So it's got to come out.

Val, let's take an x-ray.

We'll just see what that root structure's like.

♪ ♪

(beep)

We've got a really nice view

Of almost all of his tooth on this x-ray,

And we still aren't to the end of the root.

There's probably almost an inch of that root underneath

That's buried in the jaw.

That's a lot of root, and it's all got to come out.

All for the love of a frisbee.

We can start to get some gum cut away

And get some of that alveolar bone.

(whirring)

It's like pulling teeth.

It's just, this is just going to all of a sudden, like, come out.

Ah, ha ha ha!

Look at that sucker!

Val: Good job!

Erin: That is a big tooth.

Ok, now we close the hole.

So, rebel is almost done here.

We're just putting some sutures in

To close everything up.

This is really crucial because we need to make a nice barrier.

You know, a mouth is full of bacteria.

We don't want any food or debris

To get stuck down in that hole.

He'll have a little bit of a funnier smile,

But his name is rebel,

So he'll look extra rebellious and tough

With his one tooth gone.

You are done, handsome boy.

One, two, three.

Yeah, buddy.

Ok, hopefully he'll just rest here pretty comfortably.

(dog whines)

I know, you just figure out what way's up.

(meow)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Ben: Hi, mikayla.

Mikayla: Hello.

Ben: Got kronk in there? Mikayla: Mm-hmm.

Ben: Alright, I'll meet you in exam room 2.

Mikayla: Alrighty.

Ben: Kronk was in the clinic a few weeks ago

Because of arthritis in his joints

And some big wounds on his feet.

We got him on some meds.

Now it's time to see if he's responding.

Oh, I am so excited to see kronk.

Oh, my gosh!

Mikayla: He's still a little wobbly,

But we'll take it.

Ben: He looks so good, mikayla.

Look at you! He's like a different duck!

Mikayla: Within one day of being given the arthritis meds,

He was up.

You see, they healed really good.

I mean, that one's still a little bit...

Ben: Yeah.

Mikayla: But it's not really bothering him.

Ben: Who else is in there?

Mikayla: This is his new lady.

This is miss pacha.

Ben: Kronk, you got a little girlfriend now?

Mikayla: After kronk's first mate died,

His health really went downhill.

He got really sad.

He kind of lost the will to live.

So we decided that might be a good idea

To try to introduce a new mate to him

To see if that would improve his health.

Ben: Do they like each other?

Mikayla: Oh, they love each other.

It was a love-at-first-sight kind of moment with them.

Yeah, see?

(laughing)

Ben: They are such lovers of other ducks, you know.

They need each other to be happy, don't they?

Mikayla: She was definitely the key to his turnaround.

Definitely.

Ben: Well, the way he's moving around,

It looks like his feet are feeling a lot better,

Doesn't it? Mikayla: Mm-hmm.

Ben: There you go, kronk.

Oh, there he goes.

Mikayla, you see he still has a little bit of a wobble,

A little bit of a limp to him?

Because he had arthritis,

I think that is a life-long change.

So, he'll always have a little hitch to his giddy-up.

Mikayla: We're ok with that.

Ben: But you got some pain medicine,

And whenever he has a bad day,

Go ahead and give him some of it.

Mikayla: Ok.

Ben: He is not having a bad day today, is he?

Mikayla: No, he's doing real good.

Ben: I'm so, so glad he has a mate here.

Mikayla: They follow each other around.

She squawks at him if he tries to eat first.

He's a good little mate.

He protects her,

And then they cuddle up at night and go to sleep.

When we take him out to do his care,

She starts squawking immediately 'cause he's gone,

And she doesn't hush up until he comes back,

And then she has to do her physical examination,

Make sure he's all ok, and then life is good for them.

Ben: Mm-hmm. We all need somebody to rely on,

And ducks are no different.

Look at him.

Mikayla: No matter how strange of things we throw at you guys,

You always find a good solution for us.

Ben: Thank you so much.

Mikayla: We're really appreciative of that.

Ben: Bring kronk back anytime.

Mikayla: Ok.

♪ ♪

Erin: Hi. Hi! Do you want more food?

Koda the golden retriever has been in our clinic

Since she showed up with a mystery illness.

We've been treating her with supportive care,

And she's starting to improve.

Ben: She's still drooling, isn't she?

Erin: She's still pretty drooly.

So I want to go ahead and sedate her.

I think she's stable enough to be able to do this now.

I want to figure out the extent of the ulcers in her mouth

And see if they have anything to do with what's making her sick.

Ben: There she goes.

Erin: Yeah. Alright.

Ben: Big ulcer on that tongue.

Look, the back of her tongue's even got one.

What's the roof of her mouth look like?

Erin: It's all ulcerated up in here.

Ben: I mean, her hard palate is like coming away from the teeth.

It's like all these tissues are just eroding.

Erin: That is so strange.

I've never seen anything like this before,

Like she burned her mouth.

Erin: I've never seen anything like this before,

Like she burned her mouth.

Koda is sedated at the clinic today

So we can examine some strange ulcers in her mouth,

And it turns out this is much worse than we thought.

We've seen it with electric cords

That will burn their mouth.

Ben: Mm-hmm.

Erin: Usually the electrical

Is right where they chew across the cord,

And it's like real bad in one spot, it's very linear.

And this is like all over her mouth.

I feel like I can rule out an electrical burn,

Which makes me think

This is much more likely a chemical burn.

She's interested in eating, but doesn't want to eat.

I mean, this all makes perfect sense.

Ben: Any cleaning supply really is...

Erin: Pretty caustic. Ben: Pretty caustic.

Erin: I think whatever she may have gotten in her mouth

May have also affected her respiratory tract,

Which is why we're also seeing some pneumonia issues.

I mean, the biggest thing we can do is supportive care.

Ben: Mm-hmm.

Erin: So, a really good pain medication

And good antibiotics and keep her hydrated

And keep her eating food she wants to eat.

Ben: No wonder she won't eat.

Mouths do heal really quickly.

That tissue is very vascular.

Erin: I'm going to check with her mom

And see if she knows of anything she could have gotten into. Ok.

Ben: Alright, we'll go wake up in the back.

Erin: Alright, you did good, girl.

(ringing)

Erin: Hi, emily.

Erin: Good! How are you doing?

Erin: Some sort of reaction has just burned her mouth terribly,

And she's got these big ulcers.

Erin: That could be it.

All I can think of this time of year

Would be like liquid deicer or road salt.

Honestly, we may never know.

The good news is,

With some tlc and some time and some supportive care,

She'll get through this,

But I'd still like to keep her here

Because she won't drink any water,

And I think that really is uncomfortable for her.

Hopefully we'll have kind of figured out a magic way

To get her eating, drinking, and managing her pain,

And she'll just continue to improve.

Erin: You are very welcome.

It is.

I'm not stumped usually this much.

♪ ♪

Ben: Why don't we go over and take a look at you?

Hi, bud. I love that tie.

You were pretty concerned about his hearing, right?

Woman: Yeah, if I open a can, he hears that, and he'll....

But you can yell at him his name,

And he won't turn his head, so.

Ben: He is a male.

Woman: Well, yes.

Erin: Ruckus and rebel are all recovered.

Mama's here!

And now it's time to go see their mom.

Paige: Come here, my babies!

Hi! Come here!

Hi.

Oh.

I'm so happy.

I missed them so much.

Just one day without them was torture.

Erin: So, everything went great, paige.

Here's our big tooth,

And there's the root that was left in there, so...

Paige: Oh, rebel.

You poor baby!

Erin: And great news for her-- um, x-ray was all clear.

So there's no tooth.

I think it's just a little scar tissue,

And so she's going to be just fine.

Nothing hard, no chew toys,

Which is going to be the toughest thing

For about a month.

Paige: All they want to do is play and chew and do tug-of-war.

Tug-of-war is going to be the hardest.

They'll tug-of-war on anything.

So I don't know how I'm going to do that,

But I'll have to try.

Erin: We have antibiotics and pain meds for him.

Just continue those as labeled.

You guys ride home safe.

Paige: So, moving forward,

I think I'm going to bring two toys to the dog park,

So when I throw them, they go the opposite directions

Instead of hitting each other in the face.

(laughs)

Erin: See you later! Bye!

♪ ♪

(mooing)

♪ ♪

Erin: Val, I think we're ready.

Bandit's ready for his surgery.

We're removing this lump

To really give bandit quality of life.

His owners, because of his age,

Just want him to live out his natural life

In the best way he can.

You like your medicines? Yes.

Eww.

Eww, that's super gross, val.

Bleh.

This is going to look a lot bloodier before we get done.

Not good now.

Gonna get a little worse, then hopefully get a lot better.

Alright, I'll go get scrubbed.

The surgery in itself

Is going to be technically fairly difficult,

And putting him back together and then getting him awake.

He's an old brachiocephalic breed,

Or a flat-nosed,

Like a pug, boston terrier, bulldog, frenchie.

Their airway is totally supported right now.

So, he's breathing probably better

Than he usually does right at the moment,

But then after surgery,

The most difficult part is actually waking him up,

Because he's got a very, very tiny windpipe

And a lot of tissue back there.

Erin: Cutting. Val: Ok.

♪ ♪

So, the elliptical incision is made.

A good rule of thumb,

When we are removing tumors or unhealthy tissue

Is that we want to go into healthy tissue

About 2 to 3 millimeters beyond the edge of anything bad.

Val: Looks good.

Erin: Yeah, I feel like there's healthy tissue underneath here

For the most part.

If I don't get all of that lumpy tissue out,

That means I could leave some behind,

Even microscopically,

Which would really not help bandit in the long run,

Because whatever this is could actually regrow,

And a new tumor on a 14-year-old pug

Is worst-case scenario.

Erin: It's firm.

Val and I are removing a tumor on a pug named bandit.

I have to be very careful

To remove every piece of affected tissue

With room to spare...

I think that's like still not happy tissue,

So I may have to go wider there.

Because there is definitely a chance that this could regrow.

Ok. We got it, val.

That feels like a boob.

Val: I was thinking the same thing!

Erin: He's going back together better than I thought he would.

Lucky for us,

Pugs basically have enough skin for two pugs in one dog.

They have lots of wrinkles,

And so there's plenty of extra skin

That doesn't have a lot of tension on it,

And so, that's going to allow me to get these edges together

And not be pulled so, so tight

That they're going to want to snap back apart

Once he wakes up.

So I'm sewing this drain in place.

It's working. It's draining.

I think the incision looks great.

The drain's going to do its job.

We've got to get bandit up,

We've got to make sure his airway is secure,

And we need to make sure

He's going to come out of this anesthesia.

(whimpering)

It's ok.

(whimpering)

Shh, it's ok.

Bandit's awake.

He's defied all the odds I gave him,

And now it's going to be time to call his family

And let 'em know the great news.

(whimpering)

That's a very sad-sounding pug.

(whimpering)

He's going to be able to be snuggled and loved

And sleep on the bed again.

Val: Good job.

Erin: Yeah, thanks. You, too.

Glad we made it through.

♪ ♪

Ben: I'll give you the treats,

And you be the commander, and I'll be the doctor.

(laughing)

Woman: Come here.

(laughing)

Woman: There ya go.

Ben: Good boy. Yeah, give me a kiss.

Can you shake?

Woman: Good boy. Ben: Good boy.

Erin: Are you excited? Your mommy's here.

Koda's been in the clinic for the last 24 hours

Recovering from pneumonia

And a really bad mouth full of sores.

This morning she looks like a new dog.

She's eating, drinking, she's overall happy.

And she can't wait to go home.

Ok. Come on!

Hi.

Emily: Hi, babe!

Hi, lovey. Hi!

Erin: We didn't exactly solve this mystery illness,

But the important thing is koda's healthy,

And she can go back to being a puppy.

She's looking so much better.

She drank water on her own.

Emily: Ok.

Erin: That was what we had a chat about,

And I said, "you have to drink out of your water bowl,"

And she's done that a couple times today.

Her mouth already looks better

And no more bleeding and no drooling at all today.

Emily: Oh, good.

Erin: And she's been out for a whole bunch of walks

Since it's so nice out.

Just lots of r&r for the weekend.

Emily: Ok.

Erin: And then we'll touch base with you in a couple days.

Emily: Perfect, thank you so much.

Say, "thanks for saving my life."

Alright, let's go home.

Erin: Alright, see you later.

Emily: Thanks so much. Erin: You're welcome.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Ben: So, we're heading to lincoln, guys.

And we're going to check out some birds at lynne's place.

She rescues and saves all types of birds.

Erin: Birds always make me a little nervous,

Because I feel like they're dinosaurs with feathers.

You know what I'm saying?

You like look deep into their soul,

You're like looking into the jurassic period.

Ben: Ooh.

Erin: Keep that in mind today.

♪ ♪

Ben: We're here.

I hear 'em.

Charlie: Wow. (geese honking)

Erin: This is like a wonderland.

Ben: Hello. The schroeder family's here.

Lynne: Hi, guys. Welcome, welcome.

I'm lynne,

And we're at my house, where I have a wildlife rescue.

I have a canada goose that was brought in this summer

And had fish line wrapped around its leg.

I want you to take a look

Because it's all curled underneath.

Erin: Is he over here? Lynne: He's over here.

Erin: Does he have a name? Lynne: Cooper.

Ben: Let's check him out.

Lynne: Come here, coop.

Ok, coop.

(squawking)

You're ok, buddy. It's ok.

Ben: She got him.

It's not the first time she's done that, is it?

Erin: No.

Ben: Oh, wow.

Lynne: Here, buddy.

Lynne: The fish line was wrapped around it really, really tight,

All the way up here.

Ben: He's got good strength, you know, trying to do this,

Which is good.

That means the nerves weren't cut.

Lynne: Mm-hmm.

Ben: But potentially what happened

Is the line cut along here,

And just like our hand, to do this,

You have to have these tendons.

See that tendon right there?

I wonder if one was severed.

Lynne: Right.

Ben: And now, over time,

The flexor tendons on the other side

Have just really put it, you know, in this position.

Do you think there's a way we can get a splint on that?

I'm afraid to go any further than this,

For the fear that I'll break it, I'll break his leg.

Lynne: Right, right.

It'll be worse maybe than...

Almost let him just be the way he is.

Erin: Leave it the way he is.

Not that he couldn't potentially be released,

But I think that would be a very difficult life.

He would be, he'd be a sitting duck for predators.

Ben: Sitting goose.

Lynne: Sitting goose, yeah.

Erin: He's lucky he found you.

Ben: You saved his life.

Sometimes doing nothing

Is better than intervening and making things worse.

Erin: And despite his injury,

Cooper is definitely living a great life here with lynne.

♪ ♪

Lynne: If you guys don't mind...

Erin: Lynne also has an injured dove

That she wants us to check out.

Lynne: There you go.

She was found in a parking lot just last night.

Couldn't fly.

Ben: Oh, guys, look right here.

Charlie: Oh, no. Erin: Oh, yeah.

Ben: Got a big wound here.

Ben: Oh, guys, look right here.

Charlie: Oh, no.

Erin: We're at a bird sanctuary

Helping some injured feathered friends.

One is a dove that isn't able to fly,

And ben just discovered why.

Ben: That's a pretty good wound, isn't it, lynne?

Lynne: Yeah, it is.

Charlie: What do you think that's from?

Ben: Possibly hit by a vehicle.

Lynne: I was wondering if she didn't fly into something.

Ben: Yeah.

Erin: This bird I do think

Needs some antibiotics and some pain medicine.

Ben: Definitely.

I just would feel better

If we took an x-ray of this, guys.

Erin: Yep.

Chase: Is that heavy?

Ben: It is heavy.

Ben: We brought along our portable x-ray,

Which is great for calls like these.

Erin: Alright.

On your go, I'm ready.

Yep, taken.

It's fractured.

Ben: It is?

Erin: Yep, that little radius is fractured,

But his ulna looks good.

Ben: Yes. Erin: So that's great.

Ben: Since it's not a radius and an ulna,

I think we can get away with no splint.

Because we've got such an open wound,

I'd hate to trap all that serum and everything

Underneath the splint.

Lynne: Right. Right.

Erin: And that other bone is going to be some support for it.

I have some oral meloxicam, some pain medicine.

Do you want to go ahead and give it while ben holds it?

Lynne: Sure. Let's go ahead and do that.

Erin: We'll have lynne give this dove its first dose of meds

And clean the wound

Since she'll have to continue this care

Over the next couple of weeks.

Lynne: Got it. I think we got it.

Ben: Good.

Erin: And we'll give her everything she needs

So that this dove can make a full recovery.

I think it's fabulous what you do.

Lynne: Well, I feel it's really important

To give back to our community

And to give back to the animals.

Thanks so much, you guys.

♪ ♪

Ben: These puppies, they're hungry.

Let's feed 'em.

We'll get you started, and you just hold that bobby.

Hold the bottle a little higher so the milk's down there.

There you go. Look it there.

Good job.

Keith: Today's the day that we're picking up bandit.

We're happy to be back.

Linda: Can't wait, can't wait.

Erin: Come on. Your mom and dad are here.

There's mom and dad!

Keith and linda: Hey, there he is!

Keith: You look better.

Linda: Yes!

Keith: He looks less lopsided to me.

Erin: He looks like a real pug.

Keith: He looked pretty dog-gone good.

We were really, really happy.

Erin: I really think that lump may have been bothering him

More than he was letting on.

I think he kind of learned to live with it

And deal with it, kind of like a toothache.

Once that's fixed,

It's amazing, you know, how much better you feel,

And I feel like this is the same way for him.

You can change the bandage covering once a day.

This shirt is really to kind of keep that bandage in place.

Linda: Ok.

Erin: Once we get all healed up,

Then he'll have hopefully a new lease on life.

Officially, here's your puppy back.

Linda: Thank you so much. We really appreciate this.

Erin: Bye, bandit.

♪ ♪

Erin: Today is the big day.

We're at the nebraska history museum

To accept our award for historic preservation.

Ben: It's been a lot of work

That's gone into our buildings in hartington,

And it's pretty fun to be recognized for it.

This is pretty fancy, hon.

Erin: I know. The governor's here,

There's a whole bunch of state senators.

Hi, how are you? Very nice to meet you.

I'm just worried I'm going to get somebody's name wrong.

Good thing we all have nametags.

Erin: Well, do you have any pets?

Pete: We had a boa constrictor and...

Erin: Oh, you're a snake guy?

Pete: And we got a hedgehog.

My wife was considering getting a dog, but...

Erin: Maybe we should give you our card,

And you just pass that along to her.

We can help make an adoption happen.

Ben: Erin's pretty convincing.

Erin: Yeah.

Man: Thanks, guys.

Erin: I'm glad that we brought the boys with us

To enjoy in this moment.

They put in a lot of hard hours, too.

We can dress you up,

But I don't know if we can take you out.

This is pretty neat.

Ben: Don't touch.

Erin: There was a little bit of a rumble

About having to wear a suit and a tie today,

But then they found out they got to get out of school.

Ben: Well, cheers, babe.

Erin: Cheers to you.

Sure beats pulling a calf tonight.

I think you look pretty sharp in this.

The only problem is whenever we put on nice clothes at home,

That is like the instant that something bloody and horrible

Comes in the door.

It is guaranteed to ruin nice clothes.

Ben: I've covered a few blazers with placenta in my career.

Erin: That is not an accessory of choice.

♪ ♪

Ben: Looks like a patient of mine yesterday.

Erin: Honey, that's not...

Receiving this award and this recognition

Means a ton.

We are humbled, we're flattered.

Man: Would you please join me in congratulating the winners

Of the nebraska state historic preservation award,

Doctors ben and erin schroeder.

Ben: I think, whenever you can save something that's old,

Do it.

(applause)

It's small-town america.

We're doing our part to save it.

Erin: We're just stewards of the buildings

For this point in time.

Man: It's backwards.

Erin: There we go. Chase: I try my best.

Erin: Hopefully, someone else is going to come along.

I hope they will look at the work that we've done

And say, "thank you,

And you kept her going for us now."

And that's how we feel.

You made me cry.

Good job, guys. I'm proud of you.

See? Hard work pays off.

Captioned by side door media services