A pair of Angus vets are stepping into the spotlight as stars of a new BBC documentary series.
Forfar vets Fiona Crowden and Kerry Voice appear in the BBC Alba and iPlayer show Vets, which started on the Gaelic language channel at 8.30pm last night.
It comes after Fife-raised vet Dr Mike Whiteford, now working in Australia, featured on BBC Scotland drama Scottish Vets Down Under.
Fiona said viewers seemed to be fascinated by the work of her profession.
“We’re a nation of animal lovers,” she said.
“And a lot of what we’re doing, especially with coronavirus, is mysterious and behind closed doors.”
The Kidd Veterinary Centre team member, and Angus native, said she first hooked up with the TV crew while she was working with a Gaelic speaking vet in Caithness.
She said: “They were such lovely people that you couldn’t help but say ‘I’m away to see something interesting, do you want to come?’”
She said she returned to Angus to live about six years ago and the TV crew “followed me down”.
She said having the TV cameras present added an extra dimension to an already stressful job – including when she came close to being crushed by a cow for the latest edition of the programme.
“Scott the cameraman was filming the cute little snuffy calf that had come out, at which point I’m yelling at the cow, as I could see her start to buckle and go down,” she said.
“He whipped round just as she did, kind of on top of me, as I dived underneath her to stop her wound from going in the muck. Then we finished the caesarean and she was absolutely fine .
“It was a good result in the end, but a slightly hairy result in the middle.”
Fiona also uses a nebulizer for the first time on a horse that has breathing difficulties in the new series.
She said working with large farm animals remains a “difficult” specialism in her profession.
“In James Herriot’s day, I think vets were more readily called,” she said.
“There was a golden era where vets were called and involved with any sick animal.
“Now, by the time we go to see a sick animal, it’s really quite sick. The farmer has had a go at treating it himself in most cases, which has failed, which means your disease process is a bit further on.
“There’s pressure to get it fixed in that one single visit.
“It’s stressful and your heart leaps into your mouth, but the vast majority of the time you get through it. It’s not an easy job to start, but it’s fantastic when you’re going.”
