Junior Vets learn from University experts

Animal experts from the University of Edinburgh will help children get to grips with life as a vet in the return of a popular television series.

CBBC’s Junior Vets gives six children from across the UK the opportunity to learn how to treat sick and injured animals and get hands on with real life cases.

Diagnosing diseases

Vets from the University’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies will help them to learn key skills, such as suturing wounds and diagnosing diseases from X-rays and other scans.

More than 1000 young people applied to take part in the series, filmed over ten episodes, which airs on weekdays at 7.45am.

Each episode sees the children put into teams of two to carry out that day’s veterinary tasks, both at the University’s vet school and out and about at farms and zoos.

Animal challenges

The youngsters are faced with a range of challenges. These include aiding vets with a caesarean on a pregnant cow, helping to fit a potential future champion foal with a microchip and assisting the diagnosis of an injured lion.

Their duties also include assisting with health checks on household pets as well as penguins at the zoo and even a shark at Deep Sea World in Fife.

The children are competing to be crowned Head Junior Vet at the end of the series. Their performance will be judged by the show’s host, The One Show presenter Alex Riley.

We’re delighted to have welcomed Junior Vets back for a second series, which showcases the range of exciting experiences that life as a vet can bring. Being a vet is immensely rewarding and we hope the show will inspire young people from all backgrounds to consider a career in animal medicine.