Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Narrator: This time on The Incredible Dr. Pol,
record-breaking storms are rocking Central Michigan.
[thunder].
Dr. Pol: It is wet.
Narrator: Raining down chaos.
Dr. Pol: We have a crazy cow on our hands!
Narrator: The Pol team battles the elements.
Dr. Pol: Pull it over!
Narrator: To respond to a flood of emergency calls.
Pamela Black: My husband believes that it's dead.
Narrator: And a blast from the past may be the
only thing that keeps them from drowning.
Meet Dr. Jan Pol.
He's a local legend, with over 19,000 clients.
And a team that does whatever it takes.
Central Michigan is underwater.
Man on Radio: It continues to rain,
there are flood advisories, flood watches,
the Chippewa River.
Woman on Radio: It is crazy raining, it's not stopping,
and we are flooded in Central Michigan.
Narrator: After a late-breaking winter,
Isabella County is hit hard by weeks
of record-level rainfall.
Dr. Pol: Everything is flooded,
the roads are closed, Midland schools are closed.
I don't see squat.
Charles: You're good.
Look at this.
Dr. Pol: Holy Moses!
Charles: This is like that flood back in the '80s.
The hundred years flood they called it at
that time, wasn't it?
Dr. Pol: Yup, here comes another one.
Charles: Yeah.
Narrator: The Chippewa River famously flooded in 1986,
causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
Charles: If things don't calm down right now,
we might be having the 100-year flood
70 years too early.
Narrator: Even though the flooding has nearly
shut down the county, Dr. Pol is still on the job.
Charles: We're headed to Butch Black's;
he's got a calving.
All we know right now is that it's a first time
heifer and she's been in labor for 4 hours so
it doesn't sound good.
We need to get there right away.
Pamela Black: I have a cow out here, wanting to calf.
And right now we have a hoof sticking out.
My husband believes that it's dead.
But, you know, you never can tell.
Hey, have Doc Pol come around this way!
Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going!
Narrator: Dr. Pol finally arrives only to
find the downed cow stuck in the mud.
Dr. Pol: The pen that he uses for a calving pen was
just a foot-high of mud.
Butch Black: Got enough mud in there,
I tried to put some straw in there.
Dr. Pol: I know, let's get a rope on her.
Charles: The first thing that we had to do
was secure this cow.
Dr. Pol: Around the big post.
Hang on, hurry up!
Pamela Black: Hurry up!
Dr. Pol: You can't hold it!
Hand it to me, let go, let go!
When the cow is tied up, I check it out.
Oh, shoot.
And I reach in and I find that she is
pretty small inside.
Butch Black: She's a first-time heifer.
Dr. Pol: Yep, I can tell, Charles, chains.
Charles: Yeah, coming.
Narrator: The calf is too big to come out on its own.
Dr. Pol will have to pull it out.
Butch Black: I know I'm going to lose the
calf, probably.
Pamela Black: Well, we're gonna see.
Dr. Pol: Gee, come on!
I cannot get the chain around the leg!
Son of a.
Charles: This guy's 70 years old and he's
going in there with both hands and giving
everything he's got,
in the pouring rain and thunder.
It just blew me away.
Dr. Pol: Not much room in there, I tell ya.
It was thunder and lightning, but so what,
you know?
You just keep working.
There, there's the other leg.
But then the calf is still too big to be
pulled by hand, so then I'll tell Charles
to get the calf puller ready so we can get it out.
Okay, hang onto this.
Okay, Butch, I'm going to pull her.
Pull her over!
Pull her over that way;
grab a hold of the tail and pull, please.
Pamela Black: Grab a hold the tail.
Dr. Pol: 'Cause I am here falling backwards.
Butch Black: Yeah, you're getting stuck in that mud.
Dr. Pol: Thank you.
Pick it up.
Charles: Yup.
[cow mooing].
Dr. Pol: Let me have that, let me have it.
Push down.
Man, I'm glad I'm not coming out of this small hole.
Up.
[cow mooing].
I got it.
Son of a gun, pretty calf.
Charles: It's huge.
Dr. Pol: Let go.
No, underneath.
I got it.
[cow mooing].
I got it, here.
Get it out of there.
Butch Black: Whoa!
Charles: Is it alive?
Narrator: After nearly five hours of labor,
the calf is finally out.
But the fight's not over yet.
Charles: The calf's not breathing.
Dr. Pol/Pamela Black: Get a pail, get a pail!
Charles: And my dad just immediately is like,
"Water, water!"
Dr. Pol: More, more, fill up the pail.
Man: I'm trying.
Dr. Pol: Get that pail.
Come on, buddy.
A lot of fluid; give me a minute.
Charles: And my dad just reaches up like, "Come on!"
Dr. Pol: Come on, come on.
And down.
Charles: And the calf started breathing.
Dr. Pol: Yeah!
Man: There he goes.
Charles: It was just the most incredible
thing I've ever seen.
Dr. Pol: Yeah, ha!
Charles!
Charles: Yeah.
Pamela Black: That's a good job, Doc.
Butch Black: I'm one lucky sucker there, ain't I?
Pamela Black: Good job.
Narrator: The next few hours are critical
to stabilize the calf.
For now, Butch and Pamela Black can breathe
a sigh of relief.
Butch Black: That was close.
Pamela Black: When Dr. Pol pulled it out and
said it was still alive, I was just utterly a-shock.
And then throwing that calf up and bringing it
back down and then pulling on its tongue.
That was pretty good, that's damn good.
Oh that brought tears to my eyes.
Charles: Ugh.
Dr. Pol: Well, we got her and we got her alive.
It's so satisfying to pull a live calf.
It's the, the elation that you get by saving a life.
It's breathing.
Charles: Yep.
Dr. Pol: Never give up, that's the whole motto.
Alrighty, let me see if I can get out.
Charles: That's why he's, "The Incredible Dr. Pol."
Narrator: After the grey skies of the last several
weeks, today's events are a welcome ray of sunshine.
Charles: I'm telling you, that was one of the most
amazing things I've ever seen.
[laughing].
It was, you know, like you're just like,
"Come on!"
[laughing].
And the calf started breathing and I'm like,
"Oh my God."
Narrator: And who can resist a little victory lap?
Dr. Pol: There's a very good-sized river
and that always floods.
Charles: If my dad doesn't slow down during
a snowstorm, he's definitely not going to
slow down during a rainstorm.
Dr. Pol: And it's fun going through.
Watch out.
Charles: Oh boy.
I haven't been into an accident with him yet.
Well, that was pretty exciting.
[laughing].
Narrator: The next morning brings more storms.
Dr. Pol is up before dawn to answer an urgent
call from Pohl Dairy, a second generation farm
from another Pohl family.
Gary Pohl: This is Pohl Dairy Farm, Incorporated.
It's my brother and me and my boy who are running it.
We bought it from my dad.
Narrator: Gary works a second job as a
school bus driver in order to make ends meet.
Gary Pohl: My day usually starts about
2:30 in the morning.
I'm out here by quarter to 3.
Narrator: That's when he discovered one of
his cows was acting a little strange.
Gary Pohl: And this one was actually going
around in circles.
I figured it was nervous ketosis.
Dr. Pol: Nervous ketosis is a very acute
lack of energy in the system.
So much so that actually the cow's brain
is not working right.
Gary Pohl: They act real goofy, they eat sand,
they lick themselves.
They come after you a little bit.
Grant Pohl: Said she almost came at you
this morning, right?
Dr. Pol: Let's get a rope on her.
These cows are dangerous because they do not know
what to do, where to go, and they can hurt you.
Narrator: And with its nearly 1,500 pound advantage,
Dr. Pol doesn't want to risk getting injured.
He has to tie the cow in place.
Dr. Pol: I'm not that good on my legs.
Hook that chain up there, okay?
Ah, watch your hand, watch your arm, watch your arm.
Come on, you little ***.
Okay, let's find out what's in there.
Dr. Pol: Oh my.
We have a crazy cow on our hands.
I hope nobody was in between.
But you're right; the manure is so hard that
it looks like ketosis.
Narrator: A urine test confirms their suspicions.
Dr. Pol: Oh yeah, look at that.
Farmer: Yeah.
Narrator: Now Dr. Pol wants to know why.
Dr. Pol: So what is it?
The weather?
I believe it has something to do with it.
Narrator: Pohl Dairy not only raises cows,
they also grow their own feed.
And the weeks of rain are making it nearly
impossible to keep any of it dry.
Dr. Pol: I wonder what, you know, if,
if all that water in the feed has a lot
to do with it.
Grant Pohl: Well the feeds are a lot wetter.
Dr. Pol: What happens is they have all the
food stored outside.
They mix the minerals in with the total mix ration
and sometimes I'm wondering if they don't
dissolve and almost, what they call,
leak out of the bottom of the mixer.
Grant Pohl: Feeds have been wet for a week
and a half now; it seems like, two weeks.
Dr. Pol: That's right.
So the cow just does not get enough minerals.
It's a theory.
Lack of other proof, anything goes.
Okay.
Narrator: But there is some good news for Gary.
Dr. Pol: Gary, watch out.
Narrator: With a special IV solution,
Dr. Pol will have this cow back on her feet in no time.
Dr. Pol: Watch your leg sweetie, yeah.
This cow needs energy.
So what we give these cows is an IV of dextrose.
People who are diabetics have sometime
the same problem and all they need then is
a teaspoon of honey to get over it.
Well, these cows need a little bit more than
a teaspoon of honey.
Okay, let's go.
Narrator: As the Chippewa River continues to rise,
the rain is a never-ending headache
for the farmers and Dr. Pol alike.
Dr. Pol: We had got a bunch of cancellations
because people couldn't make it.
Narrator: But there is one advantage.
Dr. Pol: At least with this weather,
you don't have to wash the car!
707 Mobile 1 to base,
done at Pohl's, on the way in.
Charles: The snow melted and then we got days
and days and days and days of rain.
[cat meowing].
Good morning, Mom.
Diane: Good morning, how are you doing today?
Charles: Oh, you know.
Diane: We had some cancellations at the clinic,
because of the rain.
It has kind of affected the business.
A lot of the farmers are cancelling their calls
because of the bad weather.
Charles: Oh, really?
Diane: Yeah, they're getting way behind on
their crops and everything.
Something's gotta change soon.
Charles: Well, it's been raining rain.
Diane: I know, they're talking about
2 o 3 inches more rain today anyway.
We get this much rain, day after day,
it begins to get oppressing.
You feel like you're getting cabin fever.
It finally gets to you after several days
like we're having.
Charles: I think everyone is really happy that it's slow.
Except my dad.
Hey, Dad.
Dr. Pol: Whoops!
[laughing].
Charles: Dammit.
Diane: We have more flooding?
Dr. Pol: Yes.
Charles: You know that saying,
idle hands are the devil's playground?
When my dad doesn't have enough work to do,
he gets into trouble.
Diane: Well, I think we can blame that on the weather.
[laughing].
Charles: I'm the one who has to clean it up.
He has all the fun,
and then I have to clean it up, of course.
Dr. Pol: At my old age, you just take it easy.
Charles: My dad is, you know, [sighs].
Dr. Pol: No, what time is it?
[laughing].
Barb: That's Noel.
Jenny: It is, okay.
Narrator: Thankfully, Dr. Pol is given something
to do when a few clients manage to float
their way over to the clinic.
Barb Stone: Noel is an African gray.
I've had her now for three years.
[bird screeching].
When I moved, I had carbon monoxide in the house
that killed seven of my birds.
Are you a good girl?
If it wasn't for the birds actually my son
and I wouldn't have made it through the night.
Narrator: Today, Barb Stone brought in Noel
to get her claws and feathers trimmed.
Barb Stone: I know, yeah.
Dr. Pol: Beak is good.
Birds do not get sick very much.
And if they do, most people find them dead
on the bottom of the cage.
[bird screeching].
Shut up, you bite me, I'll bite you back.
[bird screeching].
Oh cool it.
Big mouth.
Say, "Yes."
[laughing].
Barb Stone: Yes.
Dr. Pol: I think sometimes that bird brains
are smarter than what we think they are.
Oh, that doesn't hurt ya.
Yeah, go ahead, talk and yell at me.
Uh, you have to be very careful that you
don't trim too much off, otherwise, yes;
they bleed out of their nails very easily.
[bird screeching].
That didn't hurt you, did it?
Can she fly completely or not?
Barb Stone: Uh, she was yes.
[bird screeching].
Dr. Pol: Now you look like the dickens.
Barb Stone: I know, she looks like (bleep).
[bird screeching].
[laughing].
Dr. Pol: See ya.
Narrator: Jessica braved the storms to bring the
family dog to Pol Clinic for an emergency visit.
Jessica: She's like, "I'm cold!"
Narrator: Two-year-old Ali has stopped eating
and is rapidly losing weight.
Missy: Doctor will be right in.
Jessica: Right here on her face, you can see the bones,
where this was nice and fat.
Morning.
Dr. Brenda: How are you?
Okay, so what is going on with Ali today?
Jessica: The problem we have now is Friday she
refused to eat.
Dr. Brenda: Is she spayed or not spayed yet?
Jessica: She is, you guys spayed her.
Dr. Brenda: Okay, she is spayed.
Jessica: That was the last time before we brought her
in when she swallowed the Lego or the cardboard
or something.
Dr. Brenda: Oh, okay.
There's certainly a list of things that have gone
through my mind with Ali about what might
be going on with her.
Some kind of foreign body;
she ate something she shouldn't have.
As a relatively young puppy,
she should be bouncing around.
Towards us, yes.
But she's just not.
Narrator: Dr. Brenda was expecting to see just
another toy in Ali's abdomen,
but she finds something far worse.
Dr. Brenda: Her demeanor doesn't look like she's
that severe, but her radiographs are
telling me a different story.
The intestines are not in their correct placement
and there's a lot of gas trapped in here.
So we're concerned that there's a piece of the bowel
loop that's twisted, that would cut off the blood
supply to the intestines.
Narrator: Ali's intestines may have already
begun to die off.
Dr. Brenda: Alright, I'll talk to her.
Having to deliver bad news is definitely the worst part
of my job, because this pet is part of their family,
she's the pet of one of her children.
I don't necessarily see a foreign body,
like I don't see anything stuck in there.
But what I do see is huge, huge bowel loops,
none of it is good.
Quite honestly.
[crying].
Jessica: How much is this gonna?
Dr. Brenda: I don't, I'm sorry.
I don't.
Jessica: We can't afford to put
thousands of dollars into her.
Dr. Brenda: Nobody likes bad news.
Nobody likes to hear it, nobody likes to say it.
We only have two options with Ali:
we either need to do surgery for her and
do it as soon as possible or do a euthanasia.
Narrator: Jessica is suddenly faced with a major
financial decision she was not prepared to make.
Jessica: I don't have that.
Dr. Brenda: It's hard for her,
because some of their decisions have
to be made on finances.
You know, we have to keep the human children healthy
and cared for and then do what we can with
our non-human children.
I don't know what's for sure going to happen
when we get her to surgery and I may, I may,
we may open up the abdomen and say there's
too much damage, there's nothing I can do.
It might be a "nothing-I-can-do" situation.
Jessica: She's a member of my family,
but when it comes down to it,
she is an animal and I have to make sure
my children's needs are met before my animals, you know?
Dr. Brenda: Exactly.
Jessica: Let me talk to my husband.
I know we can't, so you want me to do that now?
Narrator: Jessica and her husband come to a decision.
Jessica: Okay.
Narrator: They simply can't afford to pay for the
risky surgery with no guarantee of success.
Jessica: I love you.
Dr. Brenda: Here we go sweetie, that's fine.
Okay, that's fine; we can take care of it now.
Jessica and her husband talked,
they decided it would be easiest for them and
for the family if we did the euthanasia
for Ali right away.
[crying].
Jessica: I love you, I know you're a dog,
but know I love you, okay.
Dr. Brenda: As an owner of a pet,
it's one of the hardest decisions that
has to be made.
It's the humane thing to do and often it's the right
thing to do for the pet, to end their sufferings.
I'm gonna give her an anesthetic shot,
so she's gonna go to sleep.
And then we'll give her the euthanasia solution.
Jessica: Okay.
[crying].
It's Grandma.
This dog was my son's world.
This dog belonged to my youngest child.
And he loved her, it was his best friend,
she slept with him a lot of nights.
Dr. Brenda: You're welcome to stay with her
as long as you need.
We're gonna end up with some tragedy, some loss,
it's just very emotional,
very emotionally draining for me.
Like I said, if you need to sit a few minutes
in the vehicle before you go, you do that.
It's sad for me, it's exceptionally sad
for the client.
Those are hard days.
Narrator: After a week of cancellations,
the clinic is flooded with makeup appointments.
Diane: We've got so much going on and we're so busy,
and people start to get a little grouchy,
a little more on edge than what they normally would be.
Charles: Pol Veterinary Services, this is Charles.
Narrator: Charles steps up and tries to assist
the staff with the sudden overflow.
But not everyone finds it so helpful.
Missy: Oh, we need to have a little chat
with Charles when he gets here.
Melissa: Oh yeah.
Missy: Beverly had her third phone call yesterday
of people inquiring what time the "free"
heartworm clinic was tomorrow.
Jenny: Oh no.
Missy: And claimed that Charles said they didn't
have to pay for the test, just the medicine.
Charles: It's one of the things when you're dealing
with clients, you know, you're talking to them on
the phone and they might hear one thing,
when you say another.
Charles: Mhm, yup.
Missy: We've had a little bit of a
problem yesterday and the day before.
Beverly had her third phone call yesterday that
the heartworm clinic was going to be free.
Dr. Pol: What?
Missy: Yes and she asked where they're getting the
information from and the person she talked to
yesterday claimed Charles told them that.
Dr. Pol: The office call was free.
The heartworm check is not.
Big notice on the front of the door,
heartworm test so much, right now.
Missy: How am I supposed to tape this to a wet door?
Dr. Pol: You know, because Charles knows
better that the heartworm check is not free.
Charles: This was all just one big misunderstanding.
Clearly we could use a break around here.
[dog whining].
Narrator: It doesn't take long for Charles to
find a way out of the doghouse.
Dr. Pol: Any more coffee left for me?
Narrator: He's got a bright idea to put an end
to all the dreariness.
Charles: I saw an ad for the '80s party in
Frankenmuth, Michigan.
The '80s was my youth.
It was a great time in this county;
it was a great time in my life.
We didn't have the Internet, but we had NES,
we had Pac-Man, we had Super Mario Brothers,
we had Ronald Reagan, we had Nancy Reagan,
we had "Just say no," jelly beans.
I think this family could use a little
bit of cheesy fun right now.
Hey guys.
Dr. Pol: What?
Charles: You know, I was thinking to lift the
rainy day spirits, there's a festival down in
Frankenmuth called the '80s festival we could go to.
Dr. Pol: Hm.
Charles: Sounds like a lot of fun.
Dr. Pol: Hm, it's '80s.
Charles: Yeah, it's the '80s.
Dr. Pol: If my.
Diane: Costumes?
Dr. Pol: Costumes?
Diane: Sounds like it could be fun,
but we've got so much going on and we're so busy
and we're kind of tired.
Dr. Pol: What kind of costumes do you
wear from the '80s?
Charles: Let me worry about the costumes.
Are you in or you're out?
Dr. Pol: Uh.
I don't remember anything from the '80s.
Diane: The '80s was a good decade for us.
The kids were home.
I love having kids around.
And we were starting a business.
Dr. Pol: I was working.
I started this practice here and I was running
my fool head off.
Charles: I swear I spent more time on that couch
playing Nintendo and watching movies than a kid
really probably should.
Playing Nintendo, alright.
So, you know, I'm an '80s child and
so this '80s festival really speaks to me.
Don't be out, be in.
Dr. Pol: Okay, okay let's do it.
I'd like to go to Frankenmuth, it's nice.
Charles: Alright, I've got a good costume idea.
Diane: I'm kind of concerned about costumes.
I don't know.
Dr. Pol: Yes, especially when he takes care of it.
It's going to be me again, being the idiot.
Diane: Ha-ha, well.
[laughing].
Dr. Pol: Uh-huh.
Narrator: The next day, Charles joins his father
as he heads out on a call to a local Amish farm.
Dr. Pol: Last year this time farmers had the
corn in the field already.
When it's that wet, farmers cannot get into
the field to plant.
It's nerve wracking.
We saw an Amish the other day plow with his horses.
That's the only thing that you can get
through the fields.
Tractors will get stuck all over.
Narrator: Horses make Perry Hostetler one
of the lucky few able to work his fields.
But today his luck ran out.
Charles: He had a horse that aborted her colt.
Narrator: Perry's mare had two successful
births in the past.
Perry Hostetler: Well, last year was good.
Narrator: This time he's asked Dr. Pol
to figure out what went wrong.
Dr. Pol: I want to see it, let's go look.
Perry Hostetler: Okay.
Dr. Pol: Oh, right there?
Perry Hostetler: Yeah.
Dr. Pol: When they started talking,
how it was a nice colt from last year and
a nice colt from the year before,
then suddenly an alarm bell goes off and
you say, "Hey, three times to the same stud?"
Yes, let me see the colt.
That is two, two months early.
Somewhere or other in the back of my mind,
the warning light came on.
Narrator: Dr. Pol quickly begins to uncover the
reason behind the miscarriage.
Dr. Pol: Yeah, here, here.
What did I tell you?
Charles: He pulled the eyelid back, because the,
the tell is in the eye.
If the eye is yellow, then you know.
Dr. Pol: So the next question was,
how many times did you breed this mare to the same stud?
And I find out that this was the third time
breeding to the same stud.
The blood groups of the mare and
the stallion are incompatible.
But you see, see how yellow this is?
Perry Hostetler: Yeah, I see.
Narrator: The foal inherited the stallion's blood type.
But, during pregnancy, the mare's blood created
antibodies that attacked the foal's red blood cells.
Dr. Pol: The third time you breed 'em,
then there are so many antibodies that it kills it.
And that yellow stuff is then basically the
broken down red blood cells.
Don't breed through the same stud anymore.
Sorry, get another stud.
Narrator: Back in the barn,
the mare is still carrying the afterbirth.
It needs to be cleaned out right away.
If it's not removed, a serious infection could
develop and leave Perry Hostetler without
a horse to breed.
But getting the placenta out is no simple procedure.
Dr. Pol: The placenta in a horse is completely
different than in a cow.
In other words, it is attached to the
whole wall of the uterus.
Charles: And you gotta get it all out,
because anything that's not supposed to be in there will
eventually start decomposing and become a
health threat and that's a bad case scenario
for guys who depend on horses for a living.
Dr. Pol: See, if this ever comes out, see that,
how that's rounded at the tip?
Perry Hostetler: Yeah.
Dr. Pol: Okay, that's what you need.
Perry Hostetler: Okay.
Dr. Pol: The other rounded part has to come yet.
Perry Hostetler: Okay.
Charles: You gotta detach it carefully because you
do not want to rip the uterus.
You rip the uterus, you got a dead horse.
It takes a lot of time and a lot of practice,
a lot of skill to be able to do that.
Dr. Pol: Come on!
Charles: The dog's really enjoying that.
Dr. Pol: And I got it, see?
How that's rounded now too?
Here, a little piece for you.
See ya guys.
Perry Hostetler: See ya!
Narrator: Just as Dr. Pol and Charles begin to pack up,
Perry's herd of horses suddenly makes a run for it.
Dr. Pol: Yes!
Grab it, run!
Charles: It was like mustangs running the
plains after that.
Dr. Pol: Those horses were kicking up their heels.
That's when Thurman got mad.
He ran to the barn, through down his hat, stomped on it,
jumped on the horse and beat it out of the barn.
No saddle, no bridle.
Now don't hit the fence posts.
Look at that.
Charles: It, it was like seeing something
out of 1892.
He needs a Western saddle.
[laughing].
Dr. Pol: He needs a faster horse.
[laughing].
Charles: The amount of skill that it takes to
ride like that is unbelievable.
Dr. Pol: You better watch it!
Man, when I was young.
[laughs].
They love to get wet.
Charles: And I think my dad was laughing
because it took him back.
When he was 16 years old, he used to get on his horse,
go through the fields bareback.
He didn't grow up Amish, but he might as well have.
Dr. Pol: Let her come in, let her come in!
Charles: Um, he grew up in Europe after World War II,
on a farm that had no electricity, no tractors.
That's how he grew up.
Dr. Pol: I jumped on the back just to hold them,
nothing else, go like the Dickens and they're,
[makes sound],
in front of the gate.
You guys take care.
Perry Hostetler: Well, thanks for letting us
entertain you.
Dr. Pol: Yes, yes, hey, I liked it, I liked it.
Radio: Come in mobile one.
Dr. Pol: We are done at Greg Gray, on the way in.
Charles: So there's an '80s festival in
Frankenmuth, Michigan.
I'm pretty excited about it.
I talked my parents into going with me.
The uh '80s festival this weekend,
there's also a costume contest,
so I'll pick out a few ideas and you know,
you can pick the one you like best and
we can be a father-son costume team.
What do you think?
Dr. Pol: Yeah.
Charles: Any parent over 70 probably still has
their wardrobe from their 40s, so.
You could just go through your closet and just.
Dr. Pol: Charles!
What?
Leisure suits, I have one.
Charles: We are two wild and crazy guys, no?
[laughing].
Narrator: Finally, after what feels like months,
the clouds begin to part.
There'll be no 100-year flood this year.
Isabella County starts to dig its way out of the mud.
Diane: It's been very busy today, um, I don't know,
it must be a change in weather or something
like that, the farm calls are just coming
out of the woodwork.
Okay Jody, thank you for calling back.
Gwen: Today, I'm coming to see Dr. Pol with Jacob,
a pygmy goat that has been having a skin problem
that I've been fighting for a long time.
Hair is falling out and there's huge
thick crusty white flakes.
It doesn't seem to bother him,
but he doesn't look nice.
Dr. Pol: Okay, what is his problem?
Gwen: He's got some skin thing going on.
Dr. Pol: You can see that Jacob's skin has changes
and that is caused by some kind of fungus.
Okay, that's a fungal infection.
Gwen: Okay.
Dr. Pol said he could take some hair and some of the
skin and do a culture on it, to see if grew as a fungus.
Yeah, look at this, the chicken was
pecking it out of him.
Dr. Pol: Okay, I got it.
Yeah, oh yeah they love it.
Gwen: It was gross.
Dr. Pol: Ugh, okay, I'm going to culture this.
Gwen: Okay.
Narrator: But Jacob isn't the only one in the
barnyard feeling a little itchy.
Dr. Pol: And a pig, where's the pig?
Gwen: The pig is Nellie.
She's a kunekune pig that I've had for a year.
She comes in the house, she's trained,
she's a really nice pet.
And she's hairier; she's just cuter and nicer.
Dr. Pol: Oh, my gosh.
This is not a small potbelly pig.
This is a big hairy, wooly pig.
He's just, "Hey man, I'm here, pet me!"
Gwen: I was concerned Nellie and Jacob might
have the same problem.
Look at her butt is all bald.
Dr. Pol: Nellie's skin looks dry, you know,
it's a little flaky.
What do you feed them?
These pigs are not built for this climate here.
You need more oil in there.
Gwen: In the food?
You don't, do you think this is fungal?
Dr. Pol: No.
The fungal infection we have in Jacob is completely
different than the skin condition of Nellie.
Hi, you're a cute guy.
Gwen: It's a girl.
Dr. Pol: Girl.
Gwen: He's decided that it was a dietary thing.
Isn't that the cutest pig you ever saw?
Dr. Pol: Yeah, and at least and he's behaving.
Gwen: Dr. Pol has been around;
he's seen so many things.
I love Dr. Pol.
And you see, look, she has waddles like a goat.
[laughing].
Isn't that cute?
Dr. Pol: Yup, yes.
Gwen: Thank you.
Narrator: As client after client files
through the clinic, the upcoming '80s party
seems like a welcome relief.
At least to one Pol.
Charles: I think trial and error is the best technique
for my dad, you know, I think that it's time to
show up with a couple costumes at the clinic and
see which ones go over well.
It's gonna be epic.
Charles: Hey, Dad.
Dr. Pol: Hey, I got exactly what here.
[laughing].
Charles: What do you think?
Oh, my gosh, no.
[laughing].
So I'm thinking "Star Wars."
I watched this movie a thousand times as a kid
and I'm thinking it would be fun for me to go as Chewbacca,
my dad could go Hans Solo and maybe my mom could go
as Princess Leia, but not from Jabba's Palace.
So anyway, what do you think of the first costume option?
Dr. Pol: I don't want it.
Charles: No?
Dr. Pol: Way too hot.
Charles can dress up all he wants.
Charles: Okay, I'll be back, I got another costume.
Oh!
Dr. Pol: Hold on, hey!
[laughing].
Narrator: But Charles isn't the only master
of disguise in the clinic today.
Meet Pickles, the chameleon.
Lee: Pickles is a veiled chameleon.
He's three years old.
Kinda crazy looking.
I have three small children.
He looked bright green when we first got him
and they picked him out and called him Pickles.
Dr. Pol: I can see why he comes up
with the name Pickles.
Then again, he'll change color;
probably sometime he'll be a carrot too.
Why don't you come with me in the back?
Lee: Alrighty.
I noticed in December that Pickles had a cyst
on his right side of his chin.
Dr. Pol took a syringe and he stuck it into his cyst.
And he told me to bring him back if the cyst
looked like it was getting bigger.
Dr. Pol: Okay, let me see, that little bump there, huh?
Lee: Yes, sir, careful.
Dr. Pol: That's not as bad as it was.
That's not going to change anymore,
I think that's just solid
and that's almost scar tissue.
Lee: Okay.
Dr. Pol checked the cyst and he said that there was
no fluid left there, it was just scar tissue
and he was good to go.
Dr. Pol: I would just leave it.
Lee: Okay, sounds good, Doc.
Dr. Pol: Just let him live.
Narrator: All checked out,
Pickles gets to ride shotgun home.
Lee: Now he'll chill there for the rest of the ride.
Charles: Some might say I'm a
costume-orientated gentleman.
And they wouldn't be wrong.
Hey, Mom, what do you think?
[laughing].
I pity the fool!
I wanted to give Mr. T a shot because he's the
ultimate '80s badass.
Dr. Pol: I like this.
Who's Mr. T?
Charles: Don't touch my chains, fool.
Dr. Pol: That's my chain!
[laughing].
Charles: Ow, ow.
Dr. Pol: Man, I'm gonna yank your chain, that's mine.
[laughing].
Charles: I think I got, I think I've gotten second
thoughts about this costume.
Dr. Pol: I like it.
Charles: I'm just.
In order to get my dad to do a costume,
I had to find an idea that we both could do
and that he would approve.
So, it was a little bit of a trial and error,
but at the end of the day I think we found something
that we both settled on.
Dr. Pol: I'll wear it!
I like that one, I can yank his chain.
Diane: I know and you will.
Dr. Pol: I will.
[laughing].
Narrator: But it's not all fun and games today
for Dr. Brenda, who arrives to Myers Dairy
on an emergency call for a sick cow.
Bill Myers: It's a family farm,
we're down on milk so we don't have as much milk
to ship and that's how we make our money is off milk.
Dr. Brenda: Hello.
Bill Myers: Hello.
Dr. Brenda: How are you guys?
Narrator: When Dr. Brenda examines the cow,
she quickly discovers she has no milk.
Bill Myers: But she ain't got hardly anything left.
Dr. Brenda: Yeah.
In this particular case, the stock cow had toxic
mastitis, or watery mastitis.
This is a really bad infection in
the mammary gland.
It causes them to be toxic and
sort of shut everything down.
And the first thing the cow's body says is
stop milking, because that's not mandatory to
do to maintain life.
Bill Myers: But she dropped to nothing on milk.
Dr. Brenda: Yeah, oh they do when they have
the watery mastitis, they just shut completely down.
Narrator: Even if the cow fully recovers from the
infection, it's unlikely she'll ever
be used for milking again.
Dr. Brenda: Pretty much we're in salvage mode,
so we're trying to make her feel better.
I think she just feels yucky and she's standing all,
"Ugh, 'cause I feel yucky."
Her eyes look terrible,
like they're sunken into her head.
So sometimes just 10 gallons of warm water is
enough to get them going, oh yeah, maybe I feel okay.
Narrator: And the first step to feeling better is
to get this cow properly hydrated.
Dr. Brenda: This is the plan.
Run the hose down into her rumen and
then put the funnel on the end of the hose,
pour water in it and gravity will take the
water into the cow.
It's a low-tech job, you know, not real fancy.
I'm blowing into the cow and the whole point of blowing
into the cow is to have the air flow help open the
esophagus, so that the tube will pass
easier for the cow.
We're where we want to be.
You can pour a little faster.
We got to about five, five or six gallons
and she started to regurge.
You alright there, babe?
Hold that.
Dr. Brenda: The cow is becoming uncooperative
in our treatment.
We're gonna stop the stomach tubing just
for a safety measure for the cow.
Okay.
Narrator: This cow's milking days are over,
but Dr. Brenda is trying to salvage what she can to
save Farmer Bill's investment.
Dr. Brenda: So we're just trying to keep her alive,
get some weight on her and let the owner sell her
or salvage her for meat purposes,
so that he can recoup some money.
Bill Myers: Well, any loss of a cow kind of hurts,
but at least we'll get something when we sell her,
if she hangs on enough to sell her.
Narrator: It's a minor victory at Myer's Dairy,
but a victory nonetheless.
Bill Myers: She's nosing around the hay
and already eating the grain.
Narrator: And after a stormy week of deluge and disaster,
finally on Saturday night,
out comes a rainbow of color.
Emcee: Right now, that area is reserved for
anybody that is interested in doing
the "Thriller" dance-off.
Charles: So the big day is finally here.
My mom and dad I are heading to the
'80s theme party in Frankenmuth, Michigan.
[crowd cheering].
Dr. Pol: We're going to this '80s fest to
have a good time.
We have never been there before so we definitely
would like to see what it all was all about.
Charles: We're going to go back to the future,
in the '80s.
Dr. Pol: Charles, of course,
got the good idea of me as Dr. Brown.
I was the one looking like an idiot.
Charles: He is kind of the mad scientist anyway.
Dr. Pol: He treats cars, I treat animals.
Oh yes, this is fun.
Man: 88 miles an hour, Doc!
Dr. Pol: 'Cause then people came up to me, said,
"Hi, Doc!"
Yeah, hello!
[laughing].
Diane: When we got to the '80s party,
it was very busy.
[crowd cheering].
There were a lot of people there;
there were a lot of costumes there.
Everybody was just having a good time.
Dr. Pol: Some people really are going out
for this it seems like.
Emcee: Alright we're ready to get this
thing rolling here.
Charles: We're entering a costume contest today.
It's going to be by audience approval and looking around;
it's going to be pretty stiff competition.
Woman: We would like to welcome onstage
"The Incredible Dr. Pol," and his son
Charles as Marty McFly and Doc Brown!
Charles: Tonight we're going to be going up against
Beetle Juice, two sets of ghost busters
and the Blues Brothers.
Dr. Pol: You know, I thought I looked pretty good
as Brown because the people recognized me right away.
[crowd cheering].
Charles: Yeah, going in, I was definitely more
confident, but apparently people go
all out for this costume contest.
[crowd cheering].
I really think after seeing our competition,
you know, it was fun to participate!
Woman: Alright, congratulations,
Beetle Juice.
Dr. Pol: And of course, they won and they should have.
It was, it was a lot of fun.
You know, when you dress up like this,
and the people recognize the character, that's good.
So that was fun.
Can I take it off?
Please?
There!
Watch the steam coming.
Ugh, it's hot in there.
I got hair in my face!
Diane: After being so cooped up, being inside,
being in bad weather, being busy here at the office,
it was good to get out and relax and
enjoy each other's company.
Charles: We can see clearly now,
the rain is gone.