Three happy patients and a new trick learnt for Yorkshire Vet Julian Norton during the first day at his new practice

I sensed that this might be the start of something amazing and, beaming to myself, I sang loudly to the tunes from my car radio as I drove home. Our new clinic was smart, spotless and modern. Everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. The ultrasound scanner, with its state-of-the-art colour flow Doppler (to measure the blood flow through vessels and across valves) had its own room, so too the X-ray machine and digital processor. The dental suite even had its very own dental X-ray unit, because teeth need a specialised machine to take their pictures. Dogs and cats had separate kennel areas and we’d even planned a colour-coded bedding system – blue for dogs and pink for cats.

First thing in the morning, after rummaging through cupboards to find where everything lived, I drew up my pre-medication doses and pondered the ops list ahead of me. The list on the board looked like the surgery examination in my veterinary finals, comprising various long and complicated-sounding procedures. Rostral hemi-mandibulectomy- remove acanthomatous ameloblastoma was the longest and most serious sounding surgery, but rhinoplasty/ soft palate resection to treat Brachiocephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome and keratectomy to treat corneal dermoid (second and third on the list, respectively) were almost as impressive. But more importantly my list was full of brilliant patients.

Lola, the French Bulldog, snuffled in with enthusiasm, despite her narrow nostrils and elongated soft palate both of which seriously compromised her ability to breathe freely. Later that day, she left with a much more suitable upper airway, her nostrils widened to let the fresh air to flood in. The back of her throat was more normal too, without the excess tissue that had caused all the flapping, flopping and snoring. She should be ready to run a marathon soon, we joked.

Cola the Shih Tzu puppy was next, with a similar-sounding name but a very different problem – an abnormal, hairy structure called a dermoid protruding from the surface of her left eyeball.

It looked as out of place and ugly as it sounded. It would have been fairly ugly even if it was on her skin, but growing out of the middle of the cornea, it was making her eye sore and obscuring her vision.

Amy, the Labrador with the problematic jaw, did not stop wagging her tail from the moment she arrived. I think she was impressed.

“Will you do a mandibular nerve block?” asked Mark, my colleague. Mark and I are old mates from school, when we spent many summer holidays together, exploring the mountains of northern Europe. Now, 30 years on, we have joined forces again. Mark knows a lot about advanced dental procedures and showed me how to numb the main nerve that provides sensation to the lower jaw – the site of Amy’s tumour.

“Instil a couple of mils just where the nerve emerges from the foramen, medial to the ventral mandibular ramus,” he explained. With my mandibular nerve block on board, Amy came round from her anaesthetic pain and tumour free, and immediately started to wag her tail again.

Three happy patients with relieved owners is usually enough to make a rewarding day. But my first day was even better, because I’d learnt a new trick.

■ The Yorkshire Vet continues on Channel 5 at 8pm on Tuesday.

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