All Creatures Great and Small

Angus Grier is a cantankerous Scottish vet. James brings him a dog to operate on and goes with him on a visit. When James protests going onto the farm because he didn’t bring his Wellington boots, Grier has a solution: a full-body calving suit of stiff rubber. In it, James is an object of great entertainment for the farmers and Grier himself.

The skirmishes between Siegfried and Miss Harbottle continue, as do the ones between Tristan and Siegfried. On a night when Tristan wants to go to a ball, Siegfried sends him to open a hematoma on the ear of a pig. Both Siegfried and James are too frightened of the pig to do it themselves. Tristan does his best to avoid the task, but finally hops into the pen and does battle with the pig, who bursts the hematoma himself by running into a wall—and the job is done.

James faces his fears when he must operate on a giant horse with a tumor on its belly. When he finally nerves himself up to make an attempt the horse kicks him in the leg. But even with the dent in his muscle to remind him of the kick, the reality of getting kicked turned out not to be as bad as he feared, and he learns to overcome his nerves.

Siegfried believes in the advancements of veterinary science and wants to show off how professional their surgical methods are. He prepares to operate on a cow with a wire in her stomach in the most hygienic and professional manner possible. But when he cuts into the rumen it starts spouting horrible green fluid that covers all his fancy instruments and his new coat. Despite the disaster, he is still proud. The surgery is a success.

Farmers insure their cows against lightning strikes and thus are always hopeful that lightning is the cause of death. A particularly irritating client, Mr. Cranford, wants James to diagnose lightning as cause-of-death despite the postmortem indicating otherwise. James refuses, and Mr. Cranford complains to Siegfried. Siegfried is sympathetic, saying he wishes they could get rid of Mr. Cranford as a client, but is not sure how. Just then, Tristan mixes up the boar ointment for Mr. Cranford with a treacle tin full of cow dung meant to go to the lab for testing. Getting mailed a tin of cow dung will likely do the job of getting rid of Mr. Cranford.

Tricki Woo’s pampering has gone too far. He has gotten very fat and started refusing food and vomiting. James comes up with a plan of “hospitalizing” him, meaning taking him to the clinic and letting him run and play with Siegfried’s five dogs. After two weeks, he is much better, and although it is tempting to keep him because Mrs. Pumphrey keeps sending food and liquor, once he is healthy and active again, James brings him home.

Once again, James goes out late at night to help with a foaling. He doesn’t bother to get dressed and goes out in his pajamas, and though the foaling is a success, he is repeatedly ridiculed for his choice of attire.