Spanning thousands of acres and incorporating hundreds of species of animals; Michelle Oakley’s veterinary practice is Yukon tough. There is no such thing as a typical day in Michelle’s practice. House calls can range from expelling dogs anal glands to getting chased down by the very large Arctic musk-ox. Accompanied by her teenage daughters and armed with humor as sharp as scalpel, Michelle deftly juggles being a full time Veterinarian, wife and doctor; taking us into unexplored and unexamined regions of the Yukon.
There's some confusing info out there about another "daisy may" that s NOT the same dog as the "daisy may" that belongs to dr. Oakley...same name,different dog.
There are some brief discussions of animal abuse - for example, when introducing a patient, it might be mentioned that they had previously been kept in an abusive environment. However, no abuse is actually depicted. Dr. Oakley has to get a little personal for some tasks (e.g., rectal palpation for checking pregnancy in large mammals) and rowdy animals may be handled more roughly. Some animals freak out because they can’t understand what's happening, but everyone is careful not to hurt the animals. (The handlers and crew are hurt more often than the animals are tbh)
S1E2: a caribou is shot and killed for food, and you see its body for a few seconds. They don’t show the field dressing, but don’t look too closely when they come back to camp. S2E5: freshly caught hooligan (fish) are shown in containers - some are still twitching; S4E2: partial skeleton of unidentified animal (~16:00); S5E1: boar eating an unidentified animal
NO HUMAN CHILDREN, BUT SEVERAL YOUNG ANIMALS.
S2E4: baby squirrel (fell from nest, euthanized off-screen), S2E6: mention of wolf pup (porcupine quills); S3E4: moose calf (not shown); S5E1: mention of dog named Homer (cancer); S5E3: Emily (reindeer, fatal prognosis); S8E1: Athena (musk ox, euthanasia recommended); S8E3: reindeer calf (euthanasia shown at a distance); S8E4: young fox (hit by a car, euthanized)
You can generally pick up on what segments will have more graphic content, but, as with other vet shows, be cautious when you watch. You may get used to the castrations, but in some surgeries you can see organs, muscle - things you normally don’t and shouldn't be able to see.
NOTABLE EPS: S2E2 (Kate), S2E7 (reindeer - preview in intro), S3E3 (Skookum - preview in intro), S3E8 (Honey), S4E6 (Scotty - LOTS of organs)
S2E6: Patches (dog) has apparently frostbit paws; S2E7: owl lost toe to trap (healed aftermath shown); S2E10: blood while trimming a goat’s malformed hoof; S3E8: fishhook stuck in cat’s paw; S3E9: Patches is back in worse condition (but gets better!)
Dr. Oakley sometimes pokes fun at an animal’s weight or appearance, but it’s all in jest. Really, she just wants to make sure the patient is healthy - if weight isn’t a problem, there’s no need to change it.
Drone footage is usually pretty smooth, but it often has time lapses, so the shot will suddenly speed up and may have the same effect as shakey cameras.
In-the-moment footage is shot either by a camera set up in a car or by a crew member holding a camera. As such, there’s quite a bit of shakey cam, especially during intense scenes with a lot of movement or danger to the crew.
No animal (human or otherwise) is injured on-screen.
S2E5: Dr. Oakley treats some young eagles with mild burns and singed feathers; S3E1: eagle possibly burned from hot tar (hard to see); S7E7: Dr. Oakley treats a very badly burned dog named Archer. It is rather upsetting to watch, but thankfully he makes it out ok in the end.
In addition to all the usual stuff in every episode, there are sometimes dogs with porcupine quills stuck in their faces. (S1E1, S2E4, S2E7, S3E5, S3E6, prior footage shown in S3E8, S9E1) Dr. Oakley also gets poked a lot. S4E5 Dr. Doyle accidentally inserts a syringe into her leg (no significant injury)
There’s… There’s a lot of poop. Dr. Oakley often has to perform rectal palpations, which results in some pretty dirty arm gloves. Fecal samples are often taken. Usually any urine shown is being collected for testing.
Notable/Unexpected moments: S2E10 (Gimpy, feces); S3E4 (Esther, feces - gross noise, too); S9E2 (Sadie, severe diarrhea - discussed before it’s shown); S9E10 (feces - around 32:00)
S3E2: Sharon Ulrich breaks her leg while handling an alpaca (not graphic, thought to be a twisted ankle until later); S3E4: moose calf has a broken leg
S2E2: Rose (dog); S2E6: Molly (snow leopard, lung tumor - likely to die of old age first); S4E?: Mike (dog - terminal); S5E1: mention of dog (Homer the First - terminal, deceased); S8E7: Gary McConnell (Gauge’s owner - terminal); S9E10: Diesel (dog)
[NOTE: Unless stated otherwise, the rest of the content warnings pertain to animals rather than humans. For example, no human children die, but some young animals do, so “Does a kid die?” is marked as a yes.]
Lots of pregnancy checks throughout the series, so you will see fetuses on the ultrasound and sometimes skeletons in x-rays. Also quite a few newborns, if baby animals fall under this trigger for you
Aside from medicinal drugs (e.g., sedation, antibiotics), there is no drug use. There are a couple of dogs that get into marijuana/brownies, but they’re ok in the end.
Burping from animals throughout. Alpacas and llamas sometimes spit when being handled. S2E4: Willow spits after taking a mud bath; S4E4: horse farts (~22:00); S5E1: dog farts
Dr. Oakley often has to dart animals for sedation, sometimes with a dart gun.
In S1E2, Shane and Sierra practice shooting and later hunt for a caribou for food.