Pets

Pets is one of the ten direct-to-video programmes produced by Dorling Kindersley Vision as part of the See How They Grow series. It was one of the earlier five programmes, released on VHS on 31st May 1993. This programme looks at the life-cycles of four animals that are regularly kept as pets.

## Sections

Click here for the full transcript of Pets.

### Puppy

The programme opens with a female golden retriever who has recently had a litter of ten puppies. The puppies all gather to suckle before going back to sleep once they have fed. At two weeks old, the puppies are more active and play with a ball; they are also eating solid food. It then cuts to when the puppies are six weeks old; one climbs a pile of toy bricks and gets stuck when his brother knocks the others down. After he gets down, the puppy tries and fails to get some milk from his mother. The litter then plays with a bale of hay. Finally, three of the pups are shown at twelve weeks old – their chewing leaves their mother’s basket completely destroyed.

### Kitten

The second part opens with a female cat returning to the basket with her three kittens, which are only a few days old. The kittens, which cannot see or hear yet, suckle from their mother. At two weeks old, the kittens now have their eyes open and can hear; one of the kittens leaves the basket but quickly returns. Later, one kitten plays with a wind-up toy mouse and then with one of his siblings around a pile of wicker baskets. At six weeks old, the kittens all play with a collection of balls of wool which they unravel and have a rest in. Finally, one of the kittens is shown fully grown at one year old – he eats some cat food before going off for a stroll.

### Goldfish

The third part begins by showing a goldfish swimming in its tank. A goldfish egg is then shown caught among the weeds. After about four days, the egg hatches into a miniscule fry. A few days later and it has started to swim more freely – a redcap comes to investigate but soon leaves. After a few weeks, the fry has started to look more like a goldfish; it hides after it disturbs a larger goldfish. As the months go by, its colour changes until it finally becomes a golden adult. Now that the young goldfish is larger, it sets off and plays hide and seek with the redcap.

### Budgie

(called Parakeet in the USA release)

The final part of the programme starts with a female budgie arriving at her nestbox, which contains a single egg. Her mate comes to visit as well. Later on, the female lays another egg. The adult budgies are shown socialising. After three weeks, the eggs hatch into blind and naked chicks. After a few more days, their eyes open and their feathers begin to grow through. After five weeks, the chicks are fully feathered and ready to leave the nest. The first chick makes his maiden flight, before he finds and enters a doll’s house. After looking around, he returns to the nest box to encourage his sibling to come out and join him.

## Species list, in order of appearance

### Filmed in studio:

The section each species appears in are bracketed:

* Domestic dog, *Canis familiaris* (Puppy)
* Domestic cat, *Felis catus* (Kitten)
* Common goldfish, *Carassius auratus* (Goldfish)
* Budgerigar, *Melopsittacus undulatus* (Budgie)

## Credits

* Special thanks to:
	+ Caroline Fry
	+ Anita Roswell
* Narrator - Johnny Morris
* Script - Sally-Anne Gordon
* Research - Clara Jollands
* Animal Handlers - John Vincent, Lionel Bailey and Christopher Rabone
* Camera Operators - Eddie McCaffrey and Tom Gordon
* Lighting - Roddy Gibson
* Set Construction - John Vincent
* Music - Luis Gordon
* On-Line Editor - Bill Ogden
* VT Assistant - Peter Williams
* Title Graphics - Leigh Wimporey
* Animation Sequences - Ealing Animation
	+ Animator - Jody Gannon
	+ Colourer - Vivien Redmond
* Dubbing Mixer - Steve Rogers
* Production Assistants - Adam Gordon, Tim Coxon and Paul Hitchman
* Producer and Director - Tom Gordon

## Home media releases

The UK VHS release of Pets shows a kitten sitting at the bottom of the cover, with a goldfish on the top-left and a budgerigar sitting on a perch on the top-right of the cover. At the top and bottom of the cover are hand-drawn images showing kittens.

The Sony Wonder VHS release shows a puppy carrying a toy on the bottom of the cover, with a cat suckling a group of kittens on the top of the cover. Above the 'See How They Grow' logo is a series of hand-drawn artworks showing a puppy growing up into an adult dog.

Pets has also been released in multi-episode formats. In the UK, a combined VHS for Pets and Farm Animals was released, while in the USA Pets was part of a Volume One release that also combined Farm Animals, Insects and Spiders and Pond Animals.

## Further information

Puppy and Kitten were both originally book titles published in 1991.