Donkeys will have softish feces from time to time. So mash potato consistency does not worry me too much. However, I am not sure what signs of pain the one donkey was showing, but particularly if that had been going on for 10 days and resolved with Banamine, that is more concerning. If the pasture is green because of humidity or irrigation, their access should be restricted to avoid them becoming overly fat. Donkeys are highly efficient and are not well adapted to improved pastures. Again, I don’t know from your description of the pasture or the poisonous plants that you found if they could have contributed to the donkey’s discomfort. If you could send a picture and a description of the plants to ewdavis@ucdavis.edu, I could give you a better idea. On the subject of salt, there is a lot of concern about getting enough minerals into donkeys, with arguments about white salt vs. mineral salt and granular salt vs. licks. If given salt and minerals, donkeys do a very good job of regulating their own intake. We provide Redmond Rock salt (https://shop.redmondagriculture.com/products/redmond-rock-3-lbs?variant=40216257167475), Himalayan Salt, and an iodized mineral block, which is probably overkill, but the donkeys seem to go from one to the other and enjoy the variety. We also feed California Trace, which is balanced for donkeys. To get them to eat it, we put it in a salad of carrots mixed with cucumber pieces, celery, or chard, depending on what is growing in the garden. Each donkey gets 2 cups of this a day with the Trace minerals and some flax meal (43 mls/ 300 lbs of donkey ~ a tbsp per 100 lbs of donkey). This gets them all the minerals that they will ever need, and the flax keeps their coats really nice without too many calories.

An ACTH of 52 in a donkey undergoing stress and between July and October is just a little high. He should be retested in the fall if there is concern about PPID, which one might have if he had other symptoms like a distended abdomen, hair that won’t shed out, laminitis, or dental infections. Especially if he seemed to be lethargic on Prascend, I would not start it again without more reason to suspect a Pituitary adenoma. Alfred’s heart murmur may or may not be significant. Basically, the loudness of a heart murmur is poorly correlated with the degree of compromise in the heart and circulatory system. For this reason, you pretty well have to do an echocardiogram with Doppler measurements to determine if this is really a problem. Unfortunately, treatments for mitral regurgitation or an aortic aneurysm in equids are pretty limited. I think keeping him healthy with proper dental care, hoof trimming, and a good balanced diet is the best that you can do to keep your friend happy in his later years.

I am sorry to hear that you are dealing with not only the health of your elderly donkey, but a major shift in the veterinary profession that is sweeping the rural United States. Our non-profit is struggling to interest young veterinarians in working in rural communities, but the economic and educational forces are on the other side. I could go on in more detail, but your donkey needs help now. There may very well be intermittent or partial blockage of the lower gastrointestinal tract, mainly the small colon and rectum. Unfortunately, structural causes like internal abscesses or tumors would require a veterinary exam to identify, and I would urge you to continue trying to identify a veterinarian to help you. I don’t know how far you are from West Lafayette, but transporting your donkey to the veterinary college at Purdue may be necessary. Other things to consider would be the donkey’s teeth, especially if it is old. The inability to masticate feed properly can definitely lead to intestinal impaction. If you can find an equine dentist to look at your donkey’s teeth and potentially fix any problems, that could help. Often with very old donkeys, the teeth become “expired” or too short to be effective. We have a couple of donkeys like this, and feeding Psyllium mixed with hay pellets soaked in warm water really helps them avoid impaction (blockage by poorly chewed forage). So, I would definitely add two heaping tablespoons of psyllium to the diet, again, in a soaked hay pellet mash. Good luck with finding the veterinarian, because that would really be helpful, and I am sorry for the way my profession has tended recently.

Donkeys often do not show abdominal pain the way horses do. They can be quite colicky and not sweat or roll. Walking may help increase gut motility, but for pain relief, he really needs to be seen by a veterinarian. A veterinarian could also give him fluids by a stomach tube, since an impaction from hay is often dry and hard and needs moisture to soften it. You can’t give enough water with an oral syringe, and you may put it into his lungs if you try. If he is not halter-trained, you can pin him with a panel tied to the fence, which will allow the veterinarian to give him a sedative, which will also ease his pain, make him relax, and allow the obstruction to move through. You should do this as soon as possible.

While eating plastic certainly is not ideal, donkeys in many parts of the world exist on eating garbage, which often contains plastic. They chew things very well, and this allows the indigestible material to pass through MOST of the time. There are a couple of places in the digestive tract where plastic can cause an impaction. There is not much that you can do about that, but you do need to watch for signs of colic, such as unwillingness to eat, repeated rolling, and pawing at the ground a lot. If this occurs, you will need to call your veterinarian for treatment, which could include mineral oil or DSS given by nasogastric tube and IV fluids. There is a good chance that he will be fine.

Abdominal pain, also known as colic, could be keeping your donkey from eating and drinking. Besides his general level of health, it also depends on how long he has not been eating. If it’s just today (last 12 hours), Banamine (Flunixin meglumine) could make an impact on his digestive tract feel better, allowing the return of normal motility, and get him to be interested in food and water. However, there are a lot of things that can make an animal not want to eat. Does he have a fever (rectal temperature over 101.5 F)? Does he have any signs of chronic laminitis (founder)? When were his teeth last looked at? Although Banamine given at the normal horse dose of 1 mg/kg, which would be about 2.5 mls in your donkey’s case, is generally pretty safe, like all NSAIDs, it can have side effects on the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys, especially if given frequently or if the animal is dehydrated. So, you could try the Banamine once. However, if this does not change the situation, or if the problem has been going on for a day or more, you really need to have a veterinary examination. As with all herbivores, not eating palatable food when offered is abnormal, and, because donkeys are very stoic anyway, your donkey could have a serious health problem which will only get worse without diagnosis and treatment.

It is hard to give specific suggestions without a little more information, such as: How was the impaction diagnosed? What was the diet? Is the donkey showing signs of colic (rolling, lying down)? Is there any abdominal distension? What analgesic drugs have been administered? Temperature, pulse, and respiration? Has any laboratory work been done? What did the manure look like that was removed manually? However, in general, impactions in donkeys can be difficult to treat. Besides the fluids and nasogastric fluids, giving IV fluids at the rate of 25 mls/kg over an hour, followed by the same amount if there is no improvement, may help a lot. Fluids orally or by tube may not “get around” an impaction, whereas when given IV, they will “leak” through the mucosa into an intestinal blockage and soften it. While it is not a good idea to force animals with an impaction to move until everyone is exhausted, some walking can stimulate intestinal motility. If the actual impaction could not be palpated rectally, it is possible that other things could be causing blockage, such as sand or a displaced colon. The first may respond to Psyllium, but displacements usually require surgery. If this has been going on for a day and drugs, exercise, fluids, and mineral oil are not helping, surgery may be the best option. A healthy 18-year-old donkey would be a good candidate for surgery, although it would be important to check the blood triglyceride levels and liver enzymes to be sure that hyperlipemia has not already developed. Another option, which is less expensive than referral to a surgical center and can be done “in the field,” is to do a “flank laparotomy” (an incision in the flank under local anesthesia with the donkey awake), which would allow the veterinarian to feel the abdominal contents and make a very accurate diagnosis. Certain types of obstructions can be treated by this approach, too.

There are equine-specific dewormers such as Vetrimec Paste (Ivermectin 1.87%), Safe-Guard (Benzimidazole), or combo dewormers like Zimecterin Gold and Quest. Diarrhea doesn’t always mean that a donkey has parasites. I highly recommend calling your local vet and having him seen. Having a fecal done would rule out parasites or direct you to the right dewormer for the specific parasite.

Some donkeys will occasionally have soft feces or diarrhea. It does not seem to be a problem for them and is probably the result of them chewing on a particular branch or weed, or, possibly, something that is making them upset. However, particularly if your donkey eats dirt, it would be a good idea to be sure that she is not accumulating sand in her large colon. To do this, get a handful of her poop, put it in a plastic bag with water, and shake it up until it dissolves. Then hang it up for 5-10 minutes and see if any sand accumulates at the bottom of the bag. If there is more than a teaspoon of sand, she may have sand in her large colon. Your veterinarian can also diagnose this by listening to the bottom of her abdomen with a stethoscope. Sand in the colon responds to feeding psyllium, which can be purchased either as pellets or in bulk from Bulk Foods. com (this is cheaper than the pellets). Long-term sand in the colon can result in weight loss and, if it gets to be too much, can also cause a small colon impaction, which can be serious. I would try to rule this out as a cause of her soft manure.

There are literally hundreds of possible causes of diarrhea, some serious, some not so much. I would start by making sure the forage (hay or straw) was of good quality, that the deworming program was successful for your environment (have your veterinarian check a fecal sample for worms), and make sure there are no toxic plants in the pasture (which would be unlikely this time of year). The next thing that I would consider would be sand in your donkey’s colon. This is more common in donkeys than horses because of their feeding behavior. They try to pick up every scrap of everything and can accumulate mineral material and sand in their large intestine (colon) as a result. Diagnosis is done by taking some fresh manure and “panning” it (just like the old gold miners did for gold nuggets: sloshing around with water until the heavy stuff ended up on the bottom of the pan). You can also take a handful of manure and put it in a glove or plastic bag with water, shake it up really well with a quart of water, and see if sand settles to the bottom of the bag or fingers of the glove. If there is more than a teaspoon of sand in a handful of manure, you may have sand irritating the colon, causing diarrhea. If you have a stethoscope and know what normal “gut sounds” sound like, you can also hear the sand by putting the stethoscope on the lowest part of the donkey’s abdomen, right in the middle. You may have to listen for several minutes, but the sand sounds like surf washing up on the beach. This is my preferred way of detecting sand, without an X-ray. Sand can be removed by feeding psyllium, which is best bought by getting raw psyllium bran from Bulk Foods. Some of the “sand supplements” that are available for horses have a lot of unnecessary sugar added.
Other causes include food allergy, which is very hard to diagnose. Basically, you would have to rule out all other possibilities and then start changing the food gradually and waiting to see if that helps. Some donkeys will occasionally get diarrhea one day and then be fine the next. In Jennets, this can be related to the heat cycle. If this is the case, it is not really a problem. Consistent diarrhea does require a diagnosis and treatment.

Donkeys are capable of eating all sorts of coarse materials that would be indigestible for most animals. The Citrus oils in the fly wipes will not hurt him, and he has probably ground the material with his teeth so well that they will pass through just fine. I would monitor but not worry.

I would definitely add psyllium (Sand Clear) to your donkey’s diet, as long as you do not feed a lot of starchy (grain) feed with it. We use psyllium for old donkeys with expired teeth, who cannot chew their fodder well. To get them to eat it, we mix it with 1/2 cup of Equine Senior pellets. I have actually seen pretty severe sand accumulation in donkeys. Have your veterinarian show you how to test your horses and donkeys for sand in their colon, either by “panning” or by listening with a stethoscope. Anyone can do this, and it will help you monitor the success of your prevention.

Donkeys will occasionally have loose stools for unexplained reasons. This can occur once a day or occasionally over a week or a month. If the donkey is doing okay otherwise, I would not worry about it. I would not feed that donkey any more oats than you are feeding, and a mere cup may be a better idea. They are just so susceptible to getting fat with any amount of extra grain.

In the absence of more information, there are a lot of possibilities. It would be nice to know a little about what part of the country and any laboratory tests that the veterinarian ran (even if the results were normal). It would also be important to determine if the owner’s excellent observation of resting a hind leg went along with any signs of lameness when the donkey was asked to walk. Vaccination history (viral neurologic diseases can present like this)? If the donkey was actually dehydrated, how was that determined? Dehydration doesn’t just happen if adequate water is available, meaning that abnormal water balance due to kidney or intestinal problems should be considered. ALSO, maybe it’s just because I used to practice on the coast, I would definitely investigate the possibility of sand accumulation in the large colon (which can cause abdominal discomfort and colic). This can be done easily with a stethoscope (put on the lowest part of the abdomen and listen for 5 minutes for sounds that mimic the tide running through sand on a beach), though ultrasound and x-rays are more definitive and give you an idea of exactly how bad the problem is. Hyperlipemia would always be a concern in a case like this.

As is so often the case, the numbers behind donkey blood values tend to be small, and the establishment of normals is often not done. The important question is: does this donkey with a GGT of 75 have OTHER abnormalities? Is it eating? Maintaining weight? Or showing any signs of discomfort, lethargy, or inflammation? Generally, a single abnormal value, even when significantly high as in this case, doesn’t mean much in the absence of any other identified problems. While it could mean liver disease, it might also be the result of an animal being out “on the end of the bell-shaped curve” of normals (especially since the donkey curves are a bit fuzzy), OR there might have been some problem with processing the sample (blood cells ruptured in transport, for instance). I would recommend doing a very thorough physical exam, looking at a complete blood count and chemistry panel, AND repeating the GGT for confirmation. A liver ultrasound wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

If there aren’t any concerning clinical signs and this is the only elevation seen on bloodwork, I probably wouldn’t panic, but I’d certainly recommend following up to look at trends over time. I’m also a huge believer in trying to establish normal values for individuals, realizing that there is a pretty wide bell-shaped curve for many of these indices. Given the lack of current knowledge of normal blood values in donkeys, coupled with their stoic nature, I think it would be a great idea to run more routine blood chemistries, like at the time your veterinarian is doing annual vaccines and Coggins tests so that you can pick up on changes that may be happening over time. Or, bank serum from routine Coggins tests in the freezer so that you can always go back and compare chemistry values from when the donkey was apparently healthy to when he is ill.

It depends on how much he ate. Most insulation, unless it is very old (40 years or more, and might contain asbestos), is not toxic. However, if he ate enough, it could cause an impaction (blockage of the intestines). This would happen fairly rapidly (in 48 hours or so) from ingestion. You might feed him psyllium (like “Sand Clear,” although it is better to buy bulk psyllium bran from Bulk Foods) to lubricate the digestive tract. Otherwise, you just have to watch him and make sure he keeps eating and does not have colic.