DONKEYS ARE NOT HAPPY

Last week we started leaving the fatties in at night.  That would be Rosie and Jasper and Gigi gets to stay in with her BFF Rosie.  Casper was already staying in at night so he wouldn't have as much chance to roam the neighborhood if he so desired.  

The mesquite beans even on just the 10 acres are everywhere and their poo is starting to reflect this problem.  So we decided to keep them in overnight from now on until the bean situation improves and not let them out until noon or later in the day, to cut down on their time to vacuum beans.  

That decision was made to start last night.  Yesterday morning big Gus was choked.  I assumed he choked on his morning mush and started working with him with no results.  Got in touch with Dr. Jeremy, by afternoon still no change and Dr. Jeremy showed up at the gate.  

This is how a very drunk donkey stands.  He had enough drugs to put an elephant on the ground, but he still managed to stay on his feet and swing his big old head, which is an excellent weapon.  

So he had to be cross tied. It still wasn't that easy to tube him, donkeys have a smaller opening to the esophagus than horses.  Some vets will use a foal tube on donkeys because of this physical difference, but most don't.  So it ends up a bloody mess, which I'm sure makes for a very sore throat the next day.  Notice Dr. Jeremy's lovely designer boot.  His big toe and a horse's big foot had a meeting last week and his toe lost the battle.  

The choke was low and Dr. Jeremy said he probably had been choked overnight, because his breakfast mush was on top of the obstruction.  Punched thru and managed to get him back to his pen, where he proceeded to push his nose into the ground as a 5th "leg" to hold himself up and started snoring.

Checked on him at bedtime and he was in the same place, John said his nose wasn't quite as buried in the dirt.  

This morning his head was at a more normal level, but he's still not interested in eating, has drank a couple of quarts of water, doesn't want a carrot, mildly interested in animal crackers.  I would imagine his throat is very sore.  He did manage to squeeze out 3 little "road apples" and they were mostly beans.  John wet his hay and Suzanne made his mush sloppier than usual, but so far he doesn't care.  

As hot as it is right now, every day over 100, my big worry is dehydration.  Hopefully he'll perk up today.  

So today will be the first full day of the new routine.  Eat breakfast, stay in pen until at least noon, later if the humans decide it's necessary.  Go into pens for evening feed and stay there overnight until at least noon the next day.  They've already let us know this routine isn't working for them.......LOL