RIP Jacko

Jacko came thru here in 2007, he had recently lost his horse buddy & was now by himself.  His owners wanted to re-home him rather than get him another companion, so we took him.  A woman had gotten in touch with me about finding a companion for her surviving donkey.  Her jenny had been attacked by a mountain lion, & although she doctored the jenny for days, one morning she was dead.  

Laura wanted another jenny, which I didn't have at the time, but decided to try a gelding.  From what she said the boys bonded very well & have enjoyed an indulgent life for the last 6 yeasrs.

Recently Laura got in touch with me, about Jacko having some health problems.  When we went to see what was going on, it was perfectly clear one of his problems was Cushing's disease, just from looking at him.  So she put him on Chasteberry to see if that would help.  

The vet also said he had a nasal tumor, which causing horrible drainage, that did clear up with a couple of round of antibiotics.  

But the worst problem & what led to him being euthanized yesterday morning was his feet.  He was probably insulin resistant, & although Laura was feeding him properly I would imagine he had developed low grade chronic laminitis, which is one of the symptoms or results of insulin resistance & Cushings.  Unless you are aware of the changes going on, donkeys are such stoic animals when they have sore feet or anything else for that matter, you'd not know it until it was quite advanced.  

Laura was told by her vet a few months ago, it was just a matter of time, & the last few days & his level of discomfort helped Laura decide what was best for him.  Unfortunately when you have animals there comes a time when you have to stop thinking of what you would want to happen, & think only what is best for them.  Been there, & hate it every time..........but it's the last gift we can give them & is part of being a good caretaker. 

Laura recently adopted Heloise from us, so Tio won't be alone again, which is a good thing.

 

Her name is Eloise instead of Heloise

I don't hear that well I guess, sure sounded like Heloise to me.....!!! LOL  Anyway she got here about dark, hopped out of the trailer & went with her Dad to her pen, "ie" BlackJack's pen.  

I asked them if she led, they said yes & she certainly does..... she "led" him all the way to the pen, at a pretty good pace...!!!  (G)

She's a little "short for her weight", but not bad.  I always prepare for the worst & hope for the best.   I had been told she was a little bit overweight, didn't know what to expect, so was pleasantly surprised. 

But these feet weren't as pleasant a surprise.  

Granted, they aren't the extremely long "elf" shoes that a lot of untrimmed donkeys have.  The woman said her feet eventually break off.........but that doesn't do anything for the frogs, that you might notice are peeking out from under both the front & back feet.  Or the ligaments & tendons running up the legs. 

I have a call in for Tyler to see if he's feeling brave.  She's very friendly & loves attention.........BUT..........if she hasn't had her feet worked on, it's probably not going to be her favorite thing.......!!!   

She goes to her new home Thursday, so hopefully we can get them done before then.  

Monday we are going up to the Phoenix area to bring Gus & Quilla back for the summer. 

LITTLE WISTER THIS MORNING, HE IS GROWING LIKE A WEED

Yesterday morning old Pepper, choked on hay.  I would imagine his molars are getting worn down close to the gums & no longer grind the hay.  I tried to clear him for a couple of hours, before we hauled him to the vet.  As he did the last time he cleared by the time we got there, but he got tubed anyway, just to make sure.  Dr. Megan said there was a little bit of resistance at the top of the stomach, so it's probably a good thing we went ahead & tubed him.  Otherwise he might have choked again at suppertime.  

We had to go down to Sierra Vista yesterday afternoon to say good-bye to an old friend from Saudi that stopped in the area on his way to California.  While we were there we stopped at Lowe's to see if they had a shredder/mulcher thingie.  

I read about using them to chop up hay to feed those that can't eat regular hay.  We thought about getting hay cubes, but most of them are alfalfa.  

They had this one, so we brought it home & it is simple enough.......well except for the learning curve of NOT trying to chop it in an 18 gallon open bucket.  John said there is a reason the chopped hay, leaves or whatever goes into a closed zipped bag.  It is also a good idea to wait until the motor COMPLETELY stops before opening the bag......!!!  But other than a few slight problems like that, John said it works very good, cuts all the hay about 2 inches long.  

He's even decided to chop hay for Cisco & Cheyenne, since they both have trouble chewing up the longer hay.  

Heloise is suppose to get here in about an hour or so.  The weather is blustery & chilly today.  We were going to put her into an overflow pen, but it has no shelter.  Since she will be staying in for a couple of days to get use to us, I decided to throw BlackJack out of his pen & into the overflow pen.  He doesn't care, in fact he stayed in that pen for a few months not long ago.  As long as he gets fed he could care less where he is. 

I'll try to get pictures of Heloise when she gets here, it will be just about feeding time & John is on a jeep tour.  Depends on if the herd is more interested in seeing the new girl, or more interested in eating....!!!

This is what Boaz's knee looked like after 2 days of not putting Thuja Zinc Oxide on it to keep it soft....!!

Dr.Nancy making it bleed.......!!!

I let it dry out, so she could see what it does if I don't "doctor" it.  She actually thought it had come a long way, but did find a little bit of proud flesh to cut off. Said I should keep it bandaged.........Sigh......!!  He is very good at either tearing them completely off or wearing holes in them.  She said rather than changing bandages every day or so, to leave them on until they wear out or fall off.  So I guess I'll see how long I can keep one on there.  She thinks it will eventually heal over, I hope so.  Fly season is coming & it's bad enough without having open sores to deal with.  

Looks like Heloise might be coming to visit us this Friday.  For right now I wouldn't feel comfortable for Frijolita & Daisy to go down into "vet deprived" country, which the Elfrida & Gleeson area is.  They just have too many health issues to not have a convenient vet.  I told Laura maybe in the future, but in the meantime I would keep my ears open for a couple of jennies that were healthy & having a vet in the neighborhood wouldn't be quite so important.  This morning I heard about a family moving out of state that can't take Heloise with them.  Haven't heard back from Laura if she is interested, but it sounds like it would be a good "fix" for everyone.