# HELP! hurt mini donk...



## dearinge (Jan 9, 2005)

hi there-

so.. my mom tells me that tuesday (our mini donk) has not been acting right for the past few days. ( i have been trapped at school with all them evil teachers lol. so i havent been out with all the monsters as much).

here is the synopsis.

i go out there to look at her, and she didnt bray and was standing in the furthest corner of their shelter. (usually she brays when we flip a light switch in the house). so i trot towards her and no response. she keeps her head down, i am calling her name and she ignores me. i do a prelim. once over and realize her back is KILLING HER! i try to get her to move, but she wont.

i go grab a halter and lead and force her to come with me to the patio. then examine her closer. when i lightly touched her spine she dropped her back. (u know how with horses u run your fingers along either side of their spine and see if they are sore? well i was using a flat hand barely even touching her, basically a light stroke). the only other thing was she wasnt as in touch with her hind end as she should be. a slight bit "drunk". when i first grabbed her she forgot she had hind legs and kinda slid in the mud (the ground was level).

she is usually personality plus, and was now almost ignoring the world.

here is a basic description of her stall. she lives in a 30x60ish pen with 3 small llamas, and 2 minis. altho they are only in this when it has been raining (like it has for a few wks now...). she gets along with all the animals, so i highly doubt one of the minis kicked her. and she towers a few inches over the minis anyways. but she is on the bottom of the pecking order. there is a hill in their stall. so prolly 22ish ft are level, then a 5ft incline (steep) and then a 1.5ish walkway near the fence.

i called the vet and she suggested banamine (200lb dose) 2x/day, and 2tablets of baby aspirin 1x/day (to prevent blood clots if she has sustained a serious injury).

we are giving her the above recommendations. and then on tuesday we will cut back the banamine to 100lb 2x a day, or 200lb once a day. depending on how she is.

tuesday didnt want to bray before she was drugged up, but once on banamine she does.

vet was thinking- either a kid tryed to ride her (which i highly doubt b/c our place is the most disgusting place when is rains, and anyone stupid enough to try to ride my mini donkey probably wouldnt be willing to slog around in the mud), something fell on her (possible, we are putting in new pipe corrals, but i checked out all the poles and stuff, and none have fallen over...but who knows), she fell down the hill thingy in her stall area, or something nueralogical (sp?).

what is your input?





i feel so sorry for my lil baby.....

-Dearing


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## justanothercowgirl (Jan 9, 2005)

I would insist that the vet come and personally examine this animal. There are a some many things that could cause this type of pain, I would want to take more time looking into what is causing it rather than just treating the pain.


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## Boss Mare (Jan 9, 2005)

This doesn't sound like something I'd feel comfortable controlling without a vet examination first.

Something major could be wrong; neurological, muscle skeleton, whatever... I'd advise you get a vet there to exam the donkey as soon as possible.

You said your Mom told you Tuesday, it's now Sunday, if it was minor I'd expect improvement by now.... Obviously, something is wrong.


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## KarenB (Jan 9, 2005)

I would be getting the vet out to examine her too. With the mud and a 5 foot incline, she may have injured herself in a fall. Or she could have some neurological problem happening. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for her.


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## Miniv (Jan 9, 2005)

I totally agree that a vet needs to examine her IN PERSON. All the Banamine is doing is masking the pain and she could injure herself more.

She obviously has a back or nerve injury that needs to be addressed.

MA


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## dearinge (Jan 9, 2005)

just to clear up some confusion. her name is Tuesday. thus it gets quite difficult when talking about days... lol.

thank you for you input!

I will be calling the vet momentarily.

-Dearing


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## dearinge (Jan 9, 2005)

altho. i just read the post asking about basically the same thing, dropping the back when touched. and it was said its a donkey quirk?

could my girl be doing that?

-Dearing


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## MeadowRidge Farm (Jan 9, 2005)

From what you wrote, this doesnt sound at all like just the normal little quirk that donkeys do when you pet there backs. You mentioned her hind legs too. You are just masking the problem with the aspirin and banamine....I would get a good competent vet out as soon as possible and let him do a complete checkip of your donkey. This sounds like it could be coming from other areas as well. Gool luck and hopw she gets back to being herself real soon. Let us know what the vet has to say.


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## Ashley (Jan 10, 2005)

I have never seen that with the donkes here but it makes me wonder if maybe she fell on the hill and put her back out.

My horse had his back out and he would do that as well as dance around alot when you would touch his back.


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## dearinge (Jan 10, 2005)

Hi-

the vet is meeting tonight at 5:30ish... so i will give you all an update after she leaves...

Ashley- what did u end up doing for your horse?

thanks to everyone else too!

-Dearing


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## Ashley (Jan 11, 2005)

I took him to a horse ciropractor(sp?)


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## Filipowicz Farm (Jan 12, 2005)

Wondering what the vet had to say. Please give a update.


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## dearinge (Jan 13, 2005)

hey everyone-

the vet came out and did a full body exam. and it was basically inconclusive.



she only got one flinch response when she was touching Tuesday's back, and when she touched that spot again, got nothing. she also took blood to do a full blood panel, and I should be finding out the results soon. and we figured out that Tuesday has something interesting going on with her heart. not a pure "perfect" heartbeat. nothing big, yet.





right now she is moving to be just on 1dose of banamine per day. and is doing quite well. she is perky and LOUD! and isnt in pain! so... I am starting to guesstimate that she pulled something (sliding down the midget hill, or who knows...) and the downtime has done her wonders. now she is living in the lap of paradise. she gets the whole lawn to herself, and gets to look down on the minis, and she gets to chew on the back-door doorknobs! now she lets me know when I have hit the snooze button on the alarm clock!

and we turned her out with the weanlings in the arena today and she is moving fine! so as of now, it appears she is on the mend.

the vet wants us to keep her on 2aspirin once a day for a month to prevent the blood from clotting.

thats the scoop!

Have a great night!

-Dearing


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## Miniv (Jan 13, 2005)

Thanks for the update. Glad it was positive!

MA


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