Killing them with kindness!

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

Got home Thursday night to a message on the voice mail, does your rescue take donkeys? called the lady back, chatted quite a while, she seemed very nice, an older couple who brought home a pregnant donkey, have had them ever since, the baby is 11 years old. They are moving out of state (CA), have no trailer and no where to keep them at their new home, currently they are kept at son's house but he is also moving to a different state (back east), they will miss their girls terribly but if they could be sure they would find a good home it would make them feel so much better... i asked a few questions, one of which was size, and she then tells me that the daughter is much bigger than the mom, because her father was a thoroughbred! so the daughter is a hinny, now i am excited, i have seen pictures but never seen one in real life.

long story short hubby hooks up the trailer and takes it to work with him and will pick them up on the way home Friday, as they are close to his work which is at least an hour from our house. I cannot go help as he gets off at 3pm and i don't get off till 5pm, so i have to wait to see our new girls till he gets them home...

When he leaves their place he calls me... OMG! the people were very nice, the donkey and hinny are both super sweet and very friendly, mom Rosie is a chocolate donkey about 46", leads right up to and into the trailer no problem. daughter Savant is several colors, about 52", leads well until she comes to the edge of the concrete, quite obvious at that ponit that she has never been out of her pen and the dirt yard, she is :new_shocked: NOT stepping on :new_shocked: that strange stuff :new_shocked: NO WAY :new_shocked: NO HOW... an hour and a half later she is finally in the trailer (another first in her life!!!) at this point i am saying "oh no honey, i am so sorry, i wish i had been there to help..." but the worst is yet to come. they are EXTREMELY overweight... those nice sweet old people having been feeding them alfalfa and sweet feed, the old man even said "because we love them". so i am trying to picture these chubby critters... but i almost stepped on my own jaw when the trailer arrived and i opened the door - those poor girls... those poor, poor girls!!!!!

we have rescued starving, malnourished, underfed, physically injured and emotionally mistreated animals before and we have those routines down... and i have taken extra weight off animals we have purchased in the past, but i have never seen anything this bad. my biggest fear is lipidemia, four years ago i lost a mini mare to lipidemia and i know donkeys can also be prone to it, so i am very afraid of taking the weight off them too quickly! basically our plan so far is, cut out the sweet feed, no more at all immediately... and start weaning them from alfalfa to bermuda very gradually. i sure hate to continue feeding them alfalfa at all but years ago my vet advised that any change in feed should be made gradually to avoid sending the animal into colic and that regimen has worked well for us since that time. anyway any advice or information from someone who has done this before will be GREATLY appreciated!

I am posting this on several sections so get as much advice as possible so rather than post the pictures multiple times, I have posted a thread with this same title on the photo forum...

thank you all in advance :saludando:

 

[Casnos Minis]

[SIZE=14pt]I'm glad you coul dhelp them out. As fo getting the weight off- Slowly is better. NO sweet feed like you mentioned, change their hay gradually and maybe start exercising them regularly, just walking to begin with. I've never has to take weight off an animal, but I'm sure if you ask your vet the best way to do it that will help.[/SIZE]

Christy

 

[Danielle_E.]

The best advice is from you vet for sure. I wouldn't remove the sweet feed totally at first. If they are as bad as they sound they are just making that much of a change could spell disaster. Do you know how much sweetfeed and how alfalfa hey were being fed? If so I would half the sweet feed for a week or so and half the alfalfa and add 1/4 of grass hay. I would do that for a couple of weeks and start diminishing the sweet feed till they get perhaps a handful if that and slowly change the alfalfa for only good quality hay, no alfalfa. I think the recipe here will be to go slow as you said BUT without removing something immediately. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Marty]

Wow what an adventure! I don't see anything wrong with sweet feed and alfalfa in "normal" doses. I'd just begin to cut it back but I would not take them off of it. If you stop the sweet feed cold turkey I think you would invite trouble., but I do understand your concerns. Sometimes things are so dang confusing aren't they?

I love alfalfa and I think it gets a very bad rap and it's a misunderstood hay. Alfalfa is a member of the legume family and it should have some good protein and calcium in it and should not be contributing to their obesity if fed in moderate amounts. Most alfalfa is no more higher in protein content than our timothy or orchard grass or bermuda, and I just wish I could get alfalfa locally, but it's hard to come by around here so I do use orchard grass. I also understand your concerns though about feeding them "rich" hay when they are already obese, but I'd leave them on it and like I said, just cut back on it. Maybe they are sandy and wormy?

Well anyway, good luck to you!