Donkeys Are Different

It was much further away than I normally went on calls, but the woman had sounded desperate.  She and her husband were leaving the next day for a long trip and they had gone to their country place to check on things.  They had discovered one of their donkeys was down and could not get up.  When I arrived she told me their caretaker had not reported the donkey was down, but it was possible he had not noticed as it was in a remote spot on the property.

I gathered some equipment we crossed a fence into a large pasture.  We walked down to the end of the field and around a small lake, through some woods, then through another pasture and into the edge of some more woods.  The hike took about 15 minutes.

The donkey lay on his side, motionless.  There was no stool or disturbance of the ground to indicate he had been down long.  He seemed to be aware of us but made no effort to rise or even to try to move at all.  I took his temperature and pulse, which were normal.  His muscles were not tense, but when I asked him to get up there was no response.  We put a rope halter on him, and as she pulled I pushed him up sternally, but still no response.  I gave him medication to increase his blood glucose level.  We rolled him over to his other side which often gets an animal to try to get up, but again, nothing.

My mind turned to neurological diseases or conditions that cause central nervous system abnormalities, but nothing fit the clinical picture.  The woman said that if we could not get the donkey up we would have to put him to sleep because they had to leave town the next day.

I hiked back to the truck and got more supplies, some fluids and drugs to reduce inflammation, thinking that possibly dehydration was affecting his muscles or some swelling in his brain was affecting his reflexes.  All of this took another hour and a half.  At the end of these efforts there was still no response to any stimulus.  I told her we could give him some more time but again she said this had to be finished today.

I reluctantly headed back to the truck to get the euthanasia solution.  I racked my brain trying to understand why the donkey could not get up.  I started back with the drugs to put him to sleep.  As I was half-way through the second pasture, the donkey suddenly appeared on the trail.  He approached at a brisk trot, went right by me and headed up the hill toward the barn where the husband was banging buckets as he fed the other donkeys and horses.

I was so surprised at this sight that I had to continue on to the spot we had left him to see if it really was him.  Sure enough, he was gone!  I hiked back to the truck and drove up to the barn.  The woman asked me how I had gotten him up and I told her he had passed me as I was returning to put him to sleep.  I watched him eat and move around the corral and he looked absolutely normal.

I believe to this day that nothing was wrong with that donkey other than he did not want to get up.  It nearly cost him his life.  I learned from this that food is a great motivator to animals and it should always be tried before you give up.