We’ve had a terrible week.
On Monday, we fed as the sun was setting, because of Daylight Idiocy, and failed to notice that our beloved BLM TIP Challenge burros had not pooped enough since we cleaned in the morning. Tuesday morning was our first colder day and both burros were showing signs of discomfort. One was bloated. We called the vet, but all were busy with other colics. Their water was fresh and full. No issues we could identify, no changes in diet. Nothing. They had turnout Sunday afternoon, briefly, but no poisonous plants, no acorns from the live oak tree. Nothing. The vets were very busy and couldn’t make it out until three hours later. In the meantime, they had me give Banamine. By the time they came out, I was near panic because the sicker burro was even more bloated and I had been updating them because he did not get relief from the Banamine. These guys were 60 days from being wild, so still not quite domestic. By the time the vet arrived, the sicker burro was going downhill. Gums looked bad, heart and respirations were elevated, and he was distracted from the pain. He went down when the vet tried to pass a nasogastric tube. We had to euthanize him. She examined the second burro, quickly, and we opted to haul him to our local university vet hospital. I hate to admit that I wondered if someone gave them something because here were burros (donkeys) dying on election day. Of course, I also considered something fed unintentionally. Their paddock borders the road, so it is possible, but we have no trouble with our neighbors.
The university did everything they could, and the second burro was very good, considering the amount of new, intense, experiences he was having with humans. They worked on him all afternoon, but he became more and more bloated, just like the first burro. Nothing obvious on ultrasound, etc… but they asked about exploratory colic surgery. We opted out, as much as we didn’t want to lose him, because there was really nothing they could see to actually fix, plus, the expense. They treated him medically, but he passed, in a very similar way that the first burro did. We asked for a necropsy and I notified the BLM. Nothing significant was found. No weeds, strange feeds, impacted hay, acorns, or anything else was found. They couldn’t determine cause of death. They even checked for Rumensin by looking at his heart. They were doing histopathology and hoped something might turn up there.
This was all on Tuesday.
More to follow…
