Possibly Pregnant Donkey

[Falconfree]

I have a couple new rescue mini donkeys, a jenny and a jack (well, gelding now, as of last week). The jenny is massively obese. Big cresty neck, fat pads on her sides, etc. They had a vet check at my friend’s farm, who are the ones that initially picked them up, and the vet said she was otherwise healthy, just needed to lose a lot of weight. My farrier said last week she has some hoof wall separation in one back hoof (the vet may not have been able to look at her feet very well, initially, since the rescues had been left unhandled for quite some time before). He wasn’t overly concerned, just scheduled us for another trim in 5 weeks (all 4 of the rescues had awful feet). I believe she is about 6, and has had at least one previous foal (her 2 year old filly was brought in with her).

She’s been loose with the male for an unspecified amount of time, so we have a pregnancy test and a PPID test on the docket for when the vet comes out next for shots and fecals. Though I would have guessed she was tested for Cushing’s when she saw the vet previously. I have been feeding her Triple Crown Ration Balancer, selenium SmartPaks (our pasture is notoriously deficient), and grass hay. The jenny is turned out on pasture 24/7, as the existing barn here is still in poor shape after the hurricane. She has been sloooooowly losing”‹”‹”‹ weight, which was my goal, but I wanted to check in here with the experts. I’m not looking to slim her down, if she’s pregnant, just see if we can get it a tiny bit more under control.

What would you change in managing her? I have my list of questions for the vet too, but I have always been educated by what I read here.

[kande04]

@Falconfree

What would you change in managing her? I have my list of questions for the vet too, but I have always been educated by what I read here.

Sounds good to me. Obese donkeys are prone to hyperlipedemia if they lose weight too fast, so even after she foals you’ll need to be careful that she doesn’t drop off too fast.

If you don’t already know, donkeys are base narrow and most of them are terrified of falling (getting pushed over), so if your farrier can trim without disturbing their balance they’ll likely become much more cooperative much faster.

Mine seem to like being tied with a web halter so that they can put their heads down and lean on the halter to help them keep their balance. I do a lot of their trimming on a hoof stand (from the top), as they’re much happier with all 4 feet on something solid. When I have to pick a hoof up to work on it I don’t try to get under them, but just set it on a cradle and keep it low and work on it that way.

Treats for leaving the hoof on the stand help.