Donkey Care?

[Cincinnati]

Someone is giving me a donkey as a companion to my gelding. They told me the basics of caring for him, but if anyone has anything to add please do. I know he doesn't get grain and is pretty much an easy keeper. Anything else I should know?
Thanks for the info.

[LR1976]

Awww, I've got nothing to add but I love donkey's. My father-in-law has one. She's a good old girl!

[jetsmom]

Change your title to "How do I take care of my ass?" or "Does my ass need special care?" and you'll get more reponses!!!

[snkstacres]

heheh there are a few good donkey people on this board as I found out when Dolly and Curly came to live with me but how to care for them,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,they just scream at me when they need things done and momma runs. Pretty simple LOL

[SuperSTB]

heheh there are a few good donkey people on this board as I found out when Dolly and Curly came to live with me but how to care for them,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,they just scream at me when they need things done and momma runs. Pretty simple LOL

Yes as snkstacres points out, donkey are great at training people. Probably the best trainers out there.

My donk ate what the other horses ate. I just never really fed alfalfa to her.

[Tiramit]

Donkey's are a riot! Several simple things I've learned:

- Keep its diet simple. Donkeys definitely don't need a lot of (if any!!) grain, supplements etc. In fact, they can easily founder on too rich a diet. Definitely separate your gelding or the donkey will sneak all of its grain.
- Make sure you have a farrier who can trim a donkey well BEFORE it's due - many won't. I live in VA and have to have mine trimmed every 6 weeks. Work with it frequently by picking out its feet or you will lose your farrier quickly. Something about their size and type of feet (upright) seems to frustrate some farriers, particularly if they won't stand still.
- If you live in a damp climate, you may have to deal with abscesses every once in a while.
- Arab sized halters fit standard donkeys better than anything else.
- Be prepared for the loud "broken bagpipe" sound at feeding time. Especially if you are more than 1 second late! :winkgrin:
- Invest in flyboots for summertime. Nothing I tried - fly predators, sprays, etc. - kept the flies of my jenny's legs. They can become bloody messes rather quickly. I had to buy mini horse boots for my standard donkey.
- Your horse may spook at first if its never seen a donkey before. It will quickly become your geldings best friend.

Good luck!

[Frank B]

Here ya go! (http://www.lovelongears.com/) Everything (maybe more) than you ever wanted to know about your ass!

Visit their bookstore and order The Definitive Donkey. Lots of good stuff in there!

Also, Rural Heritage's (www.ruralheritage.com) Mule Paddock contains loads of info, as does Meridith Hodges' website (www.luckythreeranch.com). RFD-TV airs excerpts from her Training Mules & Donkeys series weekly.

[theoldgreymare]

Donkey's do not sedate like horses. The dose of cocktail our BLM guy needs to get his feet done would lay a horse out cold.

Someone posted about fly problems with their legs.... Ours came with bloody, scabby legs from flies. Last year, I put him on one of the spot on treatments (full horse dose) and we had no problems with his legs and the flies at all.

[MEP]

I've got 4 of them! (3 minis & 1 standard). Everybody is right to say, no rich food, or grain. Mine are on a mixed grass hay, they love it & are not tooooooo fat. I do, however, give them a little snack every night - just to give them a treat - but it consists of *literally* 1/2 thimble of 'Quitt' and 1/2 thimble of a vitamin supplement plus one horse cookie. (By thimble I mean one of those small scoops that come with supplements :lol:) They love their treats, and it makes me happy to give them something - it just doesn't seem right to not give them some kind of treat! :winkgrin:

[Sugarbrook]

Keep jellybeans on hand at all times. My Patty, now 23 will run circles around you and speak very loudly for them. She thinks she is a welsh pony, we never let her look in the mirror. We adore her and I have had her since she was a baby.

[snkstacres]

oh oh would someone tell Dolly that donks dont need grain. She was skinny as a bean pole when she came. She lost every bit of her hair due to lice and ran around nekked as a jay bird. She now has beautiful black fuzz.

But, she eats grain 2 x day. Just a wee bit she says to keep up the fat to keep up the warmth ya know.

Can someone send me a donkey diet, the right diet. I will post it in her stall and then we will all know how to feed a donkey.

A zillion years ago, when I was barely out of my teens, (if I even was) I got a donkey named Fred. Fred ate just the way the horses did. He lived to be 40. Did I get lucky?

[Personal Champ]

Sunkissed, my donks eat grain 2x a day, too. Now, not much, but they do. And they're not fat - all ribs can be felt with a bit of pressure. Now our remaining one is an active little bugger, but still.

[Tiramit]

Donkey's do not sedate like horses. The dose of cocktail our BLM guy needs to get his feet done would lay a horse out cold.



We're able to get away with simply twitching ours. It practically knocks her out!

And ours will mug you for starlight mints!

[SuperSTB]

My donkey was ancient, so I fed her senior grain to keep weight up when she started to drop. I also gave her a vit supplement and probios when needed. She had great teeth but she was an ancient ultra skinny rescue when I bought her for a whopping $1.

As to the fly situation... common with donks, I've heard especially as they get older. I was told by a donkey rescue that feeding Claritin would help, so I tried the store brand and it did cut down on the flies turning her legs into a bloody raw mess. But it was expensive and didn't eliminate the problem.

SO we made Donkey pants, using old pant legs held up by suspenders. This was after attempts of support hosiery (think senior citizen, they use these support leggings for circulation) anyway they snagged too much and didn't hold up (pun intended) so we also tried polo wraps and tube sock combo.

The donkey pants worked great though and wouldn't you know last equine affair (february) there was a vendor who was selling 'fly pants'.

[Trakehner]

My mule won't tolerate fly leggings...the boy has an attitude with such things...he doesn't care for fly masks either.

[Fandango7]

I have a donkey! I give her one handful of grain (probably the only donkey in the world eating Ultium) morning and evening just so she will stop hee-hawing when I feed the horses. I also give her a flake of coastal hay morning and evening. Spring and summer I have to dry-lot her in a large paddock because she gets so fat on the grass I fear she will founder. I also have had problems with flies and I rub SWAT on her legs and she wears a fly mask during the day. I rotate de-wormers, just like I do the horses, although I don't give her QUEST because I have been told that some donkies have had adverse reactions to it. They are pretty much the cheapest pets next to a hermit crab. :D

[Fandango7]

Does anyone else's donkey have an internal alarm clock? I normally feed my horses at 8 a.m. and the donkey will hee-haw at 8:01 a.m. if I am late! She is never more than 5 minutes off! :eek:

[Romany]

The Donkey Sanctuary has some of the better non-mushy literature about donkeys and donkey care.

Do make sure your vet and farrier have some clue about working with donkeys: as was said earlier, sedatives work very differently on them, and their feet are very different from horses.

Apart from that, tons of cuddles, and don't expect them to be as "fast" as horses, but you can do anything with them - showing, jumping, driving, etc. They're great for therapeutic programs, too, having such gentle natures.

www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk

[ttldr1]

The best thing I have found to keep the gnats/flies from chewing my donks lower legs up is Swat. I cake it on his lower legs pretty thick (like using the pink on my boy, just seems so inappropriate for a boy donkey and I am a little twisted) and it keeps his legs bite free. Rinse it off about once a week and start again.

[Creaghgal]

I feed at 7am but my donkey thinks it really should be at 6.30 and alerts the neighbours for 2 miles around that he is being left STARVE.

He gets a little ration balancer. I hope he never gets big enough to raid the hoss tub!!

OP there are a lot of great books to stock up on. Donkey business (3rd edition) & caring for your miniature donkey are my top two.

[Jumpin_Horses]

good advise here.

they need the same vet/farrier care as a horse. their feet are angled slightly differently, however, the trim is basically the same. I see SOME farriers like to "stand them up" on pipes because they think thats the way to trim them, but, in fact, they need to have their heels low too. the same angle on the cornet band as a horse.

here is a great example of perfect donkey feet (pic heavy, but worth it)

http://www.tribeequus.com/burros.html

also, they are basically desert animals. which means that even though they get thick fur in the winter, they dont get that insulating layer of fur next to the skin, so they can get VERY compromised if they get cold AND wet. this also makes them VERY suseptable to lung worms (ivermectin needed).. I will blanket mine with a light/waterproof turnout when its freezing and raining. i really dont need to as they stay in their shelter when it rains (they hate getting wet) but, I do just as a precaution.

[Whoanellie]

Donkeeeees!! You say Donkeeeeeees?!

Love 'em. We have been fortunate over the years to have rescued 4 donkeys. Some are more vocal than others, and some are more friendly than others...probably due to prior treatment.

SueAnn (http://www.tierrescue.org/SueAnn.htm) was the kindest spotted donkey. She came to us with her legs a bloody mess and her hooves in bad shape. SueAnn is an example of pure neglect. She had an untreated Summer Sore (habronema granuloma)on her leg that was off the charts!! Pictures and her story are in the link above.

Annabelle (http://www.tierrescue.org/Annabelle-Donkey.htm) is another lovely Jenny who was totally neglected and came to us via Animal Control asking us to step in. Her hooves were 5 inches long! She is still with us and sings for her supper!

Pedro (http://www.tierrescue.org/Pedro.htm) the shy burro. Pedro was basically done with humans. He had been used so roughly (roping practice) that he just didn't trust humans and I didn't blame him. But he absolutely LOVED Annabell and would play with her for hours on end. Due to his prior mistreatment, he finally succumed to the injuries inflicted on him and we helped him cross the Rainbow Bridge.

Paco came to us last year. He was at an auction where the bidders weren't necessarily (in my opinion) going give him a good home. We had just recently lost Pedro and it was my thought that Paco would be a nice companion for Annabell. NOT! He was still a Jack at the time and quite agressive towards Annabell. Annabell is quite old and doesn't deserve to be abused by this little Ass, so they visit through the fence but we don't put them together. Even after he was gelded he feels he needs to be dominant over Annabell.

Paco is great with people. A real Pocket Donk and we take him with us to Fundraisers. After all the fun of the day, he can be a stubborn little ass about getting in the trailer to come home though. He is the only donkey we have had that is no trouble for the farrier, leads properly, etc. Someone put some time into him and it shows. BUT..........Paco could win a yodeling contest!! He sings like no other donkey we have had. Long, fluctuating, brays that almost have a melody! If he sees you he hollers. Turn on the light in the house....he hollers. Drive into the driveway.....he hollers. He will take out a dog in a heartbeat and he will intentionally graze along the fenceline (even if there is no grass!) to tease the dogs. He's a character.

I was told by a lady who had a wonderfully trained donkey that she rode quite often (met her at a Clinton Anderson Clinic/we got free tickets) that she maintained her donkeys legs by spraying a light spray of Mineral Oil on them. I tried that and it works.....to a point. We rely on good old Vet Wrap and the wonderful fly leggings sent to us by one of our COTH Secret Santas. Annabell has the worst problem with the flys and to combat them we dress her up like Darth Vader. She has a an OLD Cashel fly mask w/nose cover, fly leggings & fly sheet. We also give her a Vetalog injection (1/2 cc) every couple months during fly season which helps tremendously. But I do worry about founder as she is older which is the reason she doesn't get the Vetalog/Kenalog every 30 days.

[katarine]

I haven't had any fly issues with my guy, he's learned to tolerate fly spray. I do coat his inner ears with Swat for sure.

Watch for rain rot in the winter, a sprinkle of Tinactin clears my guy right up.

Feet done every other time.

Watch for founder they are air ferns.

same shot/worming protocol as my horse's follow.

LOVE love love my Chico donk.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/krishall/2978687229/

[streak0502]

First of all, congratulations...I highly recommend having a donkey in one's life. Remember to treat your donkey like a horse, there is nothing more irritiating than an ill-mannered brayer. Our little guy does very well on a handful of beet pulp with a sprinkle of equine senior feed. He gets regular hoof trims, worming,grooming, and dental care.

Donkeys are very good at keeping unwanted critters away[dogs, small predators], many people like to keep a donkey with their sheep or goats for this reason.

Lastly...ENJOY!!!! You'll wonder why you waited so long!

[Fandango7]

I wish my donkey would let me fly spray her. :( She smells the spray and runs. I tried the wipes but she did the same thing. She is also learning the smell of Swat and doesn't like that either. Opinionated little creatures.