I have a new appreciation for donkeys. There are sayings and anecdotes regarding their strength and stubborn nature. Recently, there seems to have been an onslaught of miniature donkeys in our clinic. Now, I am not the girl who grew up around horses and donkeys. I married into the horse world. I am always learning about horses. I am learning restraint techniques and trying to learn about their behavior, hoping that this will make me do a better job at the clinic. A few Sunday's back, horsedoc was paged about a mini donkey named Juliette. She recieved a horseshoe shaped cut on her muzzle, which was literally peeled down. The owner had gone to a friend who was a small animal vet the week before who had stapled it back. This Sunday, the wound was falling apart and ooozing pus. The location of the wound made haltering her prohibative. She weighed 250 lbs. Now, this is the best advice that I can give to anyone who needs to work with a donkey. Accept the fact that you are not in charge!! You will do what you need with the donkey, when and only when it is the donkey's idea. Juliette had some nice anesthesia drugs, had a lead shank around her neck, had 3 adults restraining her who probably outweighed her by....... alot and she almost broke us. She was only about 38" tall, so we were all crouched down on stools, which were on wheels. She rolled us all over the exam room. I got a cramp because I held the same position for such a long time. The owner tripped trying to restrain her. He fell off the stool and she ran over him. Then, horsedoc got a charley horse during the 2 hrs that it took to clean, debride and resuture a swollen, old wound. If this had been a 1200# belgium it would have been so easy. I was so shocked that this little gal had that quiet strength. It was impressive and it imspired me. When things get tough and telemarketers call, salespeople who ignore my no solicitatin sign, come in, people try to avoid paying their bills, I'm gonna be like Juliette. I'm gonna plant my feet, stick to my guns, show no emotion and quietly, subtly push so that no one notices and gradually and continually add more pressure. On the inside, I'll be smiling, thinking about how much of life I've learned from an ass.
We also met a miniature donkey named Donkey Boy. He is a little stallion who fought with a full sized horse over the attentions of the mare in heat in the next field. He and his broken pelvis lost. He has so much swelling and pain that he was unable to poop. This is why he is a resident at the clinic. Until some healing occurs, we monitor his intake and poop, adjusting as needed and giving enemas and NG tubing with oil, water and electrolytes until he can do this on his own.
Donkey Boy looks just like Eyore from Winnie the Pooh. He looks depressed, no matter what and his tail hairs are few and far between. It's all I can do not to put a pink ribbon in it. Donkey has periods of eating, drinking and pooping and you think, Oh he's better and will be able to go home. Then it all stops and his belly looks like if you touched it with a pin, it would explode all over the walls. That's when the tubing and enemas, and worry starts. One day it had been 3-4 days since he'd pooped. He was looking rather large and painful. He was groaning. Horsedoc had treated him and left on farm calls. I was there and had been trying to make friends all along. Donkey was having none of that. But when he felt so so bad, he didn't mind me being there so much. I went in and he started to groan. So, I started rubbing his belly. After about 5 minutes, he pooped. I was so excited. I bragged to horsedoc about my belly rubbing techniques. It became a joke that if horsedoc needed help with treatments, I'd do a little belly rubbing so that Donkey would poop.
Donkey recovered from that episode and had a few great days and then, as always, stopped pooping again. I would ask day after day how he was doing and each day little to no poop. I kept saying that I'd go in and rub his belly, but I didn't get around to it. On a Saturday evening, horsedoc was worried and wanted to go in to treat him. I told him that I'd go too and rub Donkey's belly. On the way to the clinic, horsedoc was paged about a horse that got a foot caught in barbed wire. He told them to meet us there. By the time we finished treating Donkey, they would be there and then we'd take care of the wound. We got to the clinic and when we walked back to the stalls, Donkey was lying flat out and not batting an eye. His stomach was so bloated that he looked like 3 day old road kill. I asked horsedoc if he was dead. He started calling to him. No movement. Then we get to the door and he jumps right up. It scared us to death. He was in a lot of pain. He was enormous. He was not drinking and no poop in 3-4 days. Horsedoc starts getting the items together for treatment and he said, "If you get him to poop, I'll give you ten dollars." He proceeded to treat him. I rubbed his belly. We started to prep for the cut that was coming in. The cut was truly nasty. Barbed wire and horses do NOT mix. This horse had totally cut the hide off. The skin was so destroyed that there wasn't anything to suture to. Daily bandaging, which is so time consuming and costly was the only choice of treatment. Then, we found a cut on his head that needed suturing. It was beginning to get late. I'd been gone most of the day and Lou Lou had the swine flu. The skies opened and it started to pour. We finally finished the cut. I went to the computer to check the people out and horsedoc started to clean. The owners took the horse to load him onto the trailer. I am madly entering in the data, thinking that I'm a neglectful mom who left the dinner dishes on the counter and still have a horse at home to rebandage, when horsedoc runs in the room and throws $10.00 down on the computer. I look at it thinking, what are the owners thinking putting $10.00 down a very expensive after hours charge. Then, it hit me.....Donkey had pooped. Not just one poop pile, but many many poop piles. We both hooped and hollered and did the happy dance, like a football player after a touchdown. I, naturally, took credit for it, even though horsedoc helped a little with tubing, high colonic enemas and meds.
We get the owners off and head home. We decide to divide and conquer. He will tranq the mare to change the bandage and I will do dishes and be Mom. I am finishing the dishes when the horsedoc calls. I know, your thinking, he's in the barn and he calls. Sometimes we call the kids upstairs when we're in bed, just so they can find the remote!! I digress. He sounds tired and frustrated. He says he's tranqed her and her head is dragging the ground, but the minute he touches her leg, she aims for his head. Will I please, come hold and twitch her. When I arrive at the barn, this mare is making me nervous because she is like a weeble whose wobbling so much that I am afraid she will fall on horsedoc. I take the lead shank and thump her with it and say wake up. She jumps and horsedoc gives me the I am your father and you've misbehaved look and says, "I'd appreciate it if you'd not get me killed. She's not gonna fall on me. They never do, just give her her head, it'll be alright. I am ubber grouchy and start fussing to no one in particular. He finishes and moves and I hand him the lead rope and I look at Mary(Mary Quite Contrary, aka horsedoc's mare) and say, OK, fall down now, I don't care anymore. And.... she falls down!! Horsedoc looks at me holds his hand out palm facing me and says, " You.....you take your hexing ways back to the house." "you rub a donkey's belly twice and he poops, then you tell Mary to fall and she does, just let me finish and you go to the house."
Growing up in western Kentucky it's not unusual to hear the old timers talk about doing things by the signs, following home remedies, people laying hands on, superstitions and the like. Horsedoc and I scoff most of the time. We're huge fans of the Andy Griffith Show and love to laugh at the antics of the Darling family and their mountain traditions. We love to laugh at Granny in the Beverly Hillbillies and all of her home medical concoctions. Sometimes I can see how these ideas have come to be. Maybe the earth really isn't flat. Who knows. Sometimes I wonder how many things we scoff at that are more than we give them credit for. Animals are so interesting. They, like my children make me crazy and fill my life with love, happiness and stories. They are God's creatures, that according to today's readings, were the first idea as a companion to man. And while they didn't measure up, they are a lovely creation that adds joy to our family. They always teach me and continuously amaze me.
ere too short because he's so tall, manure on his boots and he was terribly, painfully shy. My cousin had been telling me and my Dad what a great guy this man was and how I just had to meet him. I took one look and thought, "you have got to be kidding." Fast forward a year or so. My cousin is still talking about this vet student who worked at the clinic where she worked. This time he hadn't just arrived from pulling a calf. He may have had a few more lbs on his very long legs and arms and well maybe he was kind of nice. 
ere too short because he's so tall, manure on his boots and he was terribly, painfully shy. My cousin had been telling me and my Dad what a great guy this man was and how I just had to meet him. I took one look and thought, "you have got to be kidding." Fast forward a year or so. My cousin is still talking about this vet student who worked at the clinic where she worked. This time he hadn't just arrived from pulling a calf. He may have had a few more lbs on his very long legs and arms and well maybe he was kind of nice. 
