Monday, January 24, 2011
Everyone Goes for a Walk!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Notes about de-worming
When Siog arrived about 2 months ago, I was unable to find out about her de-worming history ... in other words "when was she last de-wormed?" Simple question ... no answer! So ... what to do? If you think you have a donkey (or horse) who might have a high parasite load, and you dose them with something strong, you could have trouble on your hands! Because if a lot of intestinal parasites die off at the same time, the animal could colic ... plain and simple.
I always hold my breath whenever I administer a chemical dewormer. So I gave Siog a single dose of the "safest" dewormer (the one with the highest safety margin) Panacur. A month later I took a sample of her poop to the vet for a fecal "float." This is where they put the poop under a microscope and assess the number of parasitic eggs or larva present. In Siog's case, the assessment was that she had an infestation of roundworms and strongyles.
I was alarmed ... clearly I needed to act fast - an infestation is dangerous - the "worms" can cause significant and irreparable damage to the intestinal wall and if left untreated can shorten the donkey's life! Gosh - that's scary!
So the decision I made (later confirmed by my vet) was to dose all three donkeys with a 5 day treatment of Panacur granules at 2x body weight. To order this, I needed to have an accurate assessment of each animal's body weight. I measured heart girth, then height at the withers.
To do this properly, stand the donkey on a flat surface, hold a level at the withers and a stick vertically from the ground to the withers until the bubble in the level is centered. This is a 2-person job!
Here is the nomogram from the Donkey Sanctuary in Britain. It is easy to connect the heart girth measure to the height measure to estimate your donkey's weight.
http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/files/donkeys/Nomogram.pdf
Once you know the donkey's weight, you can order Panacur crystals at 2x body weight per animal and enough for five days. This is one of the only ways to eliminate encysted strongyles, which burrow and create sacs in the intestinal wall, waiting to hatch when the time is right. These encysted strongyles do not show up in a fecal float, so it is important to treat for this once a year.
Also, this five day protocol is a safe and effective way to treat an infestation.
I have dosed all three donkeys now for the prescribed five days - nobody coliced so we're in good shape. Now I am giving probiotics to help increase the health of intestinal flora after the chemical deworming. I'll give 1/8th teaspoon for two weeks. Then I will take a sample of poop to the vet to see how things are!
I always hold my breath whenever I administer a chemical dewormer. So I gave Siog a single dose of the "safest" dewormer (the one with the highest safety margin) Panacur. A month later I took a sample of her poop to the vet for a fecal "float." This is where they put the poop under a microscope and assess the number of parasitic eggs or larva present. In Siog's case, the assessment was that she had an infestation of roundworms and strongyles.
I was alarmed ... clearly I needed to act fast - an infestation is dangerous - the "worms" can cause significant and irreparable damage to the intestinal wall and if left untreated can shorten the donkey's life! Gosh - that's scary!
So the decision I made (later confirmed by my vet) was to dose all three donkeys with a 5 day treatment of Panacur granules at 2x body weight. To order this, I needed to have an accurate assessment of each animal's body weight. I measured heart girth, then height at the withers.
To do this properly, stand the donkey on a flat surface, hold a level at the withers and a stick vertically from the ground to the withers until the bubble in the level is centered. This is a 2-person job!
Here is the nomogram from the Donkey Sanctuary in Britain. It is easy to connect the heart girth measure to the height measure to estimate your donkey's weight.
http://www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/files/donkeys/Nomogram.pdf
Once you know the donkey's weight, you can order Panacur crystals at 2x body weight per animal and enough for five days. This is one of the only ways to eliminate encysted strongyles, which burrow and create sacs in the intestinal wall, waiting to hatch when the time is right. These encysted strongyles do not show up in a fecal float, so it is important to treat for this once a year.
Also, this five day protocol is a safe and effective way to treat an infestation.
I have dosed all three donkeys now for the prescribed five days - nobody coliced so we're in good shape. Now I am giving probiotics to help increase the health of intestinal flora after the chemical deworming. I'll give 1/8th teaspoon for two weeks. Then I will take a sample of poop to the vet to see how things are!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
How Clicker Training Builds Confidence
Deenah and I walked to the mailbox today. "So what," you might ask? Actually this IS a big deal for Deenah! For the longest time she wouldn't leave home at all unless another donkey came too.
Once she learned to follow a target this changed and she was willing to walk out ... a bit.
I have found that there is a hurdle to jump when a donkey thinks that taking a few steps forward earns them a treat. This has come up with everybody at some point. The exercise called 300 Peck Pigeon is a big help at overcoming this ... more on this later.
Anyway back to Deenah - so off we go down the road but then the other thing that can turn her straight for home is hearing the minis call. Somebody brays and she thinks she needs to go home and see what's what. So you see, it's been a challenge to get ALL the way to the mailbox (about 1 km.)
Today though, she soldiered on despite braying minis and infrequent treats. We got to the mailbox and I absentmindedly pulled my jangly set of keys with the boondoggle lizard key chain attached out of my pocket. Poor old Dee nearly left her skin! It hadn't occurred to me that this would scare her!
Quickly into my Tai Chi wall position then into my lunge/ ricochet-her-back position (more on this later too!)
as she was turned and about to head down the road - she stopped and I gently asked her to approach the keys, let her smell them, clicked and rewarded her. Good!
Just a few more steps to the bank of mailboxes and .... ooooh! the clangy bangy sound of the padlock and rusty hinges was just too much! Back into my lunge position and she stopped. I released all pressure on her lead rope immediately and asked her to approach again. After a few tries she stood next to me (although wide-eyed) - we collected the mail and walked home.
Once back within the safety of the paddock, I spent about 10 minutes with Deenah and my set of keys.
I started by letting her smell and touch the keys - good - click and treat. Building it up very slowly, I shook the keys where she could still see them ... she stood still - yeah! Click and treat. Now move the keys to different places, shake, jangle. As long as she stood still, I stopped, clicked and treated her. If she showed any sign of fear, I backed up to something she had already done and was easy, like just smell the keys. Wish I had it on film.
Clicker training works in two ways: 1. The animal learns to trust you (so she develops confidence in her handler) AND 2. the animal learns self confidence (so she develops confidence in herself.)
The process builds a bond and establishes a good relationship based on trust. You are spending time with your animal and teaching her things that will broaden her world - you're probably not going to go out walking or riding with an animal who doesn't trust you or the world around it.
By breaking a lesson into small chunks (and this is tailored to each individual) and then rewarding every "try" for the right "answer," your animal learns that she won't get punished for being scared or resistant or not understanding what you want at first.
Every bit of work that is accomplished with kindness and then rewarded, helps the animal to feel positive and secure, about herself and about her handler. This in turn builds confidence.
Once she learned to follow a target this changed and she was willing to walk out ... a bit.
I have found that there is a hurdle to jump when a donkey thinks that taking a few steps forward earns them a treat. This has come up with everybody at some point. The exercise called 300 Peck Pigeon is a big help at overcoming this ... more on this later.
Anyway back to Deenah - so off we go down the road but then the other thing that can turn her straight for home is hearing the minis call. Somebody brays and she thinks she needs to go home and see what's what. So you see, it's been a challenge to get ALL the way to the mailbox (about 1 km.)
Today though, she soldiered on despite braying minis and infrequent treats. We got to the mailbox and I absentmindedly pulled my jangly set of keys with the boondoggle lizard key chain attached out of my pocket. Poor old Dee nearly left her skin! It hadn't occurred to me that this would scare her!
Quickly into my Tai Chi wall position then into my lunge/ ricochet-her-back position (more on this later too!)
as she was turned and about to head down the road - she stopped and I gently asked her to approach the keys, let her smell them, clicked and rewarded her. Good!
Just a few more steps to the bank of mailboxes and .... ooooh! the clangy bangy sound of the padlock and rusty hinges was just too much! Back into my lunge position and she stopped. I released all pressure on her lead rope immediately and asked her to approach again. After a few tries she stood next to me (although wide-eyed) - we collected the mail and walked home.
Once back within the safety of the paddock, I spent about 10 minutes with Deenah and my set of keys.
I started by letting her smell and touch the keys - good - click and treat. Building it up very slowly, I shook the keys where she could still see them ... she stood still - yeah! Click and treat. Now move the keys to different places, shake, jangle. As long as she stood still, I stopped, clicked and treated her. If she showed any sign of fear, I backed up to something she had already done and was easy, like just smell the keys. Wish I had it on film.
Clicker training works in two ways: 1. The animal learns to trust you (so she develops confidence in her handler) AND 2. the animal learns self confidence (so she develops confidence in herself.)
The process builds a bond and establishes a good relationship based on trust. You are spending time with your animal and teaching her things that will broaden her world - you're probably not going to go out walking or riding with an animal who doesn't trust you or the world around it.
By breaking a lesson into small chunks (and this is tailored to each individual) and then rewarding every "try" for the right "answer," your animal learns that she won't get punished for being scared or resistant or not understanding what you want at first.
Every bit of work that is accomplished with kindness and then rewarded, helps the animal to feel positive and secure, about herself and about her handler. This in turn builds confidence.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Feeding Donkeys
I'm going to write down everything that I understand about feeding donkeys, based on quite a bit of research and my own experience. I am always second guessing what to feed and how much but here's my honest understanding of the subject.
Donkeys need:
Coarse, low protein hay with low non-structural carbohydrates. If you have your hay tested, this number is referred to as NSC. Protein should be less than 9% but way lower protein (less than 5%) is okay too.
They need barley straw (oat straw is too rich and wheat straw is too long and hard to digest.) Barley straw should make up 75% of their diet in winter, according to the UK Donkey Sanctuary. Why? Because donkeys are trickle feeders like horses, and need to eat small amounts of forage frequently. If this forage is in the form of grass or hay, you are giving them too many calories and they will get too fat, which in turn has many associated health risks. Having said this, I don't feed 75% barley straw, probably closer to 40% as it's harder to come by than hay.
Also, the stomach of an equine produces hydrochloric acid which is buffered by digesting feed. If the stomach is empty, the acid can cause ulceration to the stomach lining, hence the need to eat often. But as I mentioned in a previous post, the intestine is complex, so you don't want to overwhelm the animal with a huge amount of feed to process all at once.
They need salt, either in the form of a mineral/ salt block or loose.
They need clean water (not freezing cold.) They won't drink out of murky grungy buckets!
DO NOT feed them:
Cereal grains (that's corn, oats, barley)
Sugar (that's molasses, glucose, dextrose, etc.)
Never give them a bite of your ham sandwich (animal protein can be fatal!)
Don't feed them Oreo cookies or bread or doughnuts (people do!)
If your donkey needs supplements (for example, Deenah gets Ulcerex, ground flax, vitamins and a selenium/ Vitamin E supplement every day) you can mix the powders into a soaked mash of something.
I have been using Fiber Max from Otter Co-op which is 40% beet pulp & 60% soy bean hulls. But I have just been able to get some Timothy Balance hay cubes (which have some un-molassed beet pulp mixed in) and so will switch to that.
They love brush and I offer huckleberry, a few maple branches, raspberry canes, even hemlock branches that have lots of twiggy ends. They sometimes have access to salal and Oregon grape which they will eat when they choose, roots and other sticks and twigs. On my land, I have to watch out for Ragwort, foxglove, poison hemlock, cherry trees and leaves, red elderberry and mushrooms but there are many other plants that are toxic to donkeys. It's important to know your flora and be able to identify what is either poisonous or toxic.
You can also offer carrots, cut into "fingers" not disks and apples cut into wedges but remember there are sugar and carbs in both of those so go easy.
I use treats when I am clicker training, but I go for Timothy hay pellets or broken hay cubes, the occasional horse peppermint or apple flavoured treat.
When I administer dewormer, I will squish it from the tube into a scooped out piece of apple or sometimes, I'll make a sandwich of a thinly sliced piece of bread (just this once!) slathered with dewormer paste and folded over. I just find it easier than haltering, tying and jamming the tube into the donkey's mouth but that's just me. I've never had a donkey spit it out and they think they're getting a treat rather than meds.
But honestly, try to abstain from giving them grain or sweet feed or alfalfa unless you have a sick or thin animal. Keep it as natural as possible!
Give them air and room to move but also provide shelter from rain and wind and snow. I have made plenty of mistakes. Ringo's pre-laminitic condition last summer was caused by diet - I let him get too heavy and boy was I sorry.
To do it right, really really right, we all should:
- measure the height and heart girth to estimate body weight (see the UK Donkey Sanctuary's nomogram)
- feel our donkeys all over to body score them (not just a visual guess)
- have hay and straw analyzed by a lab annually (I use A and L Canada Labs)
- figure out how much hay each donkey needs based on their weight - between 1.2 - 1.7% of their body weight = total amount of feed per day, including any grazing!
- feed small amounts of hay and straw frequently, not a big pile twice a day) or feed from a slow feeder
- do several fecal floats a year for each donkey rather than simply shove dewormer down them
Phew! ... seems like a lot to figure out but to me, feeding donkeys (and horses) is a balance between art and science - hence the lonnnng post!
Donkeys need:
Coarse, low protein hay with low non-structural carbohydrates. If you have your hay tested, this number is referred to as NSC. Protein should be less than 9% but way lower protein (less than 5%) is okay too.
They need barley straw (oat straw is too rich and wheat straw is too long and hard to digest.) Barley straw should make up 75% of their diet in winter, according to the UK Donkey Sanctuary. Why? Because donkeys are trickle feeders like horses, and need to eat small amounts of forage frequently. If this forage is in the form of grass or hay, you are giving them too many calories and they will get too fat, which in turn has many associated health risks. Having said this, I don't feed 75% barley straw, probably closer to 40% as it's harder to come by than hay.
Also, the stomach of an equine produces hydrochloric acid which is buffered by digesting feed. If the stomach is empty, the acid can cause ulceration to the stomach lining, hence the need to eat often. But as I mentioned in a previous post, the intestine is complex, so you don't want to overwhelm the animal with a huge amount of feed to process all at once.
They need salt, either in the form of a mineral/ salt block or loose.
They need clean water (not freezing cold.) They won't drink out of murky grungy buckets!
DO NOT feed them:
Cereal grains (that's corn, oats, barley)
Sugar (that's molasses, glucose, dextrose, etc.)
Never give them a bite of your ham sandwich (animal protein can be fatal!)
Don't feed them Oreo cookies or bread or doughnuts (people do!)
If your donkey needs supplements (for example, Deenah gets Ulcerex, ground flax, vitamins and a selenium/ Vitamin E supplement every day) you can mix the powders into a soaked mash of something.
I have been using Fiber Max from Otter Co-op which is 40% beet pulp & 60% soy bean hulls. But I have just been able to get some Timothy Balance hay cubes (which have some un-molassed beet pulp mixed in) and so will switch to that.
They love brush and I offer huckleberry, a few maple branches, raspberry canes, even hemlock branches that have lots of twiggy ends. They sometimes have access to salal and Oregon grape which they will eat when they choose, roots and other sticks and twigs. On my land, I have to watch out for Ragwort, foxglove, poison hemlock, cherry trees and leaves, red elderberry and mushrooms but there are many other plants that are toxic to donkeys. It's important to know your flora and be able to identify what is either poisonous or toxic.
You can also offer carrots, cut into "fingers" not disks and apples cut into wedges but remember there are sugar and carbs in both of those so go easy.
I use treats when I am clicker training, but I go for Timothy hay pellets or broken hay cubes, the occasional horse peppermint or apple flavoured treat.
When I administer dewormer, I will squish it from the tube into a scooped out piece of apple or sometimes, I'll make a sandwich of a thinly sliced piece of bread (just this once!) slathered with dewormer paste and folded over. I just find it easier than haltering, tying and jamming the tube into the donkey's mouth but that's just me. I've never had a donkey spit it out and they think they're getting a treat rather than meds.
But honestly, try to abstain from giving them grain or sweet feed or alfalfa unless you have a sick or thin animal. Keep it as natural as possible!
Give them air and room to move but also provide shelter from rain and wind and snow. I have made plenty of mistakes. Ringo's pre-laminitic condition last summer was caused by diet - I let him get too heavy and boy was I sorry.
To do it right, really really right, we all should:
- measure the height and heart girth to estimate body weight (see the UK Donkey Sanctuary's nomogram)
- feel our donkeys all over to body score them (not just a visual guess)
- have hay and straw analyzed by a lab annually (I use A and L Canada Labs)
- figure out how much hay each donkey needs based on their weight - between 1.2 - 1.7% of their body weight = total amount of feed per day, including any grazing!
- feed small amounts of hay and straw frequently, not a big pile twice a day) or feed from a slow feeder
- do several fecal floats a year for each donkey rather than simply shove dewormer down them
Phew! ... seems like a lot to figure out but to me, feeding donkeys (and horses) is a balance between art and science - hence the lonnnng post!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New Year's Day
A cold crisp, morning - dry and crunchy underfoot and the day promises some sunshine.
Donkeys are furry and looking for some browsing. I will gather some hemlock branches (they love the twigs) and huckleberry for them later.
It's Deenah's turn for a walk (Siog was out yesterday and Dorica the day before.) These are fine days for walking, the air clear, the ground dry and the island roads quiet.
A friend lost one of her horses yesterday. She found the horse cast against the shelter wall, and with help, got her on her feet. The vet was called and made the trip over to the island twice that day. My friend spent most of the night in the barn, administering pain killers and warm water to the horse but the next morning, her condition was worse. The vet felt the situation was dire and euthanized the horse. What went wrong?
Impossible to say but these things are both sad and frightening. Our lives are fragile and things can change just like that. The news of this tragedy had me observing all the donkeys with heightened awareness. Colic can be a problem in the winter as they are eating a lot of very dry matter.
I noticed that they are drinking less with the cold temperatures, even though I have two heated buckets, so I put out some kelp meal, offered "free choice" to add some saltiness (as well as trace minerals) to their diet.
This may encourage them to drink more. Donkeys don't dehydrate quickly - even in the hot sun. They retain water in much the same way as camels do. But I want to keep all that dry hay and straw moving through their systems.
Have you ever seem a diagram of a donkey's intestines? It's absolutely amazing that even a kernel can make it through! Same with a horse - miles of complicated, curving gut. No wonder colic is such an issue!
Salt is very important and donkeys don't tend to use a mineral block with any great enthusiasm, although it is important to have one available. I also offer free choice coarse Himalayan salt but they don't care for it as much as the kelp meal and it "attracts" moisture, so is often sitting in a puddle in the feeder.
Soaking hay can add water to their diet but I find it quite a pain to do and anyway my water pipes to the barn are frozen! Another option is to feed either beet pulp and soy bean hulls or hay cubes that have been soaked in water. Deenah gets a dish of this every morning with her ulcer meds and supplements - the minis don't need the extra calories. But it's an option that I will consider as I observe the level in the water buckets.
Donkeys are furry and looking for some browsing. I will gather some hemlock branches (they love the twigs) and huckleberry for them later.
It's Deenah's turn for a walk (Siog was out yesterday and Dorica the day before.) These are fine days for walking, the air clear, the ground dry and the island roads quiet.
A friend lost one of her horses yesterday. She found the horse cast against the shelter wall, and with help, got her on her feet. The vet was called and made the trip over to the island twice that day. My friend spent most of the night in the barn, administering pain killers and warm water to the horse but the next morning, her condition was worse. The vet felt the situation was dire and euthanized the horse. What went wrong?
Impossible to say but these things are both sad and frightening. Our lives are fragile and things can change just like that. The news of this tragedy had me observing all the donkeys with heightened awareness. Colic can be a problem in the winter as they are eating a lot of very dry matter.
I noticed that they are drinking less with the cold temperatures, even though I have two heated buckets, so I put out some kelp meal, offered "free choice" to add some saltiness (as well as trace minerals) to their diet.
This may encourage them to drink more. Donkeys don't dehydrate quickly - even in the hot sun. They retain water in much the same way as camels do. But I want to keep all that dry hay and straw moving through their systems.
Have you ever seem a diagram of a donkey's intestines? It's absolutely amazing that even a kernel can make it through! Same with a horse - miles of complicated, curving gut. No wonder colic is such an issue!
Salt is very important and donkeys don't tend to use a mineral block with any great enthusiasm, although it is important to have one available. I also offer free choice coarse Himalayan salt but they don't care for it as much as the kelp meal and it "attracts" moisture, so is often sitting in a puddle in the feeder.
Soaking hay can add water to their diet but I find it quite a pain to do and anyway my water pipes to the barn are frozen! Another option is to feed either beet pulp and soy bean hulls or hay cubes that have been soaked in water. Deenah gets a dish of this every morning with her ulcer meds and supplements - the minis don't need the extra calories. But it's an option that I will consider as I observe the level in the water buckets.
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