# Donkey teeth problems



## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

We have a 3 year old donk whose teeth are pretty bad. I would say a year ago they looked perfectly fine. A few months ago they looked 'worn' but nothing that caused concern for the farrier or the horse person who lives at the farm. Well, now they ARE horrible! I couldn't get a picture - I could barely look at the teeth myself. 

The top incisors are worn into half moons - concave. And she is either entirely missing or has broken off nearly all of a bottom front tooth. I thought I saw a complete hole but another person thought they saw a tooth bud. Something like this (picture from online, just used for illustration):










We have a vet coming out tomorrow for some other things and wanted him to swing by and take a look at her teeth. But I'd like to go into that with a little bit of knowledge!

The donkey is pastured in a wooded area and goes out foraging with the sheep and goats. She thinks she is one and eats more brush than I've ever seen an equine do. She is always out (not barned). We provide all the animals with coastal bermuda hay too - and they do eat quite a bit of it as it's terribly dry and not much is growing now. She is not losing any weight at all. She looks rather healthy otherwise. We've never had any other health problems with her.

Any idea what's going on? We are new to equine ownership (had her for over 2 years) and admittedly don't "do" much for her since we really haven't had to. So we are ready to learn! I hope this can be corrected and further damage avoided in the future.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

A donkey's adult teeth come in between 2-4 years, are what you seeing her adult teeth growing in?


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

Shows how much I know about donkeys! I bet her "missing" bottom tooth is just a new tooth coming in then. Whew.

But the top teeth are definitely worn (er, I really think so at least!). They are just longer than the gum line - quite a bit shorter than that picture.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Could it be her adult teeth just erupting through the gum? It can happen, but it's unlikely she wore her teeth down that much in a year unless she's a severe cribber.


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

Ok, I think we are just going to have to get another look in her mouth. She is extremely friendly but not good at being handled. We are STILL working on her to lift her feet nicely or even to let us lift her back ones at all! So peering in her mouth was a bit of a fiasco yesterday.

I'll see if I can get some pics. Hopefully it is just new teeth. They just looked awful though and I want to make sure she is healthy! I can't imagine what she could be 'cribbing' on really. We don't have any horizontal bars (wood fence rails, etc) that she could grab on. I suppose she could crib on tree branches...! But surely someone would have seen that. Ok, gonna go with "new teeth" for now and try to post some pics later.

Thanks!


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

IIRC, you've had this donkey for over a year, correct?
It is reasonable to expect her to learn to pick up her feet and behave for grooming/ handling in just a couple of weeks 
What sort of enclosure do you have her in? And what is your set up for grooming her?

I mean this in the most respectful way possible, sounds like she is taking full advantage of your kind nature.


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

She is TOTALLY taking advantage of her situation!  Our farm is basically a cooperative venture. Unfortunately, until this year, we've gone through a lot of changes of people (we finally have a stable core of people). When we got the donkey we had people who had trained mule teams and we thought all would be fine. But they left. I don't live at the farm but I worked with her every week or two and got her to accept front hoof stuff but never quite got the hang of the rear. But then my life circumstances changed and I could no longer do it. So currently...she is totally untrained, as in nobody works with her except our absolutely awesome farrier that is willing to put up with her absurd behavior.

We have no grooming or handling procedures at all. She is in a two acre wooded pasture and is usually only dealt with over the fence or when she is trimmed every 3 months or so.

By the way, it has been my May Day Resolution to work with her when I am at the farm (which is only every 2 weeks now). I know she is a smart beast so I hope that isn't too terribly long between training sessions. But I once had her accepting handling of her front hooves and I'm sure it won't take too long before she is back to that and moving forward. I hope! I've been looking at round pens too (or something along those lines) as we need all the ground work gone over. Should be an adventure!


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

YEAH! The vet said Willie Mae is in tip top shape. It IS her baby teeth falling out!

And I spoke with the folks at the farm about training her more...apparently she IS much better with lifting her feet, just not for me when I tried this weekend.  The last time I worked with her was almost exactly a year ago when the farrier was out for a particularly difficult trim (it was raining and the donkey was freaked)...and then went into labor that day. The farrier was so afraid the donkey had been rough with me and caused my water to break! So I have been otherwise disposed for awhile!


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## farmergirl (Aug 2, 2005)

Once every two weeks will not be enough training. She is at the perfect age to learn all sorts of stuff, as she is old enough to be physically mature enough for strenuous physical work.

Is there no one at the farm on a daily basis? It would only take 15 or 20 minutes a day to groom her and lead her around a bit once she got used to it.

I'm sure you already know this, but your farrier is an angel for being willing to work on an unbroke equine 

I'm not far from you. Let me know if you need my help.


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## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

farmergirl said:


> Once every two weeks will not be enough training. She is at the perfect age to learn all sorts of stuff, as she is old enough to be physically mature enough for strenuous physical work.
> 
> Is there no one at the farm on a daily basis? It would only take 15 or 20 minutes a day to groom her and lead her around a bit once she got used to it.


I guess I just hadn't been aware that people were handling her more. There is no set routine I don't think but she is getting more training than I thought.



> I'm sure you already know this, but your farrier is an angel for being willing to work on an unbroke equine


She's an old friend of ours and said she would come to give us a few pointers when we first got Willie Mae. And then she just kept coming back for trims even though we never moved too terribly far forward with the training. Our farrier is AMAZING! And trust me, we do everything we can to compensate her (feed her every time she comes out, load her with veggies, eggs and cheese, etc). But I feel like the ultimate reward for her sticking with us would be to get the donkey to stand perfectly. Apparently she is very close to that and I don't think it will take much more work. Whew!



> I'm not far from you. Let me know if you need my help.


We really should get together one of these days. I keep saying that to several people in the area!  You know, when we have oodles of free time to kill. :happy0035:


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