# HELP! Skinny Pregnant Donkeys



## stormaq (Oct 26, 2008)

Yesterday, I was given 2 pregnant donkeys. I believe one may be a Mammoth and the other looks to be Sicilian X. The Mammoth was bred a couple of months ago & the other is due in March or April, They are both painfully thin. Can someone please advise me on what to feed them & how much should I feed them. I don't want to hurt them with kindness by feeding them too much. One needs to gain at least 100 lbs & the other at least 50lbs.
I'm worried about the babies they're carrying. sob:


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## crazy4equines (Apr 15, 2012)

Here is what I would do..1st call a vet confirm that they are even bred, they may have have not even taken or they could have reabsorb the fetus because of being under weight and to rule out any other health problems that could be causing them to be under weight.. I would start them off on a nice grass hay feed them small amounts of grain at least 3 times a day like 1/2 pound to a pound of grain and gradually increase you can add a weight builder to their grain and this works really good. You should also run a fecal on them just to make sure they don't have worms.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Donks probably shouldn't get grain. Their metabolisms didn't evolve to handle that stuff. Hay!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Most vets discourage people from feeding grain to undernourished animals. You simply can't put back lost weight quickly and safely. 

I would look at providing good grass hay, clean water and would wait a week or so before worming because you don't want to upset their systems. When you do worm, I was told you should not start with a heavy hitter because a heavy parasite kill can cause serious problems. 

You should have them both checked by your vet to verify that there are no underlying medical conditions and set up a schedule for all required vaccinations.


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## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

I agree with not feeding grain now, if at all. Severely undernourished animals are not helped by refeeding too quickly. I believe someone posted a link recently to a re-feeding guide..maybe I can find it.

I would offer them good quality, free choice hay, clean water and a mineral block. You can ask the vet about a ration balancer or the addition of mare/foal feed of some sort, but I would not start feeding it without advice. I also would consult the vet before deworming an animal in this condition, especially if they are bred. While parasites can do a lot of damage over time, most times it is NOT the cause of an animal being severely underweight unless they are also sick -- usually the cause is just lack of food.

You might be surprised at how quickly they regain weight with just hay. 50lbs sounds like a lot, but might come back pretty quickly with just enough hay in front of her. Obviously 100lbs is a fair amount of weight, but still is safer to gain gradually.

Good luck!


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

you might can give oats if good hay isnt an option but make sure the vast majority is the best hay you can get, I don't like burmuda personally but for a donk its about it, rye has too much sugar typically for donks and fescue isn't ideal for pregnant equines.
Oats are broken down more as a forage than a grain so its better than corn or pellets if the extra calories are required.
Ive never really rehabed a donk but horses I use Empower by nutrina and it works well, its just basically rice bran and flax seed.


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## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

Cannon_Farms said:


> you might can give oats if good hay isnt an option but make sure the vast majority is the best hay you can get, I don't like burmuda personally but for a donk its about it, rye has too much sugar typically for donks and fescue isn't ideal for pregnant equines.
> Oats are broken down more as a forage than a grain so its better than corn or pellets if the extra calories are required.
> Ive never really rehabed a donk but horses I use Empower by nutrina and it works well, its just basically rice bran and flax seed.


Oats are very high in starch and sugar - (54% NSC) and so is Empower Boost (25%) so I would be careful feeding either one. Oats are better than corn (73% NSC) but I probably wouldn't feed either to a donkey.

If you absolutely must give something other than hay, soaked beet pulp (12% NSC) and/or a beet pulp based feed like Triple Crown Senior (14% NSC) would be safer choices.


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## stormaq (Oct 26, 2008)

:bowtie:Thank you everyone for your help & suggestions. I truely & sincerly appreciate it!!!! For now they have all the grazing they want in our hay meadow (we still have green bermuda grass) I've also been giving them a coffee can of soaked beet pulp, twice a day, with a little bermuda hay from our fields in the evening. They're already starting to look better. They both came up to me today and they allowed me to pet them just a little, I just had to be careful not to move my hands towards them too fast. As soon as I can get halters on them so I can load them into my trailer, they'll be making the trip to the vet. They're doing good for now. Their eyes are clear & there's no discharge from eyes or ears. I'll try to get some pics of them this week so ya'll can see what Martha & Molly look like.
Thanks again!!!!
Norma


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## WhiteStar Acres (Oct 11, 2012)

The best quality hay you can find and a cup or so of rice bran pellets would be safer than grain. You could, for a few months feed them pelleted hay, such as a 50/50 timothy alfalfa blended pellet and add the rice bran pellets (a safe source of fat). The advantage to the pelleted hay is you are getting the best quality with no waste. TSC sells Standlee brand, it's very high quality with no dust.

An ounce of red cell blood builder would also probably be a good idea, they're probably lacking a lot of vitamins, minerals and Iron.

Donkeys are not horses, so it's easy to over feed them. be careful.


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## WhiteStar Acres (Oct 11, 2012)

The best quality hay you can find and a cup or so of rice bran pellets would be safer than grain. You could, for a few months feed them pelleted hay, such as a 50/50 timothy alfalfa blended pellet and add the rice bran pellets (a safe source of fat). The advantage to the pelleted hay is you are getting the best quality with no waste. TSC sells Standlee brand, it's very high quality with no dust.

An ounce of red cell blood builder would also probably be a good idea, they're probably lacking a lot of vitamins, minerals and Iron.

Donkeys are not horses, so it's easy to over feed them. be careful.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Is it too late to abort the one that was recently bred?


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

She's not a donkey, but when I got my mare, she was about 200lbs underweight (15 hh mostly Arab). I fed her a good hay and in a month she was up to weight just fine. You didn't say how large your donkeys were to gauge how much underweight 100 or 50 lbs is for each of them, so it's hard to tell. I'd go with a quality hay and expect them to fill in pretty fast. 

Also worm them, but use something gentle the first time - an equine can colic if you kill off all of a heavy worm load, you need to be careful.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Are the donks:
1.) lean
2.) skinny
or 3.) emaciated?

If they are lean or skinny, you can start off with a half-dose of Strongid or Panacur. If they still seem fine after a week (no bloody manure or observed ill effects) then you can give them a full dose. If they are emaciated they should not be dewormed right away. No vaccinations either.

If they are _emaciated_, they should not be on grass. Just hay. And not all-you-can-eat. An emaciated horse can be killed by being put on full feed right away. They need to be gently eased onto food or they can die of - what I understand to be - insulin shock or just colic. If they are truly emaciated, they need to be dealt with very carefully. I know that the inclination is to feed the poor things up ASAP but in starvation cases you need to take a week to just feed them the same quantity of good hay as they were getting in their old home or half-rations if the old amount is unknown or too small. Feed according to what the animal's body weight _should_ be. If the donks were starved and emaciated, please look up "refeeding syndrome" as you truly can kill them with kindness. I have seen it happen and it is heartbreaking for the rescuer.


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## stormaq (Oct 26, 2008)

The smaller of the 2 is 43" tall, she's the Sicilian X, She was extremely thin, but not emaciated. After 8 days on green Bermuda grass, a flake of Bermuda hay in the evening & a small amound of soaked beet pulp with liquid "Dyne" vitamins in the beet pulp, 2 X a day, she looks much better, you can even see her baby bump now.
The other is a Mammoth, she's about 55" tall, she is what I consider emaciated. Not extremly so, I can tell it's going to take a while before she starts looking better, she gets the same ration as the smaller donkey.
I had an experience with a Corgi puppy that I had sold when he was 8 weeks old. The puppy was returned to me when he was 8 MONTHS old. He weighed less at 8 months than he did at 8 weeks. It was an emergency trip to the vet, severe starvation & malnutrition. I decided to keep him for a week or so to love on him & feed him. It just broke my heart and I cried many, many tears over him. I learned real quick about taking it easy on feeding starved animals. Thats why I posted this. I don't know anything about donkeys & it seems no one else around here knows nothing about them either. I did consult my vet, he approved of the rations I'm giving them. But thats why I posted about them, I knew there would be good folks like all of ya'll here on HT where I could get dependable advice.
I will!!!! take pics of them tomorrow to post on here, I PROMISE!


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## stormaq (Oct 26, 2008)

I can't seem to figure out how to post pics on here. I've put pics of the donkeys on my FB page.


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