Page 1049 - The Veterinary Care of the Horse

it will grow to maturity and produce eggs, without producing clinical signs. In the past

this has made the donkey a threat to horses grazing with them, which show more severe
VetBooks.ir clinical signs. The anthelmintics ivermectin and moxidectin are both effective against
lungworm at the standard dose rates, and so with good worming policies the donkey no

longer poses a risk.
• Tracheal disease. Tracheal stenosis (narrowing) and collapse may be encountered

especially in geriatric individuals. This may be due to a combination of age-related
degeneration in the tracheal cartilage and chronic lower airway disease causing increased

respiratory effort. The presentation is of a chronic cough with a characteristic ‘honking’
sound or acute respiratory distress. The area of collapse is frequently in the mid to distal

tracheal region. Treatment is often unrewarding and aimed at limiting mucosal swelling
and treating underlying lung disease.

• Chronic lung disease. Due to the non-athletic nature of most donkeys, early respiratory
disease is often unnoticed. This can lead to an irreversible fibrosis of much of the lung,

which is poorly responsive to available therapies. Such cases are best managed in a
clean-air environment. Secondary infections may prove difficult to treat and carry a grave

prognosis.

General anaesthesia

Donkeys generally make good surgical patients and do not panic on induction or recovery.

The vet will make a careful pre-operative assessment to pick up subtle or low-grade
problems. Pre-operative blood samples are useful in elderly patients.

Foot care

The donkey has a smaller and more upright hoof than the horse and the solar surface is more

oval. Donkeys frequently suffer from neglected hooves and it is common to see laminitis and
grossly overgrown hooves. Seedy toe, thrush and white line abscesses are common and are
treated as in the horse. Donkeys are stoical in the event of foot pain and it is often surprising

how severe the radiographic changes are in cases of chronic foot disease. As donkeys are
usually kept for companionship rather than competition, some may be successfully treated

despite chronic changes, as long as adequate pain relief can be provided.
• On radiographs of a normal donkey foot it is usual to see the distal to of the second

phalanx (P2) to be within the hoof capsule. An ongoing project at The Donkey Sanctuary

has measured the distance from the coronary band to the top of the extensor process of
the distal phalanx (P3) to be approximately 10.4 mm in normal donkeys. This can make