Page 1053 - The Veterinary Care of the Horse

Any changes to the diet should be made gradually over a period of at least 1–2 weeks.

Fresh drinking water must always be available and with a straw-based diet the donkey’s
VetBooks.ir output of droppings should be monitored.

Donkeys should always be fed to condition. Guidance on how to condition score and
estimate the weight of a donkey is available in fact sheets from the Donkey Sanctuary

website (on the ‘What we do – Donkey Health and Welfare page’) together with advice on
many other aspects of donkey care. There is also an excellent book – The Clinical
Companion of the Donkey available from The Donkey Sanctuary.

Quality of Life Assessment

The Donkey Sanctuary cares for a large number of geriatric donkeys with chronic conditions

such as laminitis, arthritis, blindness, respiratory and dental disease. Many of these receive
long-term medication and their management and environment are adapted accordingly.
However, the aim is to continually assess their quality of life, not to extend it if the quality is

poor. The grooms and vets monitor each individual donkey on a regular basis. Many of these
observations can be made and noted on their records without disturbing the donkey. This

helps detect subtle decline and make a decision regarding the most appropriate time for
euthanasia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thank you to the Donkey Sanctuary

The Donkey Sanctuary was founded by Dr Elisabeth D. Svendsen MBE in 1969 and has

taken many thousands of donkeys into care since then. The Donkey Sanctuary mission
statement is ‘To transform the quality of life for donkeys, mules and people worldwide

through greater understanding, collaboration and support, and by promoting lasting, mutually
life-enhancing relationships.’ There are ongoing projects to aid the health and welfare of
these animals in over 40 different countries.

In the UK, the Donkey Sanctuary has premises in Sidmouth, Ivybridge, Leeds,

Manchester, Birmingham, Derbyshire and Belfast where donkey-assisted therapy is offered
to children with special needs. Donkeys may be re-homed to specially selected ‘guardian
homes’ where they are looked after by knowledgeable and experienced donkey lovers in the

company of other donkeys.