“Different”

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Yesterday, I practically starved my donkey, Pimmy. Recently, she was diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease and requires twice-daily medications, but refuses any food except the hay she’s always eaten. I have combated this by mixing her meds with delectable grains and molasses, even topping my offerings with Cheerios. Pimmy won’t touch a thing, even though she hadn’t received hay all day yesterday. I gave up and forked out hay in the evening, and she dived in.

I will prepare a vial containing warm water and medicated powder this morning and squirt the mixture into her mouth. Experience assures me that most of the liquid will spill to the ground. With the donkey, only practice will let me better control the process.

Medicine waste is a big deal because her meds are very expensive. I gasp unhappily while tossing a too-stale mixture she has refused or seeing medicated liquid spill to the ground. My friends with “Cushing’s horses” describe similar problems in getting their animals to accept the meds. The pill they must forever take daily is very bitter-tasting. I get it, but my situation adds a wild card–the donkey, an animal significantly different in many ways from horses. Pimmy’s willingness to remain hungry might be one of those differences.

Whichever way it might happen, by free- or force-feeding, I must learn. She needs two daily meds now, early on in her treatment cycle.

Dear Friends: Another day with the “different” animal and tackling challenges. Diana