Forever Home Donkey Rescue

Residents of 

Forever Home Donkey Rescue

As rescues, we know all of our animals have stories. Here is some of the information we have on them. There is much more they could tell us, if only we could understand.

New Arrivals

Selena & Falena: These 2 girls were running loose in a populated area down by Douglas.  The neighborhood enjoyed having them around, but were afraid they’d get out on the highway.  They both are very well mannered & although Falena has a deformed foot, we are working with a special shoe that will hopefully fix it. 

Thelma 2005: We got a call about 4 donkeys the people could no longer afford to feed.  They wanted to give up 2 of them, but when we went out to visit, the situation wasn’t good for any of them.  They were not halter broke, nor had they been worked with.  Their feet had never been trimmed, & they were being fed alfalfa & sweet feed.  The 2 older jennies had dropped their babies not long after the people got them about 3 years ago, one jenny & one jack.  The jack was old enough to breed, so it was almost certain that all 3 jennies were PG, even though one was only 2 years old.  The people agreed to give up all 4, Thelma is one of the older jennies & the mother of Beau.

Mocha 2009:  Mocha was the younger jenny in the group of 4.  On Sept 6, 2011, she had a baby, we named Tucker.  For such a young jenny she has been a wonderful Mom. 

Tucker 9/6/2011:  Tucker is our 1st baby born here, most of our guys are at the other end of their lives.  He had a rough start & had to be  hospitalized for 4 days for transfusions & antibiotics for bacterial infection.  Mocha went with him to the hospital & they both got along just fine.  He is now doing the 3 things baby animals do, eating, sleeping & running around like a maniac.  

MADIE 1998:    Madie had a good home, but had foundered in the last year or so & continued to have ouchy feet.  She also has a problem with sun sensitivity & her legs have bald spots which get worse unless they are protected from the sun until winter.  She is a very good girl, no bad  habits.  Watches to see what’s going on, & goes where she needs to go, if you point.  Wish they were all so well-trained.  

Regulars

Gus 1998:  Gus lost his companion in March 2011 & we were asked to take him. He is a little overweight & will need to have regular feet trims. A trimmer said he didn't need his feet trimmed for months, although the horses were trimmed regularly.  Gus ended up with very high heels & "stovepipe" feet, which puts a lot of pressure on the bones inside his feet.  He's been x-rayed & with regular trimming he should be just fine. 

QUILLA (Kela)  1992 ?  Nine years ago a woman got Quilla, a roping donkey as a companion for her horse.  Over the years he was very well fed & had a good home, although his feet weren't trimmed.  A couple of years ago the horse died & he had been alone although he did have a goat for companionship.  The years of rich diet have not only caused him to be overweight, but he walks like he is chronically foundered.  His owner wasn't in a position to get him another equine friend, & decided we could give him a better long term home with lots of equine friends.  We will work on getting the extra weight off him, & trim his feet on a regular basis, which should make him much more comfortable long term.  The owner said he never brayed, as soon as he got here he started braying at all the donkeys on a regular basis.  Guess he didn't have anyone that talked his language before.   

DAISY DOB 1985  Daisy was being used for roping practice, until she literally sat down in the arena & gave birth to a foal.   She had also been shot in the shoulder, & still has shrapnel in her shoulder that erupts into an abscess about once a year.  A wonderful couple took her & Junior Surprise out of the horrible situation they were in, & gave them a great home.  Fast forward 16 years, & because of health problems the couple needed to move closer to family & started looking for homes for the donkeys &  2 mules.  A place was found for the donkeys, but unfortunately Junior slipped & tore the tendons & ligaments in his stifle area, & had to be euthanized.  We had room for one, so Daisy came to us.  She is a very sweet girl,  very cooperative & easy to work with.  She unfortunately has extremely long hair & plenty of it.  We will body clip her, so she will be more comfortable in the desert summer heat. 

FRIJOLITA:  DOB 2001:

Frijolita (Little Bean) was taken off the range by BLM in 2001 as a 6 month old.  She & another baby girl were adopted by a couple that already had 2 grown jennies, & gave them a wonderful home.  A few years later Margarita coliced & Frijolita was very lonely.  We had a young jenny, Twinkie & she went to this home to be a friend of Frijolita.  After a few months, the couple had some health problems & thought it would be a good idea to start thinking about downsizing.  A good home for 2 donkeys showed up, but we only had one available.  We hauled Chili, picked up Twinkie, aka, Galleta Dulce on the way & delivered them to their new home.  Then we went back & picked up Frijolita, so she could come out here where there are lots of donkeys for her to find a new friend, hopefully.  She has neurological problem with her back legs called stringhalt.  She had it when she was adopted, & although she sometimes raises her legs in a jerky fashion, it isn't painful.  She also has ridging on her front feet, although she has never been foundered.  We are hoping that by being out here with lots of room to roam on rough land, maybe her feet will improve.  Time will tell. 

PEPSI:

We were told about Pepsi at the vet clinic. The woman needed to find a home for him fairly quickly. Pepsi has a reoccurrence of a sarcoid right under his eye.  He had one  in 2007& his owner treated it successfully at that time with xxTerra .   Since he had health problems, besides being overweight, he fit into our goal of taking in the ones that are unadoptable.  We’ll work on getting his feet in shape, & also his little body. In the future with some feet trimming, dieting & hopefully getting rid of the sarcoid, he should be very adoptable. In the meantime we will enjoy having him here.

BLACKJACK: 1986?

We bought BlackJack in 1997, as a 10 year old intact jack. He was going to slaughter if we didn’t buy him for $50. His feet had not been trimmed & were slippered. He almost bled to death when he was gelded, because of our lack of knowledge about the differences between horses & donkeys. Unfortunately many veterinarians have not worked with donkeys & aren’t aware, that donkeys are heavier bleeders than horses, & this needs to be taken into consideration when performing surgery. He is the alpha equine on the property, & has the responsibility of checking all trailers that come on the property to see if it’s a new friend, or even better has something to eat in it. He is insulin resistant, so his diet is low sugar & starch. He is doing very well, without medication.

CISCO II: 1990?

We brought Cisco home the same day with Buster. He had been used as a roping donkey, & probably would no longer run to be roped. He had no interest in his surroundings or what was going on around him. This shutting down is a way of trying to control their lives in the only way left to them, by not getting involved. He also had summer sores, which are caused by habromena larvae under his eyes & on other areas of his body. These areas itch intensely, to the point where he self mutilated, by biting, scratching, or rubbing. Over a period of 3 years for about 7 months each year, he had to be treated daily, sometimes hourly. He still has to be watched during fly season, for new outbreaks.

PEPPER: < 1976?

Pepper had been used as a roping donkey, & fed alfalfa hay for at least 15 years. He was very sway backed, had what is called a hay belly, had been foundered (laminitis) & his feet were in poor shape. He was also very lethargic, & had longer hair than normal. It took another episode of laminitis for us to find out that he was not only insulin resistant, but also has Cushing's disease, caused by a tumor on his pituitary gland. He receives daily medication, his hooves are trimmed every 5 weeks & he is probably in better shape than he’s been in, for many years.

RUSTY: (mule) 1979?

Rusty came from a good home he had for 10 years. For two of those years he took a little boy to school each day. There was a round pen by the school where Rusty & the brother’s horse spent the day. His owner could no longer keep him due to personal circumstances, but she wanted to make sure he didn’t go into the unknown by being sold to strangers that might not appreciate his wonderful personality & gentle nature. She came out to visit & approved our place as a new home for Rusty. He slipped into the herd & routine, like he had always been here & really is a “Cadillac Mule” as his owner called him. But, when it’s all said & done, he is a mule & does have his “mule” moments.

JACK: (mule) 5/5/82

About a month after we got Shiloh the same man called & said he had an old mule he wanted to give us, otherwise he was going to shoot him. Jack had recently gone blind in one eye, was very spooky, & couldn’t be trusted on trails, so he had no value. He has finally decided we aren’t so bad after all. His teeth were really bad, & he couldn’t chew hay. We had an equine dentist work on his teeth, & it took a few months for the calcium deposits that were keeping his jaw from free movement to dissolve, but he now chews with great enthusiasm. He has gained weight & is a special boy, even if he isn’t really a donkey.

CHEYENNE, LYNN, & JUSTIN:  

These miniatures came to visit, in Dec 2006 to hopefully lose some weight.  They had been in with a lot of horses, & obviously been eating more than their fair share of the hay being thrown in the pen.  I'm not sure this is a good place to lose weight, most of ours are a little pudgy, but at least we have some control over what they eat.  Their "Mom" has seen them & thinks they look much better, although they have a ways to go.  We've all decided they are better off staying here than going back into a situation where their food intake might not be closely monitored.  Everyone that comes to visit the donkeys love to see them, especially small children.  They've learned to "work the people" for treats, so we're in no hurry for them to leave.   

JENNY:  1999  

Jenny is the first mammoth donkey we've had here.  A woman north of Phoenix called, & she was at the end of her rope with trying to help Jenny.  She had been working on Jenny's feet for a year & said she had treated over 50 abscesses in that time.  She was to the point of thinking about euthanasia.  We took Jenny sight unseen, & her feet were really bad, lots of open cracks & bleeding from the coronary band above the hoof.  But she hadn't given up, although when she came here in May 2007, she was laying down over 23 hours a day. Her egg bar shoes were pulled & we started soaking her feet, & having her trimmed on a regular basis.  X-rays showed damage to the coffin bone on both front feet, from chronic founder.  As soon as she could stand for a little while, we started letting her out of her pen to roam as much as she could to improve circulation in her feet. 

She's made a lot of progress in the last year.  She doesn't lay down anymore, & has even trotted a few times, although she really prefers the slow & easy meandering lifestyle.  Her feet have almost grown out completely, but are still deformed, both internally & externally, & will need regular trimming.  Unfortunately she probably will never be sound enough to be ridden or pull a cart, so she will stay in sanctuary for the rest of her life