Meet the donkeys of Mashreq Shams

The donkeys of Mashreq Shams came in a variety of ages, colors and sizes - weanlings to old aged; white, grey, brown and black; large pony sized to very small. One thing they did seem to have in common was a need for dental, hoof or wound care. Many needed a bit of husbandry advice diplomatically directed to the owners. Most donkeys had curious handlers who were amazed at our ability to easily work with the donkeys, especially looking in their mouths.

Here's a few unique characters we met:

A sweet guy with broken ears - perhaps from rough handling because we did see a few owners restraining the donkeys by twisting the ears.

This young donkey was the recipient of a creative approach to weaning (metal spikes attached to halter so his mother would discourage him from nursing)

Even though he doesn't look too happy here,  this donkey was one of the better cared for donkeys whose owner recognized the importance of using sturdy but soft material for halter and pad rigging.

Many owners worried about the donkeys biting and some used muzzles

this donkey waits in line next to a motorbike

Our exams began with getting baseline information about sex, age, purchase cost, and value; then we noted the body condition score and obvious lesions. Getting consistent records was a challenge - some handlers were not the owners or didn't have the info; the men tried to interrupt the women; many owners expressed the donkey didn't have any health problems. However, in addition to widespread low body condition scores, the primary issue we observed was overgrown and chipped hooves. We were able to trim most of the hooves with nippers, but a few required the toeing knife.

Tricia and Jaber use the toeing knife to remove excess toe as Lina watches the new technique

Almost all the donkeys' legs had bands of ruffled white hairs - signs of scarring from being tethered and hobbled. We had one case whose legs had several fresh rope burns. He was the only donkey to be resistant to treatment and tried to bite and kick as we tended to his wounds. The owner said she just keeps putting the ropes higher up his legs and wonders why she keeps him. We showed her the felted ankle rope cover Tricia made and she nodded in agreement that padding would help prevent more wounds. Perhaps if his wounds have a chance to heal and he is in less pain, he will have a better demeanor.

We saw a donkey with a deep wound on its poll (area on top of the head behind the ears). This gave Tricia the opportunity to show the other version of the felted rope cover which was on the halter she had purchased on the way to the event. This halter caught the eye of three women sitting nearby who spent a fair amount of time checking out the novel felting cover idea. We didn't exchange too many words, but the smiles and nods were evidence a creative seed was planted.

Not all the donkeys had sharp dental points, but they all received a basic dental filing because we wanted the owners to know they were being treated equally. We saw an extreme dental case early in the day and asked the owner to bring the donkey back at the end of the event. This older donkey was very thin with long rostral (front) hooks on the upper first cheek tooth on both sides of his mouth.

He had an obvious external abscess on one side. Upon closer look inside his mouth we saw the cause of the abscess was due to the tooth hook penetrating the inside of the cheek and there was actually a fistula. He also had sores on his tongue and other places on his cheeks.
We started working on his mouth before we took pictures. It's really hard to get a good photo of the inside of a equine's mouth, especially a small donkey.

This photo shows the hook on the side without the abscess after we had started to file down the point. Tricia's hand is holding the tongue out of the way and you can see the lesion on the tongue right next to her pinky finger. The tooth is twice as long as it should be and interferes with the normal grinding process as well as cutting the inside of the mouth.

Ideally, a veterinarian would use a molar cutter or power tool and full mouth speculum/head stand system and chemical sedation to deal with this extreme case. We didn't have those luxuries. What we did have was patience and humanpower and a very well behaved donkey.

 

We took turns filing and holding the mouth open and managed to get the tooth reduced by half which was enough to be certain it would not protrude into the cheek allowing the abscess to heal.

We tried to convince the owner he could use a file to keep the point under control, but like most of the other donkey owners he was very reluctant to go near the donkey's mouth. We were able to explain to him the importance of providing softer feed.

It was a long hot day for the team and the owners but the donkeys didn't seem to mind waiting around. One by one they got their turn and then headed home. A few people said they had to leave to go have their afternoon tea.
 


We were fairly exhausted but satisfied we'd made a good impression on the community and knew we had made a few donkeys' lives a little better for at least a little while. We may have even inspired a few kids and adults to pay more attention to their donkey's health. With time our hope is that the community will notice the donkeys can do their jobs more efficiently with a better husbandry.

Tricia (kneeling), Zouhair on the special dental patient, Lina, Ahmed, Shadi, Jaber, Amine and the donkey owner (with his father looking on in the background). Thanks to Emna (not shown) who took the photo !

We packed up our tools confident the veterinary students would be welcomed back to Mashreq Shams for another donkey care day.

the remains of the day in the truck bed bid goodbye to Mashreq Shams