A Happy New Year?

They’re the stars of our Christmas cards, but how healthy is the future for donkeys? Patrick Pollock FRCVS reports

- Patrick Pollock

WHILE few donkeys in the UK still work as pack animals or at the seaside, many are kept as companions. A naturally calm and inquisitive nature means donkeys make excellent therapy animals, and they are often used in assisted learning programmes.

The donkey evolved from the African wild ass, in and around the area now known as Somalia. They were first domesticated in Egypt, more than 5,000 years ago, and have been closely associated with humans ever since.

With origins in an arid desert climate, where vegetation and other food sources are typically sparse, donkeys face unique health challenges when living in cooler, wetter regions. The ready supply of high-quality, high-calorie feeds and lush grazing in countries such as the UK, coupled with a relatively sedentary lifestyle, has led to widespread obesity issues.

Overweight donkeys are at risk of equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), as well as laminitis. Wet, heavy ground can also be challenging for donkey hooves, which are adapted to the desert.

Hyperlipaemia, a condition that affects donkeys, miniature donkeys and small pony breeds, can also be fatal. If a donkey stops eating enough, his vital organs still require a supply of fuel — so his body begins to mobilise energy stored as fat deposits.

These free fatty acids are circulated to the liver to be converted into glucose, the main fuel used by all cells, in a process controlled by a series of complex hormonal events. Unfortunately, donkeys and small ponies are not able to efficiently “turn off” the fat release. The consequence of these high-circulating fats, termed triglycerides, is degeneration of the liver and kidneys, followed by irreversible multi-organ damage and failure.