Donkey broke into feed room

[Catmoose1347]

I'm taking care of my neighbors' animals, and I went by this evening to discover their mini donkey in the feed room. He seems to have eaten hay and alfalfa pellets. I'm. Inexperienced in equines, let alone donkeys. Any ideas of what to do? Help!

 

[Bunnylady]

If all he got into was hay and alfalfa pellets, he's probably OK. Donkeys are pretty smart about these things; he probably wouldn't eat enough to hurt him. Unless he ran out of water, regular ol' grass hay shouldn't do him any harm, no matter how much he ate. Alfalfa pellets are pretty rich food for a donkey, though.

The usual signs of a horse with colic are pretty dramatic, but donkeys don't really go there. Mostly, a donkey with a belly ache just sort of stands around looking sorry for itself. It may have rather loose poops, which is a good thing under the circumstances. If he stops eating, I would get concerned, and I'd keep putting my hands on his feet to see if they feel unusually warm.

I realize several hours have passed since your post, I hope that all is well with him today.

 

[Catmoose1347]

I checked on him twice during the night to make sure he wasn't dead. He wasn't. He wanted to know what I was doing there and if he would get dinner. He's okay now. Acting normal. If I didn't catch him in there, I wouldn't know that anything had happened at all.

I hope everything stays this was and he doesn't develop some mysterious illness in the next few days...

 

[cassie]

If he was going to get sick he would have done so before now. Donkeys and mules are pretty smart when it comes to feed. Horses are not. However, if you catch them in the feed room gorging on grain, the vet can give them a shot that will prevent most of the difficulties.