donkey

Working equines in Mexico are distributed throughout the territory, but the management practices and the health and welfare conditions differ widely between regions depending on people's customs and specific climate conditions. The Eastern coast of México has an important equine population used for work in rural production systems. Something that owners and animal workers are concerned about is how the gastrointestinal parasite burden affects the equines nutritional status and health. This is because parasite reinfestations are most likely to occur in hot, humid climates. However, there are few reliable data to support this and the lack of information makes it difficult to design treating strategies and extension activities to ensure the health and welfare of equines in these areas. To address this, a trial was designed to determine the prevalence of animals infected with gastrointestinal nematodes, the parasite burdens and their effects on the nutritional status and haematological values of working equines from a tropical area of Mexico. One hundred and twelve equines were randomly selected in five different villages of the area. One sample of faeces and one sample of blood (in a tube containing EDTA) were obtained from every animal. Gastrointestinal parasite burden using the McMaster technique, proportions of nematodes species present through a coproculture, packed cell volume, total plasma proteins, red blood cell count and white blood cell count, were measured. The nutritional status was assessed using body condition score. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. All calculations were done per species (horses, donkeys and mules) and community (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). Prevalence of infected equines was higher than 90%. The most common nematode species was Strongylus vulgaris. The parasite burden was low to moderate in horses and donkeys, higher in mules; however, it did not affect the body condition, nor the haematological values (P>0.05). Results suggest that in spite of the high prevalence and parasite burdens, equines involved in this trial are not being seriously affected, as shown by the body condition and haematological parameters.

There is a wealth of research citing the benefits of Equid Assisted Interactions (EAI’s) but these are often anthropocentric and fail to include measures that capture donkey engagement behaviours during sessions. This observational bias, possibly quite common in EAI research, reinforces the assumption that animal assisted interactions are somehow enriching for the non-human animal thus welfare interests can be overlooked.

Aims and objectives

• To design a quality of engagement tool (QET) that captures engagement behaviours of both donkeys and autistic children during interaction sessions
• To identify potential enrichment or welfare measures for individual donkeys during EAI sessions.

Equine Metabolic Syndrome is defined as a “Clinical syndrome associated with an increased risk of laminitis that includes insulin dysregulation and any combination of increased generalised or regional adiposity, weight loss resistance, and altered adipokine concentrations.” https://sites.tufts.edu/edu/equineendogroup. Donkeys are prone to Equine Metabolic Syndrome due to their physiological adaptations to survive in resource poor environments. The donkey has a lower nutritional requirement than a pony of the same size, but is often exposed to excess feed with high non- structural carbohydrate levels. In addition, they are generally given little exercise.

Donkeys and many small pony breeds are considered to be relatively insulin resistant- which has a survival advantage, but also leads to, and is linked with both hyperinsulinemia and obesity.

As well as clinical symptoms we need to test for insulin dysregulation. Resting insulin levels have very low sensitivity /high specificity and should not be relied upon as a sole test. At The Donkey Sanctuary we use an oral carbohydrate challenge using Karol Light (corn syrup). As donkeys are at increased risk of hyperlipaemia we do not starve patients before testing, but have a standard protocol that involves the donkey only having access to straw for at least 6 hours prior to testing. We then give 45ml/100kg of syrup and obtain baseline blood samples. A second sample is taken 60-90 minutes later to measure serum insulin, which should be below 60mU/L.

At present adipokine testing is not validated for donkeys.

There will be cases of EMS that do not demonstrate obesity and cases that also suffer from concurrent PPID, so in some cases further diagnostics will be warranted. In many cases management of EMS relies on improving the dietary management of the donkey, and initiating a controlled weight loss programme. Ideally, the exercise is increased, but this will be dictated by whether there is any underlying lameness. To prevent boredom in cases of dietary restriction there are several ways to modify and enrich the stable environment.

Medical treatments exist: metformin can be used to reduce glucose absorption enterically and help in transitioning a donkey to pasture; a thyroxine derivative may be useful to increase the metabolic rate.

Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID) is seen in donkeys and, as many are kept until they are geriatric it is seen relatively frequently. The condition is known to be associated with an increased risk of immunosuppression and laminitis. Affected cases may have obvious clinical signs such as hirsutism, muscle wastage and polydipsia. However we rely upon testing suspect donkeys for elevations in ACTH to detect cases before such signs are reached.

PPID results in hyperinsulinemia, which is a risk factor for laminitis. We also find these cases may have higher faecal egg counts, higher ectoparasites burdens and delayed wound healing.

Treatment of the underlying disorder relied upon the use of pergolide- Prascend at 2µg/kg. As the drug can suppress appetite donkeys need careful monitoring when on the drug and may need to start at lower doses. Testing In autumn when the levels are at their highest is considered the best time to discriminate for positive cases.