The Donkey Forever Care Home
Donkey Rescue in Colchester,Essex.
Donkey Rescue in Colchester,Essex.
Important Notice* We are sorry we are not open to the public.
For up todate information on our donkey's progress please do watch our website.
Often at the point when a neglected animal is reported the animals health has been extremely effected. Rescued donkeys suffer from a number of health issues brought on by starvation, lack of shelter & neglect, These may include: Overgrown Feet, intestine worms, infection & being underweight. Donkeys are beautiful creatures, they deserve to be treated with love & care.
Please take a look through our donkey’s stories below. It makes for painful reading, but rest assured that they can now look forward to a life of love & care.
Wezley & SoxHi my name is Wezley and I am 19 year old donkey. I haven’t had a very good start in life until I came to The Donkey Forever Care Home. I was with a few people before and was not looked after at all pushed from person to person. My feet were over grown I had intestine worms my ears were very painful full of an infection. I was very underweight and my bones were showing through. My previous owners never showed me any love or affection just left me to fend for myself in a field with no grass or shelter just a little water out in all weathers day after day. The only friend I had was a cat called Sox who was also owned by the same people he was in a sorry state too he was just used to scavenging around he was skin and bone.
This all changed when I
came to live at The Donkey Forever Care Home. I was put up for sale and thanks to
the care received from the care home mine and sox’s life has changed. We are now living together with
regular food, vet checks, I have my own paddock with grass and a lovely field shelter and I even have a dental check. Of a night I have my own
stable with lovely soft bedding and fresh hay to eat. Sox always sits
on my door with me and our friendship is even stronger. Sox looks really good now to and we also get lots of kisses and cuddles. Thankfully
we now have a really good home. The Donkey Forever Care Home wants to rescue more donkeys
but this is quite costly so they are now fundraising
and with your help of any small change donations you could help
them make this happen and give unwanted donkeys a new life like mine.
Thank you
Blarney and BooBlarney is a Jenny Donkey who is approximately 6 years old. She is also in foal (approx 4 months). She and two other donkeys were left alone in a field near a very busy road in Great Yarmouth. The fence around the field was broken wood and barbed wire. They had little water & no feed, standing in terrible muddy conditions they were suffering from malnutrition and one of the donkeys was covered in sores.
A member of the public knowing of us telephoned and reported that not only were they left in these horrendous conditions but teenage boys were harassing the donkeys by throwing things at them and chasing them around. Once we received this terrible news we acted straight away. We travelled down there at two o'clock in the morning. We had to wait until it became light but at least we were there. As soon as it was light we could see what condition they were in. Their hooves were very long and they all had sores.
One of the donkeys was in a worst way than the other two. We managed to track down the owners who were an
elderly couple who unfortunately were
quite unwell themselves and were finding it very hard to look after them. We offered to take the donkeys and they agreed. They were also upset to see
them go but knew it was the right thing to do.
Now all three are doing well in our care.
Dolly & MollyMolly and Dolly suffered such horrendous cruelty before coming to the Donkey Forever Care Home. It has taken quite some time to gain the trust of these two little inseparable donkeys. We have worked hard with them and with a lot of love kisses and kind care they are gradually getting well again. Things are finally looking good for Molly and Dolly and we love them to bits.
SamSam came to the Donkey Forever Care Home as a long working beach donkey. He was used on a daily basis in all weathers and was never cared for with veterinary treatments. We called in our vet and he examined Sam and gave him all the treatment he so truly deserves. He has made good progress with everything and is looking very well indeed. Well done Sam we love you dearly.
When Blarney and Boo arrived at the Donkey Forever Care Home we were able to assess the neglect that the Donkeys had suffered in a little more detail. Boo the younger donkey had overgrown feet that were sore and she was biting herself because she had a mite infestation, her hind quarters were also narrowing due to worms.
Blarney unfortunately was in a far worse state. Not only had her hooves started to turn upwards we also noticed a large area of her fur was starting to fall out exposing her skin. We called our Vet David straight away to come out. He examined both the girls and said that the fur loss on Blarney was due to a bacterial infection that had to be treated with a medicated shampoo that we must only use on a 5 daily basis and an antibiotic cream to be applied once a day.
We just hope it does not spread anywhere else on Blarney as the area looks very sore. Blarney also has narrowing on her hind quarters and David recommended we start the girls on a five day worming course then after 10 to 14 days another wormer to keep everything under control. We have started the worming treatments and hope things go well. Boo was also given some cream which is being applied on a daily basis just hoping we have caught things in time.
A visit from our Farrier MikeyMikey came down to see the girls and checked the condition of their hooves. He stressed that the trimming would have to be a gradual thing reducing the growth a bit at a time as they were quite overgrown. He also noticed that there was separation in the hooves which indicated that Laminitis had been present. This is a very painful complaint and can be caused by quite a few things like an unsuitable diet, frost on grass, trauma – penetrating an injury , toxins ingested, fever, stress and even trotting on a hard surface for a considerable time can also cause it whatever the cause we will monitor it so hopefully it does not return. Boo was very nervous at having her hooves lifted but with Mikey’s patience kind and gentle manor she gradually started to relax and cooperate. Blarney’s hooves had grown longer than Boo’s so again Mikey could only perform a small trim and on his next visit he will trim and shape the hooves gently again until we can get them back to where they are supposed to be. It will be quite a while before they are back to normal. We must continue to make sure that laminitis does not reoccur and their feet never get like this again.
