Part two: More about Siog

There are some things I didn't mention in my post about Siog and her puzzling displays of discomfort.

While the acupuncture is helping her overall health, I don't think it's really "the thing" that is solving whatever is ailing her.  I didn't mention that she has bouts of liquid manure ... not diarrhea, just brown liquid sometimes.  Hmmm ... this points to digestive issues.

Ulcers cause belly ache and with belly ache, you don't feel like eating.  A donkey off her feed is a red flag alert!  And I would immediately take action.  I have a list of things I try right away and if nothing works, I call the vet. But that's for another post.

All this to say that I don't think Siog is suffering from ulcers, at least not stomach ulcers.  Her appetite is nothing short of amazing - I have never known her to be off her feed, in fact, she gains weight SO easily, I have to be really careful with her.

see those fat bulges?

However she has been treated with Gastroguard just to be sure, and then with a generic brand that also has the amino acid L-glutamine in it. L-glutamine works on the hind gut and hind gut digestive problems are different from stomach digestive problems.

A friend pointed me to these products: www.healthyhorses.ca 
and after trying numerous supplements added to her morning mash, or  in "extra" little mashes throughout the day, I think these are the very best so far.  They support digestive health in the stomach and also in the hind gut. Read about them!

But, we're not out of the woods yet. Siog has had the intensive round of all 3 products, then I back her off and if/ when I see her symptoms appear, I reintroduce the supplements.  She is on the top dressing granular supplement every day though.  And this morning, she was in a real snit, very unsettled and grumpy and chasing poor Rose ... so this will be a day to add the paste and the amino acids back in.  It's so trial and error, I doubt we'll ever home free with this gal.  But I watch her like a hawk and do what I can.

And one final note:  the hemming and hawing over whether her so called "displays" are physical or emotional? That's the 64 dollar question (remember that expression?)   She is a very emotional little donkey, no doubt about it, very annoyed when I work with one of the others, very annoyed if I walk by without asking to perform one of her many splendid behaviours, whimpering and watching me constantly! So ... I think it's both ... something's bugging her.  The way to help, I think, is offering her as much physical AND mental support as I can!

New Diet for the Hens

I was given a wonderful little book recently called Fresh Eggs Daily by Lisa Steele.
She's a chicken farmer and also a herbalist and it's this combination that really excites me!  She grows and uses herbs for a wide variety of things - to encourage egg laying, to discourage parasites, to freshen the coop, keep flies away and improve the nutrition and general health of the flock.

I don't have a big stash of dried herbs at the moment, although I do grow quite a variety.  But this is definitely on my list for this year.  Grwo more, dry more!

One thing I have done though is mix up a feed based on what she calls the "Breakfast of Champion Layers!"

While it certainly adds to the cost of the feed, it feels so wonderful to be offering this to my merry band of ten hens. And it will improve the quality of the eggs for sure.

Here's what I mixed up yesterday:

To a big bag of 16% Organic Layer Mash, I added:

1. Hulled sunflower seeds (Purchased in the wild bird feed department)
2. Organic whole oats
3. Cracked corn
4. Flax seed
5. Food grade Diatamaceous Earth (personally I would never feed this to mammals but the hens can handle it)
6. Brewer's yeast

I have a lovely mixed flock made up of  3 Americaunas, 2 Blue Opringtons, 1 Chanticleer, 1 Black Australorpe, 2 Silver Grey Dorkings and 1 Light Brahma.  Here they are enjoying a new batch of feed:

Quite a variety of eggs!

Siog- what's going on?

Siog, who turned 6 this past July, cycles frequently.  She seems to come into heat about every 3 1/2 -4 weeks and even when I think it's over, she'll display some sign that it's not.

I've been keeping an eye on her, as she clearly seems to be in some discomfort during her cycles. 
What I notice is that she turns her head and noses or nips at her flank just in front of her stifle.  She seems perpetually hungry and she is grumpy with the other donkeys, suddenly turning on whomever is closest and chasing her away.

Several months ago, I asked my vet about the possibility of an ovarian cyst. She agreed that it was possible but how to find out on a mini?  An ultra sound probe is not possible.

So I turned to an equine nutritionist who practices homeopathy, herbal medicine and kinesiology (and then recommends her own expensive products!)   She said to give Siog Vitamin B6 and also Magnesium Citrate when I see her in discomfort,  which acts as a  anti-spasmodic muscle relaxant. 

This does seem to help but I'm a bit leary of giving too much.  If I see Siog in discomfort, I'll mix up some Timothy hay pellets with warmish water and stir in 1/2 tablespoon of the magnesium citrate.  However this isn't getting to the root of whatever problem she has.  Which seems impossible to actually diagnose, other than observing clinical signs.

Spiking hormones, ovarian cyst, something else?   I may try Chaste Tree Berries - am just worried about mucking around feeding her stuff  when I don't really know what's going on!  Any advice out there?

Balancing Vitamins and Minerals for Donkeys

This has always been a head-scratcher as very little research has been done about which vitamins and minerals donkeys need and how much. So we donkey owners tend to feed horse stuff, adjusting the amounts and hoping for the best.  This is probably dumb!

I offer a mineral block that has selenium in it (I know we are deficient here on the west coast) and I also put out a salt lick plus a wall feeder with loose white salt in it.  The donkeys use all of them ... a bit! So maybe that's enough - after all everybody is healthy.

But, but, but ... lately I've been thinking about the idea of being over fed but under nourished.  The donkeys never seem to reach a level of satisfaction, even though they are being fed LOTS!  Probably too much as they are chubby and that's not good.  So what could be going on?  What are they looking for? 
Munch, munch, munch ...

My friend from The Dancing Donkey blog, has been doing a lot of work on exploring her hay test results and setting up spread sheets to try to determine what the deficiencies are in her hay (and mine too - thank you K!)


Hmm ...  we KNOW that donkeys utilize feed differently than horses (more efficiently) and we know that their feed requirements are less than horses, i.e. they can make use of coarser, lower protein hay than can horses and they can eat scruffy bits of browse and find some value in it.

So now the UK Donkey Sanctuary has developed a vitamin/ mineral pellet for donkeys (yay!) ... that we can't get in Canada (boo ...!)   I have compared the feed tags between the UK-produced pellet and the ones I have been feeding (occasionally) but e-Blogger will only let me paste photos, not text files.

Look up http://drreeds.com/formula2.html   - I feed this pelleted form because I don't need to put it into a wet mash, like you do with powdered supplements.

And here is the one developed especially for donkeys in the UK:
http://www.topspec.com/shop/products/topspec-donkey-forage-balancer/  They don't list ingredients but it's a VERY different product with far fewer ingredients from what the feed tag tells me!

And for us, it looks great because it doesn't contain iron or manganese, both of which this year's hay has in excess, and it has added copper and selenium, both of which are deficient in this batch of hay.

I am considering sending the hay test results and the ingredients list from TopSpec (I have written to them for more info)  to someplace (?) that can custom-make a supplement for me - balancing the deficiencies in my hay and leaving out stuff that it has in excess.  It would be very interesting to see if the donkeys respond to having the "correct" balance of vitamins and minerals by balancing out their body-weight!

Having said all this, Dorrie and I went out for a super walk yesterday - exercise is also a high priority!