Why is it important to have your donkey’s teeth checked by a vet once a year?
Routine dental care improves chewing, relieves pain, treats and cures infection, and promotes the donkey, horse, or mule’s general health, productivity, and longevity. It is also one of the best ways to prevent choking and colic. It is important to remember that dentistry includes not only the teeth and mouth but also the sinuses, bones of the jaw, and the temporomandibular joint.
Donkey Dental Facts:
1. Domesticated donkeys can develop high points on their teeth, pushing on the gums, making them sore and difficult to chew. Eating hay that is not chewed (dental care needed) causes colic and can contribute directly to death in donkeys, mules, and horses.
2. The gums can become inflamed, and a vet may need to do oral surgery. Most of the time, these donkeys must go to a hay mash and can no longer eat hay.
3. Sinus health issues are addressed by an annual vet exam of the mouth.
We risk losing our donkeys early in life if we do not provide regular dental care. Eating hay that is not appropriately chewed will cause choking and colic. Senior donkeys with no working teeth and poor gums can be moved to a hay mash. No grazing, hay, or straw.
Please find a veterinarian who has experience with donkeys. Donkeys metabolize drugs differently than horses. Most vets in the U.S.A. give a mild sedative before opening the mouth, as it is safer for both the donkey and the human.
Thank you for investing in your donkeys.
GOD bless you and your family, two and four-legged!
Melody Johnson, Trainer/Owner
