Wizard wins his colitis battle

Two-year-old Wizard, who is based at our new arrivals farm in Devon, suddenly became very unwell – his grooms noticed he had become dull and stood away from his companions.

He has also lost his appetite, was shaking and weak on his back legs, and had a high temperature.

Wizard’s grooms called our Veterinary department immediately, who performed an emergency ultrasound at the farm that confirmed it was colitis – an inflammation of the large intestine.

Veterinary Surgeon Jamie Forrest says: “With Wizard’s situation worsening by the minute, we knew he needed immediate hospital care.

“We transported Wizard and his best friend Rupert to our donkey hospital at Brookfield Farm that night. When he arrived, he was very weak and struggling to stand.”

The vets worked throughout the night, attempting to stabilize Wizard’s health with pain relief, antibiotics and intravenous fluids.

Wizard also required a plasma transfusion as the level of his blood albumin – the most abundant circulating protein found in plasma – had dropped to dangerously low levels.

The plasma was procured from our specialist plasma bank, which was developed by the Veterinary team using blood taken from donor donkeys.

The donkeys who take part in the blood donations are carefully selected – they need to be happy to undergo the procedure without sedation. They also receive a tasty feed afterwards as a well-deserved thank you.

Wizard needed another transfusion 24 hours after his first one, and thankfully began to show signs of recovery.

“Wizard was extremely poorly,” Jamie adds. “There was a member of the team with him providing round-the-clock care. 

“His life was most likely saved thanks to our use of the plasma bank – it is a really useful resource for us to have.”

After a week in the hospital, Wizard was once again fighting fit and was discharged back to our new arrivals farm.

Since his recovery, he and Rupert have moved to the Donkey Assisted Activities (DAA) centre at our Sidmouth sanctuary, along with two other donkeys called Pickle and Jonny.

Jamie added: “It is a big relief to all of us that Wizard pulled through, especially as he is such a happy, sociable donkey now.

“Although he has only been at our DAA centre for three months, he is thriving with his friends and we hope he may one day join our Rehoming Scheme.”