Thanks to you, our new veterinary hospital is helping donkeys like Jackie get better.
Jackie is a sprightly one-year-old donkey who loves playing with her friends at The Donkey Sanctuary in Devon.
She needed urgent treatment after she injured her leg in such an awkward area - the inside of the elbow - that every time poor Jackie moved her leg the wound would open again.
At first, her grooms tried to manage Jackie's wound on the farm with antibiotics and bandaging, however it was clear that the hospital would offer a much better environment for her to be treated.
Abi Sefton, intern veterinary surgeon, explains: "Jackie needed to be in an enclosed space, plus she needed more frequent monitoring than our busy grooms were able to give her because the wound kept opening up.
"We therefore brought her into our new veterinary hospital and put her in a heavy bandage that made her leg three times its usual diameter."
Injuries of this nature are not very common but neither are they unknown. "Young donkeys love to play and Jackie is known to be quite clumsy!" says Abi. "It's the location of the injury that has made this case unusual and challenging."
Our dedicated team of vets also checked for any underlying conditions which might explain the lengthy recovery time, scanning the area by ultrasound to check for foreign bodies and taking radiographs to ensure there were no bone chips.
Abi adds: "The real benefit to this hospital is that Jackie can be in an enclosed area where we have full contact with her, we can check up on her multiple times a day, and we have everything in one place so no-one is having to shift equipment, staff or the patient around.
"She's been on box rest but after a while she was allowed out with her friend Stephanie, another young donkey, who has been kept at Jackie's side throughout the treatment. Because of the set-up, Stephanie and Jackie can be kept together."
Now her leg has had time to heal, Jackie has returned to Shelter 4 with Stephanie where our grooms will be keeping a close eye on her - making sure that play time doesn't get too rough! Do come along and say hello!