Donkey with cough and protruding tongue

[Hykue]

I was just wondering if someone could give any advice. I heard my donkey coughing yesterday, and today she was standing staring across the pasture, and had a string of mucous coming out of her mouth and a bubble of mucous on the ground under her mouth. It's brownish-yellow, like phlegm. Her tongue is also sticking out of her mouth a little bit (1/2 inch or so) in the front. She ate a handful of beet pulp and a (tiny) handful of oats about an hour or two ago. She hasn't eaten any hay since then that I've seen. She walked over to the hay when we were messing with her, then stood there and coughed (I assume, I've never seen a donkey cough) with her head down, and when we went and checked there was a pretty big puddle of phlegm at her feet - maybe 6 inches by 4 inches. It's been just above freezing for a few days and dropped down to about 5 degrees fahrenheit today. Her daughter, who is with her, looks fine. Their food and water supply hasn't changed for about 1 1/2 weeks, when we got new bales from the same supplier the old ones were from. Her breathing doesn't appear labored.

I should take her temperature, I assume? And call the vet? I'll look in my book too, but I wanted to get this posted for extra information ASAP. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Mo's palominos]

It sounds like " choke" to me. Was the beet pulp dry when you fed it to her? Sometimes it gets about half way down their throat and swells from the moisture and gets stuck. I had it happen to a mare once. The vet had to come out and flush it out with a tube.

 

[Hykue]

Thanks, it agrees with the description in my book of choke as well. The book said to wait an hour then call the vet, so that's the plan. We'll keep an eye on her.

 

[Hykue]

Yay, she got better and started eating! I'll still keep a watch, but I think that was it, and she got it out herself. Next time, less beet pulp at a time (maybe she can eat them one at a time, out of my hand).

 

[Mo's palominos]

Glad to hear she's better! I don't feed dry beet pulp by itself any more. For the horses I mix it in with their grain. For the sheep I soak it in water for an hour. 1 cup of water to 1 cup of beet pulp. The horses will eat it soaked too, but it's easier for me to have it mixed in their grain at the feed mill. You might try soaking it or mixing it with her oats, more oats than beet pulp. IMO