Why Did My Mini Donkey Die?

[Baymule]

Baymule, a quick look around doesn't find anything that indicates that equines are susceptible to meningeal worm - did you find something to indicate otherwise? The only animals mentioned are all ruminants, a class of animals which doesn't include horses and donkeys.

Yes horses and donkeys can get meningeal worm. I once subscribed to a donkey/mule magazine and there was a heart breaking story of a mammoth donkey that died of meningeal worm.

 

[Baymule]

Cattle can also get it. The best preventative is a trio of Muscovy ducks. They will eat the snails that carry meningeal worm and liver flukes as well. Muscovies will set and brood their own young and are, from what I can gather, quite tasty. The lady we got our sheep from has cattle, sheep, goats, muscovies and Great Pyrenees to watch over them all. She has trained her muscovies to come up every night to the barn, where she gives them corn and closes them up for the night and lets them out in the mornings. Certain sections of her fence is a cow panel, which the ducks can scramble through the large holes to access her pastures and lake.

 

[Bunnylady]

How long a period was involved between the time you first knew something was wrong and the time you put Ollie down? The symptoms you describe are consistent with viral infection. A rapid onset of symptoms, and the rapid progress of those symptoms, would point more to a virus than a tumor or meningeal worm; horses usually die in about 3 days when infected with EEE, for example. Since infection by meningeal worms is much more common in goats and sheep, I'd be interested to know if there has been any sign of anything like this in the goats?

 

[Lanthanum]

How long a period was involved between the time you first knew something was wrong and the time you put Ollie down? The symptoms you describe are consistent with viral infection. A rapid onset of symptoms, and the rapid progress of those symptoms, would point more to a virus than a tumor or meningeal worm; horses usually die in about 3 days when infected with EEE, for example. Since infection by meningeal worms is much more common in goats and sheep, I'd be interested to know if there has been any sign of anything like this in the goats?

The goats have shown no signs of anything wrong, they have been very healthy as far as I know.

As for the elapsed time of symptoms and death, he was great when I put him up for the night and in the morning he showed agression/fear, about thirty minutes into the morning he was running into things and being extremely lax, about forty five minutes after he started collapsing, he stayed on the ground only able to get up about once every hour for twenty minutes at a time at most, then the following night he showed complete paralysis and inability to eat, drink, or move so we put him down about an hour into the morning because it was very obvious he was suffering a great deal. So I'd say he went from healthy to death in 20-24 hours

 

[Lanthanum]

Cattle can also get it. The best preventative is a trio of Muscovy ducks. They will eat the snails that carry meningeal worm and liver flukes as well. Muscovies will set and brood their own young and are, from what I can gather, quite tasty. The lady we got our sheep from has cattle, sheep, goats, muscovies and Great Pyrenees to watch over them all. She has trained her muscovies to come up every night to the barn, where she gives them corn and closes them up for the night and lets them out in the mornings. Certain sections of her fence is a cow panel, which the ducks can scramble through the large holes to access her pastures and lake.

I am trading a yellow buff hen for 4 mallards here soon, do they do the same?

 

[luvmypets]

How was his walking before he went down, was there any wobble to it? With meningeal worm it is the back legs that go first. It would have most likely appeared he was drunk with his walk.

ETA: Any significant weight loss before his symptoms started?

 

[Lanthanum]

How was his walking before he went down, was there any wobble to it? With meningeal worm it is the back legs that go first. It would have most likely appeared he was drunk with his walk.

ETA: Any significant weight loss before his symptoms started?

He seemed to willingly slow and lay down and not get up, more like going to sleep instead of collapsing. And I was asking people for month about "Do you know why Olliver is losing so much weight? I'm giving him extra feed but he won't gain any"
But my only response since he wasn't showing any other symptoms was "He's just losing his summer weight"
I didn't think it could be linked to his death but now that I think about it. It got to where you could see his hip bones and ribs clearly, about just enough to keep him standing even though I was feeding him the same amount you'd feed a rescue that needs to gain, not too much but more than you'd feed a healthy one

 

[luvmypets]

He seemed to willingly slow and lay down and not get up, more like going to sleep instead of collapsing. And I was asking people for month about "Do you know why Olliver is losing so much weight? I'm giving him extra feed but he won't gain any"
But my only response since he wasn't showing any other symptoms was "He's just losing his summer weight"
I didn't think it could be linked to his death but now that I think about it. It got to where you could see his hip bones and ribs clearly, about just enough to keep him standing even though I was feeding him the same amount you'd feed a rescue that needs to gain, not too much but more than you'd feed a healthy one

Sounds like m-worm, im so sorry

 

[Hens and Roos]

so sorry to hear

 

[Bunnylady]

Progressive weight loss without any obvious cause (like a lack of feed) does sound more like a parasite problem.