In October 2021 we were contacted by en elderly lady whose donkey couldn’t stand up by herself. Once helped was up she was strong and ok. She asked if we could help by taking the donkey as she was struggling. We agreed to visit and what we found was really quite shocking!
Rosa, aged 24 was skin and bone. The lady had had the dentist and a vet and although the dentist did some necessary work we weren’t quite sure what the vet did other than recommend some dietary supplements. We said yes, of course, this poor girl needed all the help she could get.
She arrived on October 27th to a lovely bed in the barn. She got ad-lib hay and was started on lots of regular small meals to help her gain weight. The vet came and took blood and poo samples and test results revealed normal liver and kidney function and that she had mild anaemia. She captured the hearts of all our wonderful volunteers and a rota was set up to walk her for many hours a day as she loved grass. Sadly, her appetite was otherwise practically non-existent. She needed help to get up when she lay down and was deteriorating before our eyes. Despite numerous tests, bloods, worm counts and constant vet visits the next step was an echographie done on-site, to see if that would shed some light. It showed no masses but lots of bullet-shaped shadows in her gut so we took the advice to send Rosa to the equine clinic at Bordeaux for more extensive tests. We all prayed that what the beautiful giant and gentle Rosa had was treatable, but sadly no. The more comprehensive tests revealed that the little bullet-shaped shadows were indeed tumours.
Unfortunately, she didn’t respond well to the medication and on the 5th January 22, we took the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye. We were all devastated. We had tried everything to help her but it wasn’t to be.
ROSA Forever in our hearts.
