Diagnosis and Characteristics of Donkey Diseases
The diagnosis and characteristics of donkey diseases are provided by the 5830 Agriculture URL Navigation:
Differentiating between healthy donkeys and abnormal ones:
Abnormal donkeys: Donkeys have a strong tolerance for common diseases, and even if they are sick, they can still eat some grass and drink water. If not carefully observed, when they stop eating and drinking completely, their condition is already quite serious. To judge whether a donkey is normal, one can observe and compare its usual behavior in terms of eating grass, drinking water, mental state, and temperature changes in the nose and ears. A donkey with drooping head and ears, low spirit, cool or overheated nose and ears, eating a little grass but not drinking water indicates that it is already sick and should be treated promptly.
The amount of water consumed is significant in determining whether a donkey is sick. If a donkey eats less grass but drinks plenty of water, it means the donkey is not sick; if the grass consumption does not decrease, but the water intake decreases continuously for several days or stops altogether, it may indicate that the donkey is about to get sick. If the feces are dry and hard, with a little mucus on the outside, and the water intake has decreased, there is a possibility of developing enteritis after a few days. If the donkey shows pica behavior, occasionally biting wooden stakes or troughs, drinks little water, and remains spirited, it might develop acute gastritis.
Even if a donkey doesn't eat all night and stands away from the feed trough, as long as the nose and ears are warm and the body temperature is normal, it can be considered healthy. It will likely start eating at dawn or the next day. This phenomenon is referred to as "staring at the trough" by the handlers. The occurrence of donkey diseases is closely related to factors such as weather, season, changes in feed, quality of grass, and feeding methods. Therefore, careful observation must be made according to the general principles of feeding management and the different requirements of different physiological conditions to achieve "prevention before illness, early treatment of existing disease, and being well-informed."
Additionally, if a donkey lies down after getting sick and cannot get up, or does not lie down but appears lethargic and clings to the handler, these are signs of serious illness and should be given special attention.
Healthy Donkeys: Whether during regular times or while grazing, healthy donkeys always keep their ears upright, move freely, hold their heads high, and appear spirited. Especially male donkeys, upon encountering or spotting other donkeys from afar, they raise their heads, stare intently, and call out loudly, jumping and attempting to approach. When healthy donkeys eat grass, they chew powerfully, making "ge ge" sounds. If someone walks by the trough, they call out incessantly. Healthy donkeys have fresh and moist mouths, and their noses and ears are warm. Their fecal balls are of moderate hardness, with a wet and shiny exterior, appearing hay yellow when fresh and turning brown over time. Occasionally, they snort. As the saying goes, "When donkeys snort and cows foam, having a minor illness is not too bad."
Characteristics of Donkey Diseases:
The types of diseases that donkeys suffer from, whether internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, infectious diseases, or parasitic diseases, are similar to those of horses, such as common gastric dilation, constipation, colic, and gland plague. Due to the biological characteristics of donkeys, there are differences in disease resistance, clinical manifestations, and drug reactions compared to horses. Therefore, donkey diseases have certain unique features in terms of causative factors, condition, pathological changes, and symptoms. For example, the clinical manifestation of colic is much more obvious in horses, especially light horse breeds, whereas donkeys often show mild symptoms or no external symptoms at all. Donkeys are sensitive to gland plague, which can easily lead to sepsis or pyemia after infection, but they have strong resistance to infectious anemia.
Donkeys and horses are animals of the same genus but different species. Thus, the biological characteristics and physiological structure of donkeys are basically similar to those of horses. However, there are significant differences between them, so their disease manifestations also differ.
Under the same circumstances, donkeys do not suffer from sunstroke or heatstroke, unlike horses. Of course, donkeys have some unique specific diseases, such as moldy corn poisoning and pre-labor anorexia in female donkeys carrying mules. Therefore, when diagnosing and treating donkey diseases, attention must be paid, and the treatment experience of horses cannot be rigidly applied. Instead, treatments should be tailored to the characteristics of donkeys.
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