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====Overweight Donkeys====

====Overweight Donkeys====

Perhaps the biggest welfare issue for UK donkeys is their propensity to obesity when fed high energy diets coupled with the fact that very few are worked.  Health problems seen in UK donkeys are commonly caused by overfeeding and lack of exercise.  It is essential to keep donkeys in a healthy body condition as unfortunately solving the problem of overweight donkeys is a very difficult task.  Dieting an overweight donkey is extremely difficult and is an issue that needs to be tackled from many angles.  The diet of the animal is often only part of the problem with lack of exercise, companion issues and mental stimulation all needing to be addressed as well.  In the case of obese donkeys and mules grazing must be very tightly restricted by strip grazing and owners should be guided more by reducing the area of land the donkey has available than the grass (or lack of) that they can see.  Obese donkeys need nothing more than ad lib straw with very limited grazing in the summer and straw with limited hay in the winter.  It is essential to supplement such a restricted diet with a multi-supplement such as TopSpec Donkey Forage Balancer to ensure that the diet is not deficient in vitamins and minerals.  In order to help donkeys lose weight they must be exercised and encouraged to work for their food; ridden or in hand exercise is ideal, where this is inappropriate other methods can be employed.  Donkeys can be encouraged to ‘work’ for their food by using sloping pastures, placing feedstuffs in different locations (i.e. spread in 4-5 different locations in the field), hiding small pieces of chopped carrot in the bedding, providing stable toys and employing track strip grazing areas.  Invariably the key to dieting donkeys is to encourage more activity and to stimulate their minds; all of the above methods of environmental enrichment can be used in tandem with dietary restriction to encourage weight loss.

Perhaps the biggest welfare issue for UK donkeys is their propensity to obesity when fed high energy diets coupled with the fact that very few are worked.  Health problems seen in UK donkeys are commonly caused by overfeeding and lack of exercise.  It is essential to keep donkeys in a healthy body condition as unfortunately solving the problem of [[Media:Management for Donkey Weight Loss.pdf|overweight donkeys]] is a very difficult task.  Dieting an overweight donkey is extremely difficult and is an issue that needs to be tackled from many angles.  The diet of the animal is often only part of the problem with lack of exercise, companion issues and mental stimulation all needing to be addressed as well.  In the case of obese donkeys and mules grazing must be very tightly restricted by strip grazing and owners should be guided more by reducing the area of land the donkey has available than the grass (or lack of) that they can see.  Obese donkeys need nothing more than ad lib straw with very limited grazing in the summer and straw with limited hay in the winter.  It is essential to supplement such a restricted diet with a multi-supplement such as TopSpec Donkey Forage Balancer to ensure that the diet is not deficient in vitamins and minerals.  In order to help donkeys lose weight they must be exercised and encouraged to work for their food; ridden or in hand exercise is ideal, where this is inappropriate other methods can be employed.  Donkeys can be encouraged to ‘work’ for their food by using sloping pastures, placing feedstuffs in different locations (i.e. spread in 4-5 different locations in the field), hiding small pieces of chopped carrot in the bedding, providing stable toys and employing track strip grazing areas.  Invariably the key to dieting donkeys is to encourage more activity and to stimulate their minds; all of the above methods of environmental enrichment can be used in tandem with dietary restriction to encourage weight loss.

It is extremely important when dieting donkeys to make feed changes gradually and to monitor them closely.  Donkeys should be either weighed or condition scored weekly and records kept of their heart-girth measurements (charts for weight estimation and body condition scoring are available from The Donkey Sanctuary).  Progress when dieting donkeys is slow and perseverance is very important, it often takes time for the first amounts of weight to be lost, however once this process begins weight loss should be gradual and not excessive.  It is essential to know when it is time to stop dieting, donkeys store fat in very different areas to that seen in horses and invariably these fat pads (often seen on the crest, rump and flanks) do not disappear completely despite the animal being in an ideal condition.  Although it is a difficult task, dieting donkeys gradually to attain a healthy body condition will have physical and psychological benefits for the animal and will almost certainly lead to the donkey’s life expectancy being extended.

It is extremely important when dieting donkeys to make feed changes gradually and to monitor them closely.  Donkeys should be either weighed or condition scored weekly and records kept of their heart-girth measurements (charts for weight estimation and body condition scoring are available from The Donkey Sanctuary).  Progress when dieting donkeys is slow and perseverance is very important, it often takes time for the first amounts of weight to be lost, however once this process begins weight loss should be gradual and not excessive.  It is essential to know when it is time to stop dieting, donkeys store fat in very different areas to that seen in horses and invariably these fat pads (often seen on the crest, rump and flanks) do not disappear completely despite the animal being in an ideal condition.  Although it is a difficult task, dieting donkeys gradually to attain a healthy body condition will have physical and psychological benefits for the animal and will almost certainly lead to the donkey’s life expectancy being extended.