A Donkey Stroke Survivor's Story

I wanted to share the story of this little old lady in case it might be of use for other elderly equine owners.

This is Tori the donkey (one of our girls from the 2015 Donkey Belly Saga for those of you who have followed our page for awhile). She is 24 years old this year and a beloved member of our family that came here to live with us (with her best friend Raven) only a few months after we bought this farm.

So late last summer when I went out to her pasture and found her circling, with a severe head tilt and a slackness to one side of her face, I felt punched in the gut.

Tori had suffered a stroke.

My pasture-side diagnosis was confirmed by my vet. Tori was frightening to behold, only able to move forward if she circled to the right at the same time. Her head was held 90 degrees sideways to the ground and her big sad eyes looked so bewildered. I was convinced we would have to put her down...which worried me that we might lose Raven as well because they are so, so, so bonded that I knew depression would be an issue.

But my vet, a wise man with many decades of large animal care under his belt, urged me to give her a few weeks and see if we saw signs of recovery before making that decision. He said she was probably scare but not likely in lots of pain and what pain there was, we could control. He also said he had seen many, many cases of both equines and cattle making nearly miraculous recoveries from strokes and that we should not count her out yet.

And so we made a safe space in the barn (buckets that couldn't be dumped by walking into them, easy to reach food) and brought her into a box stall (with her bestie) and just gave her simple, supportive care....some mild steroids and painkillers to help with any symptoms and easy to eat foods for her less than mobile lips to pick up. And then we waited...

By one week in, she quit having to circle to the right to make forward momentum.

By two weeks in, she was able to use her lips normally.

By one month, the slackness in her face disappeared.

By two months, her head lost its sideways cast and she viewed the world as a normal donkey.

And now, many months later, there is absolutely NO way you can ever tell anything was ever wrong with her. She is bright, happy, energetic (well, for an old lady donkey) and doesn't have a trace of any of the neurologic issues that nearly ended her life.

The moral is, animals sometimes can totally surprise us...if they aren't in unstoppable pain, it is sometimes worth giving them a chance to overcome. I am so glad we gave Tori her chance and seeing as a donkey can live 40+ years, she might be with us for a long, long time to come...as the permanently pregnant looking fuzzy brown pasture ornament she is!