Donkeys get gastric ulcers too

Donkeys get gastric ulcers too Gastric ulceration is common in horses being trained for racing or competition work. Various factors are involved, including strenuous exercise, a high concentrate diet and restricted grazing. At first sight, nothing could be further from a typical gastric ulcer patient than a well cared for donkey in a retirement home. Donkeys are generally considered to be stoical, and rarely show signs of stress, unlike horses.   So the results of a study reported at the 9th International Equine Colic Research Symposium came as something of a surprise.

In a poster presentation, Faith Burden, of the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth, UK described the findings of routine post mortem examinations carried out on over 400 donkeys. Of 426 donkeys examined, 174 (41.3%) showed signs of gastric ulceration.

Most of the ulcers were medium-sized, ranging from 2 -10cm across. The most commonly affected area, containing 89% of the ulcers, was in the squamous (or non-glandular), upper part of the stomach, along the border with the glandular portion.

As with horses, diet seemed to play a part in the problem. Many of these donkeys were old and had dental problems. Because of this some were fed concentrates in addition to having forage freely available. Donkeys given cereal-based concentrates had significantly more ulcers than did donkeys fed only forage or forage with fibre-based concentrates.

Over half (55%) of the donkeys that had been given cereal-based concentrates had ulcers, while only a third of those fed forage, with or without fibre-based concentrates, had ulcers. So, it seems that donkeys needing extra food can be fed fibre-based concentrates without increasing the risk of gastric ulcers over feeding forage alone.

Reference:
Gastric Ulcers in donkeys: Prevalence and effect of diet.
FA Burden, AK Thiemann, AF Trawford, J Gallagher.
Poster presentation at 9th International Equine Colic Research Symposium. Liverpool. June 2008.

Reproduced with kind permission of Mark Andrews BVM&S CertEP MRCVS
© Copyright Mark Andrews  - Equine Science Update 2008

Articles Relating to Equine Behaviour

Email this article to a friend or share

---

Voices for Horses offers news, articles and videos from third party providers unless otherwise stated. We do not necessarily endorse the views expressed or content and make it available to you only as a service. All news items, articles and videos are copyright of the authors, film makers and original publications.

<< Back to Advice and Information