August 7, 2008

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.

"Donkeys have traditionally been thought of as stoic animals that do not display signs of stress or disease," said Burden, veterinary projects and development manager at the Donkey Sanctuary. "However during routine necropsy examination of donkeys at our Devon sanctuary it became apparent that gastric ulcers were common and that ulceration was, in some cases, extensive." 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.

"The results of this study show that donkeys can be maintained on a fibre concentrate diet, with no increased risk of ulceration, when compared to those receiving ad lib forage," she said. "This is particularly encouraging because products such as Spillers High Fibre Cubes, which can be soaked to form a mash, allow the management of ill or elderly animals requiring supplementary or specialist feeding."

Equine Science Update
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.