ARCH were contacted by Corazón Blanco Animal, an animal charity in Axarquía who alerted us to the plight of a female donkey, whose owner had apparently sold his house and abandoned his animals in a very poor state, We have taken in a large number of rescues recently but, once again, felt it was impossible to refuse our help.
Catalina, a16 -year-old jenny arrived at the Centre last week, virtually unable to walk. It is nothing new for us to see neglected hooves (followers might remember the little pony Duque from last year who had hooves curled over like ram’s horns when we rescued him). It was painful for volunteers to see Catalina staggering around, with one hoof in particular unable to hit the ground squarely as her ligament had stretched so much.
She is a sweet natured donkey, carrying rather a lot of weight. We called in our vet and our farrier to assess her problems. Because of her pain she was sedated, and work began to sort out her hooves. It took over three hours to cut back and reshape them to redistribute the weight. She is now wearing special made-to-measure shoes and is walking so much better. She is currently confined to an open pen until she is more stable. In time we are hopeful that we will be able to take the shoes off and she will be able to walk normally.
ARCH are, once again, thankful to have the services of our vet Rocio and our farrier Jaime, who always try their best to help our rescue animals. We are fortunate to have their support and understanding.