Born April 12th 2022
Meet April
Early this afternoon we had a wonderful surprise, our girl Lucera gave birth to the most beautiful foal …. I know, I know they’re all so gorgeous and I’m biased!
At first all was good and the foal was drinking , but a few hours on we noticed Moma wasn’t being a good Moma at all, she wouldn’t let the foal near her to drink
We tried holding her, but every time the foal went near her she was trying to kick it out of the way, luckily we were there watching so could save the foal from being hurt as they are so fragile and it’s pitiful seeing them being rejected.
We made the decision to take them both to hospital asap as the foal hadn’t had a drink for around 4 hours even though the foal looked very healthy but we wanted the vets to find out what was going on.
At the hospital…
It looks like Moma is extremely sore and has ripped herself inside while giving birth. The foal is very healthy and blood tests were done which showed it had definitely had the first milk. They then sedated Moma while they examined her and allowed her foal to drink. Hopefully when she’s out of pain she will let her foal drink as normal!
13th April
So ….They both had a good night, however Lucera really does not like her foal yet !!!! The vets on call had to be quite forceful and hold her still while her foal fed. Some donkeys are just not natural mothers, same as humans! …. Now this morning she’s turned her attentions to the vets …. She won’t let them near her, BUT she’s actually being nicer to her foal ! So we’re heading in the right direction! They have 24 hour care in the hospital so they will be observed today and hopefully home tomorrow.
Back at AAR
14th April
Our newest arrival came home today. Her Moma Lucera is settling down with being a mother, some take to it straight away … some don’t! We still need to keep a close eye on them but we’re very pleased with them both.
Huge thanks as always to Marisa and the team at Alicante hospital.
As the baby donkey was born on my sister-in-law’s 60th birthday we asked her to name the foal …. She’s called her April.
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