I think that you need to seriously take a step back and look at your life and finances.
I think the donkey would have gone three times by now if you just gave it away.
You keep writing HUBBY in caps, like its his decision. Give the thing away while he's at work. what's he going to do...get mad at you that you now have removed the burden from your lives? you're pregnant. you have children. you're just not putting any effort into his care it sounds like. yes its not the best option to do that to someone you love but when it comes to caring for your kids or feeding the donkey which ones going to go without food for THREE DAYS? not the kids i'd hope. That donkey depends on you for it's care. Basic care ( Hooves, feed and tooth care) is not difficult to 'break' an equine to. It takes a little time and really little amounts of animal saavy. I would think that in the amount of time you've had the animal you could have gentled him at least enough to get the basics done, or minimum get him gentle enough to have him sedated for the once a year workup that he should be getting minimum. have you ever not eaten for a day? Even a quiet day with minimal walking. A donkey in a field will walk alot in a day...as browsing and foraging is in their nature and he needs the feed in order to stay healthy and in condition.
I really really am not trying to get all worked up, becauase he's not starving today. But I'd question the feed you got because I dont know many kinds of feed that would last that long ... I'm assuming he's getting grained twice a day,. A bag lasts quite a while so if you have 50 i'd be careful of spoilage. And make sure the hay is not molding... all those round bales don't stay fresh for months. I'm assuming if you cant afford feed you can't afford a vet if he colics.
And I'm going to add my .02 cents on the whole issue of budgeting.
My inlaws live with us right now. That's a house of two 50 something year olds, one out of work . My DF and I ( 25) and DF's brother who's 20 is here about 2 weeks a month as well. That is 3 people eating breakfast lunch and dinner AT HOME , two people taking lunches and eating dinner at home. 5 dogs, 6 rabbits, 40 chickens and a horse . And we do not recieve assistance. We live off of 800.00 a month. Usually including some going into savings each month. I make balanced meals, do much of my own bread making and other cooking and try to steer away from pre processed and packaged foods. I won't get rid of any animals untill we start having a hard time paying for them... I've told DF that the day we have to pick grain or dogfood over gas for the truck we're going to rehome...instead of wating till we can't feed an animal. I had to borrow 200.00 in july to euthenize a horse that broke his leg in four places. I will never again put my animals in a situation where they had to wait in pain because I had to run down the road for money. ( he wasnt waiting persay the vet had not yet arrived but still).
So it can be done. It would be nice to have medical paid as well...because DF has to have a filling done next month and we get to live off of 500 ish.
I think the donkey would have gone three times by now if you just gave it away.
You keep writing HUBBY in caps, like its his decision. Give the thing away while he's at work. what's he going to do...get mad at you that you now have removed the burden from your lives? you're pregnant. you have children. you're just not putting any effort into his care it sounds like. yes its not the best option to do that to someone you love but when it comes to caring for your kids or feeding the donkey which ones going to go without food for THREE DAYS? not the kids i'd hope. That donkey depends on you for it's care. Basic care ( Hooves, feed and tooth care) is not difficult to 'break' an equine to. It takes a little time and really little amounts of animal saavy. I would think that in the amount of time you've had the animal you could have gentled him at least enough to get the basics done, or minimum get him gentle enough to have him sedated for the once a year workup that he should be getting minimum. have you ever not eaten for a day? Even a quiet day with minimal walking. A donkey in a field will walk alot in a day...as browsing and foraging is in their nature and he needs the feed in order to stay healthy and in condition.
I really really am not trying to get all worked up, becauase he's not starving today. But I'd question the feed you got because I dont know many kinds of feed that would last that long ... I'm assuming he's getting grained twice a day,. A bag lasts quite a while so if you have 50 i'd be careful of spoilage. And make sure the hay is not molding... all those round bales don't stay fresh for months. I'm assuming if you cant afford feed you can't afford a vet if he colics.
And I'm going to add my .02 cents on the whole issue of budgeting.
My inlaws live with us right now. That's a house of two 50 something year olds, one out of work . My DF and I ( 25) and DF's brother who's 20 is here about 2 weeks a month as well. That is 3 people eating breakfast lunch and dinner AT HOME , two people taking lunches and eating dinner at home. 5 dogs, 6 rabbits, 40 chickens and a horse . And we do not recieve assistance. We live off of 800.00 a month. Usually including some going into savings each month. I make balanced meals, do much of my own bread making and other cooking and try to steer away from pre processed and packaged foods. I won't get rid of any animals untill we start having a hard time paying for them... I've told DF that the day we have to pick grain or dogfood over gas for the truck we're going to rehome...instead of wating till we can't feed an animal. I had to borrow 200.00 in july to euthenize a horse that broke his leg in four places. I will never again put my animals in a situation where they had to wait in pain because I had to run down the road for money. ( he wasnt waiting persay the vet had not yet arrived but still).
So it can be done. It would be nice to have medical paid as well...because DF has to have a filling done next month and we get to live off of 500 ish.
