Vet Services Wairarapa had a really cool case about a gorgeous wee donkey called Errol last year. Errol caused his mum a lot of stress and heartache, but the story has a good outcome!
Errol was born then didn’t suckle properly for his first 12 hours. We first examined him because he was dull and the owner was worried about his elderly mum, who turns out had mastitis. We ran a blood test on him which showed that his IGG level was very low, almost absent. IGG is a measure of how many immunoglobulins were transferred and is an indication of how well the foal will be able to fight infection. With it being this low, his chances of surviving were very low so we organised to give him a plasma transfusion to bump his immune cells up.
It turned out that Errol needed not one, not 2, but 3 plasma transfusions to finally get him above the magic number of 800g/L.
To give him each transfusion, he had a mild sedative to encourage him to lie down, 
then his jugular vein was prepared in a sterile fashion and a catheter placed. We gave him the precious plasma slowly through a giving set, being careful to monitor for fluid overload in his lungs.
His demeanour improved after every transfusion, becoming brighter, keener to drink and starting to play. After his last transfusion, he starting cantering around his wee paddock like a newborn donkey should – such a delight to see!
We are very thankful that he has an extremely attentive owner looking after him. She helps run the Donkey and Mule Protection Trust, which is a fantastic organisation helping donkeys and mules all over NZ.
Pop over to their website or FB for lots of really good information, news and pictures. https://donkeymuletrust.org.nz/
