Does anyone know what to use to get ticks off of Donkeys? I bought a pair of Mammoth Donkeys that are tick infested! Ideally would like to treat the pair where they are, before I transport them to my place. Can you use dog flea & tick products on donkeys? (such as special shampoos, frontline or other "drops") The previous owner said she recently dusted them with Sevin dust for lice...that obviously doesn't work for ticks, plus I see hair loss on them in patches so I guess it didn't work for lice either. I have just wormed them with Ivermectin. Thanks for any advice, I am new at this. Magda Liska, Eco Acres

-- Magda Liska (Ecoacres1@msn.com), April 26, 2002

Answers

the hair loss is probably not from lice. Donkeys suffer alergies. Mine is alergic to midges. A small fly(knat) that swarms in the spring. The bites itch and the donkeys rub and chew the hair off. They are very miserable with this. If yours have this problem get some anti itch ointment from your vet or feed store. also doctor the bites to prevent infection. The midges bite most at dusk. if you have a shelter to put them in at that time of day it will help. Thank goodness it only lasts a few weeks. They can get so bad it looks like mange. As for the ticks, Iwish I knew the answer to that myself. I live in the Ozarks and the ticks didn't freeze out this year. We have had them all winter. I just pick them off.

-- corky wolf (corkywolf@hotmail.com), April 26, 2002.

You can try putting mineral oil over the ticks to smother them. They need to breath so putting any oily substance over their abdomen will kill them. As far as removing them after that maybe someone else can suggest something--not many ticks here in western Washington. As for the other medications, call a vet. They won't charge you for answering something like that over the phone and you could make your donkeys very sick if you're not careful. Good luck and congratulations on your new purchase.

-- Erika (misserika129@hotmail.com), April 27, 2002.

Magda, you did have these neat animals checked out by a Vet did you not, before you purchased them? At that time you would have had some advice and a diagnoses on the skin problems. Hope they will be OK, that sounds miserable. Good luck with them, LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), April 27, 2002.

Magda,

Call a country veterinarian's office and ask some questions. If you can't afford to call him out to treat the animals, just tell them so and ask if you can purchase whatever medicines you need for them. When one of my cats is wormy, I just go by and purchase enough medicine for all 4 or 5 or how ever many cats I have at the time. A city vet and his office staff usually won't understand a down to earth approach of country folks on a limited budget, so we don't fool with city vets any more. Some things we've just had to either call a vet out on or take the animal in, but a lot of things are treatable with the professional grade meds a country vet will sell you more often than a fancy vet who treats Fifi the poodle for rich city folks. You can tell pretty quick if you're dealing with a vet's office which thinks everyone is making a million dollars a year.

-- Wanda King (wanda7@edge.net), April 27, 2002.

My vet showed me this trick: Ticks burrow into the skin clockwise. Grasp them firmly and twist them counter-clockwise and they come right out. Takes about a turn and half. Might not help much on heavily infested animals but it sure helps with the occasional ones on the dogs and cats.

Good luck!

-- elliemae (elliemae@surfsout.com), May 03, 2002.