No abstract

The present study was conducted from November 2014 to April 2015 in and around Bishoftu town to determine causes, associated risk factors and owner's response to causes of lameness for lame donkeys presented to Donkey Health and Welfare Project Clinic. Accordingly, 325 lame donkeys were purposively selected for this study. Questionnaire survey and physical examination were employed as study design. Results of 325 donkey owners interviewed revealed that various causes of lameness. Among these interviewed 222 and 221 respondents has better knowledge about the lameness caused by hyena bites and various wounds respectively, whereas 2, 8 and 41 respondents have information about varies diseases, solar penetration and overloading as a causes of lameness respectively. The current study includes 2 young and 323 adult donkeys. Out of the 325 lame donkeys, 179 were females and the remaining 146 were males. Upon physical examination of all donkeys taken into study, seventeen types of musculoskeletal abnormalities were identified, among these, higher frequency of foreign material in hoof, crackling and hoof overgrowth with 293, 245 and 208 cases respectively. Low frequency of hygroma (3) and bone fracture (8) were also observed. Grade analysis of lame donkeys revealed 3 (0.92%) mild cases, 84 (25.85%) moderate, 234 (72.92%) severe and 1 (0.31%) non-weight bearing cases. Grade three was most frequently observed which appeared in one out of two cases of lameness. The average grade of lameness was 2.72 ± 0.47. There was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) between the two sexes, body condition scores and age of animals regarding identified abnormalities and grade of lameness. However, the high number of donkeys which had lameness (79.08%) were found with poor body condition scores. Lameness was seen on both front and hind limbs but majority (97.23%) was unilateral type, of which 60% was presented with front limb while 37.5% was with hind limb. Significant difference was observed between front and hind limbs (P<0.05) for occurrence of lameness. Poor husbandry practices and lack of knowledge or information on causes of lameness among owners remain the factor for occurrence and severe grade of lameness.

No abstract

The study was undertaken with the aim of comparing the status of parasitism in donkeys in the Donkey Health and welfare Project intervention (Bereh, Ada and Boset) and Control (Yekaduda, Gerado and Meki) areas of, Central Ethiopia, in 2005. Parasites are prime problem of donkeys among other problems including wound and other infectious and noninfectious diseases. The methods applied included coproscopy, packed cell volume determination, live weight estimation and body condition scoring. A total of 648 donkeys were sampled from both control (324) and project (324) study areas. Qualitative faecal worm egg analysis revealed the prevalence of different helminthes in project and control areas to be respectively, Strongyles spp. (22.8% & 49.7%) , Oxyruis equi (4.6% & 6.5%), Anaplocephala spp. (2.2% &5.6%), Fasciola spp. (6.5% & 7.7%) and Gastrodiscus aegypticus (1.9% & 6.2%). The mean prevalence in the project and control areas was 22.9% and 29.0%, respectively. Quantitative faecal egg analysis revealed that the mean epg in the project and control areas to be 433.6 and 777.2 eggs per gram of faeces (epg), respectively. There was a significant difference (p<0.0001) in helminth egg counts between the project and control areas. The value of mean packed cell volume (PCV) in the project and control areas was 35.1% and 33.2% respectively. Body condition scoring and live weight estimation had no significant difference between the project and control areas. In conclusion, intervention by the DHWP has significantly reduced the prevalence and intensity of helminth parasitism in donkeys but this has not yet translated to improvement in body condition of the animals.