Find out how SPANA’s veterinary team in Tunisia helped Omar, a donkey with a bad case of colic.
Omar the donkey works 10 hours a day transporting olives and pine near the small town of Gaâfour, in north-western Tunisia. This important agricultural work helps Omar’s owner, Hedi, earn a small income to support his wife and three children.
One day, Hedi became concerned when his 11-year-old donkey seemed agitated and refused to eat or drink. When Omar showed no signs of getting better, Hedi borrowed his neighbour’s truck to take Omar to SPANA’s veterinary centre, in Siliana, for urgent help.
At the centre, SPANA vets carefully examined Omar and asked Hedi questions about his donkey’s diet. They diagnosed Omar as suffering from colic, most likely from his diet of dry straw and barley.
Our vets admitted Omar to the centre’s stables for treatment, which over the course of his five-day stay included analgesics and anti-inflammatories to relieve Omar’s pain, and rehydration medication to restore Omar’s fluid balance.
When Omar had recovered and was able to go home, the vets gave Hedi lots of advice about how to improve his donkey’s diet, including feeding him at regular times, soaking his feed before giving it to him, and making sure he always had access to fresh, clean water.
Hedi couldn’t thank the vets enough for their help. He said: ‘I am very grateful to SPANA and your commitment to taking care of Omar. Thank you!’
Sadly, our vets regularly treat working animals suffering from colic. Whether they have eaten the wrong food, like Omar, or they are so hungry they have accidentally eaten something they shouldn’t, such as plastic, your continued support enables our vets to give working animals suffering from excruciating colic the emergency treatment they desperately need. Thank you so much for being there for working animals in need.
