So yesterday I walked out to check on JuJu Bean after she went into a Hee-Hawing spree... when I got to the gate she didn't come up to greet me as usual, instead she stood about 15 feet away with her legs apart while urinating, staring at me with her mouth wide open and making a weird breathing out sound. Of course, I was concerned and went up to her, which only increased what seemed like distress - she began pointing to her belly with her face and breathing out. It looked like she was choking cause some drool came out and I immediately ran to the phone to call my horse loving neighbor, to find out WTF this was!COLIC, is what she thought and said I had to "walk her" - i took no time at all to open the gate, I didn't even care about haltering her open wide mouth, I just asked JuJu to walk with me and she came out the gate. I carried the halter on my shoulder and began to walk down the road. She followed, with her head slung down and mouth open.
JuJu chose where to go and I didn't care where we went as long as we walked out the colic and she wouldn't die. When she chose to visit her favorite neighbor (the one I called), she stopped in her yard and began eating.
We both noted right away, that with colic she would not be eating... we wondered. Then noticed how she wasn't seeming sickly, she wasn't dropping down and rolling around, then we checked her gums and they were pink (not red like when they colic). In fact she lacked most the symptoms of colic.I watched her and noticed she kept stopping to pee (aka frequent urination), whether pee came out or not, sometimes a dribble, sometimes cloudy white/yellow, sometimes normal - every time she stopped to pee she would again seemed distressed, turn to point to her belly and breath out. Her tail was staying out and stiff, and her JuJu vagina was opening and closing alot (also known as "winking").
Back to the drawing board, we started googling "frequent urination" to find out some possible causes... it came down to two choices....Either JuJu was Pregnant!
OR in heat.
Since she was displaying more symptoms of pregnancy then I ever realized, I started to freak out.... The indentation in front the hips becoming deepened when the baby drops, the urinating, the abdominal distress, pointing to her belly, her recent mood swings & discontent with the chickens recently, she was pacing alot, and had become more aggressive with kicking. THEN the clincher for me...
I pulled on her teets (donkey udder) and some clear liquid shot out, twice. At that moment I was convinced she was preggers and I felt like a mom who just found out her teenage daughter was going into labor and it was Juuuust dawning on her why her daughter was wearing all those big baggy sweaters all summer long. duh, how could I have missed it! I panic'ed... then .....I GOT REALLLlllLLLlLLLY Excited about DONKEY BABIES!!!! YAY!
I got JuJu back home from the neighbors (by herding her with two cars and some rope)- and went right away to constantly checking on her and being on a baby high.
So when I woke up this morning and there was still no baby donkey, I got worried again she was sick, and finally got a vet to call me back about it. Turns out donkey's do alot of this when they go into heat (open mouth, urinating- watch a video here of how strange it is). They will show their signs of heat not only to male donkeys (Jacks) but also to other female donkeys (Jennys) ... and to their human friends (ME!)
Not only that but donkeys more then horses have false pregnancies- (Oh, what a let down, deflated whoopie cushion feeling!) AND even stranger is they have a menstrual cycle that even though doesn't produce blood like in humans can actually cause equine menstrual cramps (OMGAWD, how awful.)
I still LOVE you JuJu , even if you ain't got no baby in your belly and you are hawt for me!XOxoxox
