In the beginning she was very restless in the house, but after a few days she settled in just fine. Now almost a month later, she’s as good as housetrained (except for a little accident now and then) and she really loves to learn and get 1 to 1 attention. She also likes to play with the other dogs, but she doesn’t know what to do with cats yet. Big animals like donkey’s and horses are a bit scary for her, but she’s learning to get on with them as well. For someone who has a lot of time to spare to work and train with her, she will be a fantastic dog to have around.

Whilst Loba was learning new things, another dog arrived at the perrera. It was an old hunting dog that had a chip and officially needed to go back to her owners. Everybody who saw her decided that whatever happens, this dog is not going back to her owners. Marleen wanted to take care of her and rang the owner to ask if she could have the dog. The owner agreed immediately and so the next day the hunting dog was brought to the paradise. We decided that she was going to be called Deva (after an Indian goddess).

Bob brought her here and she looked horrible!!! She was absolutely emaciated, her eyes were infected and her coat felt like rope with grease. We gave her a basket and put a blanket on top of her because she was shaking from cold; she fell a sleep and slept all day! The first 3 days we just left her alone to adjust and only gave her food and water and took her for little walks. The rest of the time she was sleeping a lot. When she was getting a bit more active, I decided to give her a good brush and clean her eyes a bit. You could really see the difference after I was finished. Her coat looked so much shinier and you could tell that she felt better as well. Since that day I brushed her every day and after a week I took her into my caravan where she still lives these days.

The sad thing is that we had to take her to the vet, because we felt a lump on her belly and it turned out to be cancer. So we decided to make her life as comfortable as possible for the time that she has left. That means that she goes out for longer walks, gets 4 meals a day and sleeps on the bed whenever she likes! It has only been 3 weeks since she’s here, but she is a completely different dog. She is much more active, came on a little weight, responds to her name, tells me when she need to pee or pooh at night and she just looks very content.

So as you can read, it`s not only a donkey paradise, it`s a doggy paradise as well!

Greitje being cared for

An hour later the vet came on our request and he said that she looked quite relaxed, she wasn’t in a lot of pain any more and she had no symptoms of colic, so he gave her a few injections (painkiller and indigestion relaxer) and said that she should be fine. The whole Saturday she still didn’t want to eat and there was also no change in her look (a very blown up belly) and behavior. During the night we took turns to see that she wasn’t getting worse. Thankfully that wasn’t the case, but she didn’t get any better either.

Sunday morning we called the vet again, because there was still no improvement at all and she hadn’t eaten anything in almost 2 days. He came and this time he felt that there was a turn in her intestines. Again he gave her a few injections to relax the intestines, hoping it would unlock by itself. We waited a few hours and still no improvements, so Marleen decided to call another vet to ask for a second opinion.

This vet came in the evening and did a very thorough research. He took us and his job very seriously. He saw right away that Grietje was very ill and probably had colic. He did an internal check up and thankfully there was no turn in her intestines, but there was a blockage that made it very hard for her to defecate.

Then the nightmare started for our poor little girl. First a tube in her nose, because that’s the normal procedure with colic. Unfortunately the tube was too large for her nostrils, so that wasn’t going to work. After that a tube was inserted in her behind with a sort of liquid that was pored into her. And as if that weren’t enough, she also got an infusion with 4 liters of water and detox in her vein. All and all, the visit from this vet took 2.5 hours!!!!

But her nightmare continued. Before he left, he gave us instructions for the night and next day. We had to give her some honey-water and powder (medicine) in her mouth, and some water and oil trough a tube in her behind, and this every 3 hours. This was only during the night. The next day we had to give her a kind of paste 5 x within 12 hours and we had to flush her behind again. You can imagine that our poor little girl was absolutely not happy to see us these few days, but thankfully in the end it was all worth it, because the next day her figure was normal again and she wanted to eat a little bit. After a few days she became more and more herself again and 1 week later you wouldn’t know she was ever ill!

Cider barrels are ready and waiting

The apples are loaded onto the lorry

Sadly, the apple trees produce fewer apples each year, as they need regular pruning. This year we harvested only about 4000 kilos, whereas last year we had more than twice this quantity.

If you are a good pruner, why not hop over to Asturias as a volunteer for a couple of weeks??
Your presence and your work would much be appreciated!!

VOLUNTEERS WITH PRUNING SKILLS NEEDED – FOR THE APPLE TREES

Unfortunately that was not the case, though it was still a great idea. Our hosts took us on a nature trail walk of the countryside that surrounds their campsite and the idea was to find edible plants, flowers, nuts and mushrooms along the way. Whatever we collected, we would then make a meal from it.

So, off we set with our hopes high and our enthusiasm in abundance. Not having a clue what to look for (apart from the obvious chestnuts that scattered the floor and a few hazelnuts that the little woodland creatures had left behind) I watched with awe and frustration as the people in front of me identified plant after plant, leaf after leaf and flower after flower. An expert in mushrooms was amongst us, though with barely any rain and very few damp places, the mushrooms were few and far between to say the least.

After a few hours walking, our hoard of food was complete… Dandelion leaves featured highly, as did chestnuts. A single edible mushroom was discovered. A surprise find of a walnut tree with a small deposit of nuts was an added bonus. Two tiny insignificant little apples, a handful of rose petals and a couple of other edible flowers pretty much completed the collection.

By this time it was quite late so we were relieved to find out that some food had already been prepared and that we would just make a salad to go with it, based on what we had found.

So… was our salad and our 3 hour expedition a success?? Let’s just say, thank goodness for supermarkets! Dandelion leaves are awful, bitter things and should never be a main ingredient in a salad, or anything else for that matter. The pieces of apple helped (apparently), but only if you were lucky enough to get some. Luck clearly wasn’t on my side that particular day then!

Despite the paltry gathering of ingredients, it was a great experience, the weather was perfect and our hosts were very well educated on what nature has to offer, which is great as I’m not an expert and without them I think we would have starved.

This “foraging” nature walk was organised by Fontebona camping, Infiesto: www.fontebona.es
fontebona.es/blog.php

“Ah, there’s my porridge!”

Hannah with her breakfast

We also scour the area for another of her favourites, Dandelion leaves, which she will almost take your hand off for.

We like to look after our animals!

Juliette

One of the most special and beloved donkeys of our sanctuary has died. Juliette had to live with a severely handicapped body, due to much too heavy work, but her mind was unbroken and she had a strong will to live.

We all cried inside when we first saw her. Her front legs stood outside her body, which made walking extremely difficult for her, her back was bent like no other of the old donkeys that live in ‘The donkey paradise’, but she would always be one of the first to leave the stable in the morning. Also she would walk long distances up and downhill when she knew or expected the grazing there to be good. She didn’t like to be touched or brushed, which of course we always respected. But gradually she got used to being touched lovingly and even started to like it. Not so long ago volunteer Joann reported proudly: “Juliette let me brush her today!” Which we all felt to be an enormous leap forward …

Juliette lived with us for almost two years. She died in her own time, in her own way. We found her in the morning in the stable, dead, the other donkeys standing around her. We don’t know if they miss her much, but all of us do. Juliette has made an enormous impression on all of us and will never be forgotten!

Marleen

A little about when the vet and farrier came to visit the donkeys.

In total I will have been here for 2 weeks and 4 days. I could easily stay forever.

Though some of the donkey’s lives have been crossed with neglect, harsh working routines and psychological problems, all have found themselves united at Paraiso del Burro and their lives have been enriched.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with Marleen. Her 20 donkey’s 3 mules and 2 horses are ever growing and there is always so much to do to ensure that everything runs smoothly.Marleens home is indeed a Paradise and I am honoured to have been a part of it.

If Marleen will allow me to stay and help again in the future, I would be delighted to come back and do it all over again.

In truth… I don’t want to leave at all.

Good luck with everything Marleen. You are so kind hearted and I wish you all the luck in the world. I sincerely hope we meet again.

Tara

Waiting at the gate