A female donkey is making good progress at The Donkey Sanctuary following surgery to remove her left eye.
On arrival at the sanctuary, Champagne, a 12-year-old Poitou donkey, was suffering from severe glaucoma which had caused her to lose the sight in her left eye. Due to the amount of pain that she was in and the fact she couldn’t see with the eye, the decision was taken to remove it.
Nerve blocks were applied to the non-functional eye so Champagne didn’t feel anything during the surgery, which took place at the sanctuary’s specialist donkey hospital in Devon.
“After the operation, Champagne was put on a course of pain relief, with a pressure bandage over her face to stop any risks of bleeding from the surgery site,” said sanctuary vet Jamie Forrest.
“Because she was already completely blind in the eye we removed, she coped fine. The surgery site healed beautifully, and Champagne was moved off medication completely within just a few weeks.”
‘Coping so well’
On a recent visit to the sanctuary, Channel 5’s Yorkshire Vet star Peter Wright, who is an ambassador for The Donkey Sanctuary, praised the veterinary team’s skill and expertise in performing the procedure.
Watch the moment Peter met Champagne in the following video:
“It is fantastic to see Champagne coping so well with just one eye and how sensitive members of the team are to her needs, knowing they must just approach very carefully from her visual side so as not to cause alarm or discomfort,” said Peter.
“I don’t think we are necessarily aware of how much pain the donkeys suffer with glaucoma, day in and day out – and that the pain is permanent.
“Donkeys rely heavily on their senses in the wild – hearing, smell, vision – but can cope well in a domestic environment with just the one eye.”
Champagne is recovering at the sanctuary in Devon, with her friend Percy, another Poitou donkey.
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a disease of the eye that causes damage to the optic nerve, a vital part of the eye for maintaining vision. People can suffer with glaucoma too, as well as horses.
Glaucoma means there is poor fluid drainage, which increases pressure in the eye. In a healthy eye, this fluid drains at the same rate that it is produced. In an eye with glaucoma, the fluid doesn’t drain, leading to build up and pressure, which causes a lot of pain.
