What does Brooke Hospital for Animals do for the working horses and -donkeys?

1. Brooke Hospital for Animals animal has hospitals in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and India. Brooke Hospital for Animals provides free veterinary help to working horses and -donkeys.
2. Each clinic has one or more animal ambulances. These ambulances ride on a daily basis through cities and in the country and stop when they see a horse or donkey that is sick or wounded. Some of these so called 'mobile clinics' go to the same spot every day, for example to a market. Every day they give first aid to horses and donkeys. When they come across an animal that is in very bad condition, they take it with them to the Brooke Hospital for Animals, where they take further care of it.
3. Every horse and every donkey that comes to the animal hospital gets new horseshoes, for free.
4.  The vets from Brooke Hospital for Animals explain to the owners how to take care of their animals. They tell them what good food is and they explain why the animal needs to drink a lot and needs to drink often. They tell the owner why the animal needs some shade now and then and why it needs to rest after all the heavy work. It is very important to convince the owner that he has more profit from a healthy, strong animal then from an animal that has to do its work when it is exhausted, sick and tired.
5. The vets from Brooke Hospital for Animals give guided tours to school kids and show them the animal hospital. This way the kids learn at a young age that they have to take good care of an animal.
6. Brooke Hospital for Animals builds sheds and places water troughs on places like busy roads and markets, where a lot of horses and donkeys do their work. The animals can drink and rest there.
7. Brooke Hospital for Animals takes care of pregnant mares. The mare and the foal leave the hospital only when they have completely recovered from the delivery.
8. The owners of the horses and donkeys are often very poor. They make money thanks to their working horse or -donkey by transporting goods or people on a cart or in a carriage which is pulled by their animal. The owner really needs that money, because he has to take care of his family. When the animal is sick and the owner brings it to the Brooke Hospital for Animals, the animal often has to stay a couple of days, but sometimes a couple of weeks. The owner is not able to make money then, because he doesn't have a horse or donkey to pull. Brooke Hospital for Animals found a solution for this problem: the owner gets some money from Brooke Hospital for Animals to buy food for him and his family.
9. Brooke Hospital for Animals learns the saddlers how to make good (and still cheap) harness.

Brooke Hospital for Animals helps not only animals, but people too !

Where do the vets come from?
The vets from Brooke Hospital for Animals are people from the country itself. This is very important: a vet from Egypt can explain to the owner in his own language how to take care of his animal.

What kind of diseases and wounds are most seen in those distant countries?
* Malnutrition. The animals' food is not good. Good food is very important because (and you know what I am talking about) if you eat good food, then the body is stronger and you are able to work harder and longer.

before & after treatment

* Worms. Lots of animals have worms or other parasites in their intestines. These worms consume all the nutrients and the horse or donkey gets nothing. The horse or donkey gets sick or suffers from malnutrition.
* Animals grow out of shape (see the picture). In these countries animals have to work at a too young age. The animals are still growing and because of all the heavy work they cannot develop physically; often legs and ankles become crooked. The animals have often a bad back also, because they have to carry a too heavy load and because it is loaded in a wrong manner.

What kind of diseases and wounds are most seen in those distant countries?
*  Dehydration. The animals have to work in the burning sun with terribly high temperatures. The owners don't give them enough to drink so they dehydrate.
* Exhaustion. Through malnutrition and dehydration the animals are exhausted and overly tired.
* Wounds because of traffic accidents. Lots of cars and trucks ride in the streets. The horses and donkeys are in the middle of that and sometimes this goes wrong.
* Wounds because of bad harness (see picture). Often it doesn't fit, because the owner doesn't have money for good stuff. The straps around the belly are often too tight and cause terrible wounds. Same goes for the back of the horse.
* Horses fall because they don't have good horseshoes. This often causes ugly wounds.

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