Sunny the foal is only six days old but he’s already had a difficult start in life.
He was one of three foals born at a Maple Ridge horse rescue in just a couple of weeks of each other, and all three suffered from colostrum deficiency. The other two foals did not make it. Sunny is still struggling.
“The infection got into the bone so badly they would have been crippled the rest of their lives,” says ZsaZsa Stiasny, executive director of the Healing Horses Sanctuary.
A colostrum deficiency occurs when babies do not get enough of the first milk from their mother. Colostrum helps maintain a newborn’s immune system and gives them the antibodies needed to fight off infection.
Sunny now has early onset of infection and only an aggressive treatment of antibiotics can save him from a life of pain.
The sanctuary has already spent $5,000 on treatment for the three foals, and Sunny’s treatment is $1,000 a week.
With such high vet bills, and with almost 30 horses to care for, Stiasny says the sanctuary is in trouble.
“This is catastrophic,” she says. “Usually we have some veterinary funds set aside but this is so unexpected.”
She says this medical emergency has put their winter food supply at serious jeopardy as they have to reallocate the horses’ food budget to save Sunny. “It is at a point now if we can’t start to meet the veterinary expenses we will have to make the decision to let Sunny go because we are now overdrawn and risk not being able to feed the rest of the horses during the winter,” says Stiasny. She have already committed her life savings to helping the horses, who are rescued and rehabilitated and then adopted out again, and says funds are maxed out.
“It is a stressful situation made worse by the fact that lives are seriously at risk,” she says.
The sanctuary runs primarily on donations and every little helps.
Anyone can donate at this page to help Sunny and the other horses.
“We’re really trying to fight to prevent him from getting any infections so that he can grow up and have a healthy life and be a great horse for someone,” says Stiasny.
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