Spread of hoof pathology in donkeys in the Central and Eastern regions of Ukraine

Abstract

Hoof pathologies in donkeys are quite an actual problem in the countries of the world, where they are
comprehensively studied. For a long period of time in Ukraine, veterinary scientists did not pay enough attention
to hoof diseases in donkeys, despite the rather high interest in keeping donkeys as productive and working
animals, as well as pets. Indicators of the spread of hoof pathologies in donkeys have their differences in different
countries of the world, which affect the specifics of their diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Therefore, today the
need to study the spread of donkey hoof pathologies in the regions of Ukraine is obvious. Our research on this
issue has shown that hoof pathologies in donkeys older than one year in the central and eastern regions of
Ukraine are quite widespread and account for 53.8 % of all diseases and are manifested in 90 % of the studied
animals. During the examination of donkeys, various postural defects of the limbs were found in most of the
examined animals (70.1 %), which have a direct impact on the development of hoof pathologies. We divided all
registered hoove pathologies of donkeys into three groups: hoove pathologies of the inflammatory type, hoove
pathologies of the non-inflammatory type and onchymycosis (superficial suppuration) of the hooves. 48% of all
recorded hoof pathologies in the examined donkeys are non-inflammatory hoof pathologies, among which the
largest part (12.7 %) is occupied by overgrown hooves, which were detected in 61.3 % of animals. Hoof
imbalance was registered in more than 80 % of the examined donkeys. Medio-lateral hoof imbalance occurred in
41.3 % of donkeys, dorso-palmar imbalance in 46.3 %. Among other non-inflammatory hoof pathologies were
straight and sharp hoof, contracture of the superficial digital flexor, hypoflexion of the flexors, oblique hoof,
deformity and distortion of the hoof, frog dystrophy, etc. Among the hoof pathologies of the inflammatory type,
aseptic pododermatitis (59.4 %), white line induration (43.8 %) and chronic laminitis (25.0 %) were most often
recorded. Hoof onychomycosis was registered in 80% of the studied animals, which accounted for 24 % of all
recorded hoof pathologies. As it turned out, the hoof frog is first affected, then the white line (white line disease),
then the process can move to the hoof wall (seedy toe).