Rejected by mother, or perhaps stolen by another female, little Istata was beaten & bruised by both mothers on the day she was born. By chance Glynda noticed donkey Tip Top away from the herd. On closer investigation, Tip Top had a miniature donkey foal by her side – but Tip Top had never been pregnant – so it wasn’t her foal – and despite Tip Top’s motherly instincts, she was not lactating and so couldn’t feed the foal.
Efforts to restore this rare 9kg, 18” high, American Mediterranean Miniature donkey foal to her birth mother were spectacularly unsuccessful – every time the foal approached to nurse, mother Isabella kicked her away.
The foal, named Istata (a name from Greek mythology) spent her first night in the house, with 2 hourly feeds, with Tessa, the dog, happily washing Istata’s face after each feed. As a temporary solution is was fine, but Istata really needed to live outside and needed a placid paddock pal for company.
Rasulka, a gentle, pregnant llama, shed-bound while recovering from a broken shoulder seemed like a possible option. The foal ran straight up to Rasulka and after a good sniffing by her new fluffy mum, tried to nurse. With amazement Glynda watched as Llama Rasulka allowed the new born donkey foal to suckle even though she had no milk.
Every 2 hours Glynda gave Istata 200 mls of formula, and frequently she would “nurse” from Rasulka. The big surprize was the day Istata finished pseudo-feeding and gave Glynda a big wet milky kiss. Llama Rasulka had come into milk for “her new “foal”!
Llama Sweet Pea birthed, 6 weeks prematurely and her baby, Saracen, needed lots of human attention. Istata found Saracen to be a most interesting play thing, so she spent many hours inspecting and encouraging Saracen to get up and play. Eventually he did and Saracen & Istata happily chased each other around each day.
As Rasulka approached the end of her pregnancy, she was less tolerant of Istata feeding from her. Istata however wasn’t the least bit concerned – she decided that Sweet Pea would be her new Mummy, and her persistence paid off. Now Sweet Pea feeds both Saracen and Istata.
