Meet Whiz Kid

Whiz Kid’s Story

Whiz Kid arrived as part of our first big rescue in January 2021. Another donkey in this group was Felix, who arrived incredibly sick. Felix’s body was slouched over, his head was down, and he could barely open his eyes. When he started wheezing, we called the vet. They said he had a serious respiratory disease and needed to get to UC Davis as soon as possible. 

While talking to the vet, we heard intense coughing from another pasture. That turned out to be Whiz Kid, who had the same issue and also needed to go to the hospital. But there was a big roadblock: we had just launched Oscar’s Place and didn’t own a trailer yet. 

So Ron got on the phone and started calling community members who had trailers and might be able to bring the donkeys to UC Davis. But understandably, no one wanted to bring the donkeys due to the risk of spreading their illness. Felix and Whiz Kid were getting sicker by the hour as we raced against the clock. 

Finally, Ron found a trailer in Santa Rosa for sale. He got in his car, drove down, and bought it on the spot. But he didn’t even have a hitch yet… and didn’t know how to drive a trailer… So he bought a hitch, asked for help connecting it, got some driving tips, and set out on his first time pulling a trailer. 

Once back at the ranch, Ron loaded up Felix and Whiz Kid and drove the 2.5 hours to UC Davis to get them the lifesaving care they needed. It was a long day, to say the least. 

Felix’s sickness had progressed to pneumonia, and the doctors didn’t think he would make it. Both Felix and Whiz Kid were touch-and-go for several days. Thankfully, they turned the corner and started to recover. Once they were healthy enough to return to the ranch, we had to quarantine them for three weeks to protect the health of the rest of the herd. 

During that time, our team gave Felix and Whiz Kid their inhalers five times per day to clear their lungs, and Whiz Kid had to eat soaked hay due to his cough. Day by day, they improved. Through it all, they had each other and became best friends. To this day, they are inseparable. You’ll never see one without the other. They play together, eat together, and sleep together.

While Felix has “class clown” energy, Whiz Kid is less social. But he’s a super sweet donkey, and we are so happy that he found his way to Oscar’s Place.