Had the vet in Thursday morning because my older mule was sick. Wouldn't drink or eat and hung her head on the ground, fever, rapid heartbeat. He gave her an IV. Said that would make her drink and she did. He came back in the evening and she seemed to be doing a little better. She was very uneasy around 10pm, wanted her buddy and wanted outside. She was dead this morning. Did get her buried. Worst storm we have had this winter. Don't realize how much you care till they die. The other mule keeps looking for her. You can almost tell she knows her partner is gone. They were together for 20 years. Will she come around eventually, or will it be to much for her.

sorry for your loss; hard to tell what her buddy will do. I've seen horses that I thought were inseperable literally step over their their buddy's body to get hay and I've seen them look for weeks before they gave up. Can't figure out which is the healthier response.

Sad day all around.I think about the only thing to help the one left is to get her a new buudy, but that does not help many times.Just have to wait and see. I have three buried on the place here,and it does not get any easier for sure

Sorry to hear of your loss, my friend. I don't have much experience with mule teams, but horses have better memories than most people give them credit for. Have a good friend whose older belgian mare got sick, he put the team down because he felt the other would never get over it. I don't know if I could make that call.

doubled, I'm so sorry you lost a good mule. I don't know how long equines grieve. I've had sheep dogs that lost a buddy, or a pup that grieved. The mother that lost her pups grieved for about two weeks, she was depressed and would not eat. More recently I had an 8 year old dog loose his littermate brother to an accident on the road that I believe he might have witnessed. He was also injured himself. X rays showed no broken bones, but he did not get up for a week, did not eat for almost 2 weeks, and was wretchedly depressed for a full month. It took six months before he really recovered emotionally. But he is now fully recovered, albeit a different dog without his buddy. I've had other dogs loose a working partner that seemed to be off for a month, although not nearly as depressed as these two I mentioned.

I'd guess the other mule will come around. Perhaps finding him/her some company would help.

Janet

I had to put down one member of a team this summer. Been together for years. The surviving mare took it as hard as I did. She ran the fence line just whinniying, wouldn't stand still, and even when she finally went in her stall to eat, kept looking into the next stall for her teammate. I ended up calling a friend to "borrow a horse--any horse"--just to put in the pasture to settle the survivor down. Within a couple of hours, she started to relax again.

sorry to hear about your loss,old mules seem to really take it hard when their partner passes.You will need to find another partner to help keep her mind off her loss,locate another and try to find some work for the three of you.Spend extra time with her she will sense your concern and loss too,mules and horses just seem to know what your saying.

Been there my friend. I also lost a span of mules this last year that had been together for 20+ years. First, the john mule developed an infection in an upper molar and went blind and went downhill quickly. The molly mule looked for him and seemed like she missed him a lot. My wife went to spending a lot of time with her and even went to riding her. It was good therapy for them both, as we had lost a son last year. Then a mountain lion ran her through a fence breaking a vertebre in her neck, so we ended up putting her down as well. Sure do miss them both, they were a good working team. I guess the Good Lord needed a good span of mules up in mule heaven.

I feel for ya, doubled. It's tough to lose a good animal. My exwife called to tell me she was putting down one of our old dogs, a border collie. Then three days later my six year old mule died in harness with her full brother. The herd looked for her for about a week. Two and a half weeks later, things seem back to normal.
ed

Sorry to hear of your loss. My old gelding lost his pony buddy a number of years ago. Even though he already had another pasture-pal, he grieved the loss of that pony for about 2 weeks. If he wasn't running over to where she was buried and nickering at the spot, he had his nose buried in the tail of the other horse in the pasture. This summer he lost his old companion. He ran the fence for 2 days, and whinnied for 3 weeks. Each day I'd spend a bungh of extra time with him and he welcomed the attention. When he finally settled down somewhat, I turned him in with the cows and that seemed to help. He's doing fine now, although I'm sure he'd rather have another of his own kind around LOL.

I've had the same experience as hayburner. Some don't seem to notice, others go off feed. My girls shetland goes off feed for weeks and mopes around, even if I just shuffle horses around.

Very sorry for your loss. Yes, we don't know how much we care 'til we lose one. I lost my best one year and a half ago; still miss him. Mike

I lost my best friend a mini donk last august 24 I know what you mean , he was running with an older horse both me and the horse missed him badly , I got another mini after a month or two and it helped the old mare some she is some better and at least eating . He was a smart little guy .

Thanks for all your responses. She is in with our mini jack. He has been in with both of my mules for the past 4 years. He misses her too. We have been giving her extra time but she also walks the fence looking for her buddy.

Sorry for your loss , I lost my big jack 2 years ago and I still miss him .