THE Donegal Donkey Sanctuary is home to over 60 donkeys, but there's one resident who is pretty special.
Timmy, who is just six weeks old, was born with a birth defect which affects how he walks.
His mother Twilight was chased while she was in foal across fields in south Donegal, eventually coming to rest in a forest.
Somewhere along the way, Timmy moved in the womb and suffered a trauma to his back legs.
Shortly after his birth, sanctuary owners, Danny and Sandra Curran noticed the problem with his legs, which were weak and twisted.
"Timmy was born with a condition called lax tendons," Mr Curran tells The Irish Post.
Most foals that are born with this, would be put down, as Mr Curran says the "black and white of it is most farriers and vets don't come across the condition that often and don't know how to treat it and most people wouldn't out the money into it."
Timmy's back legs were left weak and twisted after he suffered a trauma in the womb. (Source: Facebook)In the beginning, the Currans looked at surgical options to correct Timmy's legs, but this wasn't suitable.
"We contacted UCD and took a lot of scans and x-rays, and between working with our farrier and the vet from UCD we've come up with a plan to work with these specially made shoes."
Timmy wearing his new shoes. The hyperextension shoes are fitted to little Timmy's hooves using a special adhesive, which raise and hold the back legs into normal position. (Source: Facebook)"His feet are so wee, they're only 30mm across, the smallest shoes they manufacture are 47mm," Mr Curran says.
"We had to fix the shoes on, adjust them to make them as small as possible and hold a hairdryer on them for two and a half minutes to dry them," Mr Curran says.
The whole process was tiring for Timmy, who fell asleep while his new shoes were fitted.
"He has the shoes on two weeks today and he's coming on great in them," Mr Curran says, "but we don't know how many sets of shoes we're looking at."
The resin on the shoes only lasts for 6 weeks, at which point the shoes must be changed.
Each set of shoes for Timmy costs €400.
Danny and his wife Sandra have had the sanctuary for over seven years and they rescue donkeys anywhere north of Galway and Dublin.
Donegal Donkey Sanctuary have set up a GoFundMe page to help Timmy on his journey, which you can find here.
https://www.gofundme.com/Littletimmy16
Timmy just wanted to say 'hi' to all his many supporters! He is one brave little man! Please help him win his battle. Go Timmy!
Posted by Donegal Donkey Sanctuary on Tuesday, 30 August 2016
