17/10/2025
Today, our Lost Meadows staff said an incredibly difficult goodbye to the sweetest old mule, our Mercy. ❤️🩹
As most of you know, LMMR rescued Mercy from a local auction in July. She had a body score of 1 and was being ridden this way, with her exposed ribs kicked repeatedly as she weakly trotted in circles around the ring. It broke my heart to watch, and our supporters didn’t hesitate to answer our plea to help Mercy. The moment she became an LMMR mule, she was no longer at any risk of being ridden until she fell to her knees, or to pass hungry and in pain without the love and care she deserved and had gone without from humans.
Mercy was immediately seen by our veterinary team at Texas A&M Large Animal Hospital and placed on a careful refeeding protocol. Her bloodwork showed significantly high levels of calcium, which our vets told us is a strong indicator for abdominal tumors. There is no cure, and they told us to watch her closely while giving her as many good days as possible. They estimated Mercy to be about 20 years old.
With that heartbreaking diagnosis, Mercy became a hospice case, but we gave her the absolute best we could and everything she deserved. She was free to spend her days in our grazing pastures with fellow senior mules, meandering through our woods and taking afternoon naps beneath the shade of our old oaks. Every morning she was diligently fed her huge breakfast and enjoyed munching on grain, alfalfa, hay, and grass to her heart’s content while slowly regaining hundreds of pounds of weight.
She became a quiet matriarch of Lost Meadows, and we all absolutely adored her. Although Mercy’s rescue drew criticism from a few online the likes of which were unfamiliar to us, so her time here was kept mostly private while we simply enjoyed having her and loving her in peace every day. We never exploited Mercy for money like some people said, but we sure did exploit all the hugs and kisses we could from her. We make no apologies for rescuing or loving her.
When it was time to let our pastures rest for the fall, Mercy went home with our ranchhand Abigail to be fostered, and to help heal her heart after the devastating loss of her own personal mule. Mercy had this last mission left to do here on earth-side, and when she was done, she began to let us know her time was near within her quiet, stoic ways. We noticed Mercy’s water intake was increasing by the day, while her appetite slowly lessened. She began to have some mild edema on her belly, and she was sleeping more and more throughout the day.
Mercy never suffered again here. She still had small bouts of exuberant energy, and welcomed all of the hugs and scratches she could get, but we knew and she knew her body was coming close to time.
I made the heart-wrenching decision to let her go on a good day today, and she was brought back to the Refuge to be laid to rest by our veterinarian who also really cared about her. Each of us knew and agreed it was the right thing, but how we wanted Mercy to stay... all mules are special, but Mercy was just simply the best. We told her what a good girl she is and quickly wrapped ourselves around her as her eyes closed. I just felt incredible peace as she left, in having kept our promises to her, to the very end. This picture of her was taken today a little before our goodbyes.
Thank you so much to each of you who made it possible for us to help Mercy when she needed saving, and supported and defended our decision to rescue her that day. She touched every heart who met her here, and we will always remember her not just as the sweet old mule she was, but also as a reminder of the virtue of mercy.
Donations towards Mercy’s after-care expenses are very appreciated:
www.mulerefuge.org
PayPal.me/mulerefuge
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-to-our-mules
P.O. Box 479 Caldwell, Texas 77836a
