I looked into this issue more, and it turns out the handleEating method returns correctly (it returns if the feeding action succeeded), so the error is caused by fedFood. See below how the ItemStack always decrements regardless if the feeding action succeeds or not. This affects all llamas, donkeys, mules, and horses, tamed or untamed.
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On the Minecraft wiki it states that horses, mules, and donkeys cannot accept hay bales if untamed. If this is intended, then $$5 should be excluded from hay bales, meaning that the issue here is that the hay bales were incorrectly consumed, as a result of the analysis I attached.