Small

[glenatron]

Small pony is in recovery. As far as colic surgery goes it seems to have been the best case- they were able to shift the blockage without cutting into the gut, so the chance of infection should be lower.

He's not out of the woods, not by a long way, but he has survived surgery and that is a massive relief.

Comments

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Hurray hurray for Small pony in recovery!!!!

So sorry to hear this, and everything crossed and prayers to be said for a swift and eventless recovery. I lost my first, much beloved Shetland to a twisted gut back when I was a child, so incidents like this are always a worry to me. Could this be a factor in his continual not-quite-rightness?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

They've taken some biopsies while they were in there and we're really hoping that they can shed some light. It seems like low gut motility is a factor in the colic and could well be something to do with the other problems he's been having, although whether the relationship is causal and if so in what direction will be the tricky questions I think.

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Ah. So it sounds like the gut is an area of challenge. Here's hoping they can find something out which will help the Small one--he sounds like a really neat guy.

[sleepsy-mouse.livejournal.com]

That does seem to be what they're suspecting. They're checking for inflammatory bowel disease, which would cause thickening of the gut wall (hence not getting much from his feed) and low gut motility. If it turns out that is the case, it should be treatable with steroids, and would give us a very well fitting explanation for all the not-quite-rightness that's been going on.

And thank you! he's such an awesome horse, and I'm very, very lucky to be his human!