Help Arty Fight Through Colic

King Arthur, Arty, the dwarf mini with a heart on his head at the Nerd Herd Sanctuary.

One of our beloved herd members that you may have met during one of our community outreach trips. Arty is a favorite among many for his sweet personality, soft touch, and loving embrace. He stands with the youngest children like a saint while they admire him and experience the magic of horses.

Saturday morning May 31rst Arty started exhibiting colic symptoms. At first his symptoms seemed manageable. He received an emergency visit from Dr. Dana Pantano of Black Pond Veterinary around noon. We tried supportive care in the field which he seemed to respond to at first. Around 4pm though he began to become really uncomfortable. We continued supportive care and kept communication flowing to Dr. Pantano. Around 5pm we decided it would be in his best interest to make the trip to tufts. We began to move quickly to get the rest of the herd settled and load Arty up. We arrived at Tufts in grafton just before 7pm. Arty went in for evaluation and around 8:30pm he was admitted into the hospital for impaction colic. His entire colon was impacted. His options were supportive care or surgery. They spoke to us about the pros and cons of both. Due to the impressive size of the impaction and the fact he has a heart murmur his survival rate seemed really low with surgery. It was opening him up to a load of risks (rupture or cardiac event). We decided to try supportive intensive care in hopes that would help him. But agreed that if he could not remain comfortable or show improvement that he was indeed a candidate for surgery. Arty settled into his room. This whole building is spotless. Clean. Beautiful. His tiny body looked so frail in his room. He was hooked up to fluids and shaking in his room. We sat with him quickly before we had to leave. His aunties by each of his sides showing him some love. I sat by his head and kissed his forehead. I begged him to fight with all the strengthen he had. But reminded him if he had to go we understood and loved him very much. It was so hard to leave him but we knew he was in the best of hands. Reluctantly we left his hospital room and made the journey home to check on the rest of the fur babies back at the sanctuary. We arrived home around 11pm and began checking on them. When we got to Arty's paddock we saw his brother Merlin standing under his nightlight looking lonely and confused as to where his brother went without him. Just then I heard my phone ring and I saw it was Tufts. Arty was uncomfortable and supportive care was proving to not be working. Surgery was now his only option. We agreed instantly to please send him to surgery. We were told that the doctors were called and everyone would be arriving shortly. That Arty would enter surgery in an hour. We were told that if all went well we would hear from them late night early morning. I stayed up all night just staring at my phone. I kept replaying in my head how risky the surgery was for him. Did we make the right choice? Or should we have helped him over the rainbow bridge? Was I being selfish wanting to fight for him to stay? He wanted to fight so that meant we were suppose to stand there fighting with him right? Around 3:33am I saw the words Tufts light up on my phone. I anxiously snatched it off the table and answered the phone. Holding my breath I listened. Arty survived surgery and was in the recovery room. He had a massive impaction that was trapped by a bend in his colon that empties out into the next section. The impaction was filled with feed material and a few parasites (He was dewormed a month prior but struggles with resistant parasites. He is also UTD on his dentals) they sent a sample/culture to help us figure out why. His stomach also had an impaction. They told us that Arty would not have been able to manage the impactions on his own and would have ruptured/not survived if he did not have surgery. Around 4:23am They called to tell me Arty had woken up and was standing in his room. They were giving him a break from the tubes and they would start working on the stomach impaction in the early morning hours. Around 12:14pm I received a call that Arty had remained comfortable so far. His temperature was slightly elevated but not concerning since he had just had major surgery. Honestly much more was said but I'm running on a half hour of sleep and a ton of coffee. So my brain is in a fog. I just know we are not out of the woods but our little miracle boy is fighting his battle in the most courageous way. Just like the king he is. Arty's estimate is a little over $12,000. We are a 501c3 nonprofit in Dartmouth ma.