03/25/2025
Coco Chanel: Update #2- 11/22-27/24
🩺 Coco is extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated and humble team of doctors curating her treatment plan! The 4 Countryside Equine doctors, along with numerous veterinarians and specialists consulting on her case virtually, set Coco up for every chance at recovery possible. Now, the questions were raised- can she handle it? Is it fair to her? How do we manage her physical pain and psychological stress throughout this extensive process?
💊 Pain Management and Mental Health:
Despite her substantial wounds, Coco remained inquisitive and has maintained her feisty personality from day 1: greeting every horse and human coming into the barn and nickering at feeding time with a vivacious appetite. For the first two months of hospitalization, she received Flunixin Meglumine (Banamine) via IV catheter every 12 hours and Acetaminophen as needed. She was also on a maintenance dose of Trazodone orally every 12 hours. Every day we assessed her physical and mental state and adjusted our treatment plan accordingly. It was determined by her owners and our team of veterinarians that, if at any time, Coco showed us signs that she was done fighting, that we'd listen to her. She never did and never has to this day. Coco did struggle psychologically with coming in/out of her stall, doorways, and close quarters. We hypothesized that this was due to injuries sustained in her stall or during her rapid exit out of the burning barn. With every interaction, our staff worked with her to create positive experiences and help her work through this aspect of her trauma, as well. We truly believe in providing care beyond the physical aspect. After a brief period of time, as Coco became more comfortable, she was walking through her stall and doorways without cowering and her confidence grew from there.
**See the video in comments below of her greeting our staff each morning on our way into work.
🩹 Bandaging, Wound Care, and Debridement:
While Coco still looked like much of her skin was intact, the tissue she had was burnt and damaged beyond repair. Her neck and back were a giant eschar and felt like dried leather. Each day, more of her damaged skin declared itself (showing necrotic tissue that needed to be removed to allow healthy cells to replace them). For months, we spent 2 hours every single day performing the following: ivory soap baths and manual exfoliation, debriding dead tissue, lavaging deeper lesions as needed, completing additional therapies, and then rebandaging. If you take a look at the photo of Dr. Cait lasering her back, you can begin to see where her skin is splitting due to excess fluid accumulation and swelling. In our next update, you will see where we have lanced this seroma and relieved an immense amount of pressure for Coco. Her personality and comfort level changed drastically within the next 12 hours and she was able to lie down to sleep for the first time.
As always, comment with any questions for us or words of encouragement you may have for Coco and her family. Next week, we will share more of Coco’s story and healing process. See the barn fire news article link here 👉 https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/eatonton-horse-burned-barn-fire
Countryside Equine Hospital | "For The Horse" | Diagnostically Driven | Bringing You Answers | Serving the Covington, GA area for over 30 years.
