APOPO Seeking Community Outreach Volunteers in the US

APOPO, the organization that trains Gambian pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis in order to make our world a healthier and safer place, is looking for community outreach volunteers in the US. If you are a good public speaker and would like you use your talents to assist this organization in the US, please consider applying.

More information about this volunteer position can be found here: http://www.idealist.org/view/volop/XHS22mTJ3w8d/.

Jeremy Is Recovering Post Neuter

Jeremy Chillin' in his Igloo the Day after his Neuter

Jeremy's neuter went off yesterday without a hitch. He is safe and comfy at home, with the top half of the Critter Nation all to himself as his hospital cage. He has one low-hanging hammock, an igloo stuffed with fleece, a litter box, and a food dish. His liner/fleece/hammock gets changed daily, as does the litter box.

He is eating fine and having normal bowel movements, and while he seems to want to hide in the igloo for a while, he was pretty spry and active when he came out for his breakfast. His neuter incision looks good.

In the mean time, Burt, Hammie, and Ruby have been confined to the lower level, where they are enjoying a little peace and quiet.

An Insulated Carrier Cover: For When You Have to Go out with Your Rat in Freezing Temps

Insulated Cover for Those Extremely Cold Days

Yesterday was Jeremy's pre-neuter appointment. Unfortunately, it was also 1 degree outside with wind chills below zero. I made sure to warm up the car, but he would still need to make it from the car to the vet's office and back in these dangerous temperatures.

I have used fleece, blankets, and towels in the past to cover the carrier when it was cold, but it always seems the cage can be too exposed that way. Either the entire carrier isn't covered or the cover blows up or the cover is uneven. If the cover is too large, it gets in the way. If it is too small, something isn't covered. And it is more difficult to grab the handle through the cover. If it is windy, it seems sometimes the wind goes right through the cover anyway.

Cover Next to the Carrier

To solve these problems on this extremely cold day, I decided to create a carrier cover designed to fit his carrier, allow me to hold the handle directly, and protect him from the wind. I wanted something a little more insulated than just fleece or fleece and flannel/cotton, so I decided to use the same materials I use for the cage liners: One layer of fleece for the outside, and one warm insulated layer of U-Haul furniture pad for the underside to protect him from the chill of the wind.

I made my cover in a hurry in the hour before I had to leave for the appointment, so I did not have time to photograph the process. If you are interested in making one yourself to fit your own carrier, I have included a brief description of the process below. It is very similar to making a cube/rectangular prism, except there is no bottom, so you need to clean finish the bottom edges of the side pieces together first if you want a finished edge along the bottom. You will need a sewing machine capable of sewing through many layers and a needle for heavy fabrics (sewing the top to the connected sides is the hardest part - particularly the corners where you need to sew over the side seams).



Petmate Look 'N See Portable Kennel

The carrier that I use is the Petmate Look 'N See Portable Kennel, discussed in this post. To make the cover, I simply measured the three dimensions of the carrier (length, width, height) and added at least one inch to each dimension for seam allowance (you can add a little extra to ensure a loose fit and protect against shrinkage). I then cut from fleece two long side pieces (21" x 11"), two short front/back pieces (12" x 11") and one top piece (21" x 12"). I then cut another set of pieces using the U-Haul furniture pad.

To prepare the top piece, I put the fleece top piece on top of the furniture pad top piece, right sides out/wrong sides together and pinned them together. I put the top piece on top of the carrier and marked the position of the handle. I then cut a slit in the top piece (through both fleece and furniture pad) and made sure the handle fit through the slit. I made it a little larger than necessary so I would be able to adjust the position of the cover lengthwise slightly if needed.



Slit style handle opening

To finish off the raw edges of the handle opening, I sewed around the opening with a zigzag stitch (kind of like a super large button hole). I then put this piece aside and worked on building the sides of the cover. NOTE: If you want a larger opening, you can make a rectangular opening the same way you would make an opening on a cube. This would leave more open space around the handle, which wouldn't be good for me, since my carrier is all wire on the top. The slit style opening keeps the carrier covered better, so I used that method instead.

For each of the four side pieces, I first created a finished bottom edge on each piece by doing the following: I put the fleece and furniture pad pieces right sides together and sewed them together along the bottom edge. I trimmed the seam allowance and flipped them right side out and top stitched along the sewn side, finishing off the bottom edge. Once that was done for each side piece, I sewed each side piece to the adjacent side, just like making a cube/rectangular prism, with fleece sides together (furniture pad side facing out), making sure the finished bottom edges were aligned. When they were all connected in a straight line, I folded the long strip fleece sides together so that the last piece sewn met the first piece sewn, and sewed the last piece to the first piece, making a closed rectangle. I then trimmed all the seam allowances.

When all four sides were sewn together, I turned them inside out and pinned the carrier top to the top edge of the sides, fleece sides together (furniture pad side out), the same way you would attach the top of a cube. I sewed the top piece to the sides around all four edges, just like attaching the top of a cube. Note that this will be very thick at the corners and you will need a sewing machine and needle capable of sewing through all the layers.

Once the seam allowances were trimmed, the cover could be turned inside out and then placed over the carrier to protect the rat from the weather.

Cover lifted a bit in front to expose door.

Note that this cover will limit ventilation. I do not use the cover inside the car (or if I did, I would life the front portion up to promote airflow), as I prefer to have the ventilation when possible. I am only planning to use this cover when making the trip in and out of the car in extremely cold weather.

A similar cover could be constructed for more regular use out of lighter materials if desired.

On a side note, Jeremy got the thumbs up to go ahead with his neuter. He will be going in a week from Wednesday.

Jeremy Has a Pre-Neuter Appointment Scheduled

The way I have it figured, Jeremy should be turning 6 months right about now. And just like clockwork, those hormones have kicked into high gear. Since Burt and Hammie were neutered, Jeremy has stepped up as alpha rat (despite the fact that he is the smallest rat of the pack and slightly lame in his rear right leg [sometimes, when nobody is listening, I like to refer to him as Kaiser Söze]). However, until now, there has been no blood drawn. Yesterday, that changed.

At the end of out time yesterday, Jeremy and Hammie got into a really bad scuffle that left both rats bleeding, Hammie with two bite marks - one on each shoulder. Jeremy was the clear instigator. After I got the boys separated and cleaned up, I noticed that Burt also had a scab on his thigh. It didn't take too much imagination to figure out what had happened there.

So I have committed to the neuter, and Jeremy has his pre-neuter appointment scheduled for Monday. To be honest, I had been considering it even before now. Jeremy has served as instigator in a few too many scuffles. These scuffles were not introduction scuffles where the rats were establishing a pecking order. These were becoming a pattern of behavior for Jeremy. Even though these scuffles did not result in blood (no blood, no foul), everyone (including Jeremy) would be happier if Jeremy's hormones could be brought under control. I was just hoping to wait until spring, when I didn't have to worry about traveling to the exotics vet that does neuters during bad winter weather. That ship has now sailed.

This will be my second time doing neuters. I was very nervous and apprehensive about doing Burt and Hammie's neuters back in September. But they came through surgery so well and the neuters have made both rats so much happier, that I am actually looking forward to having Jeremy done and am relieved that some of the extra friction in the rat room may soon be a thing of the past. Of course, I will always be nervous the day of the surgery, but I feel much more calm having gone through the process before.

Happy 2015!

 

Jeremy is such a good sport about posing for pics.

He has no idea what is going on, but he just goes with it.

Hammie Picked up a Respiratory Infection

Hammie posing for a Christmas picture before becoming ill.

Hammie started sneezing right before Christmas. For a few days, he just wanted to hang out in his hammock and sleep, rather than come out and play. His eyes were narrow and not so bright.

We brought him into the vet the day after Christmas. His lungs were clear and the infection appeared to be confined to the upper respiratory system (nose and sinuses). He also had a swollen back left leg. I had noticed him limping the previous weekend, but at the time, his leg was not swollen, and the next day, he appeared to be using it again. Apparently, while he was ill, he either re-injured it, or it had gotten worse, and it was swollen pretty good when the vet looked at him.

He was put on some Rimadyl for the swelling/pain in his leg. He was also put on Trimethoprim Sulfa for the respiratory infection. This particular med is not effective for myco-related respiratory infections, but it can be effective for other types of respiratory infections. The vet thought it might be effective for Hammie's particular case.

Hammie has been on the meds for about 5 days now. His leg is much better and he is back to his active, alert, playful self. The change in his behavior is really remarkable - even my youngest son noticed right away how much better he is. However, he is still sneezing. We decided we will keep him on the meds for another few days to make it a full week, to give the meds more time to kick this thing before deciding whether we need to change meds or finish the course with the existing one. If after a week he is still sneezing, we will switch to another med. I am interested to see what will happen. Hammie really did improve drastically since starting the antibiotic, being back to his normal self except for the sneezing, so it seems like it is working, but until the sneezing stops, it is still up in the air.

Merry Christmas!

 

Burt is delighted to find that popcorn grows on Christmas trees!