From:
katharine
Date: 2001-05-03 20:48:00 UTC
Subject: heat source after surgery
I can't believe a vets' office would leave an
animal on a heating pad and not realize it was too
hot before severe burning occurred!! Obviously,
the pad was defective or it's possible it was set
on medium or high accidentally. This doesn't mean
you shouldn't use standard heating pads.
My experience with heating pads is that each one
is different in the heat it gives out, even
identical ones. I use heating pads (LOW setting)
as a heat source for my baby wildlife. However,
I put anywhere from 1-4 layers of towel over that,
depending on how warm it gets. They are also in a
container of some sort that is set on the heating
pad and towels and there are additional layers of
bedding in that. You can see from this that a
heating pad gives off lots of heat. I put my
hand against it every time I walk by to make sure
it isn't too warm or too cool. I also touch the
babies frequently and just go by "feel". I check
the controls occasionally also since it would be
easy to accidentally change the temp when moving
things around. As they get a little older, I put
them half on and half off the heat, giving them a
choice of temperatures.
Other items you can use would be a microwave
heating pad (has a thick cover on it) or a sock
filled with rice and heated in the microwave. I
do think that standard heating pads are best.
With a ferret, I would probably wrap it in a
pillow case (or pillow case cover with a zipper
closure) and put several layers of bedding over
it. One of the ferret shelters also makes an
herbal bag that can be heated. I have one but
found the herbal smell to be overwhelming (to me)
when it is heated. If I use it on myself for a
headache, it makes the headache worse <g>. Since
a caged ferret couldn't get away from the smell, I
don't think I would use one for them, even though
that's why they were originally made.
Hope this makes sense.
Katharine