Whenever a chimp is in the clinic for a procedure, I can’t wait for it to be over so we can put them back into the recovery room.
But as soon as we get them in the recovery room, I almost wish they were back in the clinic.
That’s because in the clinic, we have tons of information about their vitals and far more control over the administration of analgesics, antibiotics, and other drugs that are essential for well-being and even survival. Once they’re in recovery, we have to hope for a cooperative patient. And chimpanzees are not known to be very cooperative under even the best of circumstances…
If a chimpanzee has a major surgery or shows difficulty recovering from anesthesia, we will stay with them overnight – sometimes for nights on end. We’ll monitor their respiration, give medications, and in some cases just nudge them to get up in order to promote circulation and deeper breathing. Our recent sleepovers with Burrito were actually pretty quiet, though the other chimps occasionally had something to say about the cornucopia of food available only to Burrito.
Some of the behaviors we work on in positive reinforcement training come in handy in times like these. While a no-contact thermometer isn’t very scary to begin with, it helps that Burrito is used to holding his temple to the caging while we get a reading.
Administering meds is the most difficult part by far. Anesthesia and medications can make a chimpanzee lose his appetite – even a professional eater like Burrito. And some medications taste and smell disgusting. So whenever a chimp is on medication after a procedure, you will find the counters filled with all sorts of goodies – pudding, applesauce, juice, yogurt, soda, smoothie, bread, bagels, baked goods, jam, honey, syrup, dried fruit…anything that will mask the pill or liquid. And in many cases it only works once, so next time it’s back to the drawing board. But they have to take their meds, so there’s no giving up.
We’re so grateful that Burrito’s world-famous appetite is beginning to return and his suspicion of being surreptitiously medicated is starting to wane. In the not-too-distant future, he will be back to his old routine. And while I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to go back, I know he’ll miss those midnight bagels…
Love my Mr. B… ??????
Didn’t mean?????…!!!!
Don’t stress! The software that WordPress uses is sort of antiquated by today’s standards, and so when you try and insert an emoji from your desktop keyboard, it refuses to recognise it and will then display it as a question mark.
The trick, if you want to insert emojis, is to do them the old-fashioned (at least as far back as 2000–HA!) way, you in something called ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It’s commonly idiomatically referred to as the “text” version of coding. For instance, if I want a general smiley, then I use my keyboard to “make” it: 🙂 . Sometimes when you space just after, it will then form the graphical version of it so you can see it. Sometimes not, as in my case just now. But the two keys I used to make this are the colon : and the closed parentheses. ) with no space between.
Sometimes you can use colons to sandwich the emoji you want, like the broken heart: :broken_heart: We’ll see if this software reads that one correctly after I publish this.
Anyway, I think you get the idea. If anyone in this group wants to add emojis from their desktop keyboards I found a great chart for on Quora where I’m a regular contributor in most of the STEM fields:
https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-type-a-sad-face-on-a-keyboard
HTH, and Cheers.
Ahhhhhh! Burrito! I teared up when I heard of the big fight with Honey B. One reason were the injuries and the second because they fought! I am very glad that Burrito is doing better. Yes, a midnight snack is always NICE. It was so funny when you wrote abut Honey B showing her foot with a toe missing to everyone. I imagine she was saying you should of seen
the other guy aka Burrito. Those TWO! Honey B such a strong personality and
Burrito not knowing when to give up! You all are doing a wonderfully!
I know so true!! Poor Burrito,is not used to being roughed housed from another male. They tried and I feel the Ladies of the group miss him and he Loves them also,maybe let him be with them….
I just love the idea of 24 hour round the clock caregiver attention when a chimp is under the weather, even though I’m sure the caregiver doesn’t always love it. It certainly wouldn’t make for a sound nights sleep I imagine.
JB I really look forward to your posts. They’re thoughtful and you have a way of illuminating just how complex and tricky it is to care for these intelligent, strong willed beings.
I love the photo of Burrito relaxing in his nest, late at night, savouring his bagel.
You guys are simply the BEST!! Love and hugs to you all…
Thank you, J.B., for taking time to share so much information and wonderful pictures! The poor baby looks so tiny in the post-op picture with Diana. It’s nice to have a look at the log .. appetite recovering nicely, I see. 😀
Recovering from surgery is never fun, but Burrito is one lucky fella to be in such capable, loving hands.
I, too, thought he looked so small, or lost in all those blankets… or both
Poor little Burrito 🙁
I’m so glad his appetite is coming back, I can only relate it to all the sick dogs and cats that I foster,
I always have such a hard time convincing them that in order to feel better, they need to eat something.
but you have the extra barrier (literally) of not being able to get close enough to
help them/make them eat…. that must be so hard.
I often sleep on the floor with my sick animals too, I think I wouldn’t be able to
sleep anyway if I was too far away, I’m usually too worried. I can only imagine that you guys aren’t sleeping too well right now, But tomorrow will be better right?
that picture with Diana is so sweet, he looks so small, and she looks so worried.
What a week.
Thank you J.B. for sharing some of the details involved in caring for Mr. B. Sounds as if chimps are just like kids and dogs when it comes to sneaking pill/meds in food. Mr. B looks so small and helpless in these sweet photos. In past surgeries, I was curious about recovering chimps during the nighttime hours. Of course you’d have someone sleeping next our boy to ensure he’s safe and well throughout the night. (Hope the caregiver had an air mattress and a cozy sleeping bag!) Once again your devotion is exemplary.
Lucky Burrito, surrounded by so many people who love him deeply. Hope his appetite grows each day to the point you can’t fit all of his food items on your chart.
PS: This has been a long haul for all of you. Please take care of yourselves. Sometimes you caregivers need caregivers too.
No kidding! Thank God for heated floors!
I am so sorry to hear about the fight that occurred. I am glad that Burrito and Honey B are recovering well. It has to be so upsetting and scary to have this happen after they seemed to be accepting of each other and getting along. You are all so amazing the way you take care of these wonderful beings. Hope Burrito is out of recovery soon, enjoying all his favorite foods again, and feeling better each day.
Thank you for all that you do and for the updates and pictures. Sending love and hugs to all of you.
Oh thank you JB for the update my heart just goes out to precious Burrito and to all the caregivers and to you and Diana during this challenging time I am so happy that Burrito has a good appetite going for him, I will continue to keep you all in my thoughts and I only wish there was more that I could do and that I could be there to help in someway???
Thank you to all you caregivers and volunteers for the loving care you are giving to Burrito and the other chimps in this trying time. Y’all are the absolute best. Everyone has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. And even though the chimps are in two groups they still are in Love, Hope, and Sanctuary with very loving caregivers. Again thank you.
Burrito is a CHAMP! I wish I had the opportunity to help him heal. I know all of you are feeling some kind of way. Burrito is a survivor and we all love him, and hope for the best when it comes to his relationships with all of the other chimps. I also know it has to be really hard to see him suffer the way he has. I’m so grateful he has all of you!!! These chimps are so complex and smart! ??
Let’s see if we can guess who’s the most jealous of the midnight bagels….if she’s even awake when you give them out!
Hi JB, it just hit me….with pills ground up, etc, would pea soup work? He could get his veggies in (though I’m sure he’d prefer cheesecake).
Thank you, JB for such an informative update. Diana looks so sad, so worried and so-oooo-ooo tired. A heartwarming photo to be sure, but a reassuring one which shows how loved Burrito is and what loving and capable hands he is right now. I wonder how often things like this happen at Chimp Haven where they have hundreds of chimps roaming about freely (from what I see).
Hi Elaine – It wouldn’t be our place to talk about specifics at other sanctuaries, but all sanctuaries that do introductions have to deal with significant injuries, and a small number of chimpanzees have died as a result.
Regarding Chimp Haven specifically, we love our friends and colleagues there and they run an amazing sanctuary, but I should point out that the chimps there live in groups ranging from just a few to over twenty in indoor/outdoor enclosures, much like the other sanctuaries.
The look on Diana’s face says it all. In wake of the injury and operation, I wonder how measures are now in place to monitor Burrito’s circulatory health and his weight. As for the future attempt at integration, perhaps Burrito and Willy B can interact with each other again, and perhaps the women can interact in separate venues for limited times. Meanwhile, I think that all concerned deserve the rest of the year off.
Hi Tobin – We’re able to keep track of Burrito’s weight through the use of a custom scale built into a bench in the greenhouse. Regarding his hypertensive heart disease, there are a few things that we can do noninvasively to monitor his status. First, we can listen to his heart via chest auscultation and record the information to our phones using a bluetooth-enabled stethoscope known as an Eko. Second, we can routinely record his resting respiratory rate. Both of these things will tell us how hard his heart and lungs are having to work to compensate for a decline in heart function. Additionally, it would be possible to train him to allow pulse oxymetry. This would be very easy using the fingertip probe but we have found that chimps’ fingers don’t work well – we often use a lip. So we could assess his oxygen saturation if he allows us to gently clip the probe on his lip for about 10 seconds (without trying to bite it!). And finally, we can attempt a basic EKG recording using a fingertip device.
The gold standard test for his condition will remain the echocardiogram, the last of which he had this past May. While Burrito has excelled at positive reinforcement training, I’m afraid we’re nowhere near the point of being able to conduct a full awake echo so we would do these only if he needs to be anesthetized for a separate procedure.
As a Zoo and Wildlife RVT I truly appreciate this post and can completely relate. I’m so grateful and applaud the true dedication you show providing 24 hour care. My motto has always been: The quality of our work is the quality of their lives. You all truly provide the highest quality.
Oh what wonderful information you share. I love you all for what you do.. and the chimps for their incredible personalities and windows into their souls. My support and appreciation to all of you… Deanna’s terrific motto… The quality of your work IS the quality of their lives.. you are amazing!
Hey again, Jeeb,
I love reading your posts, specifically, because you’re not afraid to share more of the technical side of things, knowing we’ll be able to grasp the subject matter. And I’m also with Tobin on his question about what measures you’ve now taken to more closely monitor his weight and heart situation.
I also LOVE how you’ve now promoted Burrito-toes’s status to “professional eater”, from his past amateur, Olympic-qualified status. HA! 😀 Oh, and btw, when you’re ending a sentence by trailing off with the three dots, or ellipse, you need to add the period after it, turning it into four. But that’s only needed when you use them at the very end of a sentence. 🙂
Again, thanks for the information. I know it’s physically impossible to “catch up on sleep”, but I do hope that everyone has been able to at least catch up on some much-needed rest. Are you still planning a super Thanksgiving party feast this week? Poor Burrito, he’s just been through the ringer this year (a lot of us have, tbh) and really needs this, so thanks in advance for doing it!
Cheers.