General GP's and paint fumes

[dbsam]

I know paint fumes are not good for the GP’s - or anyone. I am wondering if the precautions I am planning to take are sufficient. What do you think?

We are having our kitchen cabinets painted tomorrow with a horrible oil based primer and paint. I've asked a couple of people to take the GP’s for the day but they will not. The GP’s room is over the garage where much of the painting will be done, the rest will be in the kitchen. Although the fumes are heavier than air and should drop, I thought it best to move the GP’s to my bedroom or bathroom which is on the main floor (same as the kitchen) but furthest away from the kitchen. So...if the GP’s are in the master bath and the dog is in the master bedroom separated by a door - they should have fewer fumes. I considered closing the vents in the master bed/bath to reduce fumes but it is 20 degrees out and I am worried the room temp might drop under 65 degrees.

The primer fumes are worse than the paint and there is only one coat of primer. The fumes are the worst while it is wet – it dries in ~ an hour.

So...Am I over worrying? How sensitive are the GP's?
I considered getting a hotel room for the kids, dog and GP’s but they will not allow the animals in the room.
Thanks

 

[bpatters]

I would definitely close the vents. It won't matter if the temp drops below 65, unless you've got skinnies. And even then you could take extra precautions. If it does get really chilly, just put a blanket over the cage to sort of trap the heat.

The other thing you can do is turn a cardboard box on its side and then drape a towel over most of the front opening. Their body heat will help keep that smaller space warm.

 

[dbsam]

Thanks bpatters. I am going to shut the vents. They are not skinnies. I read somewhere that their room temp s/b between 65-75 and I guess I took it a little too literally! (to the point that we've warmed our house because of the piggies. We typically like it between 60-62 in the winter but we raised it a little for them.) Our house is really well insulated and tends to hold the temp fairly well. I was just worried because the wind is worse than usual.

We also put up heavy plastic in the opening from the kitchen and taped all spaces between doors on the wall of French doors between the kitchen and the living room to help minimize the fumes throughout the house. As a result, the kitchen is sealed off and we need to go outside and around the house to get into the kitchen, laundry room and garage - I hope the painters don't need to pee often...it will be a cold trip to the bathroom!

I'm glad my husband is being to accomodating. He will need to touch up the paint where he put all the tacks for the plastic. I've got him worried about Duncan and Caramel too.

 

[bpatters]

They really do better with cold than heat. After all, their original ancestors lived in the Andes! And unless they're skinnies or sick, they're just balls of fat and fur, which pretty much guarantees that they'll stay warm.