Pack Rats as a coat?

Thankfully the Pack Rat invasion is starting to taper off a bit. They are still there, one woke Curly and I up this morning at 3:30 AM clanking around on the back porch. Unfortunately he didn't make it to the "Electronic Rat Zapper" that I had waiting for him and his ilk.

http://www.amazon.com/Agri-Zap-RZUIR1-Zapper-Ultra/dp/B000BWFESU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1280502999&sr=8-1

Randy Carnahan, a friend for many years, came over for a fishing trip on the Owyhee. We had planned to work our way to the river and camp for a couple of days, to see if he could put together a supply of Catfish for the winter. As I was doing the chores before we departed I found that another one of the big ones had met his demise in the attic of the Tack (cat house) room. He wasn't quite as big as the 12 inch one earlier, but he was no slouch either. Randy had earlier wise cracked that I should make a coat, so I presented him with the rat. Randy has tanned hides since he was a kid, so we proceeded to the shop.

The interesting part of the entire exercise is that each and every whisker can be moved independently. Each is connected to a tendon. They do have a serious "pot belly", but they are muscular little critters, perfectly designed to be a serious pain in the butt.

The darker pattern in their back are apparently extra blood vessels to dissipate heat? 

 The hide is then salted and rolled up to cool in my outside refrigerator for later tanning.