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Anesthesia & Analgesia

Injectable Anesthesia and Analgesia of Birds

Premeds:

Ketamine 0.01-0.03mg/g i.m.
Metomidate 10-20mg/kg i.m.
Xylazine 110-165mg/kg i.m.

Injectable Anesthesia

Pentobarbital 20-30mg/kg i.v. 10-15 min Extremely variable response. May not be sufficient when used alone.
Methohexital 5-10mg/kg i.v. up to 2 hours
Thiopental 50 mg/kg i.v. 5-10min A concentration of 0.5-1.0% is recommended, supplemental doses may be necessary.
Ketamine 33-100mg/kg i.v. 5-20min not good for major surgical procedures., supplemental doses of 10mg/kg may be required. Ketamine 25mg/kg i.m. May produce transient excitement.
Diazepam 2.5mg/kg i.m. during recovery.

Inhalation Anesthesia

The presence of air sacs and of air in the bones makes it difficult to change the depth of gas anesthesia in birds as quickly as it may be done in mammals.

Inhalation anesthetics must be scavenged ( a process in which vapors expelled or not inhaled by the animal are removed) to prevent human exposure. Pregnant women should not be exposed to inhalation anesthetics (other that CO2).

CO2 to effect—there is a fine line between proper anesthetic level and death when using CO2.
Halothane to effect—induction is usually rapid and is achieved at a concentration of 3% or less. Halothane 2-3% induction Must be used in a precision 0.8-1% maintenance vaporizer. Lethal concentrations may result if the vaporizer is is not used. Maintenance may be accomplished at approximately 0.8%. Halothane has a high vapor pressure, therefore, it must be used in a precision vaporizer to prevent lethal concentrations at higher room temperatures.
Isoflurane 2-3% induction, 0.8-1 % maintenance Must be used with precision vaporizer to prevent the development of lethal conc. Induction is usually rapid (even more so than with halothane).
Methoxyflurane 0.5-3% induction Induction and recovery will take Longer than when using Halothane or isoflurane. Methoxyflurane may be used in a Wick vaporizer or in a nose cone.