Injectable anesthetics for rabbits?

[stargazerLily]

I've heard some people talking about their vets doing injectable anesthetic for doing rabbit neuters/spays. Can one of you tell me what your vet uses? Right now where I work, we just gas rabbits and other "exotics" down, but if there is an injectable that works well, I would like to discuss it with my vet.

 

[Ivory]

Ketamine, acepromozine, and xylazine. Works better in rabbits than gas, I find.

 

[stargazerLily]

That sounds very similar to what we use to knock out cats for neuters, spays and declaws. Do you know the percentages per pound or kg or whatever? Does it last long enough to get the procedure done without having to tube the rabbit?

 

[Pipp]

When I phoned around researching vets to do Pipp's molar spurs surgery, I made some notes..

I went for the Domitor, btw, with the Atipemazole reversal. But this is dental surgery -- you don't want the gas aparatus around the face, a spay might be different. A sedative might not be enough. (Love to know more about that!)

Here are the notes, but they're REALLY rough, no time to fiddle with them.

Vet #1 - Domitor is Medetomidine, it appears to be a newer drug. They said they use a reversal, but didn't name it, but it seems that Atipemazole is always used.

Here's what a couple of sites said:
http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Anesthesia/Safe_Anesthesia.htm
Medetomidine (Domitor) - 0.250 mg/kg -- SC -- Should be avoided in rabbits with health issues, due to respiratory and cardiovascular depression properties of this compound.
Reversal: Atipemazole - 0.05 mg/kg -- IV -- Venipuncture is difficult due to vasoconstriction of the veins. (NOTE: I'm only assuming this is the reversal drug, it could be something else).


http://vet_kim.hihome.com/drugs.htm#Medetomidine

Medetomidine (Domitor): rab-0.2 mg/kg IM
Alpha 2 adrenergic agonist that provides moderate analgesia and sedation. Useful in combination with dissociative or other anesthetics. Purported to have less cardiopulmonary depression than xylazine.



Vet #2 - Ketamine/Xylazine

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Anesthesia/Safe_Anesthesia.htm

Ketamine/Xylazine -- 35 mg/kg 5 mg/kg -- SC, IM, IV - Short surgical anesthesia (20 - 30 min.) High dosage may induce bradycardia and muscular stiffness. Important salivary and bronchial secretions - Sleep time: 60 – 120 min.

http://vet_kim.hihome.com/drugs.htm
Ketamine: NHP, Rab, rod-40-90 mg/kg IV, IM
Cyclohexamine dissociative anesthetic. Respiratory depression can become significant at higher doses. Frequently used in combination with other drugs such as acepromazine, xylazine, diazepam.


Xylazine: rab, guinea pigs-3-5 mg/kg IM
Alpha 2 adrenergic agonist causing sedation, analgesia and significant hypotension. May cause 2nd degree heart block and bradycardia in dogs and other species. Frequently causes emesis in dogs. It can be administered to frogs for very effective analgesia of up to 24 hours duration.

 

[stargazerLily]

Thanks for the info. We use domitor all the time for sedation. I found it works wonderfully and if the animal starts having problems, we can reverse almost immediatly.

The gas we use is sevoflurene (sp?), which I like using a lot better than isoflurene, but I think everyone has their own opinions. That is the gas we use on everyone, including the wildlife we work with (like the skunk we spayed and the oppossum we neutered a month ago).

 

[Ivory]

Yep! It works fantasically for cats! It probably is what you use. A lot of vets will use one, two, or a combination of all three for sedation before gas. We just use injectables.

Dad doesn't work on wildlife anymore, but it's what he used to use.

We've never had to tube the rabbit. They're usually up pretty quickly, but then again a rabbit neuter takes maybe ten to fifteen minutes and a spay takes maybe ten to fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on how developed. I've seen him neuter a rabbit in eight minutes 47 seconds. (Yes I counted.) Sometimes they will start to kick a little so he will give them a little more.

In rabbits it's 10-12 miligrams per pound for ketamine, 3 miligrams per pound for xylazine, and I believe it's .5 mg for every two and a half pounds. In dwarfs he will sometimes have to use as much as 20 mg per pound, depending on how they respond.

Ketamine usually starts wearing off within a half an hour when combined with the other drugs.

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

We have used injectables quite a bit and they seem to be especially good with dental surgeries since no mask is used. The good think about injectables is that it is completely reversible with an injection of a reversing drug. I think if your vet would check with Exotic DVM....he/she might get the formulary. If not, if your vet would contact me directly, I can make arrangements with my vetto get them the info.

There is also another inhalable anesthesia that is fairly new and it is great. Really quick to work and very quick rebound. It's sevoflourane. Not many vets use it yet but we have had acouple of buns sedated with that gas and we were very pleased with the results.

Randy

 

[stargazerLily]

ra7751 wrote:

There is also another inhalable anesthesia that is fairly new and it is great. Really quick to work and very quick rebound. It's sevoflourane. Not many vets use it yet but we have had acouple of buns sedated with that gas and we were very pleased with the results.

Randy

Yes, we use Sevo. All the rabbits we work on have been masked down with sevo for their surgeries and there is very quick recovery time with it.