Abstract
The effects of a high ketamine dose (15 mg/kg) and a low ketamine dose (10 mg/kg) combined with two separate doses of tramadol (10 and 5 mg/kg) were studied in chickens. Seventeen layer chickens (Isa brown breed) presented for laparo-cecectomy associated with feed trials were randomized into Ketamine-Lignocaine (KL) group (15 mg/kg ketamine)- 5 chickens, Tramadol-Ketamine-Lignocaine (TKL) group (10 mg ketamine plus 5 mg/kg tramadol)- 5 chickens and Tramadol-2-Ketamine-Lignocaine (TTKL) group (10 mg ketamine plus 10 mg/kg tramadol)- 7 chickens. All chickens had 2% lignocaine incision site infiltration to provide additional analgesia. Onset of drug action (OAN), Duration of recumbency (DR), heart rates (HR), respiratory rates (RR) and cloacal temperature (CT) were evaluated as anaesthetic monitoring indices. The trend for OAN was KL (3.3±0.4 min) >TKL group (4.0±3.0 min) > TTKL group (8.2±2.5 min). DR was KL group (110.3±20.8 min) > TTKL group (81.2±5.5 min) > TKL group (62.6±4.7 min). The mean variation of pre-anaesthetic and anaesthetic values of HR was not significant, although the KL group had the lowest HR. Observed fall in RR with TTKL < TKL< KL was not significant (P>0.05) among the groups. A statistically none significant (P>0.05), none life threatening fall in temperature was also observed among the groups. In the absence of inhalatory anaesthesia, 10 mg/kg ketamine combined with tramadol (5-10 mg/kg) and lignocaine infiltration may be a preferred anaesthetic protocol for non-protracted surgical procedures in chickens. Key words: Anaesthesia, ketamine, layer chickens, lignocaine, tramadol.
Highlights
Injectable anaesthesia continues to be in common use for avian practice in many African and Asian countries due to high cost of delivery apparatus for inhalation anaesthesia (Curro, 1998; Eyarefe and Oguntoye, 2012)
The chickens in the TTKL group were given 10 mg/kg body weight of tramadol (Non-proprietary, Eurolife PVT Ltd, India) followed immediately by administration of 10 mg/kg body weight of ketamine hydrochloride (Ketamine; Rotex Medica, Germany) while the TKL group of chickens had 5 mg/kg body weight of tramadol followed by immediate administration of 10 mg/kg body weight of ketamine
Following administration of anaesthetic drug, each chicken paced up and down, sat down and later rested on the keel, before turning over on its side, and stretched out the legs (Plates 1, 2 and 3). They closed their eyes for a short period and later opened them (Plate 4)
Summary
Injectable anaesthesia continues to be in common use for avian practice in many African and Asian countries due to high cost of delivery apparatus for inhalation anaesthesia (Curro, 1998; Eyarefe and Oguntoye, 2012) Few disadvantages such as, risk of overdosing in small birds, difficulty in maintaining surgical anaesthesia without severe cardiopulmonary depression and prolonged recovery have been identified (Franchetti and Klide, 1978; Paul-Murphy and Fialkowski, 2001; Ludders, 2015), injectable anaesthesia continues to be in use due to minimal equipment need, low cost, quick anaesthetic induction, as well as, minimal or no pollution of work environment (Paul-Murphy and Fialkowski, 2001; Gandomani et al, 2009; Ludders, 2015). The need for understanding of species specific pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic profile of each injectable drug has been emphasized (Hawkins and Paul‐Murphy, 2011)
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