Rabbit anaesthetics!
Although the pedal reflex always disappears in animals under anaesthetic, this stays in the rabbit!
This is a very affective way of monitoring the depth of a rabbit's anaesthetic. When a rabbit is in a medium plane of anaesthesia, the pedal reflex will be present! If this reflex is ever not present, the rabbit may be too deep! Even during anaesthetics such as a rabbit spay, this reflex should still be present!
The general charts that are published for rabbit anaesthesic drugs actually show the highest dose date's available (but they do not state this). In our practice we use TDK, we always reduce the domitor what ison the chart to allow the rabbit into a nice plane of anaesthesia and it works very well!
Also, TDK acts just as quickly and effective when given subcutaneously instead of given intramuscular in a rabbit. IM injections can be very stressful for rabbits, all of these little tips work well together to provide a stress free anaesthetic for your rabbit!!
Try it! It helps!
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Hi
We started to use Iv doses and gave half the amount needed through a canula We would put the rabbits on oxygen and no isoflo. we would top up with the TDK when needed and only on occations we would need to use isoflo. I no longer work there but if people are interested in the doses I could ask one of the nurses there nicely for them. Thought I would add this as we had probs with Im and Sc injections so with the Iv we had a little more control.