Page 182 - BSAVA Guide to Pain Management in Small Animal Practice

7 | Pain in birds

VetBooks.ir Drug Notes* Dose Author
range in
recommendations
and guidance
literature*
Opioids continued
ramadol • Provides analgesia by opioid mu , serotonin and 1 mg kg orally every
norepinephrine pathways with minimal adverse mg kg 8 1 h in birds of prey
e ects orally and every 6 8h in
• It is a potent oral analgesic that is not currently under 4 6h parrots
tight medication regulations he dose may need to
• E ective doses reported include mg kg orally 1 h be higher in parrots but
in bald eagles, mg kg i.v. in ispaniolan Ama on this dose appears to
parrots, 11 mg kg orally for 4h in red tailed hawks have some e ect
and mg kg orally for 6h in ispaniolan Ama on anecdotally. ore data
parrots where 1 and mg kg were ine ective re uired
• In American kestrels, mg kg orally was only
e ective for 1. hours
ydro • Semi synthetic mu receptor agonist .1 .6 Never been used by this
morphone • 4 times more potent than morphine mg kg 6h author
• hen evaluated at .1, . and .6 mg kg, showed a Refer to literature dose
dose dependent response when given to American
kestrels but only sedation when given to cockatiels
NSAIDs
etoprofen • igh bioavailability orally in mammals, but limited Not recommended due
oral P data in birds. Lack of convenient oral mg kg to potential renal e ects
formulations mean it is used mainly parenterally
• mg kg resulted in deaths of male eiders may be
related to behaviour leading to dehydration
• mg kg in mallards appeared e ective for 1 h
• . mg kg 4h for 7d caused renal tubular necrosis
in budgies.
eloxicam • ost widely used NSAI in avian medicine .1 . 1 mg kg i.m. 4h or
• Convenient to use as in ectable and oral formulations mg kg 1 h and 1. mg kg
in two di erent strengths orally 4h or 1 h
• Survey to determine NSAI toxicity in captive birds Anecdotally, once daily
treated in oos reported ero fatalities associated dosing appears e ective
with meloxicam 7 birds from 6 species to this author but P and
• P studies in multiple avian species P data in the literature
• 1 mg kg of meloxicam i.m. 1 h in ispaniolan do not always support
Ama on parrots was necessary to achieve analgesia this. here is evidence
lower bioavailability orally that the anti
• 1.6 mg kg 1 h orally for 1 d in parrots and mg kg in ammatory and
i.m. 4h for 14d in uail had no adverse e ects analgesic e ects of
• 1 mg kg i.m. for 7d was e ective in African grey NSAI s continue longer
parrots than predicted by
• In pigeons, mg kg orally 1 h was e ective but . plasma half lives
mg kg was not Avoid if hypoperfusion is
• espite meloxicam s large therapeutic range and likely dehydration or
relative safety compared with other NSAI s, adverse anaesthesia
e ects in di erent species should continue to be
evaluated
continued Analgesia drugs used in birds. Information referenced from awkins et al., 16.
3 CRI continuous rate infusion; AC mean anaesthetic concentration; NSAI non steroidal anti
in ammatory drug; P pharmacodynamic; P pharmacokinetic. continues

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