Page 190 - BSAVA Guide to Pain Management in Small Animal Practice

7 | Pain in other exotic pets

VetBooks.ir CASE EXAMPLE 1 CONTINUED

mask with inhalation anaesthetic. This does
not provide any analgesia. Some clinicians
prefer to premedicate small rodents and
typically an alpha agonist such as
dexmedetomidine and ketamine can be
used alongside other analgesics. The
advantage of this regimen is that both
provide some additional analgesic e ects but
this has to be balanced alongside the
cardiovascular side e ects of the alpha
agonist in a higher risk patient.
nce anaestheti ed, the use of local
anaesthetics should not be overlooked.
Lidocaine is short acting 1 hours but
has a relatively fast onset of e ect,
whereas bupivacaine has a longer duration of
action 4 8 hours but takes longer for its 3 A warm, quiet area should be provided
postoperatively.
initial e ect minutes . enerally, these © Jenna Richardson
two agents are provided together in the same
syringe at a dose of 1 mg kg lidocaine and 1 feeding can be provided with a warm critical
mg kg bupivacaine. his increases the care li uid diet e.g. Emeraid mnivore .
duration of the sensory blockade with Parenteral opioid therapy should continue
reduced motor blockade. The top doses while the rat is hospitali ed; typically,
recommended are 4 mg kg lidocaine and buprenorphine is the drug of choice.
mg kg bupivacaine. In ltration can be hen the rat is recovered and sent home
performed both under the mammary mass it is important to continue to provide
and subcutaneously under the incision site. analgesia. An NSAID such as meloxicam
The drugs can be diluted with saline to allow should be continued for days and
distribution over a greater area, therefore can be provided orally. Tramadol can be used
increasing the e ectiveness of tissue to replace the buprenorphine given in a
in ltration. entle tissue handling and the use clinical setting; alternatively, buprenorphine
of moistened gau e swabs sterile cotton tips can be given orally or mixed with jelly. The
will reduce tissue in ammation during the typical recommended dose is . mg kg
surgery. Selection of a mono lament suture orally but it has been shown not to be as
material such as poliglecaprone is e ective as parenteral dosing hompson
important to minimi e tissue reactions. et al., 4 . It is important to increase the
Reactions can occur; multi lament material dose to 1 mg kg to ensure e ectiveness,
can lead to signi cant wound reactions. but palatability may be poor at this
Immediately postoperatively the wound concentration (Martin et al., 1 . he
should be gently cleaned using moist gau e e ectiveness of oral tramadol is uncertain,
swabs. Postoperatively, the rat should be even at doses as high as mg kg Cannon
transferred to an incubator providing a quiet et al., 1 . ose ranges are often
and warm environment igure 7. 7 . A extrapolated from the rabbit dose of
suitable hiding place full of shredded paper 11 mg kg by mouth once daily Sou a et al.,
or a towel can be provided for further 8 ; however, the e ectiveness of the drug
insulation. Once mobile, spoon or syringe in this species is also uncertain.

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