Anesthesia and Analgesia
Minor Surgeries in Small Ruminants
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20074546Keywords:
Sheep, goats, camelids, restraint, pain management, animal welfare, analgesia, CNS excitation, anesthetic, analgesicAbstract
Sheep, goats and camelids are small enough to be "manhandled" for restraint for painful procedures. In addition, their nature as prey animals makes them relatively docile and disinclined to vocalize loudly when subjected to pain, with the exception of goats. As a result, they have traditionally been handled with less attention to pain management than other species. Nevertheless, they feel pain and suffer as much as any other species and should be treated with as much care and attention to analgesia and pain management.
One of the primary goals of pain management is to prevent CNS nociceptive "windup" through preemptive analgesia. To this end, we look for drugs that decrease or prevent transmission of painful stimuli to the brain to be administered sufficiently in advance of the painful stimuli so there is minimal CNS excitation. Often this can best be accomplished by use of several drugs in combination--the so-called anesthetic or analgesic "cocktail". Other drugs may be added before, during, or after painful procedures to further modulate pain. By combined, integrated pain management we hope to bring patients through minor surgeries with minimal suffering and loss of production.