General anesthesia, sedation and restraint in cattle

Abstract

Sedation and restraint of cattle are everyday procedures in bovine practice. It is so routinely performed that all practitioners develop their own habits over time. The necessity of deep sedation or general anesthesia may be rarer, and requires more monitoring during the induced loss of consciousness.

Except for the xylazine, which carries an authorization to be used in food animals for sedation, the use of all other drugs for sedation and anesthesia is an extra-label use, and must be used under the confines of the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act. Specific attention should be given to the withdrawal time guidelines available through the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD).