Administration of Ketamine Hydrochloride as General anesthesia in Domestic Fowl

Abstract

Ketamine hydrochloride was tested as a general anesthetic administered as a single intramuscular injection at 2.5, 5, 10 or 30 mg/kg to twenty- 3-day-old chicksand at doses of 20, 30, 60, 175 or 350 mg/kg to twenty- 40-day-old chickens. A dose of 30 mg/kg is lethal to chicks whereas lethality was produced by a dose of 350 mg/kg in older birds. Toxicity of the drug was expressed by the formulae y = 30x-50 for chicks and y = 0.3252x + 0.89 for older birds where y is mortality percent and x is the log dose. The time for onset of anesthesia was 10-60 seconds in chicks compared to 1.0-10.7 minutes in older birds depending upon dose levels. In both occasions, drug dose and response are negatively correlated (y = -25x + 77.33 and y = -2.91x + 10.7, respectively). Stable anesthesia was maintained for 40-60 min in chicks and 20-120 min in older birds. Duration of anesthesia was also a function of dose and they are positively correlated (y = 9.5x +34 and y = 22.18x +4.8, respectively). It is concluded that Ketamine, when given intramuscularly, can be used effectively and safely as a general anesthetic to both young and older chickens. No untoward effects were observed up to 3 weeks when the experiments were terminated.