Ketamine Sedation followed by Propofol Anesthesia in a Slider, Trachemys scripta, to Facilitate Removal of an Esophageal Foreign Body
Assoc Reptilian Amphibian Vet 8[1]:16-17 Spring'98 Case Report 9 Refs

- Surgical anesthesia of chelonians can be difficult to achieve using injectable anesthetic agents without prolonged recovery periods. Ketamine as the sole anesthetic agent requires doses of 55-90 mg/kg IM to achieve surgical anesthesia in chelonians and recovery may take one to several days. Some veterinarians consider propofol to be the injectable agent of choice for reptile anesthesia and recommend a dose of 10-15 mg/kg IV. Surgical anesthesia lasts 15-25 minutes and recovery takes 25-40 minutes. Because propofol must be given intravenously, administration in chelonians can prove difficult when the tail vein cannot be found and the head cannot be extracted for jugular venipuncture without sedation. Metomidate has been used at a dose of 10-20 mg/kg IM in snakes to facilitate intravenous infusion of propofol. Following metomidate premedication, the propofol dose was reduced to 5 mg/kg. Ketamine at a dose of 22-44 mg/kg produces sedation in chelonians and this allows extension of the neck so that the jugular vein can be accessed. This report describes three episodes of anesthesia in an individual slider, Trachemys scripta, in which premedication with ketamine (25-30 mg/kg IM) was used to facilitate exposure of the jugular vein and propofol (7 mg/kg) was given IV to achieve short term surgical anesthesia for esophageal examination and fishhook removal.