1Zoo Veterinarian, Zoo Veterinary Hospital, Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Vandaloor, Chennai-600 048, Tamil Nadu, India
2Professor and Head, Veterinary Clinical Medicine, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai-600 048, Tamil Nadu, India
3Professor and Head, Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai-600 048, Tamil Nadu, India
4Professor, Department of Animal Biotechnology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai-600 048, Tamil Nadu, India
5Professor and Head, Centralized Clinical laboratory, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai-600 048, Tamil Nadu, India
Zoo Veterinarian, Zoo Veterinary Hospital, Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Vandaloor, Chennai-600 048, Tamil Nadu, India
*Corresponding author's e-mail: boonallwin@gmail.com
Online published on 17 September, 2018.
It is always been a challenging task to immobilize wild felids and there are limited information regarding the anaesthetic protocol to be used in tigers in both captive and free ranging conditions and many complications are encountered due to the vast variations in estimating the actual body weight. This paper aims at presenting a standard protocol of immobilizing captive Bengal tigers with a combination of injection xylazine and ketamine hydrochloride at a dose rate of 1mg/kg and 3 mg/kg respectively. Time (Mean ± SE) taken for ataxia was shorter 2.28±0.22, lateral recumbency was 3.01±0.44 and abolishment of ear flick reflex was 3.55 ± 0.10 minutes. The duration of anaesthesia (Mean ± SE) was 39.50 ± 0.48 minutes and recovery time was 44.17 ± 0.51 minutes. This protocol of using xylazine and ketamine has resulted in smooth and relativelyrapid induction, smooth recoveryand a sufficient firstreaction time for emergencyaswell aselectiveinterventions with no incidents of sudden recovery or any life-threatening effects during or after the immobilization procedure. The findings are discussed.
Immobilization, Ketamine, Smooth Recovery, Tiger, Xylazine
