ACVA Symposium Proceedings Abstracts

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF VETERINARY ANESTHESIOLOGISTS: SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS ABSTRACTS

IMMOBILIZATION OF AMERICAN ALLIGATORS (Alligator mississippiensis) WITH MEDETOMIDINE AND ITS REVERSAL WITH ATIPAMEZOLE.

JA Smith,*^,1 MA Mitchell,¹ KA Backues,² TN Tully,¹ RF Aguilar.²

¹Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA; and ²Audubon Zoological Garden, New Orleans, LA.

The objective of this study was to evaluate safety and efficacy of the alpha-2 agonist, medetomidine (M) and its antagonist, atipamezole (A), in alligators. Fourteen, farm-raised, fasted, alligators weighing 6.26 ± 3 kg were captured, their mouths taped, and manually restrained for a baseline physical exam, blood collection and administration of M (150 g/kg) in the left triceps muscle. Thirty minutes later A was administered in the right triceps muscle in a volume equal to M (750 g/kg). Heart rate (doppler), respiratory rate (observed), and cloacal temperature were recorded at time zero, before M, and 5, 10, 15 and 30 minutes after M, and at 5 and 15 minutes after administration of A. Resistance to handling, time to relaxation, and loss of righting reflex were evaluated as indicators of sedation. Analgesia was evaluated by absence of the withdrawal reflex. Blood samples were collected from the ventral tail vein at time zero, 15 minutes after M and 15 minutes after A. These samples were held in an ice bath and transported to the laboratory for evaluation of PCV, TP, pH and blood gas tension.
Heart rate and respiratory rate declined from baseline, 7-96% and 3-100% respectively, after the administration of M, and returned to baseline 3-5 minutes after administration of A. PCV, PvCO2, PvO2 and pH decreased after M and failed to return to previous values with reversal. Sedation and analgesia were observed in all subjects. Time to loss of righting reflex ranged from 5 to 30 minutes, and returned in 8 to 25 minutes after reversal. All recoveries were smooth and uneventful.
Medetomidine is an effective sedative for use in alligators and its effects are rapidly reversed with atipamezole. Vital signs and blood chemistry results demonstrated dramatic shifts that were difficult to interpret, as alligators are subject to enormous naturally occurring shifts.

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