General pharmacology

Anesthesia maintenance agents

Once the animal is under general anesthesia from the sedative and induction agents, we need to maintain anesthesia at a surgical plane.

Maintenance of anesthesia is commonly performed using one or more these protocols

  • repeat injections of the sedative and induction agents
    • typically this uses 1/2 doses of the original doses, administered as needed
    • some agents (benzodiazepines) have a long half life and do not need redosing
  • constant rate infusions (CRI)
    • common combinations include triple drips and double drips
    • just about any induction agent or combination of agents can be made into a CRI infusion
  • intubation and inhalant anesthesia
    • intubation often requires a deeper plane of anesthesia
    • this can be risky in LA species, particularly if effective ventilation is not possible
    • if procedures will last more than 60 minutes, intubation and inhalant anesthesia is strongly recommended

There are three boxes leading to recumbent general anesthesia (sedation, induction and maintenance).We have added an analgesic and a calming agent to the sedation. There are three images to show how we can maintain anesthesia: an infusion, inhalant anesthesia and redosing via iv injection

See species specific information

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Large Animal Surgery - Supplemental Notes Copyright © by Erin Malone, DVM, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.