Anaesthetic management of two Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) cubs for fracture repair
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Date
Authors
Zeiler, Gareth Edward
Rioja, Eva
Boucher, Charles (Charlie)
Tordiffe, Adrian Stephen Wolferstan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
OpenJournals Publishing
Abstract
This case series describes the anaesthetic management of two sibling Bengal tiger (Panthera
tigris tigris) cubs that were found to have spontaneous femur fractures due to severe nutritional
secondary hyperparathyroidism. Both cubs received a combination of medetomidine
(25 μg/kg) and ketamine (4 mg/kg) intramuscularly and were maintained with isoflurane
in oxygen. An epidural injection of morphine (0.1 mg/kg) and ropivacaine (1.6 mg/kg)
was administered to both tigers, which allowed a low end-tidal isoflurane concentration to
be maintained throughout the femur fracture reduction operations. Both cubs experienced
profound bradycardia and hypotension during general anaesthesia, and were unresponsive
to anticholinergic treatment. Possible causes for these cardiovascular complications included:
drug pharmacodynamics (medetomidine, morphine, isoflurane), decreased sympathetic tone
due to the epidural (ropivacaine) and hypothermia. These possible causes are discussed in
detail.
Description
Keywords
Anaesthetic management, Fracture repair, Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) cubs, Hyperparathyroidism, Epidural injection of morphine
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Zeiler, G.E., Rioja, E., Boucher, C. & Tordiffe, A.S.W., 2013, ‘Anaesthetic management of two Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) cubs for fracture repair’, Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 84(1), Art. #995, 5 pages. http://dx.DOI.org/ 10.4102/jsava.v84i1.995