Anaesthesia for pigs, sheep, goats and cattle involved in biomedical research: FELASA working group guidelines—Parts I–IV

Recommendations for safe anaesthesia are common in medical practice, have been formulated for traditional laboratory species, i.e. rodents, but do not exist for laboratory pigs, sheep, goats and cattle. The guidelines presented here were commissioned by the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA) and serve to underscore EU Directive 2010/63/EU (Article 14) which require that, 'procedures are carried out with general or local anaesthesia and analgesia or another appropriate method to ensure pain, suffering and distress are kept to a minimum'. The guidelines are based on a review of: (i) medical and veterinary medical guidelines promoting safe anaesthetic practice; (ii) scientific literature pertaining to anaesthesia and analgesia in pigs, sheep, goats and cattle; and (iii) a consideration of the ethical, legal and scientific requirements when anaesthetizing laboratory animals. The guidelines aim to make recommendations for the provision of safe, practical and effective anaesthesia and analgesia to laboratory pigs and ruminants. Recommended standards for sedation and restraint (I), general principles of anaesthesia (II), monitoring anaesthesia (III) and pain assessment (IV) in the same species have been described by this working group (WG) and are set out in four parts in this document.