Immobilization of Feral Pigs with a Combination of Ketamine and Xylazine

Handling feral pigs (Sus scrofa) for research requires the intramuscular administration of an immobilizing agent that has a wide safety margin, is quick acting, and restrains animals for a period sufficient for data collection. A variety of drugs has been tested on wild pigs (Zurowski and Sakowicz 1965; Henry and Matschke 1968, 1972; Matschke and Henry 1969a,b; Wood et al. 1977), however, none is ideal based on our criteria. Ketamine hydrochloride (Ketaset?, Bristol Laboratories, Syracuse, N.Y.) is a nonbarbituate, dissociative anesthetic agent that induces a cataleptic state of short duration (Harthoorn 1975). Side effects may be poor muscle relaxation, convulsions, excessive salivation, and excitement during recovery (Thurmon et al. 1972, 1973; Gregg and Olsen 1975; Ramsden et al. 1976). However, when xylazine hydrochloride (Rompun?, Cutter Laboratories, Inc., Shawnee, Kans.), a sedative-analgesic agent with muscle relaxant properties (Harthoorn 1975) is administered with ketamine, the adverse signs associated with ketamine are minimized. This paper reports the use of a combination of ketamine hydrochloride and xylazine hydrochloride (KH-XH) to immobilize feral pigs on Santa Catalina Island, California. METHODS