Experimental Studies on the Actions of Several Anesthetics in Domestic Fowls

IT HAS been realized that anesthesia becomes important in poultry surgery. Due to the particular structure of their respiratory organs, birds inhale the volatile anesthetic agents into the air sacs through the respiratory system. It is then difficult to control the depth of the depression and the dosage of these agents. Consequently, the use of inhalation anesthesia is not recommended in poultry. The studies reported herein were conducted to compare the actions of five different anesthetics in four kinds of species of domestic fowls. Healthy, native Chinese geese, ducks, chickens and pigeons were used. Five anesthetics, ether,3 chloroform,3 chloral hydrate,3 sodium amytal4 (sodium isoamyl ethyl barbiturate) and sodium pentothal5 (sodium ethyl [1-methyl-butyl] thiobarbiturate), were chosen for this study. Ether or chloroform was inhaled from a mouth mask containing a piece of cotton saturated with the anesthetic. Chloral hydrate was administered orally as a 1 to 2% solution by a …