Veterinary Anesthesia

A sleep-like state (unconsciousness) accompanied with varying degrees of analgesia (dulls the sense i.e. relieve pain).

Narcotics are used as a preanaesthetic in horse and in dogs.

Narcosis in Horse

- Chloral hydrate

- Increasing narcotic doses produces progressive depression of the cerebrum (mild to deep narcosis).

Narcosis in dogs:

Morphine and morphine substitutes

Dose: 5 mg/kg b.wt. SC

- Contraindicated in dogs suffering from shock, and in cats because it causes maniac state and tonic convulsions ending with death in large doses.