Veterinary webinars provide key insights into various areas of clinical practice for qualified veterinary surgeons. A recent webinar by leading exotic animal vet Kevin Eatwell of Edinburgh University showed vets how to optimise their anaesthetic protocols and get the best results with their rabbit patients.
There was a lot of relevant content in this webinar for vets in first opinion practice, and five of the key points are summarised below:-
1. Prepare the Patient
Get owners to bring in the foods that the rabbit normally eats at home. This is much better for the patient than attempting to feed it whatever is in your practice. It’s very important to do everything possible to ensure that the rabbit does not suffer gut stasis following anaesthesia, and feeding a diet that it’s used to can help. It also makes the rabbit more comfortable in your practice environment.
2. Consider the procecure
There are various options for analgesia, so think about the procedure and how painful it is likely to be. Also look at the duration of action of the analgesics; is post-operative analgesia important and if so how will you ensure that levels of analgesic drugs are adequate?
3. Avoid Hypothermia
Rabbits are prone to hypothermia under general anaesthesia. Methods of maintaining body temperature were discussed in this webinar, including the use of heat sources and the precautions that you need to take when using them. Individual rabbits have a fairly wide range of normal rectal temperatures; therefore it’s very important to take the rectal temperature on the morning of the procedure so that you have an accurate reference point for each patient.
4. Intubate if possible
Techniques were demonstrated using an otoscope to visualise the larynx. It’s good practice to apply local anaesthetic to the laryngeal area before attempting intubation. Care should be taken in the intubation attempts; it is not always straightforward, even with the technique described. It’s better to stop and use alternative methods rather than use excessive force or keep trying for too long. Rabbits have been killed with over vigorous attempts at intubation.
Laryngeal masks were also described; these are currently in development and are not yet commercially available. However they take a lot of the stress of intubation away and decrease the risk of trauma to the pharynx and larynx.
There are also 2 short videos accompanying the webinar, illustrating different intubation techniques.
5. Monitor with Capnography if Possible
Capnography is now more in favour than pulse oximetry, as earlier indications of excessive CO2 are given and modification in the anaesthetic protocols can be instituted in a timely manner.
The webinar ended with multiple questions from the participants, relating to their experiences in practice and challenges with rabbit anaesthesia. This is one of the main advantages of the webinar format; attendees can ask questions of expert tutors and they can remain anonymous if they prefer.
The webinar ‘Secrets of Safe Rabbit Anaesthesia’ is available to watch for members of Webinar Club, our small animal membership site where live and recorded webinars are combined with study notes and videos.
