Anaesthesia of roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) with a combination of A3080, medetomidine and ketamine

A dose range was determined for anaesthesia of 20 recently boma-captured ro an antelope (Hippotragus equinus) with the synthetic opiate A3080 combined with medetomidine and ketamine. A dose of 10-30 mu /kg A3080 ((x) over bar = 20 +/- 8 mug/kg) combined with 5-21 mug/kg medetomidine ((x) over bar = 1 3 +/- 7 mug/kg) plus 0.29-1.11 mg/kg ketamine ((x) over bar = 0.71 +/- 0.24 mg/kg) was found to be safe and effective for the field conditions in this study. The anaesthesia produced by this drug combination was predictable a nd characterised by a short induction time, good muscle relaxation, and acc eptable physiological parameters for anaesthesia periods ranging from 49-10 3 min ((x) over bar = 64 +/- 19 min). The wide range (3-4-fold) of doses wi th acceptable results is also an indication that this drug combination has a wide margin of safety in roan antelope, making it desirable for field use . When 2 dose levels (2-3-fold difference) were retrospectively evaluated, no statistical difference was found in induction times, and no observable c linical differences in the anaesthetic episodes were seen. Based on this st udy, the recommended dose range in roan antelope for this combination is 10 -13 mug/kg A3080, 5-6 mug/kg medetomidine and 0.3-0.6 mg/kg ketamine. The a naesthesia produced by this combination was rapidly and completely reversed by i.m. or i.v. injections of naltrexone at 30 times the A3080 dose ((x) o ver bar = 0.60 +/- 0.25 mg/kg) and atipamezole at 3 times the medetomidine dose ((x) over bar = 38 +/- 20 mug/kg). No residual effects from ketamine w ere noted following reversal of A3080 and medetomidine. No mortality was as sociated with this protocol.