Survey Of Small Animal Anaesthesia And Analgesia In Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

A questionnaire was administered to 35 registered veterinarians involved in small animal practice in Nairobi County, Kenya, seeking information on type of practice; numbers of dogs and cats anaesthetized per week; type of surgeries carried out; drug preferences for anaesthetic premedication, induction and maintenance; local anaesthetic drugs and technique s; analgesic drugs used; use of tracheal intubation; anaesthetic equipments used or available. Additional questions concerned patient monitoring and constraint to anaesthesia and analgesia in small animals practice. The response rate for the survey was 74. 3%. Of these respondents, 34.6% were involved in purely small animal practice while 61.5% were involved in both large and small animal practice. The number of dogs and cats anaesthetized per week were 5±3.53 and 2±1.39 respectively. Ovariohysterectomy, cas tration and orthopedic procedures were the most common surgeries carried out. Xylazine, ketamine and lidocaine were the most popular premedication, induction/maintenance and local anaesthetic agents respectively. NSAIDs were the most preferred analgesic ag ents followed by corticosteroids, opioids, anxiolytics and local anaesthetic agents. Tracheal intubation was rarely employed while anaesthetizing dogs and cats and so was the use of anaesthetic machine. A high number of respondents monitored animals under general anaesthesia with respiratory rate, heart rate and temperature being the commonly monitored parameters. Unavailability and high cost of anaesthetic and analgesic agents as well as lack of knowledge on some drugs and on the techniques were mentioned as the major constraints to the practice of optimal anaesthesia and analgesia in small animal practices