Contemporary topics in laboratory animal science / American Association for Laboratory Animal Science
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Contemp Top Lab Anim Sci · May 2001
Medetomidine-ketamine anesthesia in red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans).
This study evaluated the effects of high and low dosages of medetomidine-ketamine in red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) and the reversibility of the anesthesia with atipamezole. Thirty healthy adult turtles were assigned randomly to one of two dosage groups. The lower dosage group received 0.1 mg medetomidine/kg body weight intramuscularly (i.m.) combined with 5 mg ketamine/kg i.m. ⋯ Heart rate and cloacal temperatures remained stable throughout the entire procedure for both groups. Atipamezole was administered i.m. at five times the dose of medetomidine (0.5 mg/kg i.m. or 1 mg/kg i.m.) 60 min after the medetomidine-ketamine was administered. All of the turtles were swimming 60 min after atipamezole administration.