Minimum effective naltrexone dose to antagonise etorphine immobilisation and prevent the complications of renarcotisation in domestic goats.

Vet Rec. November 2017;181(18):481.

Jacques Henry O'Dell¹, Michael David Kock², Peter Neil Thompson³, Leith Carl Rodney Meyer⁴

¹ Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.; ² Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.; ³ Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.; ⁴ Department of Paraclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.

Abstract

Naltrexone is used to antagonise etorphine immobilisation, but a safe and effective dose for this purpose has not been objectively determined. Eight domestic goats were immobilised with etorphine (0.07 mg/kg) eight times at ≥13 day intervals. Naltrexone at doses of 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/mg etorphine were administered intravenously 17 minutes after etorphine injection. Effectiveness of antagonism was recorded based on recovery and renarcotisation scores and clinical observations. All doses produced rapid recovery to the point of standing (median 59 seconds, range 33-157 seconds), with no significant differences in recovery times (P=0.44). The lower naltrexone doses resulted in renarcotisation in some goats: 4/8 in the 10-mg dose trial, 7/8 in the 5-mg dose trial, and 8/8 in the 2-mg, 1-mg and 0.5-mg dose trials. Lower doses resulted in more severe signs of renarcotisation. Complications of renarcotisation included increased body temperature; this occurred just before signs of renarcotisation and was greater in animals with high renarcotisation scores (P<0.01). The lowest, safest effective naltrexone dose that we used to antagonise etorphine immobilisation was 20 mg/mg etorphine, which produced rapid recovery to standing with no renarcotisation.

Keywords

Antagonist; etorphine; goats; hyperthermia; immobilisation; naltrexone; renarcotisation; reversal; wildlife;

Article Tools:

Medline

Email to me

Archives Highlights:

Mass rabies exposure of veterinary health care workers in Germany: Management, immune response, and tolerability of post exposure-prophylaxis.
In 2008, Germany was declared free from terrestrial rabies by the WOAH. However, illegal pet imports can still lead to rabies exposure, as seen in the 2021 case of a rabid puppy illegally imported to Germany, resulting in a mass exposure (39 veterinary clinic staff) incident.

Feline acute patient physiologic and laboratory evaluation scores and other prognostic factors in cats with first-time diabetic ketoacidosis.
Median BG was significantly higher in non-survivors (431 mg/dL) compared with survivors (343 mg/dL) and BG predicted mortality. For every 1 mg/dL increase in BG, the odds of death increased by 1.004.

Aseptic protocol breaches are common among veterinary students scrubbing, gowning, and gloving into surgery.
At least 1 aseptic protocol breach (APB) was noted in 46.3% of the 96 procedures observed. The most common mistakes noted were contact of the sterile towel onto nonsterile surfaces (17.7%), contact of the gown with nonsterile surfaces (17.7%), touching sterile objects with bare hands (12.5%), and improper scrubbing technique (17.4%).

Companion animal veterinary personnel have occupational risk for tularemia and One Health role for tularemia prevention in Kansas.
Forty-three percent (47 of 109) of veterinarians reported diagnosing tularemia in cats and 13% (14 of 109) in dogs. Seven percent (8 of 109) of veterinarians reported having had tularemia. When performing procedures with a high risk of exposure, such as lancing abscesses in tularemia suspects, glove use was 100% but additional personal protective equipment was inconsistent, including eye protection (70%) and surgical face mask (59%).

Trust in veterinarians and association with vaccine information sources and vaccination status among dog and cat owners.
62.9% of dog and 61.2% of cat owners were classified as trusting their veterinarians. On average, dog owners consulted 2.50 sources about vaccine information; cat owners consulted 2.27 sources. Veterinarians were the most common primary sources of information for 85.4% of dog owners with high levels of trust, but only 62.6% of dog owners with lower levels. This was the case for 83.8% and 56.3% of cat owners.