Peri-anaesthetic and anaesthetic-related mortality risks in great apes (Hominidae) in zoological collections in the UK and Ireland

Anaesthesia with medetomidine, midazolam and ketamine in six gorillas after premedication with oral zuclopenthixol dihydrochloride

“…Anaesthesia of great apes can be challenging due to their size, intelligence and sensitivity to changes in their normal environment. Great ape anaesthesia appears to carry a higher risk of mortality compared to cats and dogs (Masters et al. 2007).…”

Chimpanzees in hepatitis C virus research: 1998–2007

“…The physical manifestations of stress response are no longer disputed and we should expect that stress has an effect on HCV studies [14, 21]. In addition, the use of anesthesia inherently poses risks to the chimpanzee as well, and may influence study results [55].…”

Relationship between gastrointestinal transit time and anesthetic fasting protocols in the captive chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes

“…The physiologic effect of stress in animals causes an elevation in circulating cortisol, which can increase tolerance to anesthetic drugs and necessitate administration of additional anesthetic drug in order to reach the desired plane of anesthesia [6]. Additionally, the isolated animals may display stereotypical behaviors that indicate agitation, including but not limited to pica or coprophagy [3, 12].…”

“…At institutions where the goal is to maintain self-sustaining captive populations of animals, zoo veterinarians are responsible for minimizing the risk associated with immobilizations. Therefore, the safety of the anesthetic protocols and pre-anesthetic fasting times utilized must be considered [12]. The fasting times currently used in primate medicine are derived from veterinary practice in non-primate species, for which there is little consensus between sources.…”

“…By increasing the GRV, it is possible for the animal to have gastroesophageal reflux (GER) with potential aspiration, as well as damage of the proximal duodenal mucosal epithelial cells due to bathing in the acidic contents passed on by the stomach [15]. Therefore, it is unlike what was perhaps presumed counter‐intuitive, fasting patients for long periods of time does not prevent regurgitation and subsequent aspiration and may actually exacerbate those clinical consequences [12, 15, 16].…”