Background and objectives: Although dogs are the animals used more often in Experimental Surgeries, the use of sheep, bovine, and swine as models for scientific experiments has been growing. Thus, further learning on the treatment and basic standardization of more complex surgeries in swine are necessary. The objective of this study was to evaluate sedation and analgesia, obtained by the intramuscular administration of midazolam and ketamine, and local anesthetics with 2% lidocaine without vasoconstrictor, in tracheostomy and dissection of femoral artery and vein.
Methods: The heart rate and corneal-palpebral reflex were evaluated at the beginning of sedation, during the surgical procedures, and at the end of those procedures. Eight Large White swine, without prior treatment, weighing 35 to 42 kg were provided by local farms. They received intramuscular injections of 22 mg.kg of ketamine and 0.3 mg.kg(-1) of midazolam.
Results: The anesthetic approach on those animals, who present both difficult intubation and access to deep vessels, proved to be safe for sedation and analgesia by the method chosen: intramuscular administration.
Conclusions: An adequate plane of anesthesia for the proposed procedure was achieved.