Assessment of the analgesic effects of ketoprofen in ducks anesthetized with isoflurane.

Objective: To determine whether administration of ketoprofen would have analgesic effects in spontaneously breathing ducks anesthetized with isoflurane.

Animals: 13 healthy adult wild-strain Mallard ducks.

Procedure: Each duck was anesthetized twice in a crossover study design with 6 days between randomized treatments. Ducks were given ketoprofen (5 mg/kg, IM) or saline (0.9% NaCl) solution after a constant plane of anesthesia was established. Analgesia was assessed by measuring heart and respiratory rates and duration of application of a noxious stimulus. The noxious stimulus was applied 30, 50, and 70 minutes after drug administration and was maintained until gross purposeful movements were seen or for a maximum of 5 seconds.

Results: At all 3 evaluation times, heart rate increases in response to the noxious stimulus were greater when ducks were given saline solution than when they were given ketoprofen. The increase in respiratory rate in response to the noxious stimulus was greater when ducks were given saline solution than when they were given ketoprofen only 70 minutes after drug administration. When ducks were given ketoprofen, duration of the noxious stimulus was significantly longer 50 and 70 minutes, but not 30 minutes, after drug administration.

Conclusions And Clinical Relevance: Ketoprofen reduced the increases in heart and respiratory rates associated with application of a noxious stimulus in spontaneously breathing adult Mallard ducks anesthetized with isoflurane delivered at approximately 2.9%, suggesting that ketoprofen had analgesic effects in these ducks. The onset of analgesic effects may be longer than 30 minutes in some ducks.