Monitoring During Avian and Exotic Pet Anesthesia

Monitoring the depth of anesthesia is one of the most challenging tasks during anesthesia of exotic pets. Although there are many tools for monitoring mammalian species, these are sometimes not as reliable in the exotic animal. In addition, there is a lack of normal values or references for many of these tools. This article will concentrate on the essentials of monitoring exotic animals during anesthesia with emphasis on practical applications for clinical practice. Thermoregulation and monitoring of reflexes and cardiovascular and respiratory parameters are discussed. A discussion of the equipment available for monitoring is presented.