Restraint, venipuncture, endotracheal intubation, and anesthesia of miniature swine

Miniature swine are useful as experimental animals for investigations involving major surgical procedures, provided that proper restraint and anesthetic methods are employed. The methods and drugs described herein are not intended to be all-inclusive but rather those found most applicable to a wide variety of studies with miniature swine at this laboratory. This report is intended primarily to guide those unfamiliar in handling miniature swine during initiation of studies with that species. For chemical restraint during minor procedures, diazepam, at a dose of 5.5-8.5 mg/kg im, has become the drug of choice. For surgical anesthesia, optimal results have been obtained using thiamylal sodium iv for induction of anesthesia and maintained by 0.5-1.5% halothane administered via an endotracheal cannula. Pentobarbital sodium may be used to produce surgical anesthesia but is generally unsatisfactory except for terminal procedures. Electroanesthesia, even with concomitant use of tranquilizing drugs, is difficult to control and results in very poor muscle relaxation.