Tranq. questions

I am an equine veterinarian, new deer breeder/veterinarian. We see that same problem with xylazine metabolism in horses, commonly used for castration. Most horses will be out for 20-30 minutes, some for 5. Those I usually redose with half the original dose. That still does not completely put some horses out. I can sometimes predict those that are that way. It seems that those that are more heavily muscled (greater muscle/lb of body weight) and those not as docile (personality of he animal) take more to start with. It has been shown that in horses if you add valium to the xylazine/ketamine anesthesia they will be deeper and stay out longer. Sharkey talked about that in a previous post a few weeks ago. I have not used it in deer yet, but you may want to talk to someone that has. It might be useful in addition to the xylazine/telazol. Or you may want to use a different combination of medications. Any animal that is worked up will not sedate the same as if they are calm to start with.



Jerrilee Cave, DVM

Yes we do things differently.Our industry has crashed here twice in the last three decades.That has certainly sharpened the survival instincts of those of us still in deer.We need to run more than a few acres & a couple of dozen deer.The antis are always ready to take milage from the slightest negative,& it was with this in mind that I asked others to talk in total amount of drugs not volume.Four seasons thanks for your offer of help,well received .Now I have a 250kg Sambar I need to fit a tracking collar to how many cc/ml do I use? All the best.Sharkey

I could not give you an answer on that my friend as that is a different kind of beast that i know nothing of.I think you should do what we would do here and call your vet and tell them what you are wanting to do with this animal.They will ask you the rough weight of said animal and then they will recomend the dosage of the best drugs that i their opinion will do the best for the animal and yourself.If you were here they would tell you give him whatever cc's of said meds for that animal.Mabey yours will break nit down for you in kg/mg or however you guys do things. Hope this helps you out some.Cheers!!!!

How do you add valium and how much would you add?

Thanks to everyone for your help.

Mike, I am going to the vet on Thursday after work. I am going to do it the way you said. Your explanation was great. Very simple and easy to follow. I will let you know the results. Thank you.

I have an EXCELLENT article on tranquilizers in deer/cervidae. If you would like give me your email address and I will send it to you. Please put this in your files to reference to. That article only talks about usage in fawns but what I could find is that the dosage for valium is pretty much the same across the board in large animals(cattle,goats,horses) at .05- .1mg/kg and a bottle is 5mg/ml. That means you would use 1-2ml, 2.5 ml on the high end of a dose. However I do not think you need to use that much to achieve the effect. I would start out with 1ml in combination with your sedative/anesthetic for an adult deer. The advantage to valium is the muscle relaxation that it provides along with prolonging anesthesia time. In horses, I use the low end (1/2cc per 100lbs) and get good results. Remember you would be using this with other medications that can have addative effects. It also says that valium is the best to use to sedate fawns at .2mg/kg with ketamine. Another article I read says that you should not use xylazine in fawns 3 months or less due to the decrease in cardiac output caused by xylazine. Sharkey, maybe you can comment on your experience with the use of valium. I know you said that you used to be able to get it in the form of pellets to topdress the feed with. I also remember you said that it seemed to sedate them for a few/several hours. I hope this helps.

G'day Clearview, twenty to thirty years ago valium was popular for baiting wild deer to establish deer farms.The starting dose was 5mg/kg.Apart from dehydration the drug was safe.The problem was achieving consistent results as some animals would consume more than others.This left stags with a higher dose at risk from other stags.Animals still on their feet could still be easily bull-dogged especially at night.I am unable to recall any post capture myopathy or spontaneous abortions even with chital.Animals needed to be monitored for at least 24 hours, again due to aggression as some recovered before others.Sadly due to misuse of this drug it is no longer an option due to the huge amount of drug required.Anyone using telazol is already using a benzodiazepine,zolazepam. Its purpose is to prevent the negative effects of the tiletamine ,such as rugged inductions , recoveries,& muscle convulsions.I often give .1mg/kg sub-cutainiously for transport as it lasts a bit longer than IM.Great to hear your becoming a deer vet ,I wish you were down here.Cheers mate

Mixing it 6 to 1 should work fine, but if the deer is worked up at all it wont work. Make sure the deer is calm maybe not feed for a couple days, the biggest thing is calm deer, don't chase it.

Kurwicki have you darted your buck yet? and if so how did it go?