I used to work for a vet, and when I started we were using ketamine/ace to
sedate the animals, and halothane for the anesthesia.  We did two ferrets
this way, and when they were coming out of anesthesia, they would bang their
heads and be totally disorientated for a while.  When we got the isoflourene
machine, we used the ket/ace to sedate them, and the iso for the anesthesia.
Upon recovery, the ferret still had problems, and still took longer than
the vet felt was good to come out of the anesthesia.  One of mine needed
surgery, and I suggested that we not use the ket/ace, that we just mask the
ferret with iso and see how it worked.  It takes about two minutes for the
ferret to be under enough to get the trach tube in.  The ferrets come up
pretty much as soon as the iso is turned off with none of the head banging
and very little disorientation only lasting for about 10 minutes instead of
an hour.  Every surgery we did on ferrets from then on was with straight
iso, no pre-sedative.  Iso is nasty if you breath it, but we didn't.  We had
3 masks, each a different size, for various animals.  We had no problems
with anyone breathing the fumes.  If one of my ferrets ever needs surgery
again and I cannot go to the vet I used to work for, I will specifically
explain to the vet how we did things and that that is how I want it done.
The sooner the animal comes out of anesthesia, the safer it is for them.
 
Sandy
[Posted in FML issue 2360]