BIG wrote of Ketamine:
>The effect on people seems to be more or less one of paralysis -- I'm
>told there is an awareness of what is going on but an inability to do
>anything about it.  That sounds positively awful if animals perceive it
>the same way -- imagine realizing you are being cut with a knife but being
>unable to respond!  (Hopefully, since it's usually used in combination
>with other things the cocktail prevents that effect?
 
The text _Anesthetic_Principles_and_Techniques_ (1974) describes Ketamine
(aka Ketoset or Vetalar) as a dissociative anethetic, marked by catalepy,
amnesia and marked analgesia (pain relief).
 
It notes that visceral pain may not be obliterated and it should not be
used alone for abdominal surgery.
 
While it sounds icky to be aware of surgery and basically helpless, it's
*not* bad if the surgery isn't painful because of the pain relief it
provides.  Think of the difference between having dental work done with or
without novacaine.
 
PCP is also dissociative-so much so that years ago I read stories of people
who took PCP and then drowned in shallow swimming pools because they
literally didn't know which way was up.  As I recall from one article I
read, one of the nicknames was apparently "animal tranquilizer".
 
My copy of _Upson's_Handbook_of_Clinical_Veterinary_ Pharmocology_ (1980)
lists Phencyclidine (aka, Sernlan (brand name), aka PCP, Angel Dust and a
few other things by abusers) as a tranquilizer used primarily for non-human
primates.  Even then it was noted as no longer legally available.
 
Ketamine is listed as being a chemical relative to it.  So the drugs are
related, but NOT the same.  Ketamine *is* still legally available.
(Recreational use by humans is not one of the legal uses though!)
 
-Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 2363]