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Smooth recovery from anaesthesia is vital in the restrain and surgery of animals, including birds. In birds, ketamine is often combined with alph2 agonists, which are respiratory depressants to ensure safe or balanced anaesthesia. The timing of administration and the effect on recovery for specific alhpa2 agonist antidotes in birds have not been widely investigated. This study was conducted to assess the reversal effects of atipamezole administered at the first sign of recovery on medetomidine-ketamine anaesthesia in pigeons. Twelve pigeons were administered with 1) medetomidine as a pre-anaesthetic at 120 µg/Kg, followed 10 min later by ketamine at 30 mg/Kg (MK group) and 2) Medetomidine and ketamine followed by atipamezole (MKA group). Medetomidine produced moderate sedation within 3.08 ± 0.21 min. Medetomidine-ketamine produced smooth and excitement free induction of anaesthesia in pigeons. Ketamine produced surgical anaesthesia within 4.58 ± 0.68 min. Duration of anaesthesia was 55.79 ± 4.51 min. Vital parameters - pulse rate, respiratory rate and cloacal temperatures decreased significantly after premedication as well as during anaesthesia in the MK group which served as the control. The MKA group significantly increased (P < 0.001) the pulse rate, respiratory rate and cloacal temperature compared to MK group that indicated a reversal effect of atipamezole. Atipamezole incorporated into medetomidine-ketamine anaesthesia produced quicker recovery (P < 0.01) in 44.17 ± 3.01 min compared to 62.5 ± 4.64 min in MK group. Atipamezole significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the duration of anaesthesia and duration of other recovery indices. Recovery was generally smooth in all birds. Atipamezole at 60 µg/Kg produced rapid recovery from anaesthesia 18 min earlier than MK group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted to investigate the impact of different housing systems on the development of equine behavior through variations in serum cortisol concentrations. N=120 x TBP (Thoroughbred Pakistan) of three different groups (A=40 horses 2years not gelded, B= 40 age 3 years and C= 40 four years gelded) and four distinct types of housing systems. Single Housing System No Interaction (SHSNI), the horses didn't have any interaction among them, Single Housing System Limited Interaction (SHSLI), Double Housing System (DHS), a pair of horses were kept in house and Group Housing System (GHS), where (n=40) horses were having complete interaction among them, were considered in the study. The study was conducted on Remount Depot Mona (known as Home of Horses) which is in Mandi Bahuddin, Punjab, Pakistan. The duration of study was 120 days and conducted in four phases (Phase-I SHSNI, Phase-II SHSNI, Phase- III DHS and Phase- IV GHS were used) and each phase was comprised of 30 days duration. Before shifting to any housing system, the blood was collected to measure cortisol concentration at zero day and then after every 30th day again blood was collected prior to shifting to next housing system. Blood was collected from each horse for serum cortisol analysis through Cortisol kit. Competitive Enzyme immunoassay (CEIA) was used for quantification of cortisol in samples by using commercially available cortisol ELISA kits. Analysis of variance by considering randomized complete block design was performed for statistical analysis. The cortisol concentration exhibited no significant fluctuations within the groups, but a noteworthy disparity was observed between the housing systems (P<0.05). The cortisol concentration measured at 0th day was 1.53 µg/dL which was decreased 0.58 µg/dL in SHSNI and increased 0.59 µg/dL in SHSLI reached slightly above the average value at 0th day, then it decreased (0.57 µg /dL) in DHS and again increased in GHS (0.58 µg /dL) and reached to 1.55 µg /dL. The study concludes that SHSLI is a more suitable housing system than all others, needed to be adopted for the better welfare of the horses than other housing systems. This house has maximum social interaction, less stress and stereotypes with limited injuries as compared to alternative housing systems. Further investigation can be performed to standardize that type of housing which maintains the minimum stress level of Thoroughbred horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Rising populations and urbanization are transforming into increased demand for livestock products, particularly in developing countries. The world will need more meat and more milk and in order to meet these demands, huge quantities of feed resources will be required. However, there is a substantial deficit of energy feeds affecting the growth and production of animals. The common method to increase energy value of ruminant diets is to provide them with fats. However, higher level of fats in the diet could prove toxic to rumen microbes and affect fibre digestibility, which ultimately results in reducing the feed intake and lowering animal production. These negative effects of fat supplementation can easily be overcome by feeding ruminants with specifically designed fats called rumen protected fats. In order to evaluate the efficacy of rumen protected fats (RPF), three different types of protected fats were examined in sheep. The results suggested that different types of protected fats have no unfavourable influences on the ruminal fermentation and productive parameters. Therefore, prilled fat, prilled fat with lecithin and calcium soaps did not improve animal performance as compared to the diet without protected fats in Dorper sheep. Rumen protected fats (RPF) are known to improve animal performance without affecting rumen metabolism in sheep. However, comparative effects of prilled fat, prilled fat with lecithin and calcium soap have not been fully studied. Hence this experiment was planned using 36 male Dorper sheep in a completely randomized design in four treatment groups. The diets included: Basal diet (70:30 concentrate to rice straw) with no added RPF as a control (CON), basal diet plus prilled fat (PF), basal diet plus prilled fat with lecithin (PFL) and basal diet plus calcium soap (CaS). The trial lasted 90 days following two weeks adaptation period. The body weights, average daily gain and gain to feed ratio were not affected by treatments. The intake and digestibilities of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and neutral detergent fibre were not affected, while those for ether extract and crude fibre differed (p < 0.05). RPF had no effect on concentrations of ammonia nitrogen, total volatile fatty acids and total bacterial population. The concentrations of rumen total saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids, total n − 3, total n − 6, unsaturated fatty acids:saturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids:saturated fatty acids differed (p < 0.05) among the treatments with RPF supplementation. Hence supplementation of different types of protected fats did not influence animal performance in Dorper sheep. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]