Investigating the use of local nerve blocks and general anaesthesia in reducing pain during and after disbudding procedure in goat kids

The aim of this study was to compare the pain responses (as measured by noise and movement) during administration of local anaesthetic and during and after disbudding in goat kids. Eighty, seven- to ten-day-old, Saanen goat kids from one farm were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of four different methods of pain relief. Twenty kids had local anaesthetic (LA) applied at two sites per horn bud (LA group), 20 kids had LA applied to the two locations using a jet injector (JI group) and 20 kids were given a general anaesthetic (GA) using a combination of 0.02 mg/kg medetomidine and 2 mg/kg ketamine followed by a horn bud block applied as per the LA group (GA group). The remaining 20 kids had no treatment other than meloxicam (control group). Although responses between goat kids and at different time periods were variable, in comparison to the control group, GA eliminated the responses associated with injection of lignocaine and the responses during the period of disbudding, and provided a reduction in head scratches and shakes across multiple time periods.

Comparison of Three Anaesthetic Options to Reduce Acute Pain Response in Kid Goats

Three options for anesthetizing the skin around the horn bud of dairy goat kids were explored. Forty-five <10-day-old Saanen goat kids from were randomly split into five treatment groups (topical anesthetic cream (TA), vapocoolant spray (VS), local anesthetic applied by jet injector (JI), control - no treatment but painful stimulus applied (C), sham - no treatment and touching sites with a finger. The painful stimulus was multiple needle pricks on the skin around the horn bud. The outcome variables measured were heart rate movement, and vocalization during treatment application and administration of a painful stimulus around the horn bud. Heart rates were greater during application of a VS compared to TA.Neither the TA nor the VS appeared to have any effect on the response to the painful stimulus. Kids in the JI group had a 96% reduced odds of expressing a marked pain response in comparison to TA group and an 83% reduction in the odds of a high movement grade during a painful procedure in comparison to the combined results of the other three treatment groups.