A simple and safe method of anesthetizing infant rabbits for abdominal surgery.

There is a great lack of information about general anesthesia in small infant animals. We developed a safe method using Halothane to maintain anesthesia in 20 infant rabbits weighing 100-150 g. Halothane was administered through a modified T piece using a small finger cot in order to minimize the dead space of the system. Halothane concentrations of 0.5 to 1.5% were safe and efficient to perform a laparotomy and to keep the rabbits alive after surgery.