The establishment and maintenance of indwelling venous catheters in adult female pigs

The semi-permanent implantation of a jugular venous catheter offers the advantages of a plentiful supply of venous blood, ease of sampling at frequent intervals over a long period, and minimizes any stress associated with the restraint usually necessary when sampling blood from conscious pigs. A procedure for the implantation, use and maintenance of indwelling catheters in conscious adult pigs was outlined recently by Anderson and Elsley (1969). However, difficulties experienced in obtaining deep anaesthesia in order to catheterise the animals, and in the speed with which samples of blood could be withdrawn from the indwelling catheters, suggested that two changes to this procedure were necessary. Although general anaesthesia could be readily induced with halothane, the difficulty with which pigs can be intubated (Weaver, 1966) meant that the continued use of a mask was essential to maintain deep anaesthesia. Because the cessation of respiration can often occur when pigs are anaesthetized (Rowson, 1965), the mask required constant supervision…