Their use as sole agents is limited to restraint for non painful procedures, or in some species such as cats and monkeys, for minor skin procedures. Neuroleptanalgesia refers to the use of several drugs to provide a trance like state with analgesia. Paralytics such as succinyncholine or gallamine require concurrent use of an anesthetic, as they provide no analgesia or loss of consciousness. Monitoring anesthetic depth must focus on physiological parameters, such as heart rate and blood pressure, as normal reflexes may not be used. Experimental Surgery has great potential for causing pain or distress to animals if not performed properly.
Surgery can result in pain, damage to tissue and postoperative infections.
Therefore stringent guidelines for training, surgical facilities, anesthesia, analgesia, asepsis, and postoperative monitoring have been established. There are different requirements for nonsurvival surgeries than for survival surgeries. For short nonsurvival procedures, dedicated surgical facilities and aseptic techniques are not needed. Asepsis is still required for longer nonsurvival surgeries, as infections can begin affecting the animals within several hours. Anesthetic requirements are identical between survival and nonsurvival procedures, except that certain anesthetics such as urethane may not be used for survival procedures because of carcinogenicity or toxicity to the animal.