Anesthesia is often necessary to facilitate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in reptile species. Despite this, there is no data on the safety of inhalant anesthesia in bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps). In this study, medical records of bearded dragons presenting to a single academic institution and delivered isoflurane anesthesia between February 1, 2002 and August 31, 2022 were collected. Data collected included retroactive American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) status, survival post-discharge, procedures performed, anesthetic complications, and length of isoflurane use. During the inclusion period, 445 bearded dragons were presented to the institution in 948 visits. Of these visits, 45 (4.7%) were included because isoflurane anesthesia was pursued, and 5 (<0.01%) were excluded because isoflurane anesthesia was used only as a pre-euthanasia anesthetic. Forty inhalant anesthetic events performed on 34 bearded dragons were included in this study. The most common procedures performed were ovariectomy or ovariosalpingectomy (37.5%, 15/40), exploratory celiotomy (7.5%, 3/40), mass removal (10%, 7/40), limb, toe, or tail amputations (20%, 8/40), and other (25%, ). All 40 cases recovered from inhalant anesthesia with the most common anesthetic-associated complication being prolonged recovery (7.5%), and most anesthetic events (75%) were one hour or less in duration. ASA status ranged from grade 1-4, with most cases being grade 3 (45%). Follow up to assess survivability 1-week post-discharge was available in 28 out of 40 (70%) of cases, and all 28 (100%) of these cases survived. Overall, isoflurane anesthesia is associated with low morbidity and mortality in bearded dragons undergoing a variety of procedures.
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