First do no harm! Anethsetics and sedation can be risky when performed by vets and human doctors. An ear infection does not warrant anesthesia if it does warrant surgery.



My vet did the first ear infection I ever had with a turtle, he didn't use any anesthesia and I've been "lancing" ear infections since that time and as I am not a vet, wouldn't even contemplate trying to coming up with a way to use anethesia. If its so bad that it needs anethesia, then it warrents a vet's attention.



I once had an Irish Setter that developed a cyst on her hind quarters. My husband somehow thought this was an emergency and took her to a vet that he wanted us to use because his family had used this vet. At the time, I still took my cat to a vet I liked in my former college town, 40 miles away. My husband returned with a collar and leash. The vet tech, who was acting in this clinic instead of the vet who owned the clinic had given our setter a sedative to lance this "zit" and she dropped dead.

The vet I should have taken her to (I had two small children so I unwisely had let my husband deal with this), said this tech had used a risky combination of two sedatives and the use of a sedative was completely unnecessary. He also said my husband's vet was known to be unethical.



Needless to say, the offending vet purchased us another, much more expensive, setter. We had to drive to Dallas as Setters can't always be found in Oklahoma. When Lindsey II developed the same kind of cyst, I drove her the 40 miles to the vet I trusted

and he lanced it without any sedative or anesthesia. I helped them hold her and she did fine.



My point is, sedatives and anesthetics are risky and should only be used when absolutely necessary. I would think they would be much trickier with a reptile, then say, a dog or a cat.

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