Anesthesia and surgical procedures in laboratory animals require careful welfare management before, during, and after the procedure. Perioperative care significantly affects animal suffering and research outcomes.
Perioperative welfare management determines the suffering experienced by laboratory animals during and after surgical procedures. Inadequate anesthesia allows awareness and pain during surgery that is invisible to observers but causes acute suffering. Hypothermia during anesthesia impairs cardiovascular and metabolic function and prolonged recovery from anesthesia. The standard of pre-emptive analgesia before surgical incision rather than reactive pain treatment after recovery is well-established in veterinary medicine but inconsistently applied in laboratory animal settings. Postoperative monitoring requires trained staff who can recognize species-specific pain indicators and respond appropriately. Institutional anesthesia and analgesia protocols, combined with mandatory training for surgical personnel, represent the foundation of ethical perioperative animal care.