2022 Refinement Grant: Need and efficacy of pre-operative fasting in Sheep

Pre-operative fasting is a common procedure in veterinary medicine. It intends to reduce the filling of the stomach to avoid anesthetic complications. Sheep have a complex digestive system, recommendations of pre-operative fasting in this species are not evidence based. The practice can cause metabolic imbalances, complicating anesthesia
Inconsistent recommendations lead to a great variance in practicing pre-operative fasting, which may confound reproducibility of study results.