Use of Intraperitoneal radio-transmitters in Lynx Lynx lynx Kittens: Anaesthesia, Surgery and Behaviour

The suitability of intraperitoneally implanted radio-transmitters as a method for studying young lynx Lynx lynx kittens was tested under field conditions. Radio-marked adult females were followed to the lair where they kept their kittens. In 1997 and 1998, nine kittens (4–5 weeks old) were located. One of two implant models (7 g and 20 g) were implanted using surgical procedures and a combination of medetomidine (0.08 mg/kg) and ketamine (5 mg/kg) for anaesthesia. No complications occurred during the operations. All kittens were accepted again by their mother and were moved to a new lair within 1 km. All survived at least three months after the operation. Six of the kittens were re-examined 4–5 months after the operation. In all of these cases the implants were floating freely in the peritoneal cavity. Based on these results it appears that intraperitoneal implanting of radio-transmitters is a very useful method for studying very young lynx kittens, and could be used for most felids of a similar, or larger, size.