A machine you'll work with for decades
A veterinary anesthesia machine is one of the few purchases that stays in your practice longer than most of your staff. Choose well and it runs case after case for decades. Choose poorly and your team works around its limits every day.
We've hand-built anesthesia machines and ventilators in Redding, California for more than 40 years. One of our 2800C systems has been running surgeries at Crossroads Veterinary Clinic in Anderson, California for 25 years and counting. That longevity shapes how we think about buying decisions: you aren't choosing for this year's caseload, you're choosing for the next 20.
This guide walks through what matters, from a 5 kg cat to a 500 kg horse and beyond.
Small animal vs. large animal: start with your patients
The first question isn't about features. It's about who's on the table. A small animal machine and a large animal anesthesia machine solve the same problem at very different scales.
A cat's tidal volume is measured in milliliters; an adult horse's is measured in liters. That changes the bellows size, the gas flow the ventilator must deliver, the soda lime capacity, and even how the cart is built.
Here's how that plays out across two of our own systems:
Small animal (Mallard 2200B)
Bellows: 200–2,200 ml standard (50–300 ml or 200–3,000 ml)
Inspiratory flow: 0–120 LPM
Inspiratory pressure: 0–80 cm H₂O
CO₂ absorber: 2.5 L
Machine weight: 50 lb (23 kg)
Large animal (Mallard 2800C)
Bellows: 18 L ascending
Inspiratory flow: 0–600 LPM
Inspiratory pressure: 0–80 cm H₂O
CO₂ absorber: 6 L, quick-change
Machine weight: 130 lb (59 kg)
Key features to evaluate in a veterinary anesthesia machine
Whatever size you need, these are the features that separate a good veterinary anesthesia machine from one your team tolerates.
Ascending (standing) bellows. An ascending bellows rises back to the top of its housing at the end of every breath. If it stops short, you have a leak. If it collapses, you likely have a disconnect. A descending bellows can keep moving even when the patient is disconnected, which is why ascending designs are considered safer.
Physical controls. Dedicated knobs for flow, pressure, and inspiratory time let a technician make changes by feel, without navigating menus mid-procedure.
Integrated anesthesia and ventilation. A machine with the ventilator built in means one cart and one circuit. The 2200B, for example, pairs a complete anesthesia machine with our 2400V ventilator.
Alarms that matter. Look for visual and audible alerts for failure to cycle, low gas pressure, and power loss.
Noise level. A quiet OR is a focused OR. Our small animal system tests at about 61 dB.
Service and support. Ask who answers the phone when something goes wrong, and for how long. Every Mallard machine comes with lifetime technical support from the people who engineered it.
What to look for in a large animal anesthesia machine
Equine, bovine, and zoo teams face challenges a small animal clinic never sees. A large animal anesthesia machine needs to be built for them from the ground up, not scaled up as an afterthought.
Enough bellows and flow. Large patients need large tidal volumes delivered quickly. The 2800C uses an 18 L ascending bellows with inspiratory flow up to 600 LPM and inspiratory time adjustable from 0.1 to 3 seconds.
Pressure protection. An adjustable overpressure governor (80 cm H₂O on the 2800C) puts a hard ceiling on airway pressure, no matter how long the case runs.
Absorber capacity and fast changes. Big patients produce a lot of CO₂. A 6 L soda lime canister with a quick-change design keeps long procedures moving.
A cart that moves. A large animal anesthesia machine often travels between induction, surgery, and recovery. Ask about weight and footprint. The 2800C weighs 130 lb (59 kg) and measures 37 x 28 x 57 in (94 x 71 x 145 cm).
Proven durability. Large animal ORs are demanding environments. Ask any manufacturer how old their oldest machine still in service is. For us, that 25-year-old 2800C at Crossroads Veterinary Clinic is still doing surgeries.
Special environments: MRI suites, zoos, and aquariums
Some of the hardest anesthesia happens outside the standard OR.
The MRI suite. Standard electronic machines and ferrous components can't go near a high-field magnet. An MRI-conditional veterinary anesthesia machine lets your patient stay on the same system from prep through imaging. Our 2800CP is fully pneumatic with zero electronics, non-ferrous throughout, and tested at 3 Tesla. The 2200B is also available in an all-pneumatic version tested at 3 Tesla.
Zoos and aquariums. Zoological teams may anesthetize a small exotic in the morning and a large mammal in the afternoon. Swappable bellows sizes and a wide flow range matter more here than anywhere else.
If you work in either setting, bring your full species list to the conversation with any manufacturer. It's the fastest way to find out whether a machine fits your reality.
Questions to ask before you buy
Bring these to every manufacturer conversation:
- What patient weight range does this machine cover, and which bellows options extend it?
- Is the bellows ascending or descending?
- Is the ventilator integrated, or a separate unit to connect?
- Which alarms are included, and are they both visual and audible?
- Is there an MRI-conditional version, and at what field strength was it tested?
- Where is the machine built, and who handles repairs?
- How long is technical support available, and who provides it?
- How old is the oldest unit still in service?
A manufacturer confident in its equipment will answer every one of these without hesitation.
Choosing with confidence
The right veterinary anesthesia machine fits your patients, your space, and your team's way of working. For small animal clinics, that usually means an integrated system with the right bellows range. For equine, bovine, and zoo practices, it means a true large animal anesthesia machine with the volume, flow, and durability to match.
At Mallard Medical, we build both: the 2200B and 2400V for small animals, and the 2800C and MRI-conditional 2800CP for large animals. Every one is hand-built in Redding, California and backed by lifetime support.
Have questions about your setup? Explore each machine at mallardmedical.com or request a quote. It takes about a minute.
Sources
- Mallard 2200B
- Mallard 2800C
- Mallard 2800CP
- Crossroads Veterinary Clinic story: Jul 28, 2026 weekly post
