Umbilical diseases are associated with a decreased market value and increased mortality in calves, and laparotomy is often performed in the field. This retrospective study compared the effects of inhalation anesthesia (INH) and injection anesthesia (INJ) during the perioperative period. We analyzed the medical records of 57 Japanese black calves that underwent laparotomy for umbilical diseases (umbilical hernia and/or umbilical cord disease) between January 2017 and December 2023. The INH group (n = 38) received continuous isoflurane inhalation with pure oxygen as a carrier gas, while the INJ group (n = 19) received only injectable anesthesia (xylazine hydrochloride and pentobarbital sodium). We investigated sex, age at first examination, diagnosis, anesthetic method, anesthetic drugs and dosages, number of rescue doses, hospital stay duration, operation time, and prognosis. The number of rescue doses was defined as the number of times sedatives or analgesics (xylazine hydrochloride, pentobarbital sodium, and butorphanol tartrate) were injected during laparotomy. There were no differences in age at first examination (p = 0.8656) and hospital stay duration (p = 0.4646) between the groups. The INJ group required significantly more rescue doses (p <
0.0001) and had longer operation times (p = 0.0643) compared to the INH group. Postoperative prognosis was not significantly different between groups (p = 0.7026). Overall, INJ required multiple rescue doses, but the difference in the method of general anesthesia did not affect the hospital stay duration or prognosis.