PhD Scholar, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Science, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner (Rajasthan)
*Corresponding author; E-mail: narendravet1@gmail.com
Online published on 1 March, 2021.
The study was conducted on 16 healthy dogs to evaluate dexmedetomidine and xylazine as preanaesthetics to propofol anaesthesia. The dogs brought for elective ovariohysterectomy or castration were randomly divided into 2 groups. In group I, dexmedetomidine (20 µg/kg b.wt) and in group II, xylazine (1 mg/kg b.wt) were administered intramuscularly as preanaesthetic drugs. Anaesthesia was induced after 15 min, using propofol administered intravenously to effect and maintained by isoflurane. Sedation score, induction and recovery quality were statistically evaluated. Sedation score was significantly higher in group I (12.00±0.00) than in group II (7.88±0.23). The dose of propofol (3.19±0.16 mg/kg b.wt) required in group I was significantly lesser than that in group II (6.09±0.31 mg/kg b.wt). The mean isoflurane MAC (0.65±0.07%) in group I was significantly lower than that in group II (1.56±0.11%). The recovery was significantly prolonged in group I than in group II. Physiological and biochemical parameters did not show significant variations between the groups, although variation in arterial blood pressure was relatively more in group II than group I. To conclude, dexmedetomidine showed superior sedation and dose sparing effect on propofol and isoflurance than xylazine, and hence it could be a better preanaesthetic agent in dogs.
Dexmedetomidine, Dogs, Isoflurane, Propofol, Xylazine
