Haemato-biochemical and blood gas changes in bovines under multimodal anaesthesia

Abstract

The study was conducted in six crossbred female cattle aged nine months to five years and weighing between 82-375 kg, to evaluate haematobiochemical and blood gas changes in during multimodal general anaesthesia. The animals were premedicated by intravenous administration of butorphanol (0.05mg/kg body weight) immediately followed by xylazine (0.02 mg/kg body weight). On achieving sedation, the animals were controlled in left lateral recumbency and induction of anaesthesia was carried out by intravenous administration of ketamine and midazolam at the dose rate of 4.0 and 0.2 mg/kg body weight respectively. Endotracheal intubation was performed and maintenance of general anaesthesia was carried out using isoflurane in 100% oxygen. The variation in total erythrocyte count, total leukocyte count, volume of packed red cells, platelet count and haemoglobin were non-significant before and after anaesthesia. A non-significant lymphocytopaenia with neutrophilia and mild variations in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase enzyme levels were also noticed. Blood pH reduced significantly (p<0.05) after induction of anaesthesia and returned to baseline values after recovery whereas PvCO2 (p<0.05) and base excess (p<0.01) values increased significantly after induction of anaesthesia. The blood bicarbonate did not alter significantly following induction of anaesthesia.

Keywords

• multimodal anaesthesia
• blood gas changes