Anaesthesia monitoring in ASA II dogs: A comparison of dexmedetomidine and acepromazine as premedication

Dexmedetomidine and acepromazine are potent muscle relaxant and tranquillizer respectively.Both the drugs lack comparative monitoring studies in dogs in India.The present study was aimed to compare the effects of dexmedetomidine and acepromazine as premedication agents in ASA II dogs undergoing propofol-induced and isoflurane-maintained anaesthesia.The clinical study included 13 dogs.Group D dogs (n=7) received dexmedetomidine 10 mcg/kg and Group A dogs (n=6) received acepromazine 0.05 mg/kg intramuscularly along with butorphanol 0.2 mg/kg and glycopyrrolate 0.01 mg/kg as pre-anaesthetic drugs.The top-up required, post-induction apnea, heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, blood pressure, mechanical ventilation, oxygen supplementation, isoflurane requirement, end tidal carbon dioxide, electrocardiography and hemato-biochemical parameters were recorded.The data was analyzed using student t-tests.Post-induction apnea was common in Group D and isoflurane requirement was higher in the Group A. The heart rate reduced significantly after premedication in both the groups, and was prominent in Group D. The blood pressure was significantly higher in the Group D after induction and decreased later, however, it decreased significantly after premedication in Group A and continued to fall.The recovery was faster in the Group D dogs, although the quality of recovery was similar in both groups.In conclusion, both dexmedetomidine and acepromazine are safe as pre-anaesthetic agents in ASA II dogs.Dexmedetomidine provides deeper sedation, anaesthetic sparing and faster recovery than acepromazine when combined with butorphanol and glycopyrrolate, with stable intraoperative parameters in ASA II dogs anesthetized with propofol and isoflurane.