Comparison of Xylazine, Lidocaine, Xylazine-Lidocaine Lumbosacral Epidural on Analgesia and Cardiopulmonary Functions in Sedated West African Dwarf Goats

Ruminants are commonly subjected to loco-regional anaesthetic techniques over general anaesthesia due to minimal side effects. There is still limited information on the effects of some drug protocols in use. This study investigated the analgesic and cardiopulmonary effects of some drugs for lumbosacral epidural in sedated goats. Six adult West African Dwarf bucks, mean body weight of 8.5 ± 2 kg were randomly selected for three separate crossover trials. Sedation was achieved with midazolam (0.03 mg/kg, IM) for all trials. Goats were given epidural injection of 2% lidocaine at 4.4 mg/kg (LGE), 2% xylazine at 0.15 mg/kg (XYE) and the mixture of 2% lidocaine (2.2 mg/kg) and 2% xylazine at 0.08 mg/kg (LXE) respectively. Venous blood was collected at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 180 minutes, to determine hematology changes. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and rectal temperature were recorded before epidural injection of the drugs in 10 minute intervals over a period of 180 minutes. Anaesthetic indices were calculated and recorded. All data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at p < 0.05. Results showed that lidocaine treatment produced a significantly rapid (2.50 ± 1.98) onset of blockade earlier than xylazine/lidocaine (2.76 ± 1.03) and xylazine (3.50 ± 2.17), respectively. Xylazine/lidocaine combination produced a longer duration of analgesia (97.00 ± 12.17) than Lidocaine (26.7 ± 0.52) or xylazine alone (91.50 ± 10.84). Xylazine treatment produced a significantly longer duration (127.33 ± 22.02) of recumbency than lidocaine (22.32 ± 34.86) and xylazine/lidocaine (105.00 ± 33.95) mixture. All treatments showed no significant changes in hematological and biochemical parameters to warrant systemic dysfunction. The heart rate and rectal temperature were significantly lower with xylazine treatment compared with LGE and LXE groups. In conclusion, epidural injection of LXE produced a longer duration of analgesia, the optimum duration of recumbency, with a lesser dosage of both drugs and the least side effects.