Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Effects of alfaxalone and acepromazine injections on heart and blood
By Kim, Boeun et al.·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2019·From Research Institute for Veterinary Science, South Korea·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Effects of Intramuscular Alfaxalone/Acepromazine on Echocardiographic, Biochemical, and Blood Gas Measurements in Healthy Cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Seven healthy cats were given different sedatives to see how they affected their heart and overall health. The combination of alfaxalone and acepromazine provided better sedation than acepromazine alone, but all treatments caused some changes in heart function, like lower blood pressure. While the cats showed some unsteadiness after treatment, there were no significant health issues detected in blood tests or heart scans. Alfaxalone appears to be a good option for sedation during procedures like echocardiograms without major side effects.
People also search for: cat sedation options · alfaxalone effects in cats · acepromazine for cats · cat heart health after sedation
Abstract
The effects of intramuscular injection of alfaxalone ([ALF] 5 mg/kg), acepromazine ([ACE] 0.05 mg/kg), and an ALF-ACE combination ([AA] 0.025 mg/kg ACE followed by 2.5 mg/kg ALF) on the sedation, echocardiographic, biochemical, and blood gas indexes and recovery were evaluated in seven cats. No sedation was obtained with ACE, and sedation scores were higher with ALF than with AA treatment. Compared with baseline, an increase in heart rate occurred after ACE, and all treatments caused a decrease in systemic arterial pressure. Decreased left ventricular internal dimension in diastole, end-diastolic volume of the left ventricle, stroke volume, and left atrial dimension were identified after AA. There were minimal changes in echocardiographic variables after ALF. Biochemical and blood gas analysis showed no significant changes after all treatments. Although the difference in quality of recovery between the AA and ALF treatment groups was insignificant, all cats treated with AA or ALF showed ataxia. The AA combination did not change the recovery score, and tremor and twitching were identified more frequently with AA than ALF. ALF had no significant effects on echocardiographic, biochemical, or blood gas variables. ALF could be considered a useful sedative option for diagnostic procedures and echocardiography in cats.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30776258/