Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Recovery times after injectable anesthesia for adult cats and kittens
By Bruniges, Natalie et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2016·1 Small Animal Teaching Hospital, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Injectable anaesthesia for adult cat and kitten castration: effects of medetomidine, dexmedetomidine and atipamezole on recovery.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of healthy male cats, both adult and kittens, were neutered using injectable anesthesia to see how different medications affected their recovery times. The study found that kittens recovered faster than adult cats, and those given atipamezole, a medication that helps reverse anesthesia, were able to stand up much sooner than those who did not receive it. Specifically, kittens given atipamezole were up and moving in about 70 minutes, while adult cats took around 150 minutes without it. Overall, atipamezole proved effective in speeding up recovery after anesthesia, with minimal side effects noted.
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Abstract
Objectives Rapid recovery from injectable anaesthesia benefits cat shelter neutering programmes. The effects of medetomidine, dexmedetomidine and atipamezole on recovery were evaluated in adult cats and kittens (⩽6 months old). Methods One hundred healthy male cats (age range 2-66 months, weight range 0.7-5.3 kg) admitted forneutering were randomly allocated to groups of 25. Anaesthesia was induced with 60 mg/mketamine, 180 µg/mbuprenorphine, 3 mg/mmidazolam and either 600 µg/mmedetomidine (groups M and MA) or 300 µg/mdexmedetomidine (groups D and DA) intramuscularly (IM). Groups MA and DA also received 1.5 mg/matipamezole IM after 40 mins. Preparation time, surgical time, and times to sternal recumbency and standing were recorded. Data were analysed using the Kruskall-Wallis test, unpaired t-tests and ANOVA. Statistical significance was deemed to be P ⩽0.05. Results Groups did not differ significantly in age, body weight, preparation or surgical time. The time to sternal recumbency in group MA (64 ± 34 mins) was less than in group M (129 ± 32 mins), and in group DA it was less than in group D (54 ± 6 mins vs 110 ± 27 mins) ( P <0.001). There were no differences in duration of recovery to sternal recumbency between groups M and D or MA and DA. The time to standing in group MA (79 ± 51 mins) was less than in group M (150 ± 38 mins) ( P <0.001), and in group DA it was less than in group D (70 ± 22 mins vs 126 ± 27 mins) ( P <0.01). Time to standing in group D (126 ± 27 mins) was less than in group M (150 ± 38 mins) (P <0.05). Time to standing in groups DA and MA were not different. Kittens recovered faster than adults after atipamezole. Minimal adverse effects were seen. Conclusions and relevance Atipamezole reliably reduced recovery time after anaesthesia incorporating either dexmedetomidine or medetomidine; however, the choice of dexmedetomidine or medetomidine had little effect. Recovery was faster in kittens.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26265737/