Evaluation of the Effects of Dexmedetomidine-Ketamine or Xylasine-Ketamine Combinations on Blood Oxygen Content of Dogs

Alpha-2 agonists are usually used in small animal anesthesia, sedation and as analgesic medicines. These medicines are used widely in combination with ketamine as pre-anesthesia medicines, although concerns about their cardiovascular and respiratory side-effects have prevented their full adoption into veterinary practice. Researches on alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonists and their clinical use are widespread. This study is performed to compare clinically evaluated blood oxygen rates in dogs received, dexmedetomidine-ketamine and xylazine-ketamine combinations. For this, 5 healthy dogs of 1-2 years old were examined clinically and their clinical health was confirmed. Arterial oxygen content was recorded by pulse oximeter in normal mode. Then 15mg ketamine and 1.1mg xylazine was injected intravenously (IV) and in fasting mode per each kilogram of body weight. Arterial oxygen content was recorded every 5 minutes in an hour. The present study showed that at 5 minutes after injection the oxygen level decreased significantly (P=0.020). Injections were repeated using intra-muscular injection of ketamine-dexmedetomidine (10 mg/kg). Results showed that in 5 minutes after injection, oxygen level decreased significantly (P= 0.038) but it starts increasing again and finally didn’t show any significant change compared to the time before injection. In general, the results of this study showed that intravenous (IV) injection of ketamine-xylazine reduced the arterial oxygen content and muscular injection of this medicine doesn’t have any effect on arterial oxygen content, while intramuscular injection of ketamine-dexmedetomidine reduced the arterial oxygen content in five minutes after the injection and returns to the normal level afterwards.