Anesthesia in Hounds
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I'm just curious as to what Anesthesia is okay to use in hounds (No, Tiggy doesn't need it, just a question). I ask because I have read so much that states that hounds are sensitive to Anesthesia but doesn't give any more description to that. What happens? What anesthesia should be avoid, what is the best?
I know that Acepromazine is bad for boxers, as the very rare side effect of hypertension is often found to become a highly common fact for the breed; there have been anecdotal reports of death of Boxers after the use of Acepromazine.
But I don't see anything concerning hounds and/or basenjis
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Hope this helps :)
Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.
The sighthounds are an ancient group of dog breeds that have been selectively bred for high-speed pursuit of prey by sight. Probably as a consequence of this selection process, these dogs have a number of idiosyncrasies that can potentially adversely affect their anesthetic management. These include (1) nervous demeanor which can lead to stress-induced clinical complications, such as hyperthermia; (2) lean body conformation with high surface-area-to-volume ratio, which predisposes these dogs to hypothermia during anesthesia; (3) hematological differences such as a higher packed cell volume and lower serum protein compared with other dog breeds which may complicate interpretation of preanesthetic blood work; (4) Impaired biotransformation of drugs by the liver resulting in prolonged recovery from certain intravenous anesthetics, especially thiopental; and increased risks of drug interactions. Safe anesthetic management of sighthounds should include sedative premedication and appropriate use of analgesic drugs to minimize perioperative stress. Thiopental, or any other thiobarbiturate, should not be used in these dogs. Propofol, ketamine/diazepam combination, and methohexital are recommended alternative intravenous anesthetics. Avoid coadministration of agents that inhibit drug biotransformation, such as chloramphenicol. Inhalation anesthesia using isoflurane is the preferred anesthetic maintenance technique. Core body temperature should be monitored closely and techniques to minimize hypothermia should be employed both during anesthesia and into the recovery period.
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If they use propofol for induction, and Isoflurane for the anesthesia, they wake up pretty quickly. (both dogs and humans). I think most vets use Iso down here, thankfully. My basenjis have a bit more fat than they should so that "lean body thing" doesn't apply to mine!
Anne
