The development of unanticipated hyperkalaemia during general anaesthesia in healthy veterinary patients is an increasingly recognized phenomenon. Cases have been reported in dogs, cats, horses and non‐domestic felids. However, recurrent hyperkalaemia has not yet been described in domestic cats. We report the development of hyperkalaemia during two consecutive anaesthetics in a 5‐year‐old, Bengal cat, anaesthetised for medial patella luxation repair and 3 months later for implant removal. During both procedures, hyperkalaemia was diagnosed. However, it was only during the first anaesthetic that the hyperkalaemia became life‐threatening, necessitating treatment. The reasons why some animals develop hyperkalaemia during general anaesthesia are still unknown. Considering the apparent increasing frequency of this condition, hyperkalaemia should be considered as a potential cause of intraoperative bradydysrhythmias and must be investigated and treated appropriately.

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Treatment of hypotension in domestic ruminants is more challenging than in other species, due to strict drug legislation and a limited number of licensed drugs in foodproducing animals. The use of adrenaline as a variable-rate infusion to improve haemodynamics is a viable treatment option when other interventions fail. Further studies are needed to establish appropriate infusion rates and potential side effects in goats. BACKGROUNDHypotension, or low systemic arterial blood pressure, is one of the most common complications during general anaesthesia in veterinary patients, with a reported frequency of 7%-37.9% in dogs and 8.5%-33% in cats. [1][2][3][4] Consequences of intraoperative hypotension are described in both human and veterinary medicine, and include increased mortality, prolonged hospitalisation, myocardial and kidney injury, cerebral ischaemia, neurological deficits and myopathies. [5][6][7][8] Despite being a relatively common problem, there is still a lack of consistency in the definition of hypotension in the veterinary literature. Generally, concerns should arise when the mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) decreases below approximately 60 mmHg or the systolic blood pressure decreases below approximately 80 mmHg in any species. 9 Hypotension was defined as MAP <62 mmHg and systolic arterial blood pressure (SAP) <87 mmHg in anaesthetised dogs. 10 In horses, hypotension has been defined as MAP <70 mmHg, as there is a well-recognised association between post-anaesthetic myopathy and hypotension during general anaesthesia. [11][12][13] However, in ruminants, there is no clear definition of hypotension, and its frequency during general anaesthesia has not been reported. Physiological arterial blood pressure values in conscious goats are a SAP of 90-120 mmHg, a diastolic arterial pressure (DAP) of 60-80 mmHg and a MAP of 75-100 mmHg. 9 Anaesthetic-related hypotension in otherwise healthy animals is a result of several mechanisms. Various injectable and inhalant anaesthetic agents directly affect heart rate, preload, afterload, myocardial contractility or systemic vascular resistance. These variables are intimately associated with blood pressure; therefore, a change in any of the variables (alone This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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This study aimed to assess the performance, accuracy, precision and repeatability of two single-use airway pressure manometers as a cost-effective alternative for inflation of endotracheal tubes with high-volume, low-pressure cuffs. The manometers were tested in a bench top model against a U-tube manometer. Eighteen units of each device were tested. Three consecutive measurements were performed at pressures of 20, 25 and 30 cmH2O each. The mean ± SD of the recorded pressures and maximum deviation from the target pressures were calculated for each device and each target pressure. For device A, the mean ± SD pressures were 19.6 ± 0.7, 23.6 ± 0.8 and 28.3 ± 0.8 cmH2O; for device B, the mean ± SD pressures were 19.3 ± 0.6, 24.3 ± 0.9 and 29.2 ± 0.67 cmH2O for target pressures of 20, 25 and 30 cmH2O, respectively. The bias for device A was −0.4, −1.4, and −1.7 cmH2O and for device B, −0.7, −0.7, and −0.8 cmH2O for target pressures of 20, 25, and 30 cmH2O, respectively. Both devices showed results comparable to those reported for commercial cuff manometers. They represent inexpensive tools that provide clinically sufficient accuracy, precision and repeatability for ETT cuff inflation between pressures of 20 and 30 cmH2O.