The study was conducted in six crossbred female cattle aged nine months to five years and
weighing between 82-375 kg, to evaluate haematobiochemical and blood gas changes in during
multimodal general anaesthesia. The animals were premedicated by intravenous administration of
butorphanol (0.05mg/kg body weight) immediately followed by xylazine (0.02 mg/kg body weight).
On achieving sedation, the animals were controlled in left lateral recumbency and induction of
anaesthesia was carried out by intravenous administration of ketamine and midazolam at the
dose rate of 4.0 and 0.2 mg/kg body weight respectively. Endotracheal intubation was performed
and maintenance of general anaesthesia was carried out using isoflurane in 100% oxygen. The
variation in total erythrocyte count, total leukocyte count, volume of packed red cells, platelet
count and haemoglobin were non-significant before and after anaesthesia. A non-significant
lymphocytopaenia with neutrophilia and mild variations in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine
aminotransferase enzyme levels were also noticed. Blood pH reduced significantly (p<0.05) after
induction of anaesthesia and returned to baseline values after recovery whereas PvCO2 (p<0.05)
and base excess (p<0.01) values increased significantly after induction of anaesthesia. The blood
bicarbonate did not alter significantly following induction of anaesthesia.