Castration of Dogs Using Local Anesthesia After Sedating With Xylazine and Subanesthetic Doses of Ketamine

Abstract

Orchiectomy is performed in some species using only sedation and local anesthesia to decrease the expense of performing the procedure using general anesthesia. The objective of this study was to determine if dogs can be castrated safely and painlessly by using only sedation and local anesthesia. After dogs were sedated with intramuscularly administered xylazine (1 mg/kg) and subanesthetic ketamine (1 mg/kg), testes and skin were anesthetized with 2% lidocaine (6 mg/kg, total dose) buffered with sodium bicarbonate. Systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressures; heart and respiratory rates; and movement scores were determined before and during surgery when manipulations were most likely to cause pain. No dog reacted substantially to injection of the combination of sedatives, and no dog reacted noticeably to injection of lidocaine. During surgery, the average heart rate was reduced from baseline by 40-60 beats per minute, and the average respiratory rate was reduced by ∼10 breaths per minute. An overall reduction of arterial blood pressures was observed. All but one dog moved purposely in response to a toe pinch at the end of surgery. We found that sedating dogs intramuscularly with xylazine and a sub-anesthetic dose of ketamine and administering lidocaine at the incision site and intratesticularly allowed dogs to be castrated humanely and avoided the expense of general anesthesia and the need for hospitalization.

Treatment and management of Salmonella prostatitis in a heartworm‐positive intact male dog: a case report

“…With these facts in mind, it was imperative in this case to castrate the patient as soon as possible to help prevent zoonotic spread of the isolated Salmonella. Until very recently, canine castration has only been described while under general anesthesia mainly due to the large amount of perceived nociception associated with the procedure [ 25 ]. In non-shelter settings, however, heartworm-infested patients are considered to be at increased risk of anesthetic complications [ 26 ].…”

Canine Testicular Histopathology Ensuing Chemical Castration

“…The dogs were sedated using an intramuscular combination of xylazine (LGM Pharma, USA) at 1.0mg/kg body weight and ketamine at 1.0mg/kg body weight as indicated by Silva et al (2020). The testicles were cleaved and cleaned using 70% ethyl alcohol before the test products were injected into the testicles.…”

“…After the three-month study period, the dogs were surgically castrated to harvest the testicles for histopathology. The dogs were anaesthetized using a combination of 1.0mg/kg bwt xylazine and 1.0mg/kg bwt ketamine intramuscularly and skin anesthetized using 2% lidocaine (Silva et al 2020). The testicles were extracted, cut in half and immersed in 10% formalin (pH 7.0) and transported to the lab for histopathological analysis.…”

Effect of a targeted pain management protocol for the treatment of dermatitis interdigitalis contagiosa in Merino meat sheep in a tilt squeeze chute

“…This can be achieved through pain management protocols, which interrupt nociception at multiple sites of the nociceptive pathway (Stilwell et al, 2020). The combination of local anesthesia with sedation has been shown to be effective in mitigating pain in numerous surgical procedures not only in sheep (Hodgkinson and Dawson, 2007;Galatos, 2011) but also in cattle, dogs and horses (Searle et al, 1999;Greene, 2003;Cuzmar et al, 2019;Silva et al, 2020). Intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA) is the technique of choice for pain mitigation in sheep undergoing surgery of the distal limb (Hodgkinson and Dawson, 2007;Galatos, 2011;Fieseler et al, 2019).…”