Clinical evaluation of intravenous administration of methocarbamol, diazepam and acepromazine as premedication in canine injectable anesthesia using ketamine

Objectives: General anesthesia,as a main part of surgery, is well defined while a patient receives medications for amnesia, analgesia, muscle paralysis, and sedation.Noticeably, methocarbamol is a central muscle relaxant used to treat skeletal muscle spasms and it was not any report to be used as a preemptive meanwhile injectable anesthesia induced by ketamine. The present study clinically compared administration of methocarbamol with two tranquilizers diazepam and acepromazine in combination with ketamine for injectable anesthesia in dog.Materials Methods: Fifteen healthy male dogs in ages 3-8 months following to parasitic treatment and feed avoidance allocated randomly into 3 groups. Five minutes after intramuscular administration of preemptive: methocarbamol (4 mg/kg), diazepam (0.5 mg/kg) and acepromazine (0.05 mg/kg) in each group, ketamine injected intravenously in dogs. Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), arterial blood pressure (ABP) and rectal temperature (RT) measured before any drug administration with 5 minutes intervals until complete recovery of dogs. Furthermore, induction, maintenance and recovery time was recorded in all different drug groups.Results Conclusion: The present findings revealed that minimum changes of RR and RT in methocarbamol group observed than diazepam and acepromazine. Also, an increase in HR due to administration of ketamine was recorded in all groups. Despite noticeable increase of ABP in methocarbamol and diazepam groups, no significant changes in ABP were found in acepromazine group. Also, recovery time of methocarbamol group was longer compare to others. Conclusively, use of methocarbamol in combination with other sedatives and analgesics especially in canine orthopedic procedures is recommended. ,