Effect of Epidural Ketamine in Combination with Opioids on Haemodyanamics and Electrocardiograph in Dogs

One of the most useful applications of epidural analgesia is in the old dogs. When combined with effective sedation, epidural analgesia is definitely safer than general anaesthesia in old patients. Epidural analgesia can be routinely considered in all ages of dogs in select cases of caesarian section, hysterectomy, painful manipulation of the hind limbs and rectal, vaginal or perineal surgery (Booth, 1981). Ketamine, a dissociative anaesthetic which is antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the spinal cord. Ketamine induces local analgesia by blocking the sodium ion channels. It also interacts with opioid, monoaminergic and muscarinic receptors and voltage – gated calcium ion channels (Azari et al., 2014). Epidural ketamine alone or in combination of lidocaine or other sedatives has been reported to produce analgesia in International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 2 (2017) pp. 1163-1172 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com