Non-invasive blood pressure monitoring in an anaesthetised calf - a case report

Abstract

A six month old cross bred calf was presented with a swelling on lateral abdomen and diagnosed with lateral abdominal hernia, which underwent herniorrhaphy under general anaesthesia formed the subject of the study. The animal was administered with meloxicam @ 0.5 mg/kg body weight intravenously for pre-emptive analgesia. Thirty minutes later, xylazine @ 0.02 mg/kg and butorphanol @ 0.05 mg/kg, were administered intravenously. Upon sedation, the animal was administered with a loading dose of lignocaine @ 1 mg/kg body weight intravenously. Immediately following the loading dose of lignocaine, anaesthesia was induced using guaiphenesin @ 50 mg/kg and ketamine @ 2mg/kg intravenously. Following induction, anaesthesia was maintained using the prepared guaiphenesin-ketamine-lignocaine-butorphanol anaesthetic mixture as continuous rate infusion @ 3 ml/kg/hr. Indirect and direct blood pressure measurements were monitored and recorded. The non-invasive blood pressure values for systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressures did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) from those monitored invasively.