Effects of pretreatment with oxytetracycline on the duration of pentobarbital anesthesia in dogs.

The effects of pretreatment with oxytetracycline on the recovery from pentobarbit; anesthesia were studied in experimental and control dogs. The experimental dogs wer anesthetized by the injection of pentobarbital (25 mg/kg BW) twice at intervals of 20 days without and with the pretreatment of oxytetracycline (22 mg/kg BW/day) for 4 days. All dogs pretreated with oxytetracycline have revealed the extensive prolongation of recovery from pentobarbital anesthesia regarding not only various neurological findings but behavior and motility. Since the blood findings through these experiments suggested some depression of hepatic functions following the successive pretreatment with oxytetracycline, some disorders in the metabolism of pentobarbital in the liver might be involved in the extension of anesthetic effects of pentobarbital.