Cardiac and physico-chemical responses to xylazine and fentanyl analgesia in Bubalus bubalis

The minor surgical intervention and safe restraining requires sedation and analgesia especially in furious animals like buffaloes which can be achieved by using proper combination of sedative and analgesic drugs. The combination of xylazine with opioids is an effective way to achieve sedation and analgesia in cattle and horses. Six apparently healthy buffaloes having minor wounds were included in the present study. The sedation was accomplished by fentanyl (5 µg per kg b.wt) plus xylazine (0.05 mg per kg b.wt) intravenously. Physiological, hematobiochemical and electrocardiographic parameters were observed at different time interval after the administration of drugs. Following the administration of medicine, there was a significant reduction in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial blood pressure, hemoglobin, and packed cell volume. Respiration rate increased significantly at 30 minutes interval. PR interval and QT interval increased significantly at 20 minutes and 15 minutes respectively of the observation period, whereas a significant increase in the duration of ST segment was noticed from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. The present study revealed that the drug combination has no deleterious effects on cardiopulmonary, hematobiochemical and physiological parameters during the observation period.