Effects of Castration on Epidural Administration of Lidocaine-Tramadol in West African Dwarf (Wad) Goats.

सार

Epidural anesthesia is routinely used in ruminants for obstetric manipulations and caudal surgical procedures owing to complications associated with general anaesthesia in this species. Castration is a common farm practice for derived production benefits.  The responses of a castrate to anaesthesia may differ from that of an intact animal because of possible anaesthetic-hormonal interplay. This study compared the anaesthetic indices, haemato- biochemical parameters (PCV, Hb, WBC, PLT, Na⁺, K⁺, Cl^-, urea, creatinine, Cu²⁺⁾ between castrated and intact goats subjected to epidural anaesthesia with tramadol-lidocaine mixture. Experimental animals were six West African Dwarf (WAD) goats (3 intact and 3 castrated bucks). The drugs were administered into the lumbosacral epidural space. Heart rate, respiratory rate and rectal temperature at 15minutes interval for 90minutes and anaesthetic indices were taken. Blood was obtained for haematology and serum chemistry before drug administration and hourly thereafter for three hours. The onset of drug action in the castrated goats (1.7±0.9 min) compared well with that of the non-castrated goats (2.0±0.0min). However, the duration of analgesia was significantly shorter (p<0.05) in the castrated goats (26.7±5.2min) than in the non-castrated goats (83.7±20.8 min), while the duration of recumbency was significantly (p<0.05) longer in the castrated goats (23.3 ± 8. 6min) than in the non- castrates (14.8 ± 3.7min). Mean heart rates ranged between 96.0±6.1 to 116.0±16.2 beats/min for non- castrated goats and 94.7±14.8 to 121.0 ±8.1beats/min for the castrated goats. Mean respiratory rates ranged between 60.0±14.4 to 89.3±16.2 breaths/min and 61.0± 31.5 to 122.3±10.0 in the non –castrated and castrated goats respectively.   Mean temperature ranged between 39.6±0.4 to 40.8±0.4°C in the non-castrated goats and 40.3±0.3 to 41.4±0.3°C in the castrated goats. Anaesthetic indices and haematobiological parameters were compared using Student's t-test, while physiological parameters were compared using ANOVA for repeated measures. There was reduction in pre-treatment values of some of the haematological, biochemical and hormonal values especially urea in the non- castrate (pre-treatment value-of 22±4.16 and 3-hour post treatment value of 13.3±0.33). The combination of tramadol-lignocaine epidurally is safe in castrate animals as well as in intact animals especially West African dwarf goats as there were no deleterious effects. However, further studies could combine adrenaline for prolonged recumbency when required.