Abstract

Ketamine produces an agitated state of anaesthesia when given alone, thus a pre-anaesthetic medication is very vital for smooth anaesthesia with ketamine. Piroxicam has been recorded to produce sedation. Thus piroxicam co-administered with ketamine was aimed to nullify the cataleptic effect of ketamine. Thirty West African Dwarf goats, grouped into five groups of six animals each, were used for the experiment. Group I was administered ketamine (10 mg.kg-1) only, while groups II, III, IV, and V were administered piroxicam (5 mg kg-1) 15, 30, 60 and 120 min prior to ketamine administration, respectively. The sleeping time was measured; temperature, heart and respiratory rates, and response to pinprick (analgesia) were recorded at intervals of 5, 10, 20, 30, and 45 min, respectively. Findings revealed very significant level of analgesia at perineum, flank, and inguinal regions in the 15 min (58.4 - 70.9%), 30 min (50 - 70.9%), and 60 min (45.8 - 75%) post piroxicam administered groups compared to ketamine only treated group (p ? 0.05). Heart and respiratory rates were significantly (P ? 0.05) increased throughout the period of experimentation. Piroxicam/Ketamine combination may provide synergistic analgesia and increase sleep duration with ketamine, and thus may provide better anaesthesia for elective and emergency surgeries in goats than ketamine alone.

Key words: Anaesthetic, analgesia, goats, ketamine, piroxicam.