Local Anesthesia in Cats

-Sulove Koirala
Blocks the pain pathways leading to the brain from a specific area of body.

Topical Anesthesia
Lidocaine spray (10%, 100mg/ml) or Lidocaine Hydrochloride
Local anesthetics, either as lidocaine spray (10%, 100 mg/mL) or lidocaine
hydrochloride solution, can be applied topically. One spray delivers 10 mg of
lidocaine, which usually is sufficient to desensitize small areas of oral, nasal,
and pharyngeal mucous membranes. Administration of 20 mg of lidocaine to
the mucous membrane produces surface anesthesia up to 2 mm deep within
2 min, which lasts for about 15 min. Topical lidocaine (spray or instillation) is
useful for minor diagnostic, therapeutic, and surgical procedures (e.g.,
endoscopy, placement of nasal catheters for tube feeding, foreign-body
removal, biopsies, and repair of small mucosal wounds).

Infiltration Anesthesia
Local infiltration is primarily used for repair of superficial lacerations,
cutaneous biopsy, and removal of dermal or subcutaneous tumors. Lidocaine
hydrochloride (2 to 5 mg/kg), ropivacaine, or bupivacaine hydrochloride (3
mg/kg) is injected in the form of a subcutaneous bleb, line block, inverted V-
block or triangular or rectangular pattern around a small tumor to be
surgically removed.
-> Lidocaine Hydrochloride (2-5mg/kg),
-> Ropivacaine or bupivacaine hydrochloride (3mg/kg)

General Anesthesia in Cats

Induction
General anesthesia may be induced by the use of inhalational agents or,
more commonly, by the use of injectable drugs.
Thiopental: Barbiturate, less commonly used nowadays because of its
irritating property and development of newer and safer drugs. Dose:
10mg/kg/IV
Alfaxalone ( Alfaxan , Vetoquinol): Alfaxan causes less cardiopulmonary
depression than other IV induction agents such as thiopental or propofol. It is
very rapidly metabolized by the liver, and repeated top - ups or constant
rate infusions can be used to maintain anesthesia without significantly
prolonging recovery time. Dose: 2-5 mg/kg IV
Ketamine: The main advantage of ketamine in small animal anesthesia is
that it can be given by either IV or IM routes, and so, is particularly useful for
fractious patients, especially cats, where it may be impossible to achieve IV
access. As a highly lipid - soluble drug, ketamine provides rapid onset of
anesthesia when administered intravenously. Dose: 5-10 mg/kg ketamine
+ 0.2 mg/kg midazolam IM

Maintenance
In current veterinary practice, maintenance of general anesthesia is most
commonly accomplished by inhalational agents. However, there has been
growing interest in the use of total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) in both
humans and animals over the past few years, and this field is likely to
develop further in the future.
Halothane: As newer agents such as isoflurane and sevoflurane have begun
to compete with halothane, its production has been significantly curtailed.
Isoflurane: The low blood solubility of isoflurane indicates that uptake and
elimination will be faster with this agent compared to halothane promoting
faster induction and recovery and that the depth of anesthesia will be
easier to alter.
Sevoflurane is non-irritant to respiratory tract than Isoflurane so it is much
more suitable
Nitrous Oxide is weak anesthetic so given in high concentration.
Triple combination anesthesia
The so - called triple combination (more colloquially referred to as triple
combo ) is widely used for provision of anesthesia in small animal practice,
particularly for cats. It comprises ketamine, medetomidine (or dexmedetomi-
dine) and (usually) butorphanol, all mixed together in the same syringe and
administered subcutaneously or intramuscularly (although it can also be
used intravenously). The main reason this technique is so popular is that it
will provide a reasonable period of surgical anesthesia (up to about 45
minutes depending on the dose of ketamine used), without the need for
restraint for intravenous injection, which many people feel is beneficial when
dealing with cats.
Total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA )
The concept of maintaining general anesthesia using only intravenous
agents has developed rapidly over the past few years. Major benefits offered
by this technique, when compared to inhalational agents, include improved
controllability of anesthesia and lack of environmental contamination with
waste anesthetic gases, which may have important implications for
operating room personnel. In addition, using a TIVA technique permits the
induction and maintenance of anesthesia as a continuum, since anesthesia is
induced with an intravenous agent that is then continued to maintain
anesthesia. This contrasts with more conventional anesthesia, where
induction is performed intravenously but the patient is then converted to an
inhalational technique for maintenance. Alfaxalone is commonly used in cats.