Effects of intramuscular sedation with alfaxalone and butorphanol on echocardiographic measurements in healthy cats

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of intramuscular (IM) injections of alfaxalone combined with butorphanol on echocardiographic (ECG) measurements in cats. Client-owned adult domestic shorthair cats younger than 5 years of age were recruited. All cats that were considered healthy on the basis of physical examination, blood work, urinalysis, blood pressure measurement and baseline ECG underwent a second ECG under sedation. Cats were sedated with two separate IM injections of butorphanol at 0.2 mg/kg and alfaxalone at 2 mg/kg. ECG variables were analysed using a linear mixed model, and sedation scores were analysed using an ordinal mixed logistic model. The significance level was set at α = 0.05 and adjusted at α = 0.0017 for multiple comparisons of the ECG measurements. Ten healthy cats were included. Sedation was uneventful, and recovery was smooth and quick for all cats. The mean duration of lateral recumbency was 36.3 ± 4.37 mins. Reduction in heart rate following sedation approached statistical significance (P = 0.002). The thickness of the interventricular septum, the thickness of the left ventricular free wall, and the left ventricular internal dimensions in diastole and systole were not affected by the sedation. The changes in left atrium/aortic ratio and shortening fraction were statistically significant. Although the peak velocity of early diastolic transmitral flow (E) and late diastolic transmitral flow (A), the peak early diastolic (Ea) mitral valve annulus velocity, and the peak late diastolic (Aa) mitral valve annulus velocity changed after sedation, the ratios E/A, E/Ea and Ea/Aa were not significantly different after sedation. IM injections of alfaxalone and butorphanol induced rapid, deep and short-lasting sedation. The mean differences after sedation were not clinically significant for most echocardiographic measurements.