4-Methylpyrazole (4-MP), an alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitor, was administered to dogs to treat ethylene glycol (EG) intoxication. Eleven dogs were given 10.6 g of EG/kg of body weight; 5 dogs were treated with 4-MP 5 hours after EG ingestion and 6 dogs were treated with 4-MP 8 hours after EG ingestion. 4-Methylpyrazole was administered IV as a 50-mg/dl solution in 50% polyethylene glycol: initial dose, 20 mg/kg; at 12 hours after initial dose, 15 mg/ kg; at 24 hours after initial dose, 10 mg/kg, and at 30 hours after initial dose, 5 mg/kg. Physical, biochemical, hematologic, blood gas, serum and urine EG concentrations, and urinalysis findings were evaluated at 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 48, 72 hours, and at 1 week and 2 weeks after EG ingestion. Dogs of both groups developed clinicopathologic signs associated with EG intoxication, including CNS depression, hyperosmolality, high anion gap metabolic acidosis, polydipsia, polyuria, calcium oxalate monohydrate and dihydrate crystalluria, and isosthenuria. Fractional excretion of sodium was increased in all dogs between 1 and 9 hours after EG ingestion, but remained increased beyond 24 hours only in the 2 dogs treated at 8 hours after EG ingestion that developed acute renal failure. All dogs treated 5 hours after EG ingestion recovered without morphologic, biochemical, or clinical evidence of renal impairment. Of the 6 dogs treated 8 hours after EG ingestion, 2 developed acute renal failure. One of the dogs treated 8 hours after EG ingestion remained isosthenuric for 2 months, but did not manifest any other signs of renal impairment. Of the dogs treated 8 hours after EG ingestion, 3 recovered without morphologic, biochemical, or clinical evidence of renal impairment. Serum half-life of EG was prolonged in the dogs treated 8 hours after EG ingestion. Percentage of EG excreted unchanged was 84 +/- 2% in the dogs treated 5 hours after EG ingestion, and was 40 +/- 10% in the dogs treated 8 hours after EG ingestion. 4-Methylpyrazole was effective in preventing renal failure in all dogs given 10.6 g of EG/kg when treatment was initiated by 5 hours after EG ingestion, and in 4 of 6 dogs when treatment was initiated by 8 hours after EG ingestion.

Administration of vitamin K1, SC, to anticoagulant-poisonsed (diphenadione) dogs provided diagnostic information within 4 hours, when vitamin K1 and its epoxide were measured in canine sera. Twelve dogs (2 groups of 6) were given 2.5 mg of diphenadione/kg of body weight for 3 days. Dogs were treated with vitamin K1, 2.5 (n = 6) or 5 mg/kg/day (n = 6) SC for 21 days, and their responses were compared. Four nonexposed control dogs were given 5 mg of vitamin K1/kg/day. Serum concentration of vitamin K epoxide was significantly (P less than 0.02) higher in diphenadione-exposed dogs than in control dogs 1 to 4 hours after the initial vitamin K1 treatment on day 4. Vitamin K epoxide/vitamin K1 ratios were similarly higher and became more distinct. Cessation of vitamin K1 therapy on day 24 resulted in prolongation of one-stage prothrombin times in diphenadione-exposed dogs, becoming clearly evident on day 27. Serum vitamin K1 concentrations were not detectable on day 27 in diphenadione-exposed dogs, whereas serum vitamin K1 concentrations were readily detectable in control dogs. One stage prothrombin time changes, during days 24 to 32, indicated 5 mg of vitamin K1/kg provided better protection than did 2.5 mg of vitamin K1/kg. Coagulopathy in the dogs was resolved by day 32.

Acetaminophen is widely used in human beings for analgesic purposes, but is one of the most frequent causes of poisoning in cats. Acetaminophen-poisoned cats develop methemoglobinemia and sometimes hepatic failure. To determine the benefit of using methylene blue, a treatment for methemoglobinemia, along with N-acetylcysteine (NAC), the recommended treatment for acetaminophen-poisoned cats, groups of 3 male and 3 female cats each were given methylene blue NAC, or both after administration of acetaminophen (120 mg/kg of body weight, PO). Male cats seemed more susceptible than female cats to acetaminophen toxicosis, because 3 males died of hepatic failure (2 cats given acetaminophen/methylene blue and 1 given acetaminophen/NAC/methylene blue). Although NAC alone seemed to elicit the best overall response, methylene blue, alone or in combination with NAC, may be useful in female cats.

The efficacy of 4-methylpyrazole (4-MP) and ethanol as treatment for ethylene glycol (EG) intoxication in cats was compared. Twenty-two cats were assigned at random to 6 experimental groups. Cats of 1 experimental group were given only 4-MP; those of another experimental group were given only EG. Cats of 3 experimental groups were intoxicated with EG and given 4-MP at 0 hour or 2 or 3 hours after EG ingestion, and those of 1 experimental group were given EG and treated with ethanol 3 hours after EG ingestion. Physical, biochemical, hematologic, blood gas, serum and urine EG concentrations, and urinalysis findings were evaluated at 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours, 1 week, and 2 weeks after EG ingestion, or 4-MP treatment in cats of the 4-MP only group. The half-life of EG and percentage of ingested EG excreted unchanged were determined for each group. 4-Methylpyrazole treatment at 0 hour was most effective at preventing metabolism of EG. 4-Methylpyrazole was not effective in preventing development of renal failure when given 2 or 3 hours after EG ingestion. Ethanol given 3 hours after EG ingestion was successful in preventing development of renal dysfunction in 2 of the 6 cats treated 3 hours after EG ingestion. Of the remaining 4 cats treated with ethanol, 2 developed transient renal dysfunction and 2 developed acute oliguric renal failure and were euthanatized. 4-Methylpyrazol given 2 or 3 hours after EG ingestion was less effective in preventing EG metabolism than was ethanol given 3 hours after EG ingestion. Therefore 4-MP, at the dose found to be effective in dogs, cannot be recommended as an alternative to ethanol for treatment of EG intoxication in cats.

Three doses of an alpha2-adrenoreceptor antagonist, atipamezole, were administered to reverse xylazine-induced sedation, bradycardia, and ruminal atony in calves. Once a week for 4 weeks, each of 6 calves was administered IV 1 treatment of:0.3 mg of xylazine/kg of body weight, followed in 10 minutes by 1 ml of 0.9% NaCl; 0.3 mg of xylazine/kg, followed in 10 minutes by 3 microgram of atipamezole/kg; 0.3 mg of xylazine/kg, followed in 10 minutes by 10 microgram of atipamezole/kg; or 0.3 mg of xylazine/kg, followed in 10 minutes by 30 microgram of atipamezole/kg. The order of the 4 treatments in each calf was selected at random. Xylazine alone caused lateral recumbency for 33.6 +/- 7.1 minutes (mean +/-SEM). Atipamezole administered at dosages of 3, 10, and 30 microgram/kg shortened xylazine-induced lateral recumbency to 20.5 +/- 3.0, 10.2 +/- 0.2, and 9.3 +/- 0.5 minutes, respectively. Calves given xylazine alone stood at > 60 minutes after the onset of recumbency. Atipamezole given at 3, 10, and 30 microgram/kg shortened the time from onset of lateral recumbency to standing to 40.2 +/- 6.9, 12.8 +/- 1.1, and 10.0 +/- 0.7 minutes, respectively. Drowsiness was found in calves given the lowest dosage of atipamezole (3 microgram/kg) after the calves stood. Atipamezole given at dosages of 10 and 30 microgram/kg reversed xylazine-induced ruminal atony in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, 30 microgram of atipamezole/kg reversed xylazine-induced bradycardia, but the lower dosages of this antagonist did not. Results indicated that 30 microgram of atipamezole/kg should be a useful antidote for xylazine overdose in cattle.

Disposition kinetic variables of HI-6, a bispyridinium oxime, have been determined in mice, rats, rabbits, Rhesus monkeys, Beagles, sheep, and human beings. The drug has a short half-life, small apparent volume of distribution and high body clearance in these species, and is eliminated mainly by renal excretion. Using regression analysis and double logarithmic plots of the pharmacokinetic variables vs body weight of the various species, it was observed that body (systemic) clearance is the pharmacokinetic variable to use for interspecies comparison of elimination of the drug. The allometric exponent denoting the proportionality of body clearance of HI-6 to body weight of the 7 species studied was 0.76, which may be related to the renal excretion process for the drug. The apparent volume of distribution was similar (260 to 304 ml/kg of body weight) in the various species. The results indicate that volume of distribution, body clearance, and with less confidence, half-life might be used for interspecies scaling and for predicting these variables in other mammalian species. On the basis of the pharmacokinetic variables in selected species (rats and mice excluded), IV administration of III-6 at a dosing rate of 20 to 25 mg/kg at 4-hour intervals should provide an average steady-state plasma concentration of 16 to 20 micrograms/ml in domestic animals. The short half-life of III-6 precludes increasing the dosage interval.