ABSTRACT
An experimental study was carried out to compare physiological effects (serum glucose level) of medetomidine in Red Sindhi cattle calves at three different doses i.e. 8, 10 and 12µg/kg body weight intravenously. Medetomidine produced a dose dependent significant (P<0.01) increase in serum glucose level with a maximum increase observed at 30 minutes with 8µg/kg, 10µg/kg and 12µg/kg body weight respectively. Start of sedation, degree of sedation and total duration of sedation were all dose dependent and the values obtained were significantly (P<0.01) different from each other. It was observed that the sedation was rapid, deep and longer with the higher doses of medetomidine i.e. 12µg/kg. The results of the present study shows that medetomidine is a very effective and safest drug use as sedative for calves which in lower doses (8µg/kg) can be used as a pre-anesthetic and for restraining of the animal, while higher calculated doses (10µg/kg, 12µg/kg) can be used to execute the minor surgical procedures.
