Anesthesia induction agents have the potential to cause severe ocular side effects, resulting in lasting damage to the eye. The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of tiletamine-zolazepam on IOP compared to propofol when they are used as an induction agent in normal healthy dogs.
Methods: Twenty healthy adult client-owned dogs, weighing 22.2 ± 7.6 kg, were selected for the study. In a randomized order, all dogs received either tiletamine-zolazepam 5 mg kg-1 IV or propofol 8 mg kg-1 IV titrated to effect without premedication. There were at least seven days between each treatment. IOP measurements were obtained at four time points: baseline, post-induction, post-intubation, and after recovery using applanation tonometry. No additional procedures were performed. After normality of the data was determined, a combination of 2-tailed paired t-test and 2-way ANOVA with repeated measures were used to compare the difference between the two treatment groups. A P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
