Vet360 Vol 4 Issue 4 August 2017 Vet 360 | Page 18

CPD ACCREDITED ARTICLE
the maternal survival rate was established after deliv-
ery of the last puppy, at 2h and at 7d post CS. The
Glasgow pain scale evaluation was performed at the
time of discharging the bitch according to Glasgow
Composite Measure Pain Scale to ensure adequacy of
pain management 28 .
Results
A total of 292 CS were performed, 148 on 133 Boer-
boel bitches, 84 on 68 English bulldog bitches and
60 on 55 other purebred bitches, which resulted in a
total of 2232 puppies (1378, 541 and 313, respective-
ly, per breed). Thirty-six bitches underwent more than
one CS in this study. The percentage of puppies live
at delivery for the Boerboel, English bulldog and other
purebreds puppies respectively was; 97.39%, 96.67%
and 91.69%.
The 2h survival rate was 95.43%, 88.35% and 89.78%
and the 7-day survival rate was 89.19%, 79.11% and
84.03% respectively. The numbers of puppies eu-
thanased due to malformation were 16/1378 (1.16%),
32/541 (5.59%) and 4/313 (1.28%) respectively for Bo-
erboels, English bulldogs and other purebred dogs.
Thirty-five, 18 and 26 Boerboel-, English bulldog and
other purebred puppies were stillborn. Of these, 12
(34%), 9 (50%) and 15 (58%) had, respectively, been
found dead on ultrasound examination immediately
before the CS was performed. After correction for
foetuses discovered dead on ultrasound and mal-
formed euthanased puppies, the survival rates for Bo-
erboel-, English bulldog and other purebred puppies
were 98.21%, 95.60% and 94.30%, respectively, at 2
hours and 91.78%, 87.17% and 88.26% at 7 days.
The Apgar scores averaged 9.66 for all the breeds
combined, and 9.77, 9.35 and 9.68 for Boerboel, Eng-
lish bulldogs and other purebred breeds respectively.
The maternal survival rate was 291/292. One Boerboel
bitch died from gastric dilatation and volvulus 2 days
following surgery. The average Glasgow pain scale for
bitches at discharge was 6.4 (S.D. 0.65, with a mini-
mum of 5 and a maximum of 8, n = 292). No bitch
had a PCV of below 30% after surgery and all bitches
were fully ambulatory 15 minutes after extubation.
Discussion
The prime objectives for using premedication in any
patient prior to surgery and CS is to reduce the in-
duction dose of anaesthesia 5 , reduce the minimum
alveolar concentration of inhalation anaesthetics 6 ,
decrease maternal stress and anxiety 29 , provide an-
algesia and providing chemical restraint allowing pre-
operative preparation in cases where this is required.
The use of alpha-2-adrenergic agonists meet all these
requirements as they are potent sedatives, may in-
duce narcosis at high doses, act as analgesics 30 , vast-
ly reduce induction doses of propofol 31 and reduces
minimum alveolar concentration of isoflurane and
sevoflurane 32-35 .
vet360
Issue 04 | AUGUST 2017 | 18
Analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
agents in pregnant animals and humans are problem-
atic for CS 36 -49 . Opioids provide analgesia but cross
the placenta and can cause significant central nerv-
ous system and respira