Vatinoxan reduces hypertension and bradycardia without compromising anesthesia quality in medetomidine-anesthetized white-tailed deer: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether adding vatinoxan to an α2-adrenoceptor agonist-based anesthetic protocol would attenuate cardiovascular depression or influence anesthetic depth in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) anesthetized with medetomidine and tiletamine/zolazepam.

METHODS

In a masked crossover design, 9 healthy adult female white-tailed deer were anesthetized from February 24 through March 14, 2025, with IM medetomidine (0.075 mg/kg) and tiletamine/zolazepam (4 mg/kg). Once anesthetized and monitored, each deer received either IM vatinoxan (1.5 mg/kg) or an equivalent volume of saline solution. Subjects were monitored for 45 minutes after treatment administration, after which anesthesia was reversed with IM atipamezole (0.35 mg/kg). Vital signs, serial arterial blood gas values, sedation score, and recovery scores were analyzed for significant differences.

RESULTS

Vatinoxan administration resulted in significantly higher heart rates and lower mean arterial pressure, rectal temperature, and PaCO2. Hypotension was noted in 1 animal following vatinoxan administration. No significant differences were found in oxygen saturation, sedation scores, recovery times, or the total amount of additional anesthetic supplementation required.

CONCLUSIONS

Vatinoxan provided cardiac-sparing effects in white-tailed deer without compromising anesthetic depth. Further studies are warranted to investigate its impact on tissue perfusion in the absence of oxygen supplementation and to determine the minimum effective dose in this setting.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Vatinoxan, administered IM at 20 times the medetomidine dose, may be considered as an adjunct to medetomidine-tiletamine-zolazepam anesthetic protocols for short procedures to mitigate peripheral vasoconstriction and bradycardia.