Use of Ketamine in Sphynx Cats

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since the early 1990s, a number of deaths of Sphynx cats have been anecdotally reported following ketamine-based anesthesia. These episodes have raised concerns, between breeders and owners of that peculiar cat breed, that their cats may not be looked after with the care they deserve and that veterinarians might not be adequately informed about breed-specific drug toxicities. This article reviews some aspects of the clinical pharmacology of ketamine, which, in these authors’ opinion, analyzed together with the breed-specific peculiarities of Sphynx cats, may provide some explanations for the lethal outcomes reported over the last decades.