This study compared the analgesic effects of epidural tramadol versus morphine in six healthy cats. Under general anesthesia, each cat received an epidural injection of saline 0.22 ml/kg (control treatment, CT), tramadol 1 mg/kg (tramadol treatment, TT), or morphine 0.1 mg/kg (morphine treatment, MT). After cats had recovered from anesthesia a simple descriptive scale (SDS), visual analog scale (VAS) and physiological parameters (respiratory and heart rate) were used to assess analgesia level to a noxious stimulus (base of the tail skin fold clamping) at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 h post-epidural. Group TT had a higher SDS and VAS score when compared to MT at 8, 10 and 12 h post-epidural. CT had higher SDS and VAS score at all time points when compared to TT and MT. In conclusion both morphine and tramadol provided analgesia in this model for the first 6 h; with epidural morphine resulting in longer lasting analgesia when compared to tramadol.
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