Preanesthetic Administration of Trazodone Does Not Impact Anesthetic Recovery Scores in Horses.

Trazodone is administered to hospitalized equine patients to aid in behavioral management, but the effects on the anesthetic recovery period have not been investigated. This study sought to determine if there is an association between trazodone administration and recovery quality, recovery time, need for sedation, or need for reversal agent administration. We hypothesized that there would be no difference in recovery scores, recovery time, additional sedation, or reversal agent administration between horses that received preanesthetic trazodone and horses that did not. Records were reviewed to identify horses undergoing orthopedic MRI between January 2022 and January 2025. Of these horses, 19 were administered trazodone prior to anesthesia and 38 horses that did not receive trazodone were selected as case-matched controls. Signalment, anesthetic drug protocol, complications during anesthesia, duration of anesthesia, duration of recovery, recovery scores, recovery complications, sedation agents, and reversal agents administered during recovery were recorded. Trazodone administration was not associated with a significant difference in recovery scores between groups. Trazodone administration was not associated with a difference in recovery time or differences in sedation and reversal agent administration. Trazodone administration prior to anesthesia in horses undergoing orthopedic MRI did not impact the recovery period.