Dog & Cat Anaesthetic, Sedation & Analgesia Drug Calculator
Choose a single drug or a combination protocol. Each drug shows only the routes it can actually be given by. Confirm the concentration, set the dose, and get the total dose and exact draw-up volume with the full working shown. Ranges reflect the 2020 AAHA Anesthesia & Monitoring and 2022 AAHA Pain Management Guidelines and commonly cited small-animal doses. Always confirm against your current Plumb's and clinic protocol.
What are you calculating, and for whom?
Pick a single drug, a combination protocol or a printable cage sheet, then set the species, weight and any risk flags. Everything below is calculated for this patient.
Drug, route, concentration and dose
The total dose, the draw-up volume and the full working update as you type.
Verify against current Plumb’s and clinic protocol before administration.
Build a printable drug sheet
Start from a procedure preset or tick drugs individually, then print, copy or download the sheet for the patient’s cage.
Anaesthetic / Sedation / Analgesia Drug Sheet
For use by qualified veterinary professionals. This tool performs deterministic arithmetic only — it does not make clinical decisions. Verify every dose, concentration and volume against your current Plumb's or product label, the 2020 AAHA Anesthesia and 2022 AAHA Pain Management Guidelines, and the individual patient's status before administration. Doses shown are general small-animal ranges and are not a substitute for clinical judgement.
What this anaesthetic calculator covers
This is a free veterinary drug dose calculator for dogs and cats, built by veterinarian Dr Duncan Houston for use by qualified veterinary professionals. Enter the patient's weight in kilograms or pounds, choose a drug and route, confirm the concentration on your vial, and it returns the total dose in milligrams or micrograms and the exact draw-up volume in millilitres, with the arithmetic shown so a second person can check it. Dose ranges follow the 2020 AAHA Anesthesia and Monitoring Guidelines and the 2022 AAHA Pain Management Guidelines, alongside commonly cited small-animal doses.
Premedication and sedation drugs
Acepromazine, dexmedetomidine, medetomidine, xylazine, midazolam, diazepam and diphenhydramine. The calculator shows only the routes each drug can actually be given by, so diazepam offers no intramuscular option and dexmedetomidine includes the oral transmucosal route used for pre-visit sedation.
Opioid analgesics
Methadone, morphine, hydromorphone, butorphanol, buprenorphine and fentanyl, with intravenous, intramuscular and subcutaneous dosing where each applies, plus oral transmucosal buprenorphine in cats. Each carries its reversal agent and the practical cautions that matter, such as histamine release on rapid intravenous morphine and post-anaesthetic hyperthermia after hydromorphone in cats.
Induction agents
Propofol, alfaxalone, ketamine with a benzodiazepine, etomidate and tiletamine-zolazepam (Zoletil, Telazol). Induction doses follow the AAHA intravenous induction table, including the reduced doses appropriate after premedication.
Non-opioid analgesia, NSAIDs and anxiolytics
Sub-anaesthetic ketamine boluses, gabapentin, trazodone, tramadol, amantadine, grapiprant (Galliprant) and dog-only paracetamol (acetaminophen), which the tool refuses to offer for cats because it is fatal to them. Perioperative NSAIDs include meloxicam, carprofen, robenacoxib (Onsior) and ketoprofen, each gated behind the prerequisites of a normotensive, well hydrated patient with normal renal values and no concurrent corticosteroid.
Local anaesthetics, anticholinergics, antiemetics and reversal agents
Lidocaine, bupivacaine and liposomal bupivacaine (Nocita) with hard maximum-dose ceilings and cumulative toxicity tracking across agents; atropine and glycopyrrolate; maropitant (Cerenia) and ondansetron; and the reversal agents atipamezole, naloxone, flumazenil and yohimbine.
Combination protocols
Four ready-made protocols calculate every component at once and give the combined single-syringe volume:
- Kitty Magic — the feline chemical restraint combination of dexmedetomidine, ketamine and butorphanol drawn into one syringe and given intramuscularly, with the atipamezole reversal volume worked out for you.
- Doggie Magic — the canine equivalent for fractious dogs and short procedures.
- Ketofol — a 1:1 ketamine and propofol induction mixture titrated intravenously to effect.
- Chill Protocol — the low-stress pre-visit plan for fearful or aggressive dogs: gabapentin the evening before and again one to two hours before the visit, melatonin by body size, acepromazine given oral transmucosally 30 minutes before arrival, and an optional in-clinic opioid.
How it reduces drug errors
The calculator is designed to catch the mistakes that actually happen in practice. It checks the weight for plausibility and for kilogram and pound mix-ups, flags doses outside the published range, and enforces hard ceilings on local anaesthetics. Ticking patient risk flags such as cardiac disease, shock, renal or liver disease, pregnancy, paediatric or geriatric patients, brachycephalic breeds, sighthounds, MDR1 herding breeds, seizure history or head trauma surfaces drug-specific contraindications. On a cage sheet it also checks the combination as a whole: two NSAIDs together, two alpha-2 agonists, an anticholinergic used against alpha-2 bradycardia, butorphanol antagonising a full mu-opioid, and the cumulative local anaesthetic load as a percentage of the maximum. Volumes too small to measure accurately trigger a 1:10 dilution instruction, and controlled drugs are tagged for the register.
The printable cage sheet
Select the medications for a patient and the tool builds a single printable drug sheet listing each drug with its route, dose per kilogram, concentration, total dose and draw-up volume, plus columns for time, given and initials, the patient's risk flags, the safety checks, the total injected volume and a two-person independent-check signature line. Print it, save it as a PDF, copy it, or download it as a Word document to stick on the patient's cage.
Dog and cat drug dose reference
Every dose range built into the calculator, shown per species and per route. These are the figures the tool uses; enter a weight above to turn any of them into a total dose and a draw-up volume. Ranges follow the 2020 AAHA Anesthesia & Monitoring and 2022 AAHA Pain Management Guidelines, Plumb's and product labels. Confirm against your own formulary before use.
Premedication / sedation
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acepromazine | 10 mg/mL | IV | 0.01–0.03 mg/kg | 0.01–0.05 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.02–0.05 mg/kg | 0.025–0.1 mg/kg | ||
| SC | 0.02–0.05 mg/kg | 0.025–0.1 mg/kg | ||
| OTM | 0.025–0.05 mg/kg | 0.025–0.05 mg/kg | ||
| Dexmedetomidine | 500 mcg/mL | IV | 1–5 mcg/kg | 1–5 mcg/kg |
| IM | 3–10 mcg/kg | 5–15 mcg/kg | ||
| OTM | 10–25 mcg/kg | 10–40 mcg/kg | ||
| Medetomidine | 1000 mcg/mL | IV | 5–40 mcg/kg | 25–75 mcg/kg |
| IM | 10–80 mcg/kg | 50–150 mcg/kg | ||
| SC | 10–80 mcg/kg | 50–150 mcg/kg | ||
| Xylazine | 20 mg/mL | IV | 0.25–0.5 mg/kg | 0.25–0.5 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.5–1.1 mg/kg | 0.5–1.1 mg/kg | ||
| Midazolam | 5 mg/mL | IV | 0.1–0.3 mg/kg | 0.1–0.3 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.1–0.3 mg/kg | 0.1–0.3 mg/kg | ||
| Diazepam | 5 mg/mL | IV | 0.1–0.4 mg/kg | 0.1–0.4 mg/kg |
| Diphenhydramine | 50 mg/mL | IM | 1–2 mg/kg | 0.5–1 mg/kg |
Opioid analgesic
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Methadone | 10 mg/mL | IV | 0.1–0.5 mg/kg | 0.1–0.4 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.1–0.6 mg/kg | 0.1–0.6 mg/kg | ||
| SC | 0.1–0.5 mg/kg | — | ||
| OTM | — | 0.3–0.6 mg/kg | ||
| Morphine | 15 mg/mL | IV | 0.1–0.25 mg/kg | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.3–0.5 mg/kg | 0.1–0.3 mg/kg | ||
| SC | 0.3–0.5 mg/kg | 0.1–0.3 mg/kg | ||
| Hydromorphone | 2 mg/mL | IV | 0.05–0.2 mg/kg | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.05–0.2 mg/kg | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg | ||
| SC | 0.05–0.2 mg/kg | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg | ||
| Butorphanol | 10 mg/mL | IV | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg | ||
| SC | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg | ||
| Buprenorphine | 0.3 mg/mL | IV | 0.005–0.03 mg/kg | 0.01–0.03 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.005–0.03 mg/kg | 0.01–0.03 mg/kg | ||
| SC | — | 0.24 mg/kg | ||
| OTM | — | 0.03–0.05 mg/kg | ||
| Fentanyl (bolus) | 50 mcg/mL | IV | 2–5 mcg/kg | 1–5 mcg/kg |
| Tramadol (weak opioid) | 50 mg tabs | PO | 2–5 mg/kg | 1–4 mg/kg |
Induction agent
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Propofol | 10 mg/mL | IV | 2–6 mg/kg | 2–6 mg/kg |
| Alfaxalone | 10 mg/mL | IV | 1–3 mg/kg | 2–5 mg/kg |
| IM | 1–2 mg/kg | 1–2 mg/kg | ||
| Ketamine (induction, with benzodiazepine) | 100 mg/mL | IV | 2–5 mg/kg | 2–5 mg/kg |
| Etomidate | 2 mg/mL | IV | 1–3 mg/kg | 1–3 mg/kg |
| Tiletamine-zolazepam (Zoletil / Telazol) | 100 mg/mL | IV | 1–4 mg/kg | 1–4 mg/kg |
| IM | 3–6 mg/kg | 3–6 mg/kg |
Non-opioid analgesic / adjunct
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ketamine (analgesic bolus) | 100 mg/mL | IV | 0.1–0.5 mg/kg | 0.1–0.5 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.2–0.5 mg/kg | 0.2–0.5 mg/kg | ||
| Paracetamol / Acetaminophen (DOGS ONLY) | 10 mg/mL | IV | 10–15 mg/kg | — |
Non-opioid analgesic / anxiolytic
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabapentin | 100 / 300 / 400 mg tabs | PO | 10–25 mg/kg | 10–25 mg/kg |
| Trazodone | 50 / 100 mg tabs | PO | 3–10 mg/kg | — |
| Amantadine | 100 mg tabs | PO | 3–5 mg/kg | 3–5 mg/kg |
| Grapiprant (Galliprant) | 20 / 60 / 100 mg tabs | PO | 2 mg/kg | — |
NSAID (perioperative)
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meloxicam | 5 mg/mL | IV | 0.2 mg/kg | — |
| SC | 0.2 mg/kg | 0.2 mg/kg | ||
| Carprofen | 50 mg/mL | IV | 2.2–4.4 mg/kg | — |
| SC | 2.2–4.4 mg/kg | 1–4 mg/kg | ||
| Robenacoxib (Onsior) | 20 mg/mL | SC | 2 mg/kg | 2 mg/kg |
| Ketoprofen | 10 mg/mL | IV | 1–2 mg/kg | — |
| IM | 1–2 mg/kg | — | ||
| SC | 1–2 mg/kg | 1–2 mg/kg |
Local anaesthetic
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lidocaine 2% | 20 mg/mL | IV | 1–2 mg/kg | — |
| Local | 1–4 mg/kg | 1–2 mg/kg | ||
| Bupivacaine 0.5% | 5 mg/mL | Local | 1–2 mg/kg | 1–1.5 mg/kg |
| Bupivacaine liposome (Nocita) | 13.3 mg/mL | Local | 5.3 mg/kg | 10.6 mg/kg |
Anticholinergic
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atropine | 0.4 mg/mL | IV | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg | ||
| SC | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg | ||
| Glycopyrrolate | 0.2 mg/mL | IV | 0.005–0.01 mg/kg | 0.005–0.01 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.005–0.01 mg/kg | 0.005–0.01 mg/kg | ||
| SC | 0.005–0.01 mg/kg | 0.005–0.01 mg/kg |
Antiemetic / adjunct
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maropitant (Cerenia) | 10 mg/mL | IV | 1 mg/kg | 1 mg/kg |
| SC | 1 mg/kg | 1 mg/kg | ||
| Ondansetron | 2 mg/mL | IV | 0.1–0.5 mg/kg | 0.1–0.5 mg/kg |
| SC | 0.5 mg/kg | 0.5 mg/kg |
Reversal agent
| Drug | Concentration | Route | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atipamezole | 5 mg/mL | IV | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg | 0.05–0.1 mg/kg | ||
| Naloxone | 0.4 mg/mL | IV | 0.01–0.04 mg/kg | 0.01–0.04 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg | 0.02–0.04 mg/kg | ||
| Flumazenil | 0.1 mg/mL | IV | 0.01–0.02 mg/kg | 0.01–0.02 mg/kg |
| Yohimbine | 2 mg/mL | IV | 0.1–0.11 mg/kg | 0.1–0.11 mg/kg |
| IM | 0.1–0.11 mg/kg | 0.1–0.11 mg/kg |
Combination protocol doses
| Protocol | Species | Component | Route | Dose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitty Magic | Cat | Dexmedetomidine | IM | 5–15 mcg/kg |
| Ketamine | IM | 2–5 mg/kg | ||
| Butorphanol | IM | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg | ||
| Chill Protocol | Dog | Gabapentin - evening before | PO | 20–25 mg/kg |
| Gabapentin - 1-2 h before | PO | 20–25 mg/kg | ||
| Acepromazine - 30 min before | OTM | 0.025–0.05 mg/kg | ||
| In-clinic opioid on arrival (optional) - Hydromorphone | IM | 0.05–0.2 mg/kg | ||
| Doggie Magic | Dog | Dexmedetomidine | IM | 3–10 mcg/kg |
| Ketamine | IM | 2–5 mg/kg | ||
| Butorphanol | IM | 0.2–0.4 mg/kg | ||
| Ketofol | Dog, Cat | Ketamine (dilute to 10 mg/mL) | IV | 1–4 mg/kg |
| Propofol | IV | 1–4 mg/kg |
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate an anaesthetic drug dose for a dog or cat?
Select the species and enter the patient's weight in kilograms or pounds, choose the drug and route, confirm the concentration printed on your vial, and set the dose. The calculator multiplies weight by dose to give the total dose, then divides by the concentration to give the volume to draw up. Both steps are shown so the arithmetic can be checked independently.
What is Kitty Magic and what are the doses?
Kitty Magic is a feline sedation combination of dexmedetomidine, ketamine and butorphanol drawn into a single syringe and given intramuscularly, typically producing 20 to 30 minutes of working sedation with onset in 5 to 10 minutes. The calculator computes each component for the cat's weight and the combined injection volume, and reminds you to reverse the dexmedetomidine with atipamezole.
What is the Chill Protocol for dogs?
The Chill Protocol is a low-stress pre-visit plan for fearful or aggressive dogs: gabapentin at 20 to 25 mg/kg orally the evening before and again one to two hours before the appointment, melatonin dosed by body size, and acepromazine at 0.025 to 0.05 mg/kg oral transmucosally 30 minutes before arrival, with an in-clinic opioid on arrival if a procedure is planned.
How do I convert a drug dose into millilitres?
Multiply the patient's weight in kilograms by the dose in mg/kg to get the total milligrams, then divide by the concentration of your vial in mg/mL. For example a 10 kg dog at 0.3 mg/kg methadone needs 3 mg, and at 10 mg/mL that is 0.3 mL. Always confirm the concentration on the actual vial, because many drugs are sold in more than one strength.
Can I give paracetamol to a cat?
No. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is fatal to cats even in small amounts, because cats lack the glucuronidation pathway needed to metabolise it. This calculator offers it for dogs only and removes it automatically if the species is switched to cat.
What is the maximum dose of lidocaine and bupivacaine?
Commonly cited maximums are approximately 4 mg/kg lidocaine and 2 mg/kg bupivacaine in dogs, and roughly 2 mg/kg lidocaine and 1 to 1.5 mg/kg bupivacaine in cats, which are markedly more sensitive. Local anaesthetic toxicity is cumulative across agents, so this tool adds the load from every local anaesthetic on the sheet and warns as the combined total approaches the ceiling. Bupivacaine must never be given intravenously.
Is this calculator free to use?
Yes. It is free, runs entirely in the browser with no login, and works offline once the page has loaded, so it keeps working in a consult room with poor signal. It is intended for qualified veterinary professionals and does not replace clinical judgement or your current formulary.
More free veterinary tools from ASK A VET™: CRI infusion rate calculator, emergency drug calculator, IV fluid calculator, blood gas calculator and pain scoring tools, plus health tracking, certified vet chat and QR pet ID tags in the ASK A VET™ app.
