Drug profile
The FDA adverse-event record for Dexmedetomidine
2,265 adverse-event reports submitted to the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine reference Dexmedetomidine. See the species affected, top reactions, and outcomes below.
- 2,265
- adverse-event reports
- 16.1%
- death-coded share
- Dog
- most-reported species
- 393
- Lack of efficacy - NOS - top reaction
Active Ingredients
Administration Routes
Species Affected
Most Affected Breeds
Most Reported Reactions
Outcome Breakdown
Dexmedetomidine Adverse Event Insights
2,265 reports name Dexmedetomidine; 365 recorded a death outcome (16.1% of reported events, not a population-level mortality rate). Active ingredient: Dexmedetomidine. Administration routes: Unknown, Intramuscular, Intravenous, Parenteral.
By species: Dog (1,244 reports), Cat (961 reports), Unknown (35 reports). By breed: Domestic Shorthair (521), Dog (unknown) (190), Cat (unknown) (166).
Leading clinical signs: Lack of efficacy - NOS (393), Death (229), Vomiting (177), Not eating (166). Outcome, 2,236 coded reports: Recovered/Normal leads at 45.5%.
Read these counts as reporting volume, not risk: per our methodology, a widely-prescribed drug will rack up more raw FDA reports in a given year than a rarely-used one at an identical true rate, so we recommend comparing within similar-exposure products rather than across the full 2025 catalog.
Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine openFDA Animal & Veterinary Adverse Events (CVM AER) · 2025
Every figure on PlainBreed is rendered directly from FDA openFDA adverse event data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on FDA openFDA data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.