- Lowered risk of breast
cancers (especially if spayed before 1st heat cycle).
- Eliminate all risk of
uterine and ovarian cancers as well as often life-threatening
uterine infections.
Benefits from neutering a male
include:
- Elimination of potential
testicular cancer.
- Drastically reduces
abscesses and cancer of the prostate gland and perianal
tumors.
In addition to health benefits,
spaying/neutering also cuts down on sexual behaviors such as
wandering, aggressiveness, and marking. We recommend
spaying or neutering your pet at about 16 weeks of age.
This is a bit younger than you may be used to but it makes for a
simpler surgery, much faster recovery time, and no additional adverse risks
for your furry friend.
Check out these additional
links for more information on the importance of spaying and
neutering:
Spay/Neuter Benefits
www.y2spay.com
www.veterinarypartner.com
Laparoscopic Spaying
Laparoscopic Spay:
Improving on an Old Technique
If
we would request laparoscopy for ourselves,
then why not for our
pets?
Minimally
invasive surgical treatments (i.e. endoscopy) have dramatically
advanced patient care for people and animals.
When compared
to surgical procedures, endoscopic approaches are associated
with:
-
substantially fewer complications
-
less
surgical stress (i.e. tissue damage)
-
decreased
need for pain medication (up to 65% less in one study on dog
spays)
-
less time
spent hospitalized
-
faster
return of normal body functions and normal activity
Ovariohysterectomy (i.e. “spay”) is the most common elective
procedure performed in small animal practice. Millions have
been done using a surgical technique that has been modified
little since the time of James Harriot in the 1930’s.
Instead, the major improvements in the last 75 years have been
in the areas of aseptic technique, general anesthesia, suture
material and placement, and more recently, pain recognition and
management. Now the surgery itself is being transformed with
the use of endoscopic cameras and instruments that improve
visualization and decrease surgical trauma.
Merrimack
Veterinary Hospital (MVH) has been a leader in minimally
invasive procedures for many years and is currently one of just
a handful of veterinary hospitals in the United States that is
performing this advanced spaying technique for the benefit of
our patients. Know that in the unlikely event that the surgery
cannot be done laparoscopically, conversion to a traditional
spay is always a simple solution to complete the procedure.
We know how
important it is to spay cats and dogs (www.y2spay.com)
and at MVH we work diligently to make the process as anxiety and
pain-free as possible for our patients. We are proud to achieve
some of the most comfortable surgical recoveries in the
profession and we continually work to improve our pain
management as new information and medications become available.
So if a laparoscopic spay is cost-prohibitive for you, your pet
will still get some of the most advanced pain prevention and
anesthesia monitoring available, done by experienced
veterinarians. Cost estimates comparing traditional spaying
versus laparoscopic spaying are available upon request.
Performing
spays laparoscopically is a historical advancement in the goal
of reducing post-operative discomfort in dogs and cats and we
are proud to be able to offer it. Please contact us if you have
any questions regarding this beneficial procedure.
