In the past, spaying or neutering were seen as elective procedures aimed solely at reducing the likelihood of unexpected puppies or kittens. While these surgeries certainly do significantly benefit your home and overburdened shelters, they also offer a range of health benefits. Our team can safely perform these procedures to ensure your pet can reap their benefits.
Are spaying and neutering the same procedure?
Neutering (castration) involves the removal of a male dog or cat's testicles, while spaying (ovariohysterectomy) removes your female pet's uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. The most widely known benefit of these procedures is they eliminate your pet's ability to either become pregnant or getting another pet pregnant. This can be a great relief to pet owners who can't afford to support entire litters of baby animals with the food, attention, housing and veterinary care they need. Our team typically recommends that pets have the procedure by 6-months old to prevent the likelihood of unexpected pregnancy.
What are the major benefits of the procedure?
By removing your pet's sex organs, our veterinary team can eliminate your pet's risk of testicular, ovarian or uterine cancer as well as their potential to spread, while dramatically reducing the risk of mammary cancer. Heat cycles not only accompany the rise in cancer risks, but they also cause issues like vaginal discharges and/or menstrual blood in female pets. Vocalizing, aggression and marking territory with urine are also common and can happen two or more times a year. The procedure also lessens their compulsions to roam to find potential mates, based on their heat cycle as well as eliminating the risk of sex organ specific diseases, including prostate and pyometra diseases.
How is the surgery performed?
Our veterinary team offers traditional surgeries for both procedures as well as laparoscopic spays. With laparoscopic spays, a very small incision is made and the procedure is done with the help of cameras and very small robotic tools. This procedure takes less time to heal, ensuring that your pet gets to come home sooner. It's also performed in less time, in comparison to a traditional procedure and reduces the chances of infection/overall complications related to surgery. To determine if laparoscopic spays could be the right fit for your pet, please contact us at 416-245-8805.
What is a Laparoscopic Spay?
This process is the same as a traditional spay in terms of the end result, the process is just a bit different. Instead of having to make a large surgical incision that can leave your pet in pain for days and often leads to the pet having to stay overnight, laparoscopic surgeries are much less invasive.
A very small incision is made and the procedure is done with the help of cameras and very small robotic tools. These procedures take less time to heal, ensuring that your pet gets to come home sooner. This type of spay is faster as well, and reduces the chances of infection and overall complications related to surgery.
What type of spay is right for my pet?
If you have a very young pet, a laparoscopic procedure is ideal, as it is faster and causes less down time for your pet. It also reduces the chances of things like ripped stitches, infection, and more in the healing process. Older pets can also benefit from this type of spay, as it is less invasive and will be less stressful for your pet overall in terms of the procedure itself and the healing process.