Laparoscopic spaying

[quizzie]

It's more that they only need to make a small wound to spay conventionally in a small dog, so the holes made for the instruments for a laparoscopic spay would be much the same size, and several of them....plus in a small dog, there is only limited space inside to manipulate the instruments!

Your cat may have only had a tiny wound, but will almost certainly have been done with fingers/forceps as normal, not by long laparoscopic instruments.
ETA : cats are actually much easier to spay than dogs as the ovaries are more loosely attached and much easier to access!

 

[gallopingby]

Personally l will never spay again unless absolutely essential. Last one is now incontinent and having to go for further surgery to hopefully help but seems there are no guarantees. Fine if it goes ok which has happened previously when done at around 3 or 4 years but last one was a stray/abandoned so was done at around 18 months and despite every available medication nothing has resolved the issues, she was fine before, now just leaks constantly.

 

[Michen]

Is 2.5 years too young?

 

[SOS]

Lap spays are better for recovery. Not make a large wound in the linea alba (muscle under skin in middle of abdomen) is what means they can get moving quicker. There is also much better visualisation and on a whole the surgery is a little more gentle IME.

Picking up some stuff from above:
-Any uterine tissue left in any spay procedure can develop pyometra etc. however the risk is greatly lowered as removing the ovaries renders the tissue “inactive” put simply.
-Spayed dogs are at higher risk of urinary incontinence later in life if done under 2 years of age however 1 in 4 unspayed adult dogs will get pyometra. There is normally successful treatment available for urinary incontinence the treatment for pyo is a spay and dogs can be extremely ill or die. My personal dogs were not neutered until over 2.

My take home for after would be watch for weight and act quickly! Removing the reproductive organs reduces calorie requirement. Cut a bitches food by 25% of recommended amount after recovered from surgery and weight regularly. Don’t be afraid to cut down more if she keeps putting on weight.

 

[Michen]

Weight gain would be a welcome side effect. She’s so active and fussy it’s a nightmare keeping weight on her in winter when she’s been shooting or walking lots.

 

[misst]

It's interesting to know regarding the instruments etc needed for laparoscopy would take up too much space in a small dog. That does make a lot of sense. My little one was done after her 1st season. She has had no problems at all post op and her weight is stable with not much monitoring on my part. My previous little one did gain weight but that was my fault I think. I reversed it easily enough by being sensible. I experienced no coat with either (one short smooth coated the other a mix of rough and smooth coats).

 

[L&M]

Spaying ruined our cockers coat - it has gone very dry and coarse but is helped by regular grooming. We are debating clipping but it is a long term commitment, so if we go down that route needs careful thought.....she has also put on weight despite being a ball of energy, and on a 'hairy' day looks like a gruffalo!!!!!

Re the op she had the traditional spay and no issues at all, just kept her on a lead for 2 weeks and then back to normal.

 

[lozzles]

On the weight aspect mine hasn't gained at all so think it's fairly dog dependant

 

[AmyMay]

On the weight aspect mine hasn't gained at all so think it's fairly dog dependant

Nor has mine.

 

[Clodagh]

None of mine have put on weight. But they are kept on the lean side anyway. Ffee, 4, spayed, still has visible ribs more than I’d like.

 

[SOS]

On the weight aspect mine hasn't gained at all so think it's fairly dog dependant

It’s very well known in the veterinary world that spaying often leads to weight gain. Anecdotal evidence is fab but remember we are a forum with people who know about dogs (and horses) so will always carry some bias!

 

[lozzles]

We have had dogs which needed their weight watching but equally the two who've been harder to keep weight on typically spaying made no difference typically!

 

[EllieBeast]

My 10 yr old Dalmatian was spayed 9 years ago in the traditional way, keyhole wasn’t an option then.
The GLP was done in the same way 18 months ago, no coat change at all, still v low maintenance and silky not fluffy. Both girls recovered very quickly and neither are prone to weight gain ? - we have always kept them on the light side anyway but they make it easy

 

[Boulty]

I'd say unless she's literally going to bounce off all the walls & be impossible to keep quiet then the benefits of lap spay on a dog of her size wouldn't be worth the extra cost. She's likely to have a pretty small wound & minimal bleeding anyway & it can be more technically challenging getting all the equipment in the right place in a small dog. Pain levels immediately post op are roughly the same as the inflation can cause discomfort, although they tend to be able to resume normal activities slightly faster. You're probably not going to end up with much smaller wounds in a dog of her size although due to where they are & them being a few shorter wounds rather than 1 longer one you will have a slightly smaller chance of wound breakdown in an active, bouncy dog. (Glares at Hen whose hernia repair miraculously DID heal despite him flinging himself down the patio steps about 7 days post op!)

Definitely more benefits in large breeds where it gives much better visualisation for finding the ovaries, much less bleeding & significantly smaller wounds. But yeah if she were mine would probably go for normal spay with vet you know & trust.

 

[iknowmyvalue]

FWIW I don’t think it’s worth the extra cost/change in vets for a lap spay. My spaniel was done the traditional way after her first season, so she was about 1yr old. Tiny wound, healed perfectly and you can barely see the scar now. Was back to her normal self very quickly.

She’s maybe put on a little weight but not much, and her coat is pretty much as it was before the spay.

Chocolate ones seem particularly prone to coat changes post-neutering (male or female!) I’m not sure why, but anecdotally that’s my experience!

 

[Moobli]

I had the same dilemma when I had my bitch spayed in June. I’d heard good things about the recovery time of lap spay and also that it was less invasive and less painful.
My own vet doesn’t offer lap so it would have meant over an hour’s drive either side of the operation to Edinburgh to a vet I don’t know.
I weighed up the pros and cons and decided to go with my trusted vet and have the traditional spay. All went fine. I kept my girl on a lead for 10 days and then back to normal.
A couple of friends who are VNs said they’d always go traditional with their own bitches because in the case of a bleed out you already have full access to what you need to stop it, which you don’t with a lap.