Keyhole Spay

Keyhole spay

Laparoscopic or ‘keyhole’ spaying is recommended for all female dogs over 10kgs.

The advantages are so great with large dogs that for those bigger than 25kg we now only perform the procedure in this way.

The advantages of laparoscopic spaying over traditional open spay include:

• Safer and less invasive surgery.
• Less painful during and after the operation.
• Smaller surgical wounds usually with no external stitches.
• Quicker recovery and return to normal exercise.

Neutering for female dogs is performed either before their first season or 4 months after their last season when the oestrogen levels are at their lowest.  It is strongly recommended that all female dogs are neutered to prevent disease of the uterus, ovaries and also reduce risk of mammary cancer.

In traditional open spaying the ovaries and uterus are both removed but in keyhole only the ovaries are removed. Diseases of the uterus in dogs, including infection (pyometra) and cancer, are mainly due to the female hormone, oestrogen.  Oestrogen is produced by the ovaries, so as long as these are removed, the risk of diseases of the uterus are very small.

If a dog has confirmed disease of the genital tract eg ovarian cysts, cancer or pyometra then we would perform the traditional open surgery to remove the entire uterus as well as the ovaries.

For giant breed dogs e.g. Great Danes, Dobermans and Newfoundlands who are at risk of gastric dilation and volvulus, we can perform a laparoscopic assisted gastropexy at the same time as neutering to prevent this potentially fatal condition from occurring.

Keyhole surgery involves major investment in state of the art equipment and veterinary training.  The surcharge for keyhole spay is £335 above the standard price.