laser spaying...

[Brandi]

Before I had my doodle Magnet spayed, I did quite a bit of research on the laser spaying as opposed to the traditional spay.  From everything I learned, I thought the laser was supposed to be less pain, and easier on the dog than with the knife spay.  I traveled 50 miles one way and had Magnet spayed by laser by my sister's vet who was the only one around me that offered it. My niece had her beagle spayed by laser too.  I opted to purchase the pain pills for Magnet, just in case.  I did NOT want her miserable.  Boy am I glad I did.  She was MISERABLE.  She would not lay down at all the first night.  She was burying her head between the couch cushions to stablize herself so she could sleep standing up.  I would watch her tail end sway and sway as she was falling asleep and she would jerk awake and stuff her head further into the couch to try to hold herself up so she wouldn't have to lay down.  I felt awful and guilty.  I held her rear end up for her for 5 hrs so she could sleep, while crying the whole time.  When she would fall asleep, she would just whine.  I have had dogs all my life, and mostly females, I have NEVER had a dog react like that to being spayed.  My sister said that my niece's beagle was in alot of pain too afterward, but she thought she was just a sissy. lol  So fast forward a yr or so later.  We recently had Smudge my youngest doodle spayed a few months back.  We had her done the traditional way.  She was sore and she slept for about 3 days in her kennel, but she wasn't miserable.  My sister just had her doodle spayed traditionally too, and she was fine the next day.  Is the laser surgery really what its cracked up to be???  Have any of you guys had the laser spay done, and how did your dog react to it??

[Terra and Max]

We had our dog laser neutered. I didn't get any pain pills for him but as the vet was a good friend of mine I knew that if we had any problems that I could call her in the middle of the night and she would take care of us :-) Fortunately, Max had no problems and there wasn't a need for any pain meds. Certainly, it's less invasive for a male vs. a female but I too will be interested to hear others opinions on this as it may sway me when it's time to have our next doodle spayed/neutered.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

 

Recently there was a discussion on spaying and someone did the pros and cons of laser vs. traditional.

 

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/spaying-my-fears-questions...

[Sally, Ditzy Mitzi & Sgt. Pepper]

Thanks for sharing.  Poor Magnet, give her a hug from us.  

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

Awwww poor baby :(   I went with the traditional "under the knife" spaying for Sasha but my sis opted for the laser for her baby chow-chow.  Roxy came thru with out a hitch, no problems what so ever.  The day they brought her home you would not even know she had surgery.  Maybe it all depends on the dog itself too.  For example... I can not handle one ounce of pain (I'm a big baby when it comes to that) where other people can suffer with pain.   I hope Magnet is feeling better real soon.

[Ginny Nightingale]

I agree--My youngest doodle is super-sensitive to pain--it might be an individual thing. Any little thing has him crying and whining like he is going to die. I had to figure that out so that I wouldn't keep running to the vet getting Xrays when he just had a little pulled muscle or a bruise. I learned the hard way----and the expensive way-that he is just a big baby!

On the other hand, maybe they haven't really perfected the laser thing yet.  My daughter just graduated from Cornell Vet school and will be with us for the holidays this weekend along with her Cornell vet boyfriend. If I think of it, I will ask their opinion.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I had Hunter spayed the traditional way.  Now this is "person" experience.  I have had abdominal surgery 6 times - 2 times were laparoscopic and 4 were traditional.  It is a totally different pain with laser but I can't say it was better.  The one thing I noticed from the laser surgery was even though the incisions were way smaller the overall area of pain was much larger.  It was very sensitive to touch and I had a lot more general swelling of my whole abdominal area than I had with the traditional surgeries.  I have not read much on laser spaying but I am wondering if they have to inflate the abdominal area with a gas like they do in a human, my doctor said that creates a lot of pain for people.  Personally, I didn't think the laparoscopic surgeries were easier to recover from just different and much less increase of infection in the incision area because they are so small.  My surgeon did tell me that it is not uncommon to have soreness like a burn internally after laser surgery.... makes total sense when you think about it.  My thoughts on the laser surgery for spaying, why mess with something that has been done millions of times - I am not much for new things in some respects. 

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

That sound like a miserable experience, I suppose it depends on the dog also.