Keyhole Surgery – The Lap Spay

In 2022 ago a team of surgeons and vet nurses made a trip to Leamington Spa to Feldon Vets to join up with a contemporary of Gareth Torneys from his days at Edinburgh vet school back in the last century!! The purpose of this trip was to gain experience at a surgical and practice level of keyhole neutering of bitches (ovariectomy). The team there have done nearly 3000 procedures and were extremely experienced and we were grateful to be able to learn from them. Prior to this the three surgeons from Jubilee, Gareth Torney, Emma Dillon and Moira King had been on an official veterinary training course over the water. We were accompanied by our nurses Clare Mcilveen and Angela without whom this adventure wouldn’t have been possible.

When we returned, brimming with enthusiasm (and a little bit of trepidation!), we started doing the procedure here together at Jubilee vets. The learning curve thankfully wasn’t too steep and after the first few we were gaining confidence.

Very early we were seeing the vast benefits that minimally invasive surgery produces. Clients that were used to the original complete ovariohysterectomy on their other dogs felt the keyhole procedure was a “night and day” improvement

Emma Dillon in training

Under general anaesthesia we make two surgical approaches to the midline, one is 5mm for the camera, the other is just over 1 cm for the forceps and diathermy equipment. The abdomen is insufflated with carbon dioxide before the ports are established and both ovaries are removed. The wounds are closed with sbcutaneous sutures/ glue and the dogs are sent home with a body suit.

The benefits are:

Much less painful procedure.
Much smaller scar.
No external sutures or buster collar if a suit is used.
Much faster recovery, normally 3 days instead of 14 with normal routine ovariohysterectomy.
Less complication rate.
Less post op infections.

The only complaint we have had is that owners are not able to keep their animals quiet after the surgery, presumable because they feel much better. The procedure is more expensive than the traditional spay reflecting the investment the practice has made in keyhole equipment and training. As this is a one off procedure most of our clients select keyhole instead of the conventional open technique. A slightly larger hair clip to the flanks is needed to allow attachment of the ovary to the body wall during the procedure. There is a small risk we may have to convert to a traditional open approach should we encounter problems although this is unlikely. We have only converted one in the early days but have not done in the last 50 so with experience it becomes even less likely.

The surgical benefits to our patients we feel are vast to the point that our surgeons now would rather perform keyhole neutering to conventional the difference is so marked. I sort of feel if I had to have my gall bladder out and was offered a keyhole procedure, with a few small port sites or a large open procedure, I know what I would prefer. We have opened this procedure up to neighbouring practices as a day procedure so even if you aren’t a client of JVC we would be happy dong this surgery for you at JVC while you still remain a client of your own practice. The surgical notes will of course be transferred to your own vet in this instance. Feel free to discuss this with your own vet before you go down this route.

We offer a free consultation if you would like to discuss the procedure with one of our surgeons.

In the future we plan to advance this technology to allow us to do biopsies of abdominal organs, do gastropexies, cystotomies, thoracoscopy and gut biopsies. We have also removed a few retained abdominal testicles with incredible painless results.

Pricing





All dogs	£600

Price includes anaesthetic, surgery, pain relief, a surgical suit and a 2 day post op check with our nursing team. Price accurate as of 13th February 2025.

Procedure to get a keyhole neutering procedure

1 Make an appointment to have a consult with one of our vets. This is to go over the procedure with you examine your pet for suitability and guide you for timing. This costs £50 and will be deducted from your surgical price only if you go ahead with the procedure.

2 Book the procedure with or reception team at the desk

3 Polite notice If you fail to make the surgery without giving us at least 72 hours notice the £50 deposit is not refundable. This is due to the cost of pre sterilising special equipment and surgical time lost with a late cancellation.