The Cutting Edge... Laser Surgery for Pets!

Image of a cat.

It's doubtful that anyone would picture their family veterinarian swinging a light saber on the bridge of some galactic cruiser, but he or she may just have a similar technology available to help keep your pets comfortable during surgery.


For more than 30 years, human doctors have used various types of surgical lasers to help people heal faster and with less pain. Lasers are now used routinely to help correct eyesight, remove skin blemishes, and even destroy unwanted hair. But, it has only been within the past 10 years that veterinary medicine has started to utilize this same technology to provide a similar level of comfort for their patients.

Using a laser during surgery instead of a scalpel blade provides many advantages to the surgeon. First, due to the precise nature of lasers, the veterinarian is able finely tune the amount of tissue that is affected by the surgery, thereby reducing the damage to any of the surrounding area. Second, lasers will actually help to control bleeding by sealing off the tiny capillaries and vessels that may leak and ooze during normal surgeries. Third, lasers help to reduce the amount of swelling that is associated with any sort of surgery. By avoiding bruising and tearing of body tissue, lasers help the veterinarian to minimize inflammation. Fourth, since lasers vaporize cells, any latent bacteria that might want to start an infection will also be vaporized, helping to minimize potential post-operative infections. And finally, lasers reduce the amount of pain involved in surgeries by actually sealing the ends of nerves in the affected tissues. This stops the propagation of the pain impulse and will actually help the pet to heal faster!

By far, one of the most common uses of the surgical laser in the veterinary hospital is to perform declawing of cats. Although this elective surgery has many proponents and opponents, almost everyone would agree that the advent of using the laser for declawing procedures has helped minimize the trauma associated with the surgery. As mentioned above, lasers will actually seal small nerves, keeping them from transmitting painful impulses. Cats that have been declawed with a laser are often running and playing within hours of surgery. In contrast, older techniques of declawing cats have potentially kept a cat uncomfortable for several days afterwards.

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Office Hours

We are open the Second and Fourth Saturdays of each month

Monday:

7:30am

6pm

Tuesday:

7:30am

6pm

Wednesday:

7:30am

6pm

Thursday:

7:30am

6pm

Friday:

7:30am

6pm

Saturday:

7:30am

11am

Sunday:

Closed

Closed

Testimonials

Read What Our Clients Say

  • "We would not have our beautiful girl if it weren't for the loving staff at Forest Oaks. If we still lived in NC, we wouldn't go anywhere else."
    - Lenora Metz
  • "I bring all my babies, both past and present here. They truly care about our animals and are good people. A good vet is priceless!!"
    - Tracey Shrouder
  • "Dr. Kleisch and his staff are the best. We had multiple visits to other vets for one of our dogs. He handled the skin problem in one visit. All our pups go there now. Nice and reasonable."
    - Martha Honus