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Real old school veterinary medicine
Deciding what to do for pets that have serious medical problems is often difficult. Surgeries we wouldn’t think for a moment about getting for human family members often give us pause when they’re for our furry companions. If we don’t have pet insurance, sometimes these procedures can be too costly.
They also come with a health cost to our pets. Maybe we don’t mind spending the money, but the surgery is riskier on our animals’ fragile bodies than it would be on ours. I know I dread the day I might have to make such a major medical decision for one of my pets.
However, new lower-risk alternatives are beginning to appear. Pet site Zootoo has the details on these potentially safer veterinary procedures.
They’re nothing new to the world of medical science. These types of procedures have been in use for a while in human medicine, but they’re only just beginning to make their way into the veterinary field. That means practitioners of them are a bit more spread out, but they’re starting to be available in more major cities.
It’s not entirely new types of surgeries on offer, but how they’re being done. Rather than making a large incision allowing the surgeon a large view inside the animal, small incisions are made. A camera is then inserted into the opening, allowing the surgeon a greater view that way. These often keyhole-sized cuts cause far less strain on the body.
A specific example of another type of alternative surgery now being practiced is a balloon valvuloplasty. One was recently performed on a fox terrier with a severe heart murmur. Rather than performing open heart surgery, the terrier’s veterinarian inserted a balloon on a wire into an artery. The balloon was then filled with saline, which allowed the surgeon access into the narrow heart valve. Only a small incision in the dog’s neck was necessary to start the procedure.
Of course, these new practices come with a couple of downsides. First, they’re not as well-spread, owing to the necessity of special equipment and additional training. Many major cities such as New York and Philadelphia are beginning to contain veterinary hospitals that will perform such procedures, but the surgeries are still not common at the average local veterinary hospital.
The other downside is expense; because these procedures are still new and a bit rare, expect to pay around $1,000 more for them than for more traditional veterinary surgeries. That’s discouraging to those who might be looking for surgery alternatives that cut costs.
My first impulse is of course to want the safer option for my pets, but I can deny that cost is a big factor. For me the deciding factor would be the ultimate risk of the procedure. If traditional surgery isn’t that much bigger of a risk, then I’d go with that.
But if a traditional surgery might put my pet at great risk, then I’d want the alternative. There’s no point in spending the money on a traditional surgery if there’s a good chance my pet would die from it. At that point the extra $1,000 is definitely worth it to guarantee greater safety for my pet.
Does the idea of new, safer surgeries for pets appeal to you, or does the price tag mean you’ll just want to stick with the traditional methods?
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*(This image by the Otis Historical Archives is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
