Keyhole spay v's normal spay ?

Not getting Sasha done for some time yet, but what are the pro's/con's to the keyhole method??? I have googled it and looked at other peoples ideas but there is no real yes/no answers to it, What do you guys think, seems to be quicker recovery time but is it worth the risk of pyometr (thingy). Anoushka never had a spay, and never had pyo(wotsit) but did have mammary cancer, but I only had her on her own so different situation to now where I need to prevent pups between sasha and samson?

If I had a bitch and I was having her spayed I would have the keyhole ovariectomy rather than the total ovario-hysterectomy.

It is quicker, safer and certainly has advantages for a performance dog leaving fewer adhesions.

It is generally however more expensive.

The bitch recovers a great deal quicker too.

There are no benefits in this procedure v OVH re post spaying incontinence neither is there any increase in incidence of pyometra

(Source: Neutering is not so Neutral Seminar with Nick Thompson in February)

Madison had the keyhole method and her recovery was really quick, she was over the park in about week and bouncing around after a couple of days even though we were trying to keep her quiet!! much quicker then my other dogs who had the usual method.

Also she only had a 1- 2inch bruise( it was heart shape ) and you would have to look really hard to see any scar or mark where she had the operation.

Im planning on keyhole when Merf is ready to be spayed , although my old vet left so will have to ask the new vets what they do and if they don't do it i will go elsewhere.

Price difference is normal 210 - 240
keyhole 370
My normal vets don't do it so will be a vet not too far away, they suggest 6 months but I dunno about the early spaying

Should add for a dog of Sasha's weight when grown roughly those are the quoted prices.

I would not spay a bitch until she was physically and mentally mature.

I certainly would not spay a bitch prior to the closure of the growth plates.

No, I agree SB but it makes me wonder why the vets suggest to do it so early, I have decided against having Samson done at all after reading it could affect his personality in a bad way?
Not too keen on the side effects of spaying either but having lost Anoushka to mammary cancers I don't want that either, or pups ultimately. So weighing it up well before time as I want to get it right, Thank you

Neither of my two [full spay] had any problems, just the first night not jumping up on the bed but after that they just acted normally, and neither had any pain relief following the spays. Little One ignored her stitches, Pereg was fascinated by them so I put a cone collar on her and she forgot all about them.

Both were spayed following their first season, due to living in a place with an unfenced yard and a lot of loose dogs around, and because both were microchipped and had had their rabies shots, the cost was ~£75

What age are they physically and mentally mature?

I was going to have kaya neutered half way before her second season. So she would be around 13 months I think.

Depends on the breed/size of the dog.

I think 18 months is a minimum apart from giant breeds, but that is just MHO

The price difference can be a lot, particularly if done by a specialist.

About five years ago a medium sized male I had with a retained testicle had an keyhole castration, then it was £500, the same vet now charges £1500! Playing "hunt the testicle" can take much more time that a standard spay.

I think he charges about £800 for a non-complicated endoscopic spay. I expect there are cheaper vets though.

It can take a similar time for the dog to heal, but from a very much smaller incision.

If the ovaries are removed the remaining uterus/womb is effectively an inert (non reactive) organ, however if using hormone treatment for anything else (such as treating post spay incontinence), this can affect the uterus as internally produced hormones would, which can create complications, particularly if the bitch has been rehomed since and it is not known that only the ovaries were removed.

My dog still had to wear an Elizabethan collar as he wanted to lick one of the insertion sites (there were three, one for the light and camera, one for air to inflate the abdomen, and one for the instruments) and would have broken through the surgical glue.

He also had a stitch reaction to the internal stitch which probably lengthened the healing time as that had to subside too.

As it was located in the inguinal canal, but not through it, finding and removing it conventionally, without air, lights and camera, would have been likely to involve a very long incision wound and possibly bruising while trying to find it blind.

My friend recently had a Labrador endoscopically spayed and the recovery time was about 10 days, as with a conventional spay but the "incision" was just the small holes.