Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Cats and Laser Surgery 

 Name: Marti
Status: student
Grade: 6-8
Location: NC
Country: USA
Date: Fall 2011
Question:
Is laser surgery used with cats?


Replies:
Is laser surgery used with cats? Yes! Laser surgery is a very broad category! Lasers are used in veterinary medicine on cats and dogs for various surgeries. The benefit of lasers is that they are able to close blood vessels with heat and decrease bleeding. With cats, lasers are most commonly used for declaw procedures. They have also been used for various other things like skin incisions (with less bleeding) and some eye surgeries. There are disadvantages to the use of lasers - they require additional training and practice, special facilities within a clinic, they are expensive, and there is risk of fire (animals undergoing surgery are receive oxygen which is very combustible) - to name a few.

Saundra Sample DVM Clinical Pathologist Resident University of Wisconsin


Click here to return to the Veterinary Topics Archive

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory