A client of mine recently had a relatively large growth removed from her dog’s lower hind leg using a technique called “Cryosurgery”.  She was thrilled with the outcome of the procedure and suggested that I describe the technique on my blog so that more people would know about its advantages over conventional surgery.

Cryosurgery is a surgical technique which utilizes liquid nitrogen or nitrous oxide to freeze unwanted tissue and consequently destroys it.  The tissue which is frozen may take up to 4 weeks to fall off or dissolve but fortunately there is very little discomfort to the pet during this process.  Because the surgery does not require cutting and suturing the procedure may be performed with a local anesthetic and/or mild sedation — no general anesthesia is required.  The fact that a pet need not be anesthetized for cryosurgery is a great advantage when working an older pet whose liver, kidney and heart may not be in the best of health.  Cryosurgery is also a big advantage when attempting to remove a very vascular tumor that would bleed excessively using conventional surgery. Cryosurgery is performed with a special cryosurgery unit that freezes the tissue using either a nitrous oxide or liquid nitrogen probe or spray gun.  “Cryo” is generally used on smaller growths and on growths which would be difficult to cut out and suture closed, i.e. wart like skin tumors, malignant oral tumors (squamous cell carcinomas) or tumors on the lower portion of an  animal’s leg.  The procedure is, for the most part, very safe when performed by a veterinarian having sufficient experience in using this technique.  Cryosurgery also provides the advantage that there are no sutures for the pet to lick at, and that fortunately most animals never bother the healing wound.

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Woodside Animal Clinic is a unique, very personal,  one doctor practice where, for over 35 years, Dr. Simon has been healing dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, rodents, and reptiles with both conventional and alternative medicine.  Dr.  Simon is the author  of 4 pet care books and he writes a monthly pet care column in the Mirror newspaper.

Woodside Animal Clinic  sees pets from all over the greater Detroit area including Royal Oak, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Detroit, Hazel Park, Madison Heights, Warren, Centerline, Clawson,  Troy, Sterling Heights, Southfield, Birmingham, Bingham Farms, Franklin, Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi, Wixom, Brighton, Livonia, Plymouth, Commerce, Ann Arbor, Ortonville, Waterford, Union Lake,  Rochester,  Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Utica,   Romeo,  Windsor, and Toledo.