Recently, advances have been made in surgical and
diagnostic procedures, especially in human medicine,
toward less invasive techniques. These advances have
led to reduced morbidity and wound contamination
as well as less pain and shorter patient recovery
periods. 9 While this practice is developing at a slower
rate in veterinary medicine, there are ongoing efforts
to make common procedures less invasive. The
scrotal technique, although not well-documented,
is considered by many veterinarians working at high-
quality high-volume spay-and-neuter clinics to be
quicker and less invasive than the traditional prescrotal
approach. 3
METHODOLOGY
Dogs for this study were selected from five shelters
serviced by the Mississippi State University (MSU)
mobile surgical unit and from all dogs presented
for castration to Humane Alliance (HA) in Asheville,
North Carolina. All dogs were healthy males more
than 6 months old. Dogs with signs of disease or
cryptorchidism were excluded from the study. The
dogs were randomly allocated by a coin toss into two
treatment groups, scrotal castration and prescrotal
castration. Both groups of dogs were tattooed after
surgery to identify the procedure performed.
1A. A dog aseptically prepared for scrotal castration. There
were no differences in surgical preparation between the two
techniques.
Time efficiency was recorded for the procedures
done by the MSU surgeons. Efficiency was measured
in minutes of surgical time, starting when the surgeon
made the incision and concluding after the last
suture was placed. The duration of each surgery
was recorded by a veterinary assistant present in the
surgery suite. No data on the duration of surgery were
recorded at HA.
Surgical preparation
Dogs were anaesthetised with butorphanol (0.35 mg/
kg), ketamine (3.5 mg/kg), and dexmedetomidine
(17.5 µg/kg) given as an intravenous mixture. Before
surgery, each dog was given a subcutaneous injection
of carprofen (4.4 mg/kg) for pain control.
For both procedures, the surgical area, including
the scrotum and prescrotal area, was clipped and
prepared with chlorhexidine scrub, and the surgical
area was covered with a clean, chlorhexidine-soaked
surgical sponge. The dog was then moved to the
surgical suite and placed in dorsal recumbency. The
clean surgical sponge was removed, and the surgical
site was aseptically draped. There were no differences
in surgical prep between the two techniques (Figures
1A & 1B).
- Kimberly Woodruff, DVM, MS,Philip A. Bushby, DVM, MS, DACVS, Department of
Clinical Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine
Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS 39762
- Karla Rigdon-Brestle, DVM Humane Alliance 25 Heritage Drive Asheville, NC 28806
- Robert Wills, DVM, PhD, DACVPM Carla Huston, DVM, MS, DACVPM Department of
Pathobiology and Population Medicine College of Veterinary Medicine Mississippi State
University Mississippi State, MS 39762
1B. A dog prepped for prescrotal castration.
Issue 02 | MAY 2019 | 19