At Brentwood Country Animal Hospital we have added cold laser therapy to the repertoire of services we offer our patients. Since first introducing laser therapy to our hospital a few years ago now, we have been continually amazed to see the benefits that the laser treatment has provided our patients, with a decrease in post-operative healing time for all of our surgical incisions and increased relief for pets in pain due to chronic conditions.
Cold laser therapy uses the application of light to stimulate cellular regeneration and help promote tissues to heal after trauma or infection. It also reduces inflammation which in turn relieves pain and discomfort. This is a holistic, non-invasive treatment option that is well tolerated by our furry friends and takes mere minutes per treatment. We are very excited to be able to offer this in addition to our more conventional modalities.
We are now performing laser therapy on all of our post-operative patients to aid and shorten the healing process. Studies have shown that a single treatment shortens recovery time by about 50%.
We are also recommending laser treatment for acute inflammatory conditions such as hot spots, feline idiopathic cystitis, ear infections (otitis), and abscesses. Typical treatment involves once daily laser therapy sessions for 3 consecutive days.
We are most excited to offer laser treatment for patients with chronic pain caused by osteoarthritis -secondary to hip dysplasia, cruciate ligament injuries, intervertebral disc disease, etc. Examples include a young dog with severe hip dysplasia and an older, small breed dog with chronic neck pain that were both enrolled into a 3 week program (involving 3 treatments week one, 2 treatments week two, 1 treatment week three, followed with once monthly maintenance treatments). By the end of the first week, both owners noted significant improvement with their dogs’ general demeanor and overall comfort level. We can help improve quality of life for these patients and hopefully reduce the dose and/or frequency of long term medications.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss whether cold laser therapy may be of benefit to your pet, please set up an appointment to consult with one of our veterinarians.