At Meyerland Animal Clinic, we offer state-of-the-art surgery facilities with the best trained staff in order to ensure the best outcome for your pet.

You may ask why you should have your surgery done at our clinic, when there are other cheaper clinics available to perform the surgery? It is a good question and deserves an in-depth answer. On the surface it may appear that the same procedure is being performed but you must look deeper in order to understand the differences in our surgeries versus a spay/neuter clinic's.

When we perform surgery here, there is always a team of people monitoring your pet. The veterinarian as well as at least one surgical technician trained in anesthetic monitoring are always present. The main risk with any surgery is the anesthesia, which is why ALL of our cases have pre-surgical testing including blood work to be sure there are no underlying metabolic problems and EKGs to assess the heart rhythm. All of our patients receive intravenous catheters in order to provide fluid therapy during surgery, which helps to keep the vital organs perfused and prevents dehydration. All of our patients are monitored with a cardiac monitor, which follows blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygenation, temperature, breathing rate and carbon dioxide levels within the body. All of our patients are on a special heating apparatus to maintain their body temperature, because hypothermia during anesthesia can be a major side effect and slow their recovery. All of our patients are monitored during their recovery as well, every 5-15 minutes, with vital signs being recorded so that we can be sure everyone wakes us comfortably and easily. All patients are kept in the recovery area under constant supervision.

Pain medicines are started before surgery and continued during and after surgery in order to keep your pet as comfortable and pain-free as possible.

Remember that none of the cheap spay/neuter clinics use these kind of technologies or labor-intensive monitoring on your pet. You do get what you pay for in this regard. We don't want to lose any patient for lack of proper monitoring.

For our young female dogs, we recommend ovariohysterectomies (spays) anytime after four months of age. We like to spay them before their first heat cycle, which we know helps to prevent the future incidence of breast cancer. For our young male dogs, we will often recommend waiting a little longer for their castrations (neuters), until they are almost a year of age. This helps to attain a more ideal musculature and body shape.

For our female and male cats, we recommend their spay or neuter surgeries anytime after they are three to four months of age. Male cats are usually neutered before they reach six months of age in order to prevent marking of their territory, which can begin any time after their puberty (around 5-6 months of age). Females are spayed young in order to prevent to prevent breast cancer, but also to prevent them from going into heat, which brings along some unwanted behavioral changes.