Texas Litter Control is a low-cost spay-and-neuter clinic with locations across Harris County and Montgomery County.
Deana Love, the executive director for TLC, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that focuses on providing animal spay and neuter services across four locations in Montgomery and Harris counties, said she became involved when she saw the burden that animal rescues were faced with, and she wanted to make a change.
The backstory
TLC’s first location was in an 800-foot FEMA trailer located in Spring, bought at the end of 2012 and first opened for service in February 2013. To date, the nonprofit has four locations and has done:
- 380,000 spay and neuter surgeries
- 80,000 additional veterinary services
Love said it’s made a huge impact on shelters, especially with the cat population.
“People don’t give [animal shelters] enough credit for everything they do and everything they go through and no one should have to have that job,” Love said. "Our main mission ... [is] to support the shelters and to get the numbers down.”
What happened
After hearing about struggles faced by Houston-based animal clinic The Greater Good, Love said TLC stepped in to help. The Greater Good Veterinarian Dr. Dallas Kuehl was the first veterinarian Love used when she started in animal rescue work.
“Dr. Kuehl probably did around 120,000 spay and neuter surgeries by himself. He is just a phenomenal person. Him and his wife have been partners in animal welfare for a very long time. They worked hard to keep prices low for people, and their biggest worry wasn’t about the clinic itself. They were worried about their clients and the fact that nobody was going to help them,” Love said.
The Greater Good has been located in the Memorial area along I-10 and Dairy Ashford Road since the 1990s. When Kuehl was diagnosed with heart failure, it became difficult for him to keep up with daily clinic operations.
“I was trying to help them find a buyer for the clinic, but we couldn’t find anybody and [Texas Litter Control was] not in a position to buy them out ... they never found a buyer and the Kuehls were going to have to close The Greater Good on Feb. 1,” Love said.
Since Texas Litter Control was in a better position this year, it bought out The Greater Good and took over Feb. 1, so the Kuehls didn’t have to close the clinic.
Why it matters
Love said while she was honored to help keep Kuehl’s legacy alive through clinic operations, there have been challenges along the way.
The biggest challenge was updating equipment and recruiting more veterinarians. Surgery was not performed at The Greater Good for a while, so TLC had to make investments to get the clinic running properly again, Love said.
Now, the clinic can handle serving up to 50 animals a day. Love said to help with the investment, TLC has been running a fundraiser through the Petco Foundation to double donations through August and is investing in more advertising.
More details
Texas Litter Control has always been based on word of mouth, Love said. She said that the community has been its greatest support and best advertisers. To keep The Greater Good operating and continue supporting TLC, she wants the community to know that they can help by spreading the word that they are open six days a week through social media to remind everyone that it’s there to serve.
Love said there are plenty of ways to get involved in animal rescue and support local shelters.
“I know a lot of people don’t want to volunteer for the shelters because they feel like it’s a heartbreak, but that’s the best thing you can do for your community to really support your shelters, and if you do want a pet, adopt from a shelter ... that should be the go-to place for everybody,” she said.
