This page is for families who need a real door: which shelter you call, where a low-cost surgery or vaccine might exist, what TNR actually is, and why a microchip only works if someone answers the phone. It is not a complete directory of every vet in The Woodlands. Call before you drive. Hours and programs change.

Which shelter you call

Montgomery County is split. Getting this wrong wastes a trip.

Where you live	Shelter / animal control	Contact
Inside the City of Conroe limits	Conroe Animal Shelter	407 Sgt Ed Holcomb Blvd S, Conroe 936-522-3550 cityofconroe.org
The rest of Montgomery County, including The Woodlands, Willis, Porter, most of SH 242 and Rayford Road	Montgomery County Animal Shelter (MCAS)	8535 SH 242, Conroe 936-442-7738 mcaspets.org

If you are not sure whether your street is in the city, call MCAS and ask. Do not guess from a neighbor’s story.

Spay / neuter, vaccines, preventative

Need is highest along Conroe, Willis, Porter, 242 East, and Rayford East. The Woodlands is more affluent and still belongs on this list — people there need a number too — but this page is written first for families who will not walk into a $300 vaccine visit.

Montgomery County Animal Shelter

MCAS has offered monthly public spay/neuter as a separate program. Those surgery days have started. They can also lose steam. Confirm the next date on mcaspets.org or at 936-442-7738.

The wellness center is preventative care only: vaccines, tests, deworm, preventative. As of September 2026 the shelter’s own page says no spay/neuter at the wellness clinic, appointment only, and they do not see sick or injured animals. Hours listed there: Wednesdays 9 a.m.–1 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m.–noon. Book on that page or email shelter.counter@mctx.org.

Prices published on that page:

	Standard	Premier	Elite
Dogs	$35 — DA2PP-V, Bordetella, deworm, rabies	$45 — Standard plus heartworm test	$240 — Premier plus 1-year Advantage Multi
Cats	$30 — FVRCP, deworm, rabies	$45 — Standard plus FeLV, FIV, heartworm test	$240 — Premier plus 1-year Advantage Multi

From mcaspets.org/wellness-center, checked September 2026. Hours and prices can change. Lost-pet and adoption walk-ins are a different line than wellness.

City of Conroe Animal Shelter

If you live inside Conroe city limits, start here. The city has run a low-cost clinic (often twice a month) and periodic vaccine days. Confirm at 936-522-3550.

Other doors in this radius

• Lone Star Animal Welfare League — Woodlands-based nonprofit that subsidizes spay/neuter across Montgomery County. Hotline 713-304-2444. lsawl.org. They also run a pet pantry for qualifying seniors.
• Operation Pets Alive — public spay/neuter plans for residents of Montgomery and nearby counties, including income-based pricing. operationpetsalive.org.
• Texas Litter Control — 586 Sawdust Rd, The Woodlands. High-volume, lower-cost surgeries. Call for current fees and wait times.
• Rayford Animal Wellness Clinic — 606 Rayford Rd. On the corridor this page is written for. Call for current well-care prices.

This is not a ranking and not an endorsement of every visit. It is a short list of places people in this county actually use when money is the barrier.

TNR — trap, neuter, return

TNR is not “catch a cat and dump it somewhere else.” It is: humanely trap a community cat, sterilize, vaccinate, eartip, and return that cat to the same place. The eartip tells the next person the work is done.

A straight cut across the ear tip means the cat has already been through TNR. Leave that cat in place.

Moving unowned cats to a new neighborhood is not TNR. It can be treated as abandonment and it starts the problem over on someone else’s fence line.

If you are feeding or watching community cats in this county:

• Call LSAWL (713-304-2444) or MCAS (936-442-7738) and ask who is doing TNR this month.
• Inside Conroe city limits, ask Conroe Animal Shelter. The city has treated TNR as the preferred method for community cats.
• Do not borrow a neighbor’s “rodent” trap and improvise. Work with a group that already knows the process.

Rescue and found animals

The county shelter is the first official door for most of this map. City of Conroe is the first official door inside those city limits. Rescues pull from both when they can. They are not a substitute for calling the shelter when an animal is hit, sick, or loose on a road.

• MCAS — 8535 SH 242, Conroe. 936-442-7738. Lost and found, foster, adoption. mcaspets.org
• Conroe Animal Shelter — 407 Sgt Ed Holcomb Blvd S. 936-522-3550.
• Friends of Montgomery County TX Animal Shelter — supports MCAS animals. fmctas.org

If you find a cat or dog: look for a collar, get a chip scan (shelter and many clinics will scan), take a photo, post locally, and call the shelter that covers your street. Do not drive the animal to another town and let it go.

If you find kittens, look for the mother first. Do not scoop a nest because it looks abandoned. Live version and more detail: alleycat.org.

Microchips

Nugget was microchipped. A chip is a rice-sized tag under the skin. It does not track a cat on a map. It only works when someone with a scanner finds the animal and the registry still has a working phone number.

• Get the chip. Many shelter events and wellness visits include one.
• Register it in your name. The clinic insertion is not the same as registration.
• Update the number when you change phones.
• Ask the shelter or a clinic to scan any found animal. Do not assume “no collar” means no owner.

Common registries: HomeAgain, AKC Reunite, Found Animals / AAHA. If you do not know which company made the chip, the scanner still reads the number; the registry lookup is the next step.