What will my veterinarian need to know about my dog before spaying or neutering?

Part of any surgical procedure involves a pre-anesthetic veterinary appointment. We’ll do a nose-to-tail exam, checking for any other signs of disease or heart murmurs that would affect the anesthetic or surgical recommendations. We also check to see that a male dog has two testicles, and we look for signs of mammary tumors in a female dog. We'll also do some screening blood work to check for underlying kidney or liver problems and clotting diseases. We can now offer an ECG or EKG to screen for heart disease, which is a lot more common than we previously realized.