A pioneering new program aimed at improving care in animal shelters has been launched at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, thanks to a $2.2 million grant from a pet-rescue foundation.
The grant, provided by Maddie’s Fund of Alameda, will be distributed over six years to the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the veterinary school. The first such project at any of the nation’s veterinary schools, the program is designed to reduce disease and behavior problems among cats and dogs housed in animal shelters.
Some 8 million to 10 million dogs and cats enter animal shelters across the nation each year, according to the American Humane Association. More than one-half of those animals are euthanized.
"This truly is a groundbreaking effort," said UC Davis research veterinarian Janet Foley, who is coordinating the new program. "The topics we’re focusing on have never been thoroughly addressed in a formal manner by the veterinary profession."
Issues such as shelter-disease problems, facility design and housing, animal-care procedures, vaccination regimens and stress reduction have never been a focus in traditional small-animal veterinary medicine training, she noted.
Assisting Foley will be veterinary staff-member Michael Bannasch and new veterinary resident Kate Hurley.
Foley and colleagues hope their efforts will lead to a decrease in the number of dogs and cats euthanized at shelters and improve the well-being of the animals during their shelter stays.
In the long run, the new shelter-medicine program will focus on instruction and hands-on training for veterinary students, diagnostic and medical support for shelters, and research to improve shelter-animal medical care.
Veterinary students and post-graduate residents will be given the opportunity to work in animal shelters. Medical care and consultation, including animal-behavior assistance, will be provided to shelters, and continuing education programs will be offered for shelter employees.
The program has already begun working with several regional animal shelters, including the Berkeley Humane Society, Solano County Animal Care and the Sacramento County Animal Shelter.
A cornerstone for the program will be prevention of infectious disease at shelters.
"A fairly large number of animals come into shelters healthy but get sick once they are there," Foley said. "We really need to prevent the spread of those diseases, and that calls for a large-population approach."
When dealing with a large group of animals, shelter personnel and veterinarians need to use different methods than they might in preventing, diagnosing and treating illnesses in an individual animal.
Primary emphasis during the early phase of the shelter-medicine program will be on resident training, according to Foley.
"We need to develop an excellent training program for residents, and from that will cascade the shelter-service elements of the program," she said.
The program also will work to develop a better understanding of the "baseline" ailments that are often problems in animal shelters, Foley added
"And we’ll be developing methods of communication with the animal shelters so that we can build strong relationships with them," she said.
A new class on shelter medicine also will be offered to veterinary students, and those with a special interest can also spend much of their senior year in related training experiences, Foley said.
"UC Davis is making a huge statement with the launch of Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program," said Laurie Peek, a consulting veterinarian for Maddie’s Fund. "Now a premier school of veterinary medicine is bringing na-tional attention to the increasing importance of animal shelters in society, the necessity to train veterinarians to work in shelters and the need to make shelters safer and healthier places for our companion animals."