Question
# 1558 |
Hi, I'm not a vet, but this is more of a general question.
Our small, non-profit, no-kill shelter has recently come under new management. I am having a lot of difficulty convincing the new people in charge of the building about the necessity of isolating cats or kittens with URI symptoms.
We are a small facility with a room that has a colony area for cats and a bank of cages along one wall. The cages face the cat room and are separated from it by chicken wire / hardware cloth. The space between the cage doors and mesh is probably about 3 to 4 feet.
In the past, any kitten or cat that has even very slight signs of congestion or URI type symptoms was isolated in a cat condo in our office. (It is completely separate from the cat room.) We have not had any major URI outbreaks with this method.
The new staff wants to simply put the cat or kitten in one of the cages in the cat room and watch for further symptoms before isolating or taking to the vet.
Is it not best to err on the side of caution, and put them in the office, especially when we have the space available? Am I being overly paranoid?
Also, our general rule in the past was to only allow kittens over 8 weeks old that were tested/neutered/vaccinated in the facility. Any kittens younger than that were placed directly into foster care. Now, they want to keep four 5 week old kittens in the cat room cages, rather than finding them a foster home or at the very least, keeping them separate in the office.
Could you please give me some advice in this situation? I worked as a vet tech for a few years, but I don't have any official research to back me up.
Thank you so much for your time. |
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Date question was answered: 0000-00-00 |
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Answer |
Shelters ideally should be designed with multiple smaller animal housing areas rather than
fewer larger housing areas, to allow for separation of sub-populations. It is particularly
important for shelters to have facilities for segregation of the following sub-populations:
• Sick animals: respiratory disease, diarrhea, ringworm, mange, etc. and always separated
by species. (Mixing sick animals of different species is a recipe for species-jumping
emerging pathogens, which could pose potential zoonotic risk.)
• Animals recovering or recovered from illness
• Young animals (puppies and kittens under 5 months of age)
• Different species (dogs vs. cats, also rabbits, birds, wildlife, etc.)
Many cats shed URI pathogens without showing clinical signs; hence it is important that careful hygienic precautions are taken even when handling apparently healthy cats, i.e. washing hands between handling cats and limit handling. However, cats with active signs of infection are likely to be shedding much greater amounts of pathogens, and isolation of these cats from the general population is required for even a minimal disease control program. It is therefore recommended that cats with clinical signs of URI be housed in a separate room, or at least a separate area (4-5 feet away from healthy cats), than healthy cats. These cats should always be cleaned and handled last. Many cats are still shedding increased amounts for a few weeks following recovery. Although not always practical, ideally these cats will not be mixed directly back into the general population, or at least not with vulnerable populations such as kittens or recent arrivals. You can find more information about this on our website.
In regards to very young kittens we generally recommend that kittens under 8 weeks of age
go to foster homes rather than stay in the shelter. Animals below this age are generally
not available for adoption, and are especially vulnerable to the infectious disease risk
that is inevitable in a shelter setting, thus they do not benefit from staying in the
shelter. If possible these animals should be handled as little as possible and leave the
shelter within a few hours (preferable no more than 24 hours) to reduce their risk of
contracting disease. If the shelter does elect to have a nursery for younger kittens it is
recommended that this is a separate room from the general cat population, that it has
staff members specifically assigned to cleaning and caring for these animals. If it is not
an option to have separate staff for these kittens, strict precautions should be made in
an effort to reduce fomite transmission of disease, such as caring for and cleaning the
nursery kittens before any other cats are handled, assigning protective clothes for the
room etc. Foster homes tend to be a more manageable option for most shelters compared to
establishing a nursery.
I hope this is helpful.
Good luck,
Tess |
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Question
# 1539 |
It seems that in the case of a Mother that is surrendered to the shelter with nursing pups or Mothers that have them soon after arriving at the shelter that the pups stay healthy until the minute you remove them from the Mom, and then they start showing URI sysmptoms. It doesn't seem to matter when we vaccinate. What is the best way to handle weaning and still have healthy pups. Should they be vaccinated before weaning? at what stage? Thank you, Dixie |
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Date question was answered: |
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Answer |
Is there any way you could get these dogs out of the shelter and into foster homes?
Do you vaccinate the mother on intake to the shelter?
Weaning is a fairly stressful time in a puppy’s life, so it is not surprising that they
tend to get sick around this time, especially in a shelter setting, which regardless of
how awesome a shelter, is going to result in higher disease exposure than most other
environments.
We generally recommend getting orphan kittens and puppies, as well as mothers with
litters, out of the shelter and into a foster home as soon as possible after admission to
the shelter, preferable within 24 hours. This will lower their risk of contracting an
infection in the shelter, and allow them to grow, get weaned and socialized and reach
adoptable age in a less stressful environment.
We also recommend vaccinating all animals over 4 weeks of age with a modified live vaccine
immediately on intake, including pregnant and nursing animals. There is a small risk of a
modified live vaccine having detrimental effects on the fetuses in pregnant animals, but
the risk of the pregnant animals contracting the actual infection is generally higher than
the risk due to the vaccine, and will often result in disease and in worst case could kill
the mom and her litter. There is no risk to the puppies when vaccinating a nursing mother.
The puppies should be vaccinated with a modified live DHPP or DA2PP vaccine for the first
time at 4 weeks of age, and the vaccine should be repeated every 2-3 weeks until they are
adopted or they reach 16 weeks of age. They should also be vaccinated with intranasal
bordetella vaccine at 4 weeks of age; this vaccine does not need to be repeated every 2
weeks.
If you are not able to send these animals to foster homes you should house them separate
from the general population, as these puppies are very vulnerable to disease. The puppies
should be cleaned and cared for by separate staff, or if this is not possible; before any
other animals are handled, to reduce fomite transmission.
I hope this is helpful.
Good luck,
Tess |
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Question
# 1536 |
A local veterinarian is concerned about the abdominal/peritoneal fluid he finds in the pediatric spays he does for our shelter. Is there some justification I can give him? Is there anything we at the shelter should be concerned about (juvenile perotonitis)??
Thank you! |
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Date question was answered: 2009-04-01 |
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Answer |
Pediatric spays tend to have a large amount of clear abdominal fluid which is considered normal. Your veterinarian can read more about the procedure and abdominal fluid at the following site.
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/maddiesfund/spayNeuter/pediatric.htm
I am also attaching a list of references compiled by the ASPCA on pediatric spay/neuter surgery. Many of these articles comment on the normal, large amount of abdominal fluid. |
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Question
# 1529 |
Can a puppy who is treated for parvovirus and recovers, get parvo again? Is it common that they relapse?". Many vets have told us that it is possible however I myself have never seen a dog who has FULLY recovered contract the disease again. Instead we have always thought the opposite, that once a pet is recovered they are naturally more immune to at least that strain. What should we tell adopters regarding this topic? Thanks! |
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Date question was answered: 2009-04-01 |
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Answer |
Recovered puppies do develop immunity to parvo, probably for years if not for life. If they are vaccinated properly, the risk of developing parvo virus is very low a second time. We still recommend vaccinating all puppies on a regular schedule since the vaccines offer protection against other pathogens as well (distemper, canine hepatitis, parainfluenza, for example). |
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Question
# 1521 |
I am struggling with a shelter that I work with regarding vaccination of cats/dogs to term. Had a couple of cases where the animals were vaccinated and prematurely delivered. I am advising them to hold off vaccinating those animals but am getting some resistance. The animals are all housed separately and they do clean daily. Any suggestions?
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-20 |
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Answer |
You pose an excellent question regarding vaccinating pregnant animals
and the answer really comes down to a risk-benefit analysis in your
particular shelter.
Although very little data exists, it is thought that in a mother who
has never been vaccinated or exposed, modified live parvo and
panleukopenia vaccines may cause abortion or fetal damage. In mothers
who have been previously immunized, on the other hand, there is likely
no risk to the litter. In one study, abortions were no more common in
queens vaccinated with an MLV FVRCP vaccine during pregnancy, and
their kittens were considerably less likely to suffer from upper
respiratory infection than kittens born to queens not vaccinated
during pregnancy. (We can chalk that benefit up to the increased
maternal antibody received by the litter.) The bottom line is, there
is likely some risk of causing fetal damage when we vaccinate pregnant
animals who have never been vaccinated before.
On the other hand, there is some risk in not vaccinating: if the
mother contracts a fatal illness, both mother and litter will be lost.
It all comes down to weighing the risk of exposure versus the risk to
the litter. If you almost never see serious disease in your shelter or
you can reliably prevent exposure, then the risk may outweigh the
benefit. If risk of exposure is reasonably high, then the benefit of
vaccination likely outweighs the risk. If URI is a frequent problem in
foster litters, that provides further reason to vaccinate during
pregnancy. Keep in mind the special considerations for a legal hold –
there are many reasons besides vaccination for abortion, but a vaccine
may be blamed if given to an animal at the center of a contentious
legal case. In that situation, make every effort to find out the
animal’s vaccine status from the owner, and either gain consent from
the owner for vaccination or carefully protect her from exposure to
illness rather than risking a vaccine without consent. Finally, any
time a spay-abortion is planned, immediate vaccination of the pregnant
animal is indicated.
You can find more information about vaccinating pregnant animals at
the following site:
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_vaccination.shtml#top3
AAHA vaccine guidelines for shelters recommends vaccinating pregnant
dogs with inactivated, subunit, recombinant vaccines (if available)
for CDV, parvo, and Bordetella on intake. I am attaching their
guidelines as well (see page 24).
Feel free to contact me directly if you have any further questions.
Jyothi
Kate Hurley's Additional Comments:
I’m sure you’re aware of the AAHA and AAFP guidelines regarding vaccination of shelter animals. While it is correct that vaccines are not labeled for use in other than healthy animals, both sets of guidelines for shelter animals recommend vaccinating mildly ill, pregnant and young animals under some circumstances (as Jyothi described in her email – this is a risk/benefit analysis situation). These guidelines reflect the consensus of research and experience of a panel of experts. Arguably the “standard of care” for shelter animals reflects these recommendations and standard practices in shelters. I understand your concern about adverse effects on kittens from recently vaccinated queens – there are times when, if the queens are going to be allowed to carry the kittens to term and they can be successfully protected from exposure to panleukopenia until they are vaccinated, then vaccinating (or using a killed vaccine) may outweigh the risk of not vaccinating. Some shelters can meet that requirement, but most can not. If the shelter you are drawing from falls in the latter category, they may do better to vaccinate all concerned; alternately you may be able to help them set up an isolation area and transport system such that the queens are truly isolated (not just housing but the people handling them, equipment, carriers etc.) throughout their time in the source shelter, during transport, in your shelter, and in foster care. In my experience, I hear about more cats dying of panleukopenia because they were not vaccinated due to pregnancy or mild illness; than problems with abortion or cerebellar issues in kittens born to vaccinated moms. However, that reflects the fact that most shelters I have worked with have not been able to successfully, truly isolate these cats. |
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Question
# 1517 |
I belong to an animal rescue. My question is this: I've recently come across information stating that the early spay and neuter (8 weeks) of kittens prevents the production of certain hormones. These hormones are essential in the completion of bone growth in kitttens. Lack of the hormones may lead to joint and disc problems later in life. Also that the cat's immune system may become compromised. Is there validity to this claim? If so, what is the earliest age to alter a kitten without compromising its health? |
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-19 |
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Answer |
Pediatric spay/neuter surgery is one of the most well-researched veterinary procedures, and it is endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association. There are numerous research articles showing that it is safe to spay & neuter puppies & kittens as young as 8 weeks or even 6 weeks of age. I am attaching a list of references compiled by Dr. Lila Miller of the ASPCA on pediatric spay/neuter.
It is true that these young animals are less able to regulate their own body temperature than adult animals. They are also more prone to hypoglycemia during surgery. Simple measures, taking into account the special needs of pediatric patients, can be taken to minimize these problems. For example, pediatric patients can be kept on heating pads throughout anesthesia, and the use of alcohol to prepare the skin for surgery can be minimized. They can be fed within a few hours before surgery and fed again immediately once they are recovered from anesthesia. As long as the special needs of pediatric patients are adequately understood, it is usually straightforward to provide for these needs. In fact, most veterinarians find that pediatric surgeries are shorter and easier, and that recovery is faster than in older patients.
Studies done on gonadectomies have shown a delay in growth plate closure in those animals neutered at 7 weeks compared to 7 months. This did not, however, effect in a greater final radial/ulnar length, and does not predispose them to increased fractures (see attached article).
There are also a couple of online resources:
Howe, L. M. and P. N. Olson. (2000). "Prepuberal Gonadectomy - Early-Age Neutering of Dogs and Cats." _Recent Advances in Small Animal Reproduction_ Available online at: www.ivis.org/advances/Concannon/olson/chapter_frm.asp?LA=1.
Howe, L. (1999). "Prepubertal gonadectomy in dogs and cats - Part I." Compendium of Continuing Education *21*(2). Available online at: http://intranet.clafleche.qc.ca. I have also attached this article as a pdf.
There is also a DVD called "QuickSpay," which was created by a California veterinarian who has extensive experience in pediatric surgeries. It demonstrates the methods used in these surgeries. It can be ordered online, free of charge, at www.quickspay.com/downloads.html. Your veterinarians are also welcome to contact us for more information.
Other references include:
LM Howe, MR Slater and HW Boothe et al., Long-term outcome of gonadectomy performed at an early age or traditional age in cats, J Amer Vet Med Assoc 217 (2000), pp. 1661–1665.
WP Stubbs, MS Bloomberg and SL Scruggs et al., Effects of prepubertal gonadectomy on physical and behavioral development in cats, J Amer Vet Med Assoc 209 (1996), pp. 1864–1871.
MV Root, Early spay-neuter in the cat: Effect on development of obesity and metabolic rate, Vet Clin Nutr 2 (1995), p. 132.
MV Root, SD Johnston and PN Olson, The effect of prepuberal and postpuberal gonadectomy on radial physeal closure in male and female domestic cats, Vet Rad US 38 (1997), pp. 42–47.
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Jyothi
Jyothi V. Robertson, DVM
Resident, Koret Shelter Medicine Program
Center for Companion Animal Health
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
www.sheltermedicine.com
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Question
# 1515 |
Have there been any new developments in shelter vaccine protocols we need be aware of? Specifically, we booster all puppies and dogs two weeks after the initial DA2PPv and intranasal Bordetella vaccines are administered. I was told by one vet that this is too soon and that the information she received at the Western States Conference is that a minimum of three weeks is required between initial vaccine and boosters. |
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-18 |
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Answer |
The basic vaccination recommendations still stay:
•Vaccinate all animals over 4 weeks of age with a modified live vaccine immediately upon intake, if not sooner! In almost all cases, shelter animals should be vaccinated immediately upon intake. A delay of even a day or two will significantly compromise the vaccine’s ability to provide protection. (In some cases, the chance of the vaccine preventing disease may be 90% or better if given the day before exposure, but will drop to less than 1% if given the day after exposure.)
•When possible, vaccination prior to intake is ideal (e.g. for owner surrendered animals or those returning from foster care).
•In adult animals (>16weeks of age) with a normal immune response, booster vaccines per se are not required for modified live vaccines. Repeated vaccines are given to animals under 16 weeks of age in order to minimize problems with maternal antibody interference. Revaccination of adult animals may also be indicated in shelters as the health status of the animals is often unknown or less than optimal at the time of intake which could result in a sub-optimal immune response to the initial vaccination.
•Puppies and kittens should be vaccinated every 2-3 weeks until they reach 16- 18 weeks of age.
The minimum interval between vaccines should be 2 weeks, vaccinating with shorter intervals can result in vaccine interference, in which case the immune system is unable to mount a full response. Whether you decide to vaccinate every 2 weeks or 3 weeks depends on your resources and disease risk.
I hope this information is helpful.
Keep up the good work,
Tess
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Question
# 1514 |
Background- I work part-time as a veterinarian for local county animal control. There is no in-house veterinary care for the animals in the shelter. The normal procedure is that strays and turn-ins are immediately placed in the general population of the kennel--there is no holding area to observe the new intakes. Strays are held 5 days before adoption is allowed. Once an animal is contracted for adoption it is usually placed on the surgery schedule for the following day. At the time of surgery the cat or dog is vaccinated against Rabies (if old enough), FVRCP or Galaxy DHLPP/C. The animal is hospitalized overnight and discharged to the new owner the following day.
Problem- We have had a number of dogs-both adults and puppies-begin vomiting and/or having diarrhea within the first 24-48 hours after being discharged to their new owners. The dogs are either returned to the shelter or taken to their regular veterinarian. Cite Parvo tests on these animals have been strongly positive. On the basis of this positivity, the dogs are frequently euthanized at the R-DVM or returned to the shelter. Several of the dogs returned did not clinically appear clinically ill. A few were placed in the "sick ward" and held NPO with very minimal supportive care (no IV fluids or any aggressive care). Clinical signs in these dogs resolved within 24 hours with no further symptoms.
Questions- The shelter currently has no veterinary-directed medical plan. I am doing my best to provide them with appropriate guidance. They are contemplating not vaccinating for DHLPP at all. Their reasoning (to the best of my understanding) is they think the vaccine (along with the stress of surgery) is immunosuppressing the dogs and/or the recent vaccine is causing a false positive on the Cite parvo test. I recently contacted the local Idexx representative who assures me that the vaccine will not cause a positive reaction with recently vaccinated animals and the parvo test. (I have read numerous reports that there IS cross reaction) My concern is first and foremost for the well being of the adopted animal. The R-DVMs seem not to be receptive to animal control's experience that the disease course of most of these cases is short, which is understandable considering how severe and prolonged many cases of parvo enteritis can be. Is this a "lesser" strain of parvo? What is our best plan for vaccinating the animals and eliminating our problems? Is there any way to determine the strain if this is indeed parvo? Should the animals be vaccinated immediately when intake occurs? I haveread your plan and am truly attempting to modernize the medicine at the facility. Any written response you can provide would go a long way in guiding a new policy for the animals. I would like to send a letterto the local vets communicating the advice of the experts. The personnel at animal control truly have the best interest of the animal in mind. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-18 |
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Answer |
We would be happy to help you with your concerns. There is a lot of information on our site regarding vaccination standards, information about Parvo 2c virus, diagnostic testing, and protocols. You can run a search in our FAQ section for specific cases that are similar to your situation. I would recommend looking at the AAHA vaccination guidelines. In it, you will see that it is the standard of care to vaccinate all animals on intake at shelters. Please also review at the Parvovirus 2c information section of our site.
FAQ question 565 has a lot of information as well and the area that this question links to also refers to false positive tests.
Are you testing all your dogs with the parvo test (you mention that the shelter believes the dogs have a false positive) - why are they testing in the first place if there are no clinical signs? Approximately how many dogs are you referring to in this situation? How many of those dogs became better without treatment and how long was that after clinical signs?
Thank you for your question. |
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Question
# 1513 |
I have been to several conferences and the speakers mention that IDEXX has a special price for the URI PCR test. I have searched for this both on this site and on the IDEXX site and I am stumped. Where do I find this information? Also is this likely to change over time? I ran the PCR last September and it came up with positive results for Rhino, Calici, Mycoplasma and Bordetella.
We are having an outbreak of what looks to be viral with bloody sneezing, a lot of nasal congestion and decreased appetite. |
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-20 |
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Answer |
You can find information about the IDEXX respiratory services here,
You may want to talk to Idexx directly to ensure that you qualify for their shelter offer. You can get more specific information about requirements and specimen guidelines by contacting by phone or on their website.
In general I would say that is OK to pool three dogs / cats per tube. If you are dealing with what you feel is an outbreak situation I would recommend that you do 5 tubes (more is always better if $ allows it) for each type of clinical presentation (i.e. healthy, acutely sick, recovered). This should give you a good idea of what you are dealing with and what your background level of infection is.
Make sure you note precise health status, age, and vaccine status of the animals at the time of sampling.
Tess |
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Question
# 1512 |
I have one area expert advising me that if I have a vet administer a rabies vaccine at any time other than IMMEDIATELY when any other vaccine (distemper) or a minimum THREE WEEKS AFTER, that the rabies vaccine has been compromised and the dog is not vaccinated for rabies. Is this correct or may I vaccinate a dog today and three days later upon adoption give the rabies vaccine? |
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Date question was answered: 2009-03-17 |
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Answer |
You are correct that it is not necessary to wait 3 weeks between vaccines. Some experts suggest vaccines should be given either at the same time or more than 1 week apart. Vaccine interference can theoretically occur when vaccines are given less than one week apart, whether against the same or a different disease. This is because the non-specific immune response to the first vaccine may prevent the animal from getting "infected" with the second vaccine if given too soon after. We need modified live vaccines to actually create an infection in the animal in order to stimulate an adequate immune response. However, because the rabies vaccine is an inactivated (killed) vaccine, it is thought that vaccine interference is very unlikely to be a problem even if rabies vaccine is given within a week of another vaccine.
So, while it is theoretically ideal to give the vaccines either all at once or greater than a week apart, it is common to give the DHPP at intake and the rabies at adoption/reclaim. This is the actually the recommendation of the canine shelter vaccine guidelines released by the American Animal Hospital Association. In terms of preventing disease transmission within the shelter, it is not generally necessary to vaccinate for rabies on intake. I am attaching the AAHA guidelines below and an article by Dr. Hurley, our Director, regarding vaccinations in shelters. |
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