UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program

URI Project update:  February 2011
 This project was made possible through two grants from the Morris Animal Foundation, including support for a full time graduate fellow through the Amanda Feline Fellowship – funded by a generous donor in honor of her beloved cat Amanda.

This project is nearing completion so stay tuned for the results in 2011.  The goals of the project were to document the rate of URI  disease in shelters and ultimately answer the question: Why URI? What factors lead to high or low levels of this sometimes seemingly ubiquitous disease? And most importantly, what can we do about it? Below is the official project summary.

Project summary: Animal shelters vary in their housing, management and environment and ability to maintain animal health.  Feline Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) is a common, infectious, multifactorial disease syndrome that is endemic in many animal shelters.  Feline URI is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality for shelter cats, as well as a potential marker for evaluation of shelter health practices.  The purpose of this study is to measure URI frequency and evaluate the relationships between selected environmental and management risk factors and the occurrence of URI in animal shelters.  Housing parameters; enrichment and stress- management procedures; sanitation and disinfectant use; vaccination type and frequency; and other potential population-level risk factors will be documented and updated throughout the project study period.  Data will be collected for each shelter via online secure database regarding daily population at risk and URI frequency and rates of  URI disease will be reported.  Additional detailed environmental data will be collected at a subset of shelters, including measurement of air quality, noise, temperature and humidity.  Contributing pathogens for feline URI will be evaluated by real time PCR techniques on samples collected at a subset of shelters from randomized cats at intake and with clinical signs of respiratory disease.

Stay tuned for the results from this Morris Animal Foundation supported project!

Sampling a new cat at intake for pathogens associated with upper respiratory infection.

 
Although cats came into each shelter with varing amounts of pathogens – as seen below- the pathogen load of cats at intake intake cats did not effect shelter URI rates studied. (Shelter 5 and 6 were not sampled in the first Quarter of testing.)

Sub-project within the URI Project:

Pathology Resident Project: URI in Shelter Cats
This study was conducted by UC Davis Pathology Resident Dr. Rachel Burns:

Abstract: This is a descriptive study designed to correlate diagnostic rtPCR results with histopathologic lesions in cats with clinical signs of upper respiratory infection (URI). The study occurred over a 9-month period in a single open-intake animal shelter and included 22 cats that had URI at the time they were selected for euthanasia. Combined conjunctival and oropharyngeal swabs were tested by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1), feline calicivirus (FCV), Mycoplasma felis, Chamydophila felis, and Bordetella bronchiseptica. Necropsy was performed on all cats and a set of respiratory tract tissues was examined by histopathology. Of 22 cats, 20 were PCR-positive for FHV-1, 7 for M. felis, 5 for FCV, 1 for C. felis, and 0 for B. bronchiseptica. Nine cats were PCR-positive for two or more pathogens.  All cats had histopathologic lesions in one or more tissues.  The most frequent and severe lesions were in the rostral nasal cavity, with a necroulcerative rhinitis in 16 cats. Pathognomonic histologic changes or antigenic detection of FHV-1 were seen in 18 of 20 cats positive for FHV-1 by PCR and were not seen in the 2 cats negative for FHV-1 by PCR.  No lesions were seen that could be specifically attributed to FCV, M. felis, or C. felis, although interpretation was complicated by small case numbers and co-infection with FHV-1. A significant agreement was found between PCR results and the presence of specific histopathologic lesions for FHV-1 (κ = 0.62, p=0.026) but not for the other respiratory pathogens.

Title: Characterization of upper respiratory disease in cats: a shelter study comparing PCR and histopathology results.
Authors: Rachel E. Burns, DVM; Denae C. Wagner, DVM, MPVM; Christian Leutenegger; Patricia A. Pesavento, DVM, PhD, DACVP

Abstract: This is a descriptive study designed to correlate diagnostic rtPCR results with histopathologic lesions in cats with clinical signs of upper respiratory infection (URI). The study occurred over a 9-month period in a single open-intake animal shelter and included 22 cats that had URI at the time they were selected for euthanasia. Combined conjunctival and oropharyngeal swabs were tested by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1), feline calicivirus (FCV), Mycoplasma felis, Chamydophila felis, and Bordetella bronchiseptica. Necropsy was performed on all cats and a set of respiratory tract tissues was examined by histopathology. Of 22 cats, 20 were PCR-positive for FHV-1, 7 for M. felis, 5 for FCV, 1 for C. felis, and 0 for B. bronchiseptica. Nine cats were PCR-positive for two or more pathogens.  All cats had histopathologic lesions in one or more tissues.  The most frequent and severe lesions were in the rostral nasal cavity, with a necroulcerative rhinitis in 16 cats. Pathognomonic histologic changes or antigenic detection of FHV-1 were seen in 18 of 20 cats positive for FHV-1 by PCR and were not seen in the 2 cats negative for FHV-1 by PCR.  No lesions were seen that could be specifically attributed to FCV, M. felis, or C. felis, although interpretation was complicated by small case numbers and co-infection with FHV-1. A significant agreement was found between PCR results and the presence of specific histopathologic lesions for FHV-1 (κ = 0.62, p=0.026) but not for the other respiratory pathogens.

This image depicts the different grades of cellular damage in the upper respiratory tract of cats with URI, from Grade 1 (mild) to Grade V (severe).
 

CageProject
This project has been made possible through funding from Morris Animal Foundation and cage donations from Shoreline Inc.

Feline Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) is closely linked to stress and is a leading cause of sickness and euthanasia for shelter cats.  The type and size of cages that are used to house shelter animals effects their comfort and stress levels.  Additionally housing plays an important role in the likelihood of disease transmission.
This study will evaluate the effect of two different cage types on feline stress, weight loss, URI risk, and likelihood of adoption. The researchers’ goal is to develop recommendations for practical, cost effective shelter cat housing that adequately provides for feline health and comfort.

Cat lying in double sided cage- litter box is just through the portal on the right.
 

Cat housed in a traditional size cage.

 
Sub-project within the Cage Project:

Video Cage Project
Understanding the effects of housing on behavior is one of the first steps in understanding an animals needs for housing.  This pilot study is an attempt to document, through video monitoring, the differences in behavior of cats in two different size cages.  The initial research was conducted by UC Davis 2nd year veterinary student Sharon Ostermann, as her summer STAR Program research project.  This is an ongoing project with oversight by Dr. Cristie Kamaya and Dr. Denae Wagner

Specific aim(s):
Comparison of normal behaviors of adult cats housed in one of two different cage types in a shelter environment.  Video record the first 24 hours of shelter cat stay from time of placement into a cage housing unit.  The recordings will be reviewed and behaviors will be documented for comparing the time of onset, frequency and  duration of the following behaviors: exploration, play, resting, eating, drinking, and litter box use,  in each of the two cage types studied.

UC Davis veterinary student Sharon Ostermann,  working on her summer STAR project.

 Weight loss, stress and upper respiratory infection in shelter cats

This project was made possible through funding by Morris Animal Foundation and the Amada Feline Fellowship.

Abstract:

Objective - To assess the relationship between changes in body weight, behavioral stress score, food intake, and incidence of upper respiratory infection (URI) in cats in an animal shelter.
Design - Descriptive study
Animals - 60 adult cats
Procedure –Body weight was measured at day 0 (intake), 7, 14 and day 21.  Behavioral stress and food intake were scored daily for the first seven days of shelter stay.  Cats were monitored daily for upper respiratory infection (URI).
Results – Weight loss occurred in 82% of the shelter cats with losses ranging from 1.6-16.5% of body weight.  Twenty five percent of cats lost 10 percent or more of their body weight.  Cats that lost weight in week 1 had 3.8 greater odds of developing URI than cats that did not lose weight (p=0.05). Cats with high stress scores in their first week of stay had 5.8 greater odds of developing URI than cats with low stress scores (p=0.02).  Food intake and stress scores were negatively correlated, r = 0.96.

Conclusion and Clinical Relevance – Shelter housing, management and the environment affect shelter cat health. High stress scores, low food intake scores, weight loss and the development of URI indicated a dramatic decline in both health and welfare of this shelter cat population.  Food intake scores and routine weighing are objective, practical tools that can help monitor stress levels and detect health changes, at a time when prevention, intervention and treatment may be most beneficial.

Dr. Aki Tanaka presenting her research at the ACC conference in Southern California.