UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program

For shelters desiring an ongoing relationship rather than a one time consultation service, we now offer the opportunity to work with the UC Davis Shelter Medicine Program through an annual retainer service. This service is available at two levels. For both levels, up to five priority topics from the list below will be identified by the shelter as the main areas of concern. These may change over time as issues are resolved in the initial areas.

At level one, an initial assessment will be performed, including review of existing written shelter protocols, analysis of historic shelter population data for the previous three years if available, and a one day site visit by shelter medicine faculty.  Following the initial site visit a bulleted list of initial recommendations will be provided. UC Davis shelter medicine personnel will be available for up to four hours per month to perform monthly data analysis, provide additional information and support regarding implementation of recommendations, or answer additional questions that arise regarding animal health care. In addition, we will offer once monthly 1-2 hour meetings, which may be on site or via phone/web. Meeting time can be utilized to assist with implementation of recommendations, review data, communicate with stakeholders, or provide staff and volunteer training. The cost of this service is $10,000/year plus travel for the site visit.

The level two retainer service is designed for shelters not requiring the full initial assessment and desiring more focused assistance with data analysis and implementation of selected protocols for animal health (for example, shelters that have already received an initial consultation through UC Davis). At this level, an initial data analysis of three years of data will be performed and two initial meetings of 1-2 hours each will be scheduled to discuss priority issues. If no site visit has been performed, at least one meeting will be held on site for shelters located within 100 miles of KSMP personnel (Davis, Ca or Madison, WI). This service will not include a site visit for shelters beyond this range except through special arrangement. UC Davis shelter medicine personnel will be available for up to two hours per month to perform monthly data analysis, provide additional information and support regarding implementation of recommendations, or answer additional questions that arise regarding animal health care. Monthly updates will be provided regarding data analysis, and 1-2 hour meetings will be provided every other month, which can be utilized as for level 1 to assist with implementation of recommendations, review data, communicate with stakeholders, or provide staff and volunteer training. The cost of this service is $6,000/year.

Topics for shelter retainer service

1. Daily rounds and monitoring
2. Health exam
3. Policy and protocol development and implementation        
4. Statistical collection and reporting system
5. Shelter population dynamics
6. Required capacity    
7. Staff capacity        
8. Isolation and separation    
9. Overall facility
10. Cat housing    
11. Dog housing    
12. Intake
13. Vaccination
14. External and internal parasite control
15. General cleaning and disinfection
16. Cleaning and disinfection of Canine Areas    
17.  Cleaning and disinfection of Feline Areas    
18. Nutrition and Feeding     
19. Disease recognition and diagnosis    
20. Disease treatment
21. Medical record keeping    
22. Zoonotic disease management
23. Canine stress reduction and enrichment    
24. Feline stress reduction and enrichment
25. Euthanasia
26. Spay/neuter services