Infectious Disease Management in Animal Shelters. Группа авторов
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For more detailed information about vaccination, please refer to Chapter 9 on Vaccinations and Immunology, Chapter 22 on Rabies, and the individual disease chapters.
2.5.2 Parasite Control and Prevention
Parasite control and prevention represent essential components of shelter wellness programs. Wellness protocols for parasite control should be tailored to the given population, taking into account parasite prevalence, zoonotic potential, pathogenicity, cost, practicality, and safety. Both internal and external parasites are common in cats and dogs. Roundworms and hookworms are common intestinal parasites that possess zoonotic potential. Adult animals are often asymptomatic, whereas young puppies and kittens are most likely to exhibit clinical signs of infection, including diarrhea, anemia, and unthriftiness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, www.cdc.gov) and the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC, www.capcvet.org) strongly advise routine administration of broad‐spectrum anthelmintics to all cats and dogs to control these potential zoonoses. Pyrantel pamoate is one of the safest, most cost‐effective and efficacious anthelmintics for treatment of roundworms and hookworms. The author recommends the administration of pyrantel pamoate at a dosage of 10 mg/kg on entry to all adoptable cats and dogs with re‐treatment in two weeks and then at monthly intervals. Kittens and puppies should be treated at two‐week intervals until four months of age. For cats and dogs with diarrhea, a fecal flotation, direct fecal smear, and stained fecal cytology should be performed with treatment according to results. Even if results are negative, the administration of broad‐spectrum anthelmintics should be strongly considered unless definitive enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing has confirmed the negative results. Ectoparasites, including fleas, ticks, lice, and mites (Otodectes, Notoedres, Sarcoptes, and Cheyletiella), are also common in cats and dogs entering shelters, and they require routine diagnosis and control measures. In addition to causing disease and discomfort in animals, some ectoparasites are responsible for transmitting zoonotic disease.
Heartworm disease is a serious vector‐borne disease that is caused by the mosquito‐borne filarial nematode Dirofilaria immitis. The testing of adoptable dogs over the age of six months is highly recommended in areas where canine heartworm disease is prevalent or dogs have been transported from areas with a high prevalence of heartworms, and when dogs exhibit clinical signs of the disease. Though cats can also be infected, heartworm testing is not recommended for cats due to the difficulty of interpreting the results. Shelters have adopted many strategies for testing, preventing and treating heartworm disease. Mosquito control is an essential component of any shelter heartworm prevention plan since D. immitis can be transmitted by over 70 species of mosquitoes. The ASV and the American Heartworm Society (AHS) worked together on a Heartworm Disease Resource Task Force to create a series of educational brochures that provide information to adopters about the disease (http://www.heartwormsociety.org 2017; http://www.sheltervet.org 2017). Downloadable, printable brochures help explain the shelter policy with regards to testing for and treating heartworms (i.e. whether a facility tests or treats the disease and which modalities are used) and recommendations for follow‐up with a local veterinarian. These brochures offer shelter staff a concise and accurate tool to facilitate communicating about this complex disease. Please see Chapter 18 for more information about heartworm disease.
The CAPC maintains excellent online resources (www.capcvet.org) including numerous detailed parasite guidelines, parasite prevalence maps, and product tables that are very useful for informing wellness protocols for shelters. Chapters 17 and 19 contain more information about internal and external parasites respectively.
2.5.3 Spay‐Neuter
Another essential component of a shelter wellness program is ensuring that cats and dogs are spayed or neutered prior to adoption. Surgical sterilization remains the most reliable and effective means of preventing unwanted reproduction of cats and dogs. In shelters where animals awaiting adoption may be held for long periods, reproductive stress from estrous cycling in queens and bitches and sex drive in tomcats and dogs can decrease appetite, increase urine spraying/marking and intermale fighting, and profoundly increase social and emotional stress. Spaying and neutering animals awaiting adoption is essential in shelters where cats and dogs will be housed for periods of longer than two to four weeks. These procedures decrease spraying, marking, and fighting; eliminate heat behavior and pregnancy; and greatly mitigate stress. This facilitates group housing and participation in supervised playgroups for exercise and emotional enrichment. In addition, the medical benefits of spay‐neuter have been well described, including the elimination of pyometra and ovarian and testicular cancers, and decreased risk of mammary cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatitis, and perianal hernias (Johnston et al. 2001).
2.5.4 Identification (Collar/Tag, Microchip)
In all animal care settings, a reliable means of animal identification is another crucial aspect of preventive healthcare or wellness. Identification of animals in the shelter in the form of a collar and tag or other types of neckband is essential for accurate surveillance of individuals, especially where litters or groups of animals are communally housed. Though the use of collars and tags as visually obvious forms of identification is extremely valuable, the provision of permanent identification in the form of a microchip is also very beneficial as a means of back‐up identification and has been demonstrated to improve pet–owner reunification since collars and tags may be easily lost (AVMA 2013; Griffin 2016; Lord et al. 2007a, b, 2009; Slater et al. 2012; Weiss et al. 2011). Improving pet recovery following adoption is another important goal or welfare target for animal shelters to strive for; thus, applying collars and tags and implanting and scanning for microchips is another way for shelters to be proactive and to model excellent standards of pet care for the public.
2.5.5 Proper Nutrition and Physical Exercise
Proper nutrition and exercise have profound implications for wellness. Not only are they essential for the management of healthy body weight and condition, good nutrition also supports immune function and regular physical exercise is closely associated with behavioral health and well‐being. A regular diet of good‐quality, palatable commercial food consistent with life stage and health status should be offered, and appetite should be monitored to ensure the maintenance of an adequate nutritional plane. Animals that do not eat for more than one to two days should be evaluated for medical problems and stress, and appropriate action should be taken based upon the findings. In addition, fresh water must always be available. Finally, animals should be weighed at intake and at routine intervals throughout their shelter stay. This is especially important for undernourished animals, including those involved in starvation cruelty cases and for cats because significant or even dramatic weight loss may be associated with stress and/or feline upper respiratory infection (URI) during the first few weeks of confinement (Tanaka et al. 2012). On the other hand, excessive weight gain may occur in some individual animals housed long term. Ideally, bodyweight should be recorded weekly during the initial month of shelter care and then once a month or more often if indicated. Protocols must be in place to identify and manage unhealthy trends in body weight that can potentially compromise an animal's health, well‐being, or adoption.
2.5.6 Grooming
Attention must also be given to proper grooming of animals in the shelter, including bathing, brushing