Shelter Med

Question 1

What is the main, primary, most important factor that goes into designing a shelter?

Answer 1

(Stress reduction, followed by limiting disease transmission but reducing stress will help in reducing disease transmission so it is number one)

Question 2

What are the four levels of shelter sanitation?

Answer 2

(Physical cleaning, sanitation, disinfection, and sterilization)

Question 3

What level of shelter sanitation involves reducing the number of bacterial contaminants to a safe level?

Answer 3

(Sanitation)

Question 4

What level of shelter sanitation involves killing the majority of microbial contaminants?

Answer 4

(Disinfection)

Question 5

What are essential for consistency and reducing incidence of disease transmission, provide clear guidelines for employees and volunteers in all areas of a shelter operation, and should be updated whenever disease outbreaks occur?

Answer 5

(Standard operating procedures)

Question 6

What is the best air flow/air exchange to use in a shelter setting?

Answer 6

(Positive pressure → all airflows to outside of the facility BUT it is really expensive so lots of shelters use filtered recirculated air)

Question 7

What is the proper order of operations in a shelter setting?

Answer 7

(Most susceptible first (puppies, kittens, immunocompromised), healthy adults, then sick and/or potentially contagious animals last)

Question 8

What are the main pros and cons of mandatory holding periods?

Answer 8

(Pro - great for reducing disease transmission; con - is additional time the animal has to stay at the shelter without the potential of being adopted which is harder on the shelter and the animal)

Question 9

What should all animals in a shelter setting be treated for in terms of internal parasites if running a fecal analysis on every animal is not possible and why?

Answer 9

(Roundworms and hookworms, bc they are zoonotic)

Question 10

What is the most common infectious syndrome in shelter animals?

Answer 10

(Feline upper respiratory diseases)

Question 11

What is done, in addition to disinfection, shelter management, etc., to control/prevent the spread of canine influenza in a shelter setting?

Answer 11

(All dogs 6 weeks of age and older should receive the bivalent canine influenza vaccine; dogs less than 12 weeks of age will need a booster 2-4 weeks later)

Question 12

What is the distemper vaccine protocol for an adult dog entering a shelter?

Answer 12

(Administer 1st dose on admission and a 2nd dose 2-4 weeks later)

Question 13

What is the distemper vaccine protocol for a puppy dog entering a shelter?

Answer 13

(Administer 1st dose at 6 weeks of age at the youngest then at 2 week intervals until they are at least 20 weeks of age)

Question 14

What is the rabies vaccine protocol for an adult dog at a shelter?

Answer 14

(Administer 1 dose at their time of release from the shelter; cats are the same)

Question 15

What is the rabies vaccine protocol for a puppy dog at a shelter?

Answer 15

(Administer 1 dose at 12-16 weeks of age and then again when they are released as long as it has been at least 3 weeks since their 1st dose; cats are the same)

Question 16

What is the FVRCP vaccine protocol for an adult cat entering a shelter?

Answer 16

(Administer an intranasal vaccine at the time of admission and another dose 2-3 weeks later)

Question 17

What is the FVRCP vaccine protocol for kittens entering a shelter?

Answer 17

(Administer 1st dose at 4 weeks at the youngest and then at 2-3 week intervals until they are at least 16 weeks of age)

Question 18

(T/F) Individually housed cats are at a very low risk of exposure to feline leukemia virus.

Answer 18

(T)

Question 19

(T/F) Behavior assessments should never be done on the same day an animal enters a shelter.

Answer 19

(T → high levels of stress will result in inaccurate evaluation)

Question 20

Can you accurately assess the behavior of a dog with a healing broken leg?

Answer 20

(No, animals that have other stressors such as post-surgery, injuries, arthritis, illness, etc. should not be assessed until those stressors have been identified or removed)

Question 21

What type of behaviors do animals in a prolonged shelter setting tend to develop that are the most difficult to address and often require intense behavior modification as well as pharmacotherapy?

Answer 21

(Obsessive behaviors such as circling, pacing, bouncing off walls and doors, and self-directed behavior such as tail biting and licking that can result in lick granulomas)

Question 22

What behavior often results when an animal has not learned to cope with being apart from their owner or has developed an intense attachment to the owner?

Answer 22

(Separation anxiety)

Question 23

What is the most common shelter specific behavior that develops in cats?

Answer 23

(Aggression in many different flavors → play aggression, fear aggression, petting induced aggression, and redirected aggression)