Chew On This!

How shelters can get community members to help save more kittens

When people come into animal shelters with orphaned kittens, particularly during the summer months, the shelters can be hard-pressed to save them all. But what if the very person who cared enough to bring in the kittens could be persuaded to foster them until they were old enough to get adopted?

That was the premise of a recent survey conducted by Maddie's Institute, seeking to understand how frequently shelters encountered this scenario, how likely they were to ask for help, and how frequently requests for help were successful. Additionally, we wanted to understand what types of support shelters offered to those community members who agreed to care for the kittens.

Some key takeaways:

1. Asking for help was correlated with getting more help.

2. Asking Good Samaritans to sign up for a formal foster program deterred them from helping as compared to those who were allowed to help informally.

3. Offering support in the form of veterinary care or supplies was correlated with more positive responses to requests for help.

Although this stage of the research did not aim to provide clear protocols to enhance community care initiatives, it did identify areas for future research.

Additionally, it suggested the following steps for those who want to improve community lifesaving for kittens immediately:

1. Develop stronger and more enthusiastic approaches when asking community members to care for stray kittens brought to the organization.

2. Find ways to offer veterinary care and supplies to community members caring for kittens.

3. Offer training, but do not require formal program enrollment for community members who are willing to care for a litter of kittens they bring to the organization.

You can read the complete report, as well as a summary, here.

Study: Pain in cats can be evaluated by facial expressions

Can you tell if a cat is in pain by looking at him? Probably not. Fortunately, researchers are close to changing that, a development that will be helpful in animal shelters, veterinary hospitals and homes alike.

First, the bad news: Of 68 observers in a recent study, only 13% were able to tell the difference between cats in pain and cats who weren't in pain 80% of the time.

The good news is that researchers were able to quantify those differences and render them in a simple cartoon-style drawing that enabled reliable identification of painful cats:

Analysis of 78 facial landmarks and 80 distances identified six significant factors differentiating pain-free and painful faces including ear position and areas around the mouth/muzzle. Standardised mouth and ear distances when combined showed excellent discrimination properties, correctly differentiating pain-free and painful cats in 98% of cases.

More good news: the complete study can be rented for 48 hours for only $4.00 at the link below.

Holden E, Calvo G, Bell A, et al. Evaluation of facial expression in acute pain in cats. J Small Anim Pract. 2014 Dec; 55(12):615-621.

Study: Total tooth extraction not the only solution to feline stomatitis

There's a less drastic solution to feline stomatitis than total removal of the cat's teeth.

Stomatitis is a painful inflammatory condition that causes lesions in the mouth. Removing all the teeth has long been known to provide the best chance for resolving the problem, but a study published in next month's Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association suggests such a drastic step may not be necessary.

In a review of 14 years of medical records of cats with stomatitis, researchers found limiting extraction of teeth to areas of oral inflammation "provided substantial improvement or complete resolution of stomatitis in more than two-thirds of affected cats," and was no less beneficial than full-mouth extraction.

Subscribers to JAVMA can view the complete study at the link below, where it can also be purchased.

Michael W. Jennings, VMD; John R. Lewis, VMD; Maria M. Soltero-Rivera, DVM; Dorothy C. Brown, DVM, MSCE; Alexander M. Reiter, Dr med vet. Effect of tooth extraction on stomatitis in cats: 95 cases (2000–2013); J Am Vet Med Assoc, March 15, 2015, Vol. 246, No. 6, Pages 654-660; doi: 10.2460/javma.246.6.654

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Can shelters use a toy dog in canine behavior evaluations for dog-friendliness?

The use of plush toy dogs to help evaluate dog-friendliness would make animal shelter canine behavior evaluations much safer and easier. But does a dog's behavior with a plush toy accurately predict his behavior with the real thing?

A recent study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science found dogs who are friendly to plush dogs tend to react with friendliness to real dogs. However, the authors reported:

These results suggest that, while it may be possible to use a fake dog for the dog-to-dog subtest to assess friendly behavior toward other dogs, fearful and aggressive behaviors may not be consistent between the fake and real dogs, thus limiting the usefulness of the fake dog during behavior evaluations. In addition, the results of this study suggest more research is needed into the predictive validity of both fake and real dogs, since it appears the stimulus dog, whether fake or real, can influence the subtest's results.

Anastasia Shabelansky, Seana Dowling-Guyer, Hilary Quist, Sheila Segurson D’Arpino, Emily McCobb, Consistency of shelter dogs’ behavior toward a fake versus real stimulus dog during a behavior evaluation, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Volume 163, February 2015, Pages 158-166, ISSN 0168-1591, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2014.12.001 

Early-age spay/neuter doesn't increase risk of behavior problems in shelter cats

Does the age when you neuter a kitten affect the development of behavior problems? No, suggests a study published in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research.

The Winn Feline Foundation recently published a report on the study, finding no evidence that spay/neuter age in shelter cats increases the occurrence of undesirable behaviors including "inappropriate elimination, non-play-related aggression, fearful behavior, or destruction" during the 24 months after being adopted.

What did affect those behaviors, positively or otherwise, were owner and environmental factors such as "use of punishment by the owner, single cats, positive interaction with owner or family members, and so forth."

You can read the Winn report here; the article abstract can be read at the link below, where the full study can also be read by journal subscribers or it can be purchased.

Nathalie Porters, Hilde de Rooster, Katrien Verschueren, Ingeborgh Polis, Christel P.H. Moons, Development of behavior in adopted shelter kittens after gonadectomy performed at an early age or at a traditional age, Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, Volume 9, Issue 5, September–October 2014, Pages 196-206, ISSN 1558-7878, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2014.05.003.

Study: How to protect wildlife and cats through effective neuter-return practices

Animal lovers who care about both cats and wildlife don't have to choose between them, suggests a new study published in the peer-reviewed open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Experts in population modeling, wildlife conservation and cat protection collaborated on the research, which has led to the development of guidelines to humanely reduce the numbers of free-roaming cats, thus reducing pressure on bird and other wildlife populations without euthanizing cats.

Accompanying resources include a guide to practical applications of study findings in managing free-roaming cat populations, as well as guidelines for determining and monitoring cat population numbers to assess the impact of various interventions. 

Read the complete study, available in full for free here.

Also of interest:

Study: How a neuter-return program reduced intake and euthanasia at a municipal shelter

Study: How a neuter-return program reduced intake and euthanasia at a municipal shelter

Can busy municipal animal control agencies dramatically reduce the number of cats entering their shelters as well as euthanasia rates? A recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal PeerJ suggests they can.

In 2009, the municipal animal shelter in San Jose, CA, was seeing the number of cats coming into the facility increasing even though they had a longstanding low cost spay/neuter program. Despite attempts to ensure live outcomes for these cats, the numbers weren't good.

That's when they began sterilizing healthy feral cats who came into their shelter, and returning them to the locations where they'd been thriving. That added up to 10,080 cats out of the 11,423 they impounded.

What happened? Study authors Karen L. Johnson and Jon Cicirelli reported:

Four years into the program, researchers observed cat and kitten impounds decreased 29.1%; euthanasia decreased from over 70% of intakes in 2009, to 23% in 2014. Euthanasia in the shelter for Upper Respiratory Disease decreased 99%; dead cat pick up off the streets declined 20%. Dog impounds did not similarly decline over the four years. No other laws or program changes were implemented since the beginning of the program.

The complete article can be read, free, at the link below.

Johnson KL, Cicirelli J. (2014) Study of the effect on shelter cat intakes and euthanasia from a shelter neuter return project of 10,080 cats from March 2010 to June 2014. PeerJ 2:e646 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.646

Also of interest:

Making the Case for a Paradigm Shift in Community Cat Management, Part 2, a free webcast.

What animal shelters and spay/neuter clinics need to know about treating feline pain

Are shelters and spay/neuter clinics doing enough to control post-spay and other pain in cats?

Veterinary medicine has come a long way since the days when "animals don't feel pain" was a common belief. Even when pain was acknowledged in mammals, it was often seen as a form of restraint, as in, "A little pain will keep the pet quiet."

Today, we know that the sensation of pain itself inhibits healing and raises stress levels in animals, and that by preventing and treating pain aggressively, we promote faster recoveries and avoid many post-operative complications.

Recently, the Winn Feline Health Foundation published an overview of research and data on the pain medication buprenorphine, an opioid widely used in cats.

First, the good news: Yes, it works.

The bad news is that it doesn't work in the way, or as well as is generally believed.

1. How the drug is given matters. The gold standard of administering buprenorphine is the intravenous (IV) method. However, this requires IV access, which is not always available in a shelter setting, in a foster home or in emergency situations.

The next best method of administration is by intra-muscular (IM) injection.

Giving buprenorphine by subcutaneous (sub-Q) injection does not give reliable pain control.

Buprenorphine is often given by letting it be absorbed from under the tongue, known as oral-transmucosal administration (OTM). This has the advantage of being painless and relatively non-stressful to cats. Unfortunately, the literature review did not reveal good data supporting the pain-relieving effect of this method of administration, and it is not recommended to use this as the sole form of analgesia.

The authors suggest, "Cats who are going to receive OTM buprenorphine should be given a dose of a full agonist opioid or even injectable buprenorphine beforehand as premedication."

2. Buprenorphine takes longer to take effect, and lasts less time, than veterinary textbooks indicate. Time to pain relief with the most effective route, via IV, takes around 30-45 minutes, and while the drug is frequently given only once, that's just not enough.

For example, the article authors reported, "(C)ats undergoing ovariohysterectomy may require a second dose of buprenorphine 4 hours after surgery, especially if an NSAID had not also been given."

For that reason, they said, "cats receiving buprenorphine should be routinely reassessed for rescue analgesia needs after buprenorphine administration."

3. Giving buprenorphine with other drugs works best. As has been found in many studies of pain in humans and other animals, an approach known as "multi-modal" works best. This means giving two or more drugs, with different methods of action, to get better pain control.

In the case of buprenorphine, the authors conclude, "Optimal pain relief usually is obtained when buprenorphine is combined with an NSAID, loco-regional anesthesia, or both."

To read the complete article and view its citations, visit the Winn Feline Health Foundation blog.

Also of interest:

Good news about post-spay pain control for shelters, spay/neuter clinics

Cats and pain: Are we giving up on NSAIDs too easily?

Comparing two medications for post-spay pain control in cats

Can you clean your way out of a shelter ringworm outbreak?

If your shelter is facing a ringworm outbreak, it's easy to feel the fungus is saturating the entire building. The good news is that santitation is effective, beneficial and eminently practical for any shelter, thanks to a few key facts about the disease.

In a study recently published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, shelter ringworm experts Dr. Karen Moriello and and Dr. Sandra Newbury made these four important points:

1. Spores do not multiply in the environment.

2. Spores do not ‘invade’ building structures like mildew or black mold.

3. Daily removal of debris and organic material will minimize environmental contamination.

4. Control of environmental contamination minimizes problems with false-positive fungal culture results.

Want to know more?

Members of the International Society of Feline Medicine and the American Association of Feline Practitioners can download the entire article for free at the link below. Other readers can purchase the article at the same link.

Moriello, K; Newbury, S. Feline dermatophytosis: Steps for investigation of a suspected shelter outbreak; Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery May 2014 vol. 16 no. 5 407-418. doi: 10.1177/1098612X14530213

What you need to know about Blastocystis in shelter cats and dogs

Could the cats and dogs in your shelter have diarrhea due to an infection with the protozoan parasite Blastocystis?

Probably not, suggests a study funded by Maddie's Fund^® and conducted on both sheltered and owned pets in the Pacific Northwest.

In the study, researchers collected fecal samples from 103 shelter dogs, 105 shelter cats, 51 owned dogs and 52 owned cats.

While the shelter pets were much more likely than the owned pets to have Blastocystis in their stool, there was no correlation between that finding and the presence of diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.

The entire study is available at the link below.

Ruaux, Craig; Stang, Bernadette. "Prevalence of Blastocystis in Shelter-Resident and Client-Owned Companion Animals in the US Pacific Northwest," Sept. 16, 2014. PLOS ONE. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107496