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Knocking the Snot Out of Feline URI: Saving Shelter Cats' Lives with Treatment and Prevention
September 2012
Feline upper respiratory infections are killers. The Association of Shelter Veterinarians list it as the number one health issue in shelters, where stress and close quarters provide the perfect conditions for both exposure and illness. Can shelters really beat URI? Can outbreaks be prevented, or once started, stopped?
Widely acknowledged as the country's leading expert on feline URI in shelters, Dr. Kate Hurley, Director of the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, says that yes, outbreaks can be prevented and stopped. Please join Maddie's InstituteSM and Dr. Hurley for a free webcast - Knocking the Snot Out of Feline URI: Saving Shelter Cats' Lives with Treatment and Prevention. The recorded version is available below.
Knocking the Snot Out of Feline URI is the first in a two-part series. In part two, Fixing the Feline Housing Crisis: How Shelter Housing Can Make Cats Sick - And What You Can Do About It, Dr. Sandra Newbury will discuss the role of housing and stress in controlling URI in the shelter feline population.
Attendees will learn:
- How common feline URI is in U.S. shelters
- An overview of the common pathogens that cause feline URI
- The natural history of feline calicivirus and herpesvirus
- URI differences in cats in homes and cats in shelters
- Virulent systemic feline calicivirus vs. other strains
- Strategies for treatment of feline URI
- Diagnosing URI in shelters
- How to prevent URI in shelter cats
Knocking the Snot Out of Feline URI: Saving Shelter Cats' Lives with Treatment and Prevention is part of an ongoing series of educational programs from Maddie's Institute, a program of Maddie's Fund®, the nation's leading funder of shelter medicine education. Maddie's Institute brings cutting edge shelter medicine information from universities and animal welfare leaders to shelter veterinarians, managers and staff as well as private practice veterinarians, rescue groups and community members to increase the lifesaving of homeless dogs and cats community-wide.
Maddie's Institute is pleased to be able to offer CE credit to veterinary professionals. In order to qualify for CE credit we ask that individuals attend and participate in the entire program. CE is also available for on-demand presentations, which have additional requirements.
This program was reviewed and approved by the AAVSB RACE program for 1 hour of continuing education in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE approval. Please contact the AAVSB RACE program if you have any comments/concerns regarding this program's validity or relevancy to the veterinary profession.
This course has been pre-approved for Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits.
About the Presenter:
Kate F. Hurley, DVM, MPVM
Dr. Kate Hurley is the Director of the University of California Davis (UC Davis) Koret Shelter Medicine Program, a position she has held since 2004. After graduation from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1999, Dr. Hurley worked as a shelter veterinarian in California and Wisconsin. She returned to UC Davis to undertake Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Residency and graduated as the world's first residency-trained shelter medicine specialist in 2004.
Dr. Hurley is a recognized leader in the field of shelter medicine. She assisted in developing guidelines for shelter animal vaccination in conjunction with the American Association of Feline Practitioners and the American Animal Hospital Association.
Dr. Hurley regularly speaks nationally and internationally on topics related to shelter animal health. In addition to publishing work in peer reviewed scientific journals, Dr. Hurley's writing appears regularly in popular publications for shelter and veterinary professionals. Dr. Hurley co-edited the textbook Infectious Disease Management in Animal Shelters, authored chapters for the textbooks Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff and Greene's Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat, and is a co-author of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians' Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters.