May 2014 by Katherine Polak, DVM, MPH, MS, DACVMP

Audience: Veterinary Team

Video Length: 69 minutes

Animal hoarders often accumulate animals in over-crowded conditions without adequate nutrition, sanitation and veterinary care. As a result, animals seized from hoarding situations frequently suffer from a variety of medical conditions including enteric and respiratory infections, retroviruses, dermatophytosis, malnutrition and other evidence of neglect. Dr. Katherine Polak explores the results from a retrospective study characterizing the infectious diseases carried by clinically affected cats from four large-scale cat hoarding investigations in this presentation given at the University of Florida's 7th Annual Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Conference.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify infectious disease prevalence rates in cats from hoarding investigations.
  • Learn how to prepare for the mass treatment of infectious disease in a temporary shelter.
  • Understand how to develop and implement protocols to prevent transmission of feline or zoonotic infections during the emergency response and when transferring rescued cats to other shelters or to adopters.

After viewing the presentation, click here to take the quiz and receive a Certificate of Attendance!

Bio photo of Dr. Katherine Polak smiling in a blue shirt, holding a brown and black dog

Katherine Polak, DVM

Dr. Katherine Polak is the Senior Resident in Shelter Medicine for Maddie's® Shelter medicine Program at the University of Florida. Her research and clinical interests focus on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, disaster response, international trap/neuter/return programs and feline infectious diseases. She graduated magna cum laude from Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and completed a shelter medicine and surgery internship at Colorado State University. She also has completed a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Iowa and is currently finishing a Master of Forensic Science degree from the University of Florida.