Video Length: 54:15
Listen in with expert kitten lifesavers as they answer questions about neonatal kitten care, including disease treatment and prevention.
This presentation was recorded by Maddie's Fund® at the 2020 American Pets Alive! Conference.
To download an Audio file for playback on mobile devices, right click the scrub bar below and select Save Audio As.
Rosemarie Crawford is a licensed veterinary technician who has worked in animal welfare for more than 15 years. She has experience in public and private shelters and in veterinary practices. As a medical staff member in a high-volume, open-access shelter in Illinois, Rosemarie worked closely with the shelter veterinarian to provide for the animals' medical and surgical needs. She assisted in developing and implementing progressive, proactive protocols for the care and treatment of kittens in the shelter's kitten nursery room as well as for those in foster care. Additionally, Rosemarie served in two shelters as the foster coordinator and understands the challenges of creating, expanding and maintaining a foster program as well as the rewards such a program can reap via the involvement of volunteers.
During times of disaster, she serves as an emergency responder with several national organizations to provide rescue, shelter, veterinary care and transport for affected animals. For many years, she also served as a volunteer instructor for Humane Society University, teaching extended workshops in the United States and Canada on Emergency Animal Sheltering, Disaster Animal Response and Animal First Aid. Prior to focusing her efforts on animal welfare, Rosemarie taught high school and college English for 10 years, and her passion for teaching comes through in the workshop presentations. Currently, she also works at a large, six-doctor veterinary practice in the greater Washington D.C. area and fosters neonatal, injured or debilitated kittens for several local shelters and rescue groups.
Casandra grew up in South Carolina and received a BA in Psychology from Clemson University. She moved to Austin in 2009 and promptly became a fixture in APA!'s Bottle Baby Program. She worked countless hours as a volunteer before becoming the neonatal ward manager for Austin Pets Alive! in 2011. Under her direction, APA!'s Bottle Baby program celebrated an unprecedented 90 percent save rate during the 2013 season. In her spare time, she enjoys being outside and hanging out with her two dogs and two cats - all APA! alumni.