Wednesday, March 27, 2019 by Laura Mullen, Shelter Medicine Outreach Manager, SFSPCA San Francisco, California

Audience: Executive Leadership, Shelter/Rescue Staff & Volunteers, Veterinary Team

Video Length: 64 Minutes

At many shelters, ringworm can lead to devastating consequences. However, it does not have to be - with proper protocols, it can be safely treated and cured. The San Francisco SPCA saves over 350 animals with ringworm every year. Wanting to do more, they created the SPORE (Shelters Preventing Outbreaks of Ringworm through Education) program in 2013 to teach others how to better detect, treat, and manage ringworm in their shelter.

For this session, Laura Mullen, Shelter Medicine Outreach Manager at the SFSPCA, will be outlining research-based protocols that are in use there and examine how those same concepts apply to a variety of different shelters and rescues. We will explore the use of volunteers and the community to help this type of program flourish in fanatically constrained environments, such as animal shelters.

We will also take a look at a new pilot foster program for ringworm animals called the Finishing School Foster Program that fosters out ringworm animals at the end of their treatment, freeing up space in the shelter to help more animals in need.

This webcast has been pre-approved for 1 hour of Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement.

Bio photo of Laura Mullen, smiling and holding a cat in a veterinary setting

About Laura Mullen

Laura started working at the San Francisco SPCA in 2001, enjoyed a variety of roles with in the Shelter Medicine Department, ranging from Veterinary Assistant to Foster Coordinator, and has now settled in the position of Shelter Medicine Outreach Programs Manager.

She is passionate about education and finding workable solutions within the shelter community. In 2012, Laura received a small grant from the SF SPCA board to start the SPORE Program that now saves over 350 animals with ringworm yearly. SPORE, Shelters Preventing Outbreaks of Ringworm through Education, is a program that teaches shelters how to better detect, treat and manage ringworm in the shelter setting.

Starting out her training locally, focusing on municipal shelters in the Bay Area, she soon discovered a niche that would help to save countless of innocent lives. With the help of Maddie's Fund®, more than 42 shelters from 19 different states have come to the SF SPCA to receive training from the SPORE Program, are currently treating ringworm at their facility, eliminating fear though education in their community and saving lives.