Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff

Lila Miller, Stephen Zawistowski, Lila Miller, Stephen Zawistowski

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780813819938
• eBook ISBN: 9781118445570
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Veterinary Medicine

Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff, Second Edition is the premier reference on shelter medicine. Divided into sections on management, species-specific animal husbandry, infectious disease, animal cruelty, shelter programs, behavior, and spay/neuter, the new edition has been reformatted in a more user-friendly design with briefer chapters and information cross-referenced between chapters. Maintaining a herd health approach, new and expanded chapters address issues of husbandry, infectious disease management, behavior forensics, population management, forensic toxicology, animal cruelty and hoarding, enrichment in shelters, spay/neuter, and shelter design.

Now in full color, this fully updated new edition delivers a vast array of knowledge necessary to provide appropriate and humane care for shelter animals. Veterinarians, veterinary technicians and shelter professionals will find this to be the go-to resource on the unique aspects of shelter medicine that help facilitate operating a modern, efficient, and humane shelter.

Section 1
Introduction

1

Introduction to Animal Sheltering

Stephen Zawistowski and Julie Morris

HISTORY

Animal shelters in America evolved from the livestock impounds that were found in colonial towns and villages. At that time, it was common for people living in a town or village to keep chickens for eggs, a goat or cow for milk, and a feeder pig to be fattened on kitchen scraps and then slaughtered to provide hams and bacon for the family. Animals who escaped their confinement near the family's home, or were found wandering on public property, would be rounded up by the community's poundmaster and taken to the impound. The impound would be fenced in and might have a shed. People searching for their missing beasts would come to the impound, and if they could identify their animal, they could pay an impoundment fine or fee and take their property home. The poundmasters kept any unclaimed animals for their personal use. They might keep the animals to feed their own family, or sell them to someone else. The poundmaster's income was based on the impound fees, and the money earned from the sale of these livestock, supplemented by the animals they kept for their own use (Zawistowski and Morris, 2004; Zawistowski, 2008). Companion animals, while present in many homes, occupied an awkward place in the culture (Grier, 2006). Wealthy families might have high-quality hunting dogs, or cherished lap dogs. Portraits from the era frequently show individuals and families posing with their prized companions. Grier's research also showed that families of lesser means also shared their lives with animal companions. However, companion animals did not enjoy the same protection afforded to livestock. The earliest laws to protect animals in America were meant to protect animals with value as property (Favre, 2003). This included livestock, but not dogs and cats. Just as they do today, dogs would stray from their homes. From time to time, the poundmaster would catch them and take them to the impound. If no one came to claim them and pay the required impoundment fee, the poundmaster faced a conundrum. Unlike the horses, cattle, pigs, or other livestock that came to the impound, it was unlikely that the poundmaster would be able to sell unclaimed dogs. And of course they were not likely candidates for the poundmaster's table. As a result, most of these stray dogs were killed. Depending on the skill and sensitivity of the poundmaster this could be a quick death or a prolonged and painful death. Clubbing, strangling, and drowning were common methods (Zawistowski, 2008).

As villages became towns, and towns became cities, it became less likely for people to keep their own livestock for meat, milk, and eggs. Stray dogs flourished in these cities, surviving on scraps, trash, and handouts. Reproduction was unfettered, and the poundmaster now found that stray dogs became their primary quarry. By now, the impound was known as the dog pound. Few dogs were claimed by owners or bought by people interested in having a pet. As a result, the poundmaster now had a substantial job finding an efficient way to kill dozens, if not hundreds, of dogs at a time. By 1870s, the pound in New York City resorted to drowning the unwanted animals in a large iron cage lowered into the East River. A century before the birth of the no-kill movement in America, strolling down to the river to watch stray dogs being drowned was an afternoon's diversion.

Dogcatchers of the era were despised, and not because they killed stray dogs. The men were still not paid a steady wage and continued to depend on redemption fees from people reclaiming their dogs at the shelter (Crossen, 2007). Their income depended on catching owned dogs and having people reclaim them. In time, the pound system evolved into a corrupted practice of kidnaping owned dogs and ransoming them back to their owners, while at the same time ignoring the many strays that plagued the city.

Slow change came to animal sheltering with the initiation of the American animal welfare movement (Lane and Zawistowski, 2008). Henry Bergh, a philanthropist and former diplomat learned of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in England, while returning from an assignment in St. Petersburg, Russia. He stopped in London and met with the Lord of Harrowby, the president of the RSPCA. When Bergh arrived back in New York City in 1865, he quickly set to work gathering support to establish a similar society in America. On April 10, 1866 his efforts were rewarded with a special charter from the State of New York for The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Bergh's initial efforts were directed toward protecting the many horses who worked in the streets of the city. However, the early records of the ASPCA offer numerous examples of Bergh's interventions on behalf of dogs and cats. These included pursuit of dogfighters, ragpickers who used dogs to pull their carts, and frequent criticism of the city dog pound. City officials called upon Bergh and the ASPCA to take over the management of the city pound several times over the years. Each time, however, Bergh declined. He was well acquainted with the politicians of his era, and he feared that they would fail to provide him with the resources required to run the pound in a successful and humane fashion, and at the same time imperiling the broader work of his fledgling society.

Bergh's influence rapidly expanded outside of his native New York City. Just 1 year after the founding of the ASPCA, a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCA) was formed in Erie County/Buffalo, NY, with former president Millard Fillmore chairing the meeting. Philadelphia and Boston followed in 1868. Bergh was in communication with founders of these organizations. He provided information on the ASPCA charter, an understanding of the mission and organization, and encouraged them to adopt the SPCA name. Dozens of additional SPCAs were created in the next decade. Bergh's society remained a model for these other organizations to emulate, but there was no formal relationship between the ASPCA and the many local and regional societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals that followed. As a result, early in the history of the American animal welfare movement the seeds were planted for a problem that persists to this time, the misconception that SPCAs are somehow organized under or linked to the ASPCA.1

Caroline Earle White was the founder of the Pennsylvania SPCA in 1868. Social convention of the era denied her a position on the board of directors for the PSPCA because she was a woman. She then formed a Woman's Auxiliary of the PSPCA. It was in this role that she led the Woman's Auxiliary in the development of the first humane animal shelter. They conceived and built the City Refuge for Lost and Suffering Animals. This facility accepted stray animals, provided food and medical care, and promoted the placement of these as pets into new homes. They confronted the question of what to do with animals that could not be placed by commissioning the development of a humane euthanasia chamber that used gas to asphyxiate the animals—a dramatic improvement over the practice of clubbing and drowning.

The next major development in animal sheltering followed Henry Bergh's death in 1888. While Bergh had not taken up New York City's offer to operate the city's public animal shelters, his successors at the ASPCA took up the task in 1894. As part of this arrangement, the city approved the requirement that dogs in New York City be licensed, and authorized the ASPCA to collect the $1.00 license fee, and use the funds to provide animal control services. The license income permitted the ASPCA to hire salaried workers and convert a warehouse into a holding kennel. Workers on salary no longer needed to depend on reclaim fees for their income. They were then able to concentrate on picking up stray dogs and cats from the city streets. In just 1 year, the ASPCA was praised for the performance of the transformed animal shelter system. This included the fact that the ASPCA-operated shelter captured and euthanized more dogs than the shelters had done in the previous years. It was indeed considered an important service to remove these nuisance dogs from the streets. The city fathers of Brooklyn, NY—Brooklyn was still an independent city at the time-–were so impressed with what they observed happening across the East River that they prevailed upon the ASPCA to step in and manage their animal shelter as well.

Many SPCAs around the country followed the example of both the Woman's SPCA and the ASPCA. Some would open charitable animal shelters that would take unwanted animals from the public, provide medical care, and make them available for adoption, or euthanize them if they were not adopted. Other societies would enter into relationships with city and town governments to provide animal-sheltering services. In still other communities, the local government owned and operated the animal shelter and provided the associated services. The current state of affairs in animal sheltering across the country remains a mix of these various models. In some places, SPCAs and humane societies continue to provide animal-sheltering services as charitable organizations. In other places, they may have service contracts with one or more city or town governments to provide some or all animal-sheltering services. These arrangements may include capturing stray animals, handling enforcement of animal-related regulations such as licensing and aggressive or dangerous dogs, cruelty investigations, sheltering animals, providing lost and found and animal adoption programs, public health functions such as holding animals for rabies observation, and euthanizing sick, injured, or unwanted animals. They may even provide spay/neuter services for shelter and privately owned pets. In some cases, the humane group may provide only part of these services. For example, the local government may cover the salaries of animal control officers who capture strays and handle regulatory enforcement, but may contract with a humane society to provide sheltering services. It is not uncommon to find that a community has both a government-operated animal shelter and one or more shelters operated by humane groups. All in all, it is a complicated state of affairs, and those interested in working with an animal shelter should take the time to understand the nature of its management, scope of services, and areas of responsibility.

In the years since Caroline Earle White pioneered the first humane animal shelter, there have been many advances in both methods and scope of services and programs, as evidenced by the breadth of topics covered in this text. The rest of this chapter will be a short introduction to some of the services and programs not covered elsewhere in the text, as well as some of the important issues that animal-sheltering organizations currently face.

SHELTER ORGANIZATIONS

As noted above, animal sheltering across the country evolved as an odd mix of organizations and circumstances. Many of the early humane groups developed in major urban areas such as New York City, Buffalo, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and others. Each of these organizations was founded by local community leaders and focused on the specific needs of their regions. In 1877, some of these leaders felt the need to coordinate their efforts in a more effective fashion. John G. Shortall of the Illinois Humane Society was the impetus behind a meeting of humane leaders that eventually lead to the formation of the American Humane Association (AHA). The early focus of AHA was the cross-country transport of livestock. Eventually, it would also address animal-sheltering issues. While originally conceived to be an umbrella organization for humane groups in the United States, this goal was never fully realized. Instead, AHA has established itself as a resource on animal welfare issues, including animal sheltering. Through publications, conferences, and educational outreach to the field, it provides a range of support services.

In the 1950s, a small group within AHA felt that the organization was becoming too focused on animal-sheltering issues and was not providing active leadership on other humane issues such as vivisection and hunting (Unti, 2004). In 1954, a small group led by Fred Myers formed the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). An early animal-sheltering focus for HSUS was the effort to combat “pound seizure,” where animal shelters were required to provide unclaimed dogs and cats to research laboratories. HSUS currently sponsors the largest annual conference for animal shelter professionals, Animal Care Expo, and publishes Animal Sheltering magazine; it also provides a variety of other educational and consulting services for local animal shelters.

The National Animal Control Association (NACA) represents professionals working in the animal control field, and the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators (SAWA) is composed of shelter professionals who work at a range of both nonprofit and government-run animal shelters. As evidence of the continued evolution of the animal-sheltering field and its development as a viable professional career, SAWA has developed the credential of Certified Animal Welfar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contributors
• Acknowledgment
• Introduction
• Section 1: Introduction
• Section 2: Husbandry
• Section 3: Infectious Disease
• Section 4: Animal Cruelty
• Section 5: Shelter Programs
• Section 6: Behavior
• Section 7: Spay/Neuter
• Appendix 1: Resources for Veterinary and Shelter Professionals
• Appendix 2: Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters
• Index