Funded Projects

Veterinary School Projects

Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine


Project Start: September 1, 2005

Project Duration: Six years

Funding for Year One: $265,161

Total Funding: $1.7 million


Components:

Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program consists of residency training, veterinary student training, diagnostic and consultative support, and shelter medicine research. Two core shelters (the Tompkins County SPCA and the Humane Society of Rochester and Monroe County at Lollypop Farms) and two affiliated shelters (Pet Pride of New York, Inc., and Peace Plantation Animal Sanctuary) are included in the program.

Accomplishments:

Hired Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Resident, Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Clinician and Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Technician.


Veterinary Student Training

  • Taught two 16 hour courses for third and fourth year students: Issues and Preventive Medicine in Animal Shelters and Managing Infectious Diseases in Small Animal Populations.

  • Started Maddie's® Shelter Medicine/Community Practice Rounds (required of all students).

  • Initiated core visits to the Tompkins County SPCA (required of all first-year veterinary students).

  • Began monthly Maddie's® Brown Bag Discussions to familiarize students with animal welfare issues.

Shelter Support Service

  • Launched Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Website at http://www.vet.cornell.edu/maddiesfund

  • Designed a computer program to automate the generation of reports of annual and long-term intake/disposition data in the Tompkins County SPCA. This program will serve as a template for managing the data from two other shelters: Pet Pride of New York and the Peace Plantation.

  • Assisted in identifying the cause of an unknown respiratory disease outbreak at Lollypop Farm and made recommendations to control and prevent future outbreaks.

  • Implemented a surveillance system at core shelters to identify dogs with canine influenza.

Continuing Education

Presented over a dozen lectures on shelter medicine topics at regional veterinary conferences and animal welfare organizations.

Research

Collected cat stool samples from participating shelters to estimate the prevalence of parasites in cats who have been wormed at entry. The information will ultimately enable staff to make preventive medicine recommendations.