Many animals enter shelters in poor health, malnourished, stressed and with no history of vaccination. Some animals will already be shedding various harmful pathogens, with or without showing any signs of disease. With all this disease around and so many opportunities for transmission, one might think that ubiquitous disease spread is nearly inevitable.
However, there is reason for hope. Even if infection control is less than perfect, we can support animals’ own immune response through attentive vaccination practices, daily monitoring, stress reduction, wholesome food and clean water, and other measures to support well-being.
Direct Links to Information Sheets
- Canine Influenza
- Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease Complex (CIRDC, a.k.a. “Kennel Cough”)
- Feline Calicivirus & Virulent Systemic Feline Calicivirus (VS-FCV)
- Feline Upper Respiratory Infection aka URI
Guidebooks
These guidebooks provide our most comprehensive and up-to-date information on topics vital to shelter medicine. You can read them online and download them in PDF and Epub formats.
- Canine Parvovirus (last updated August 2023)
- Feline Panleukopenia (last updated August 2023)
- Ringworm (last updated August 2023)