Animal Welfare Professionals

Updated 12/15/25 at 1:12 pm - Recording now available to watch on-demand!

Enter here for a chance to win the December Community Conversations giveaway after watching live or on-demand.

Please note: All views expressed on these calls are not necessarily endorsed by Maddie’s Fund.

We hope to see you on the next Maddie's Community Conversation on Monday, December 15, 2025 at 11am PT / 2pm ET  for "New Insights in Parvo Care" a conversation with Drs. @Chumkee Aziz, @Lucy Fuller, and @Biana Tamimi. 

This panel discussion will examine the use of Elanco's Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody (CPMA) therapy in animal shelter settings, featuring insights from veterinarians who have implemented CPMA on the ground in cats and dogs. Panelists will discuss the practical considerations, including resource allocation, staff training, and the impact of CPMA on high-risk populations. They will share real-world experiences with treatment protocols, decision-making around patient selection, and how CPMA fits into broader parvovirus management strategies. The session will emphasize key outcomes, lessons learned, and practical recommendations to support shelters considering this therapy.

This session is especially relevant for adoptions and foster staff & volunteers, veterinary professionals (vets, techs, support staff), and behavior staff & volunteers - but all are welcome! 

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• CPMA has the potential to shorten the treatment duration, which is especially valuable for the behavioral wellbeing of young animals.
• Early recognition of parvovirus is essential for initiating CPMA therapy promptly, which may lead to improved outcomes.
• Effective use of CPMA in shelters depends on clear protocols for patient selection, staff training, and workflow integration. 
• Using CPMA has shown a reduced shedding period in dogs infected with parvovirus, which ultimately ha shortened their length of stay.
• Case selection is important - this is not a miracle drug.

Don't forget! $10,000 in grants each month! Maddie's Fund will be giving away up to $10,000 in grants each month! You can enter for a chance to win each time you attend a call or watch it on demand during the month by completing the monthly giveaway drawing entry form. 

Register for Community Conversations hosted via Zoom. 

🧠 Got Topic or Speaker Suggestions?
We want to hear your ideas! If there's a topic you're curious about or a speaker you'd love to hear from, please share your suggestions with us on our Community Conversations Suggestions thread. 

Looking forward to being in community with you! 

#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

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Sheila Kouhkan
Senior Education Specialist
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Hi,

Thank you so much for hosting this! I wanted to see if you were able to share your risk assessment spreadsheet that you use for parvo exposure?

Thanks,

Jill Henke

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Jill Henke
------------------------------

Hi Jill, of course! Attaching our Risk Assessment (RA) template here. Let me know if you have any issues viewing it.

A few key points and parameters that we use to fill this out:

1. Dogs are added to the spreadsheet after reviewing their locations on our software system (ShelterBuddy) and connecting with other departments. Tracing their movement and which dogs they've been in contact with can take some time. Once you've done a few it'll get easier!
2. The "date diagnosed" is typically the date that we notice clinical signs (and we are pretty proactive about SNAP testing clinical dogs - the risk of transmission is high in our shelter since we have so many dogs).
3. The RA considers the pre-clinical shedding period to be 3 days. You can edit this based on your shelter's level of and comfort with risk.
4. The "RA Results" auto-calculates dogs to be "Low-Risk" if they were vaccinated at least 5 days before exposure (allowing 5 days to develop immunity). You can edit this too. Dogs that were vaccinated less than 5 days before exposure are considered "High-Risk."
5. If an animal has any indication of vaccine history (spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccine hx) we manually mark them as "Low Risk". 
6. The "RA Validated" field indicates that each individual animal's level of risk has been reviewed and the RA autocalculations checked. I usually review their records in more detail, and determine whether or not there is a meaningful level of exposure. 
7. The "BRC" is one of our receiving facilities that tends to have a higher risk of parvo, so you can disregard that :) 
8. We use this same RA template to manage our panleukopenia responses. 
9. This document is shared to all relevant shelter departments - especially helpful for our placement teams so they can keep working on moving low-risk dogs out. Also, moving high-risk animals into quarantine off-site (with adopters, rescues, foster) whenever possible.

Let me now if you have questions or need me to go over the nuances - it can be a little confusing! Feel free to develop it and make it your own.

Also, this ASPCA Pro parvo flow chart is pretty handy too and helps with the big picture response. 

Thanks!

-Biana

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Biana Tamimi
Director of Shelter Medicine
Animal Care Centers of NYC
NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-15-2025 11:53 AM
From: Jill Henke
Subject: Community Conversations - 12/15/2025 - New Insights in Parvo Care

Hi,

Thank you so much for hosting this! I wanted to see if you were able to share your risk assessment spreadsheet that you use for parvo exposure?

Thanks,

Jill Henke

------------------------------
Jill Henke
------------------------------

Thanks to our panelists, Drs. @Chumkee Aziz, @Lucy Fuller, @Biana Tamimi  - and everyone who joined us today! 

We would love to hear from you in response to today's reflection question: What challenges or barriers do you anticipate in integrating CPMA therapy into your shelter's parvo management?

------------------------------
Sheila Kouhkan
Senior Education Specialist
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Thanks to everyone for joining us at today's panel and thanks for Maddie's Fund for hosting us! 

I wanted to share a bit about post-CPMA use and vaccination protocols because CPMA can interfere with parvo vaccination:

CPMA is great for treating and preventing parvo, but it can get in the way of parvo vaccination for a while because the CPMA's passive antibodies can "soak up" the vaccine and blunt its response. The manufacturer's (Elanco) message is: assume CPMA can interfere with vaccines for several weeks and plan to extend a final DHPP shot so the puppy eventually mounts its own strong, lasting immunity.​

So what this means in practice: 

For puppies that were sick with parvo and treated with CPMA, continue or restart MLV DHPP as soon as they are clinically stable and out of isolation, using your usual post‑parvo vaccination protocol. The main goal here is distemper and other core pathogen coverage, because while recovery from natural parvo infection is expected to give them lifelong parvo immunity, does nothing for distemper.​

Because CPMA protects against parvo for a period of time but also blocks the parvo component of the DHPP vaccine from working for several weeks, the manufacturer recommends giving a final parvo shot (as an MLV DHPP shot) at least 17 weeks AFTER the CPMA injection so the drug has cleared and the puppy can ensure it builds active immunity.​ Again, this type of pup that was truly infected w/ parvo will likely have lasting immunity to parvo but this final DHPP shot is just to be extra safe.

If CPMA is used as prophylaxis in an exposed but not yet sick puppy, both maternally derived antibodies (MDA) and CPMA may interfere with vaccination for even longer. To be conservative, you can plan one "insurance" MLV DHPP dose about 24 weeks AFTER the CPMA dose so you are confident that both MDA and CPMA are out of the way and the vaccine can take.

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Chumkee Aziz, DVM, DABVP (Shelter Medicine Practice)
Outreach Veterinarian
UC Davis
------------------------------

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"We aren't in a position to treat parvo at all. High intake and many street dogs. What is your protocol when treating exposed littermates who are asymptomatic?" - @Jill Henke

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Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Hi Jill!  Generally, we treat high risk exposed littermates with the 0.1ml/kg dose and give the CPMA subcutaneously.   There is always a risk assessment in these cases, but that's what we've done for high risk animals.  (young, not fully vaccinated, heavily exposed). 

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Lucy Fuller
Chief Veterinary Officer
Charleston Animal Society
SC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-15-2025 12:38 PM
From: Community Conversations
Subject: Community Conversations - 12/15/2025 - New Insights in Parvo Care

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"We aren't in a position to treat parvo at all. High intake and many street dogs. What is your protocol when treating exposed littermates who are asymptomatic?" - @Jill Henke

------------------------------
Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Hi there!  We treat exposed littermates (so housed with a parvo positive dog) with CPMA at the preventative dose (which is half the typical dose and give subcutaneously).  This is, of course, if we have it in house!  I would use the CPMA if I felt that the dogs were high risk (young, not fully vaccinated, etc).  

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Lucy Fuller
Chief Veterinary Officer
Charleston Animal Society
SC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-15-2025 12:38 PM
From: Community Conversations
Subject: Community Conversations - 12/15/2025 - New Insights in Parvo Care

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"We aren't in a position to treat parvo at all. High intake and many street dogs. What is your protocol when treating exposed littermates who are asymptomatic?" - @Jill Henke

------------------------------
Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"How do you deal with isolation whyen your 100% foster?" - @Debby Taylor

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Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Hello!  I feel like isolation may be easier in foster care, although any dogs in-house could be exposed.  If a parvo positive dog needs to be hospitalized, then things can get more challenging, of course, but I always think it's ideal for a sick dog to be at home if possible.  It's a good reminder about why policies surrounding vaccination for owned dogs living in a foster home is so important!  

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Lucy Fuller
Chief Veterinary Officer
Charleston Animal Society
SC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-15-2025 12:39 PM
From: Community Conversations
Subject: Community Conversations - 12/15/2025 - New Insights in Parvo Care

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"How do you deal with isolation whyen your 100% foster?" - @Debby Taylor

------------------------------
Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"I'm curious how this integrates into foster programs or owner retention programs?" - @Allison Cardona (she/her/ella)

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Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Hi!  I feel like CPMA can be very useful in outpatient treatment programs, whether for fostered or owned animals.  For very sick animals, it can hopefully get them out of immediate danger more quickly and allow them to leave the hospital.  For some dogs, they may never get super sick and be able to be treated fully outpatient.  

------------------------------
Lucy Fuller
Chief Veterinary Officer
Charleston Animal Society
SC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-15-2025 12:39 PM
From: Community Conversations
Subject: Community Conversations - 12/15/2025 - New Insights in Parvo Care

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"I'm curious how this integrates into foster programs or owner retention programs?" - @Allison Cardona (she/her/ella)

------------------------------
Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"For CPMA use in cats with panleukopenia, do you use the same dose (0.2ml/kg) and route of administration (IV)?" - Thao Mai

------------------------------
Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Hello!  When we use CPMA for panleukopenia positive cats (symptomatic), we use it at 0.2ml/kg but we give it subcutaneously.  

Good luck!

------------------------------
Lucy Fuller
Chief Veterinary Officer
Charleston Animal Society
SC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-15-2025 12:40 PM
From: Community Conversations
Subject: Community Conversations - 12/15/2025 - New Insights in Parvo Care

Unanswered question from the chat: 

"For CPMA use in cats with panleukopenia, do you use the same dose (0.2ml/kg) and route of administration (IV)?" - Thao Mai

------------------------------
Community Conversations
Community Conversations Committee
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Thanks to the 106+ people and paws who joined us on today's Community Conversations call! The recording is now available to watch on-demand. Below you'll find a recap of today's call and the resources shared. 

Call Recap

Welcome from hosts

• Debra Olmedo, Director, Patitas y Palabras
• Sheila Kouhkan, Senior Education Specialist, Maddie's Fund
  
  

Question of the Day: What's one thing an animal has taught you this year?

National Updates

• The Cat Conference in January: Early Bird pricing for will be ending on Dec 25th if you want to get in for the discount. The line-up of speakers is awesome for 2026 and you can get all the details here.
• Check out the newly published HASS (Human Animal Support Services) Behavior Glossary: This tool was developed collaboratively in the behavior working group along with other trusted animal welfare professionals, behavior specialists, and veterinarians to provide clear, consistent definitions of common behavioral terms. Access it here. 
• Maddie's Community Conversations Giveaway:  Now you can enter for a chance to win up to  $10,000!  Enter here for a chance to win.  Open to all who are watching live or on-demand! Be sure to enter each week you attend! You must be registered in Maddie's Pet Forum to enter. 
• Maddie's Pet Forum Monthly Giveaway: Maddie's Fund® is giving away a $3,000 grant each month to one lucky Maddie's® Pet Forum member. You'll automatically be entered to win each month when you start a new discussion, reply to a new post.  https://maddies.fund/mpfmonthlygiveaway.
• We would love to hear from you! Have an idea for Maddie's Community Conversations? Interested in hosting? Have a topic or speaker you would like to hear from? Let us know on Maddie's Pet Forum via the Community Conversations Suggestions discussion thread. Or, you can contact us directly by emailing CommunityConversations@maddiesfund.org.
• The celebration continues on Maddie's Pet Forum! In honor of Maddie's Fund's 30th anniversary, we're giving away $1,000 every other month, for engaging on a special anniversary-related post on Maddie's Pet Forum beginning August 1, 2025. Simply comment on this thread during December & January and you will be entered to win. #ThanksToMaddie  

Presentation: New Insights in Parvo Care

• Panelists:
  • Dr. @Chumkee Aziz, Outreach Veterinarian, UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
  • Dr. @Lucy Fuller, Chief Veterinary Officer, Charleston Animal Society
  • Dr. @Biana Tamimi, Director of Shelter Medicine, NYC Animal Care & Control
• Resources:
  • Recently published article on CPMA use in shelter dogs and its efficacy
    
    

Highlights from the Chat

• Responses to question from Dr. Chumkee Aziz "How many folks have tried CPMA for parvo and, if you have, how you feel it's working and, if you haven't, what the reasons for that might be?" 
  • "My shelter has not used CPMA before. I am excited to learn more about it." - Shelly Joaquin
  • "Never used CPMA" - Nicole Poell
  • "We use the mono drug" - Kaila Rosenberger
  • "Hi! We are a non-contract agency with ~2200 intakes per year. We are not considered open admission. We have not used the mono drug at this time ultimately due to the expense." - Erika Skouby-Pratte
  • "Our biggest issues with CPMA has been with the cost of the medication and having a space to safely isolate the parvo dogs during treatment until they recover. We are a high-volume shelter that sees 3,000 to 8,000 dogs each year (and same number of cats)" - Aaron Walker
  • "We use with clinical signs and prophylactically" - MeLissa Webber
• "I really wanted to thank Maddie's Fund and this Community Conversation series for the Grant for November to us at SPCA Florida and the Florida State Animal Response Coalition!!! It will help us be able to send responders to assist communities in need of assistance. We focus on not only responding to requests for assistance but also training communities to provide emergency sheltering for pet and animals.  We are training the Oklahoma State Animal Response Team in February and also heading up to Georgia to train Good Mews Animal Foundation. Thank you Maddie's for supporting our mission!!! " - Jeremy Hillengas
• "Thank you for this informative topic! Happy Holidays to the Maddies' crew. See you in the New Year!" - Lisa Pearce
• "Thank you, this has been great!" - MeLissa Webber
• "Amazing perspectives from amazing vets!" - Lauren Overman

------------------------------
Sheila Kouhkan
Senior Education Specialist
Maddie's Fund
CA
------------------------------

Info about: full USDA approval of CPMA and questions regarding thawing and refreezing CPMA:

First,  CPMA also now has full USDA approval and a new brand name: Trutect (anivovetmab).

Second, I checked in with an Elanco vet re: the thawing / refreezing question for CPMA and wanted to share their written response below:

• Proper storage of CPMA is in a deep freezer or within the freezer box in a freezer portion of a fridge / freezer combination unit.
• To help with conversations where a customer has inadvertently stored a CPMA carton in a freezer (non-deep freezer) without the freezer box, there is a little more information:

• CPMA has undergone freeze / thaw testing.  This includes placing the product at ambient temperature for 20 minutes then refreezing.  This was repeated 10 times with no impact to product potency noted.
• Reminder that regular freezers (not deep freezers) undergo freeze / thaw cycles throughout the day resulting in CPMA storage temperature to be out of guidelines.  Every freezer has a different frequency of freeze / thaw cycles it undergoes, but in general it's 2-3 freeze / thaw cycles a day. 
• Reminder – freeze / thaw testing gives us information about product potency and does not include administering the product to animals.  While we can make conclusions regarding potency with this data, we can't speak to the safety or efficacy of improperly stored product.  That will be at the veterinarian's discretion if they want to utilize improperly stored product.

What it means in practice:

CPMA seems quite stable with repeated, short thaw/refreezing. Studies did not show loss of potency after 10 cycles of thaw/refreezing. The company is not relaxing the labeled storage reqs, though, bc typical clinic freezers fluctuate 2–3 times per day and that pattern is variable, so it is still considered off‑label storage.

The thaw/refreezing data only speak to potency, not to clinical safety or efficacy, so Elanco will not technically tell us that "improperly stored" product is safe or effective (though it is likely still potent); if a vial has been stored outside guidelines, veterinary discretion should be used to determine if the vial should be used or discarded.

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Chumkee Aziz, DVM, DABVP (Shelter Medicine Practice)
Outreach Veterinarian
UC Davis
------------------------------

Amazing!!  I'm so glad to have decisions validated by actual science!  

Also great to hear about the USDA approval.  

Thanks, Dr. Aziz!

------------------------------
Lucy Fuller
Chief Veterinary Officer
Charleston Animal Society
SC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-22-2025 10:49 AM
From: Chumkee Aziz
Subject: Community Conversations - 12/15/2025 - New Insights in Parvo Care

Info about: full USDA approval of CPMA and questions regarding thawing and refreezing CPMA:

First,  CPMA also now has full USDA approval and a new brand name: Trutect (anivovetmab).

Second, I checked in with an Elanco vet re: the thawing / refreezing question for CPMA and wanted to share their written response below:

• Proper storage of CPMA is in a deep freezer or within the freezer box in a freezer portion of a fridge / freezer combination unit.
• To help with conversations where a customer has inadvertently stored a CPMA carton in a freezer (non-deep freezer) without the freezer box, there is a little more information:

• CPMA has undergone freeze / thaw testing.  This includes placing the product at ambient temperature for 20 minutes then refreezing.  This was repeated 10 times with no impact to product potency noted.
• Reminder that regular freezers (not deep freezers) undergo freeze / thaw cycles throughout the day resulting in CPMA storage temperature to be out of guidelines.  Every freezer has a different frequency of freeze / thaw cycles it undergoes, but in general it's 2-3 freeze / thaw cycles a day. 
• Reminder – freeze / thaw testing gives us information about product potency and does not include administering the product to animals.  While we can make conclusions regarding potency with this data, we can't speak to the safety or efficacy of improperly stored product.  That will be at the veterinarian's discretion if they want to utilize improperly stored product.

What it means in practice:

CPMA seems quite stable with repeated, short thaw/refreezing. Studies did not show loss of potency after 10 cycles of thaw/refreezing. The company is not relaxing the labeled storage reqs, though, bc typical clinic freezers fluctuate 2–3 times per day and that pattern is variable, so it is still considered off‑label storage.

The thaw/refreezing data only speak to potency, not to clinical safety or efficacy, so Elanco will not technically tell us that "improperly stored" product is safe or effective (though it is likely still potent); if a vial has been stored outside guidelines, veterinary discretion should be used to determine if the vial should be used or discarded.

------------------------------
Chumkee Aziz, DVM, DABVP (Shelter Medicine Practice)
Outreach Veterinarian
UC Davis
------------------------------