Animal Welfare Professionals

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Hi, April had asked in the chat about European guidelines/papers to point her vet to in order to have them vaccinate younger, I think it was? The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases has a two page summary doc showing the different recommendations for pet vs shelter which might help. https://www.abcdcatsvets.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TOOL_Vaccine-recommendations_Feb_2020_EN.pdf

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-21-2024 08:56 AM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Hi, April had asked in the chat about European guidelines/papers to point her vet to in order to have them vaccinate younger, I think it was? The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases has a two page summary doc showing the different recommendations for pet vs shelter which might help. https://www.abcdcatsvets.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TOOL_Vaccine-recommendations_Feb_2020_EN.pdf

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Hi Bettina,

Thanks for finding and sharing this!  I'll need to troll that connection more deeply for other things might be useful. 

I was really looking for the research to support the vaccine protocol recommended for high risk shelter and foster animals here in the US, as we seem to be far ahead of Europe on shelter care standards and management.  Certainly way ahead of anything I've encountered in the Balkan countries. 

I've already shared the recommended vaccine protocols of ASPCA,  Shelter Vets, etc, but just learned, after a year of supplying the vaccines and requesting they follow those protocols.  They abandoned those protocols because of criticism from local Montenegrin rescuers and vets.   When I asked why, our English-speaking vet said I hadn't shared the research, and nothing he had read of "western" vet med suggested that beginning at 4 weeks for kittens in a shelter situation was safe or effective.   God only knows how old the textbooks are that he uses!

Perhaps we'll cross paths at a conference one of these days?

Thanks again,

Hi, April had asked in the chat about European guidelines/papers to point her vet to in order to have them vaccinate younger, I think it was? The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases has a two page summary doc showing the different recommendations for pet vs shelter which might help. https://www.abcdcatsvets.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TOOL_Vaccine-recommendations_Feb_2020_EN.pdf

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Hi April 

If you dig around on  the ABCD website, the guidelines documents are well referenced, so within those ref lists you may find what you are looking for. The quick reference guide is drawn in part from the  guideline on Infectious diseases in shelter situations which also clearly states triple vaccination can start at 6 weeks. I guess it is possible that he is considering your foster with the 30 (was it?) kittens as an indoor cat situation rather than a shelter.  

The panleukopenia guidance is very clear in its section on shelters: "Kittens should be vaccinated beginning at 4 weeks of age in the face of an outbreak, otherwise at 6 weeks of age."

There is older research that shows the maternal derived antibodies (MDA) protection drop off point at 8-12 weeks, so that may also be what he has in mind.

If you look at Dawson et al. 2001 that work did find low to no MDA to FPV at  6 weeks. That same study also has some good evidence which you could show your vet, especially this paragraph [bold mine]:

" it was demonstrated that a significant proportion of kittens vaccinated with a trivalent vaccine at 6 weeks of age will respond to vaccination compared with unvaccinated controls, as assessed by the development of a serological response 3 weeks post-vaccination. Such early protection would be of benefit to kittens in a situation where they are likely to come into contact with the viruses prior to vaccination at 9 weeks, such as occurs in rescue shelters and breeding colonies. Further, both groups responded equally by the end of the study in that there was no significant difference in serological response between the early- and conventionally vaccinated groups at 12 and 15 weeks of age."

In Portugal, we are primarily driven by European guidelines of course. Our vets and partners are familiar with some of the US shelter management info, but some isn't directly applicable.

I don't think Europe is behind the US with respect to shelter care/management - but it is different with a lot of variation between countries, and that can be quite hard to get your head around [some of our volunteers who've moved here from the US struggle with the differences]. Northern Europe is generally excellent (and with a kitten shortage), southern/poorer not as good because there has been little funding available. Dutch shelters are ahead of the game (from what I've seen)! 

Hope to see you at a non-virtual conference some time!

Bettina

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2024 02:19 PM
From: April King
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi Bettina,

Thanks for finding and sharing this!  I'll need to troll that connection more deeply for other things might be useful. 

I was really looking for the research to support the vaccine protocol recommended for high risk shelter and foster animals here in the US, as we seem to be far ahead of Europe on shelter care standards and management.  Certainly way ahead of anything I've encountered in the Balkan countries. 

I've already shared the recommended vaccine protocols of ASPCA,  Shelter Vets, etc, but just learned, after a year of supplying the vaccines and requesting they follow those protocols.  They abandoned those protocols because of criticism from local Montenegrin rescuers and vets.   When I asked why, our English-speaking vet said I hadn't shared the research, and nothing he had read of "western" vet med suggested that beginning at 4 weeks for kittens in a shelter situation was safe or effective.   God only knows how old the textbooks are that he uses!

Perhaps we'll cross paths at a conference one of these days?

Thanks again,

------------------------------
April King
Volunteer and Board Member
Kotor Kitties
+1 206 407 5336
http://www.kotorkitties.org

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2024 11:07 PM
From: Bettina Vine
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi, April had asked in the chat about European guidelines/papers to point her vet to in order to have them vaccinate younger, I think it was? The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases has a two page summary doc showing the different recommendations for pet vs shelter which might help. https://www.abcdcatsvets.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TOOL_Vaccine-recommendations_Feb_2020_EN.pdf

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-21-2024 08:56 AM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Bettina and April,

I so appreciate this conversation that you are sharing  here on the thread.  Bettina shared some good research references that hopefully may help your vet to understand the recommendations for starting to vaccinate kittens in high risk environments (shelters, rescue, TNR, etc) starting at 4 weeks of age. If you haven't already please also check out the video I made describing some of the rationale behind why we make the recommendations we do for kittens (and puppies).  It's in the handout links for the webinar here.  Veterinary immunology textbooks would be another similar resource that would be more targeted to your veterinarian to help them explore the topic. This is a good one that I am familiar with (there are others):  Veterinary Immunology, Principles and Practice, Second Edition (Day and Schultz).

This article available online free provides some great foundational info about immunology in neonates and juvenile animals. Here are some key points that may speak to your vet's concerns about starting vaccination before 8 weeks of age.  

• puppies do not show active humoral immune responses (antibody production) until 2-4 weeks of age, so theoretically they cannot respond to infection OR vaccination prior to this time. 
• kittens have been studied far less than dogs, but it is believed to be similar to pups, 2-4 weeks of age is likely the earliest they can mount an active humoral immune response (antibodies), assuming there is no interference from maternally derived antibodies (MDA). "Colostrum-fed kittens have a window between 4 to 14 weeks, in which maternal antibody drops to nonprotective levels; however, it is still high enough to interfere with vaccination and the kitten's response to foreign antigens. Predicting when this window will occur and the precise time to vaccinate will be different in each individual animal, complicating vaccination in kittens."
• "Adverse reactions must always be considered when vaccinating a neonate or adult dog or cat; fortunately the most common side effect is protection against an infectious disease that could cause morbidity [sickness]  or mortality.... Because neonates often have a reduced immune response, it is thought they may be more protected from autoimmune reactions."

NOTE: this article recommends starting kitten vaccinations at 8 weeks of age. However, this is less about concern for safety/adverse reactions, and more about the authors' assumptions about how long maternally derived antibodies (MDA) are going to last in a kitten. In general, vaccine risks are very low while risks from infectious disease in a high risk setting (shelter, rescue, outdoor colony, etc)  are significant.  There is little research we can offer to back that other than point out if vaccinating pups or kittens before 8 weeks was risky we would have lots of research demonstrating that. Waiting until kittens are 8 weeks old before starting to vaccinate will increase the risk of infection IF exposure occurs in those kittens who don't have enough MDA to protect them or interfere with vaccination. Without titer testing, we don't know how many MDA an individual kitten has at any given time point. 

Hope this helps, and please let me know if you or your vet have additional questions. 

-Becky Stuntebeck

------------------------------
BeckyStuntebeckUCD Koret Shelter Medicine ProgramVeterinarian

Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2024 05:26 AM
From: Bettina Vine
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi April 

If you dig around on  the ABCD website, the guidelines documents are well referenced, so within those ref lists you may find what you are looking for. The quick reference guide is drawn in part from the  guideline on Infectious diseases in shelter situations which also clearly states triple vaccination can start at 6 weeks. I guess it is possible that he is considering your foster with the 30 (was it?) kittens as an indoor cat situation rather than a shelter.  

The panleukopenia guidance is very clear in its section on shelters: "Kittens should be vaccinated beginning at 4 weeks of age in the face of an outbreak, otherwise at 6 weeks of age."

There is older research that shows the maternal derived antibodies (MDA) protection drop off point at 8-12 weeks, so that may also be what he has in mind.

If you look at Dawson et al. 2001 that work did find low to no MDA to FPV at  6 weeks. That same study also has some good evidence which you could show your vet, especially this paragraph [bold mine]:

" it was demonstrated that a significant proportion of kittens vaccinated with a trivalent vaccine at 6 weeks of age will respond to vaccination compared with unvaccinated controls, as assessed by the development of a serological response 3 weeks post-vaccination. Such early protection would be of benefit to kittens in a situation where they are likely to come into contact with the viruses prior to vaccination at 9 weeks, such as occurs in rescue shelters and breeding colonies. Further, both groups responded equally by the end of the study in that there was no significant difference in serological response between the early- and conventionally vaccinated groups at 12 and 15 weeks of age."

In Portugal, we are primarily driven by European guidelines of course. Our vets and partners are familiar with some of the US shelter management info, but some isn't directly applicable.

I don't think Europe is behind the US with respect to shelter care/management - but it is different with a lot of variation between countries, and that can be quite hard to get your head around [some of our volunteers who've moved here from the US struggle with the differences]. Northern Europe is generally excellent (and with a kitten shortage), southern/poorer not as good because there has been little funding available. Dutch shelters are ahead of the game (from what I've seen)! 

Hope to see you at a non-virtual conference some time!

Bettina

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2024 02:19 PM
From: April King
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi Bettina,

Thanks for finding and sharing this!  I'll need to troll that connection more deeply for other things might be useful. 

I was really looking for the research to support the vaccine protocol recommended for high risk shelter and foster animals here in the US, as we seem to be far ahead of Europe on shelter care standards and management.  Certainly way ahead of anything I've encountered in the Balkan countries. 

I've already shared the recommended vaccine protocols of ASPCA,  Shelter Vets, etc, but just learned, after a year of supplying the vaccines and requesting they follow those protocols.  They abandoned those protocols because of criticism from local Montenegrin rescuers and vets.   When I asked why, our English-speaking vet said I hadn't shared the research, and nothing he had read of "western" vet med suggested that beginning at 4 weeks for kittens in a shelter situation was safe or effective.   God only knows how old the textbooks are that he uses!

Perhaps we'll cross paths at a conference one of these days?

Thanks again,

------------------------------
April King
Volunteer and Board Member
Kotor Kitties
+1 206 407 5336
http://www.kotorkitties.org

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2024 11:07 PM
From: Bettina Vine
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi, April had asked in the chat about European guidelines/papers to point her vet to in order to have them vaccinate younger, I think it was? The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases has a two page summary doc showing the different recommendations for pet vs shelter which might help. https://www.abcdcatsvets.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TOOL_Vaccine-recommendations_Feb_2020_EN.pdf

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-21-2024 08:56 AM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Bettina and April,

I so appreciate this conversation that you are sharing  here on the thread.  Bettina shared some good research references that hopefully may help your vet to understand the recommendations for starting to vaccinate kittens in high risk environments (shelters, rescue, TNR, etc) starting at 4 weeks of age. If you haven't already please also check out the video I made describing some of the rationale behind why we make the recommendations we do for kittens (and puppies).  It's in the handout links for the webinar here.  Veterinary immunology textbooks would be another similar resource that would be more targeted to your veterinarian to help them explore the topic. This is a good one that I am familiar with (there are others):  Veterinary Immunology, Principles and Practice, Second Edition (Day and Schultz).

This article available online free provides some great foundational info about immunology in neonates and juvenile animals. Here are some key points that may speak to your vet's concerns about starting vaccination before 8 weeks of age.  

• puppies do not show active humoral immune responses (antibody production) until 2-4 weeks of age, so theoretically they cannot respond to infection OR vaccination prior to this time. 
• kittens have been studied far less than dogs, but it is believed to be similar to pups, 2-4 weeks of age is likely the earliest they can mount an active humoral immune response (antibodies), assuming there is no interference from maternally derived antibodies (MDA). "Colostrum-fed kittens have a window between 4 to 14 weeks, in which maternal antibody drops to nonprotective levels; however, it is still high enough to interfere with vaccination and the kitten's response to foreign antigens. Predicting when this window will occur and the precise time to vaccinate will be different in each individual animal, complicating vaccination in kittens."
• "Adverse reactions must always be considered when vaccinating a neonate or adult dog or cat; fortunately the most common side effect is protection against an infectious disease that could cause morbidity [sickness]  or mortality.... Because neonates often have a reduced immune response, it is thought they may be more protected from autoimmune reactions."

NOTE: this article recommends starting kitten vaccinations at 8 weeks of age. However, this is less about concern for safety/adverse reactions, and more about the authors' assumptions about how long maternally derived antibodies (MDA) are going to last in a kitten. In general, vaccine risks are very low while risks from infectious disease in a high risk setting (shelter, rescue, outdoor colony, etc)  are significant.  There is little research we can offer to back that other than point out if vaccinating pups or kittens before 8 weeks was risky we would have lots of research demonstrating that. Waiting until kittens are 8 weeks old before starting to vaccinate will increase the risk of infection IF exposure occurs in those kittens who don't have enough MDA to protect them or interfere with vaccination. Without titer testing, we don't know how many MDA an individual kitten has at any given time point. 

Hope this helps, and please let me know if you or your vet have additional questions. 

-Becky Stuntebeck

------------------------------
BeckyStuntebeckUCD Koret Shelter Medicine ProgramVeterinarian

Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2024 05:26 AM
From: Bettina Vine
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi April 

If you dig around on  the ABCD website, the guidelines documents are well referenced, so within those ref lists you may find what you are looking for. The quick reference guide is drawn in part from the  guideline on Infectious diseases in shelter situations which also clearly states triple vaccination can start at 6 weeks. I guess it is possible that he is considering your foster with the 30 (was it?) kittens as an indoor cat situation rather than a shelter.  

The panleukopenia guidance is very clear in its section on shelters: "Kittens should be vaccinated beginning at 4 weeks of age in the face of an outbreak, otherwise at 6 weeks of age."

There is older research that shows the maternal derived antibodies (MDA) protection drop off point at 8-12 weeks, so that may also be what he has in mind.

If you look at Dawson et al. 2001 that work did find low to no MDA to FPV at  6 weeks. That same study also has some good evidence which you could show your vet, especially this paragraph [bold mine]:

" it was demonstrated that a significant proportion of kittens vaccinated with a trivalent vaccine at 6 weeks of age will respond to vaccination compared with unvaccinated controls, as assessed by the development of a serological response 3 weeks post-vaccination. Such early protection would be of benefit to kittens in a situation where they are likely to come into contact with the viruses prior to vaccination at 9 weeks, such as occurs in rescue shelters and breeding colonies. Further, both groups responded equally by the end of the study in that there was no significant difference in serological response between the early- and conventionally vaccinated groups at 12 and 15 weeks of age."

In Portugal, we are primarily driven by European guidelines of course. Our vets and partners are familiar with some of the US shelter management info, but some isn't directly applicable.

I don't think Europe is behind the US with respect to shelter care/management - but it is different with a lot of variation between countries, and that can be quite hard to get your head around [some of our volunteers who've moved here from the US struggle with the differences]. Northern Europe is generally excellent (and with a kitten shortage), southern/poorer not as good because there has been little funding available. Dutch shelters are ahead of the game (from what I've seen)! 

Hope to see you at a non-virtual conference some time!

Bettina

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2024 02:19 PM
From: April King
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi Bettina,

Thanks for finding and sharing this!  I'll need to troll that connection more deeply for other things might be useful. 

I was really looking for the research to support the vaccine protocol recommended for high risk shelter and foster animals here in the US, as we seem to be far ahead of Europe on shelter care standards and management.  Certainly way ahead of anything I've encountered in the Balkan countries. 

I've already shared the recommended vaccine protocols of ASPCA,  Shelter Vets, etc, but just learned, after a year of supplying the vaccines and requesting they follow those protocols.  They abandoned those protocols because of criticism from local Montenegrin rescuers and vets.   When I asked why, our English-speaking vet said I hadn't shared the research, and nothing he had read of "western" vet med suggested that beginning at 4 weeks for kittens in a shelter situation was safe or effective.   God only knows how old the textbooks are that he uses!

Perhaps we'll cross paths at a conference one of these days?

Thanks again,

------------------------------
April King
Volunteer and Board Member
Kotor Kitties
+1 206 407 5336
http://www.kotorkitties.org

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2024 11:07 PM
From: Bettina Vine
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi, April had asked in the chat about European guidelines/papers to point her vet to in order to have them vaccinate younger, I think it was? The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases has a two page summary doc showing the different recommendations for pet vs shelter which might help. https://www.abcdcatsvets.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TOOL_Vaccine-recommendations_Feb_2020_EN.pdf

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-21-2024 08:56 AM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Thanks very much for all the help on this!  That video, in particular, will really help the rescuers to understand the benefits of the vaccination protocol recommended for shelters and high-risk kitten populations.  I assume it's OK to share it?  I think we have the resources to translate it as well, but I will contact you privately about that.

When we started our High Volume Spay Neuter  and Trap-Neuter-Return program in 22018, Montenegrin vets didn't usually recommend sterilization to their clients (many still are silent on it unless asked directly).  And they recommended waiting until 8 - 12 months of age to sterilize kittens.  That is gradually changing.  Now we're working hard to address the "High Quality" portion of HVHQSN.   

I'm happy to say that Kotor Kitties has brought a big change in how Montenegro sees and addresses the issues of community cats, spay-neuter, and acceptance of cats as household pets.  Our greatest needs are for steady funding and modernization of the vet school programs to address small animals, particularly community animals.

Thanks again!

Bettina and April,

I so appreciate this conversation that you are sharing  here on the thread.  Bettina shared some good research references that hopefully may help your vet to understand the recommendations for starting to vaccinate kittens in high risk environments (shelters, rescue, TNR, etc) starting at 4 weeks of age. If you haven't already please also check out the video I made describing some of the rationale behind why we make the recommendations we do for kittens (and puppies).  It's in the handout links for the webinar here.  Veterinary immunology textbooks would be another similar resource that would be more targeted to your veterinarian to help them explore the topic. This is a good one that I am familiar with (there are others):  Veterinary Immunology, Principles and Practice, Second Edition (Day and Schultz).

This article available online free provides some great foundational info about immunology in neonates and juvenile animals. Here are some key points that may speak to your vet's concerns about starting vaccination before 8 weeks of age.  

• puppies do not show active humoral immune responses (antibody production) until 2-4 weeks of age, so theoretically they cannot respond to infection OR vaccination prior to this time. 
• kittens have been studied far less than dogs, but it is believed to be similar to pups, 2-4 weeks of age is likely the earliest they can mount an active humoral immune response (antibodies), assuming there is no interference from maternally derived antibodies (MDA). "Colostrum-fed kittens have a window between 4 to 14 weeks, in which maternal antibody drops to nonprotective levels; however, it is still high enough to interfere with vaccination and the kitten's response to foreign antigens. Predicting when this window will occur and the precise time to vaccinate will be different in each individual animal, complicating vaccination in kittens."
• "Adverse reactions must always be considered when vaccinating a neonate or adult dog or cat; fortunately the most common side effect is protection against an infectious disease that could cause morbidity [sickness]  or mortality.... Because neonates often have a reduced immune response, it is thought they may be more protected from autoimmune reactions."

NOTE: this article recommends starting kitten vaccinations at 8 weeks of age. However, this is less about concern for safety/adverse reactions, and more about the authors' assumptions about how long maternally derived antibodies (MDA) are going to last in a kitten. In general, vaccine risks are very low while risks from infectious disease in a high risk setting (shelter, rescue, outdoor colony, etc)  are significant.  There is little research we can offer to back that other than point out if vaccinating pups or kittens before 8 weeks was risky we would have lots of research demonstrating that. Waiting until kittens are 8 weeks old before starting to vaccinate will increase the risk of infection IF exposure occurs in those kittens who don't have enough MDA to protect them or interfere with vaccination. Without titer testing, we don't know how many MDA an individual kitten has at any given time point. 

Hope this helps, and please let me know if you or your vet have additional questions. 

-Becky Stuntebeck

------------------------------
BeckyStuntebeckUCD Koret Shelter Medicine ProgramVeterinarian

Original Message:
Sent: 08-25-2024 05:26 AM
From: Bettina Vine
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi April 

If you dig around on  the ABCD website, the guidelines documents are well referenced, so within those ref lists you may find what you are looking for. The quick reference guide is drawn in part from the  guideline on Infectious diseases in shelter situations which also clearly states triple vaccination can start at 6 weeks. I guess it is possible that he is considering your foster with the 30 (was it?) kittens as an indoor cat situation rather than a shelter.  

The panleukopenia guidance is very clear in its section on shelters: "Kittens should be vaccinated beginning at 4 weeks of age in the face of an outbreak, otherwise at 6 weeks of age."

There is older research that shows the maternal derived antibodies (MDA) protection drop off point at 8-12 weeks, so that may also be what he has in mind.

If you look at Dawson et al. 2001 that work did find low to no MDA to FPV at  6 weeks. That same study also has some good evidence which you could show your vet, especially this paragraph [bold mine]:

" it was demonstrated that a significant proportion of kittens vaccinated with a trivalent vaccine at 6 weeks of age will respond to vaccination compared with unvaccinated controls, as assessed by the development of a serological response 3 weeks post-vaccination. Such early protection would be of benefit to kittens in a situation where they are likely to come into contact with the viruses prior to vaccination at 9 weeks, such as occurs in rescue shelters and breeding colonies. Further, both groups responded equally by the end of the study in that there was no significant difference in serological response between the early- and conventionally vaccinated groups at 12 and 15 weeks of age."

In Portugal, we are primarily driven by European guidelines of course. Our vets and partners are familiar with some of the US shelter management info, but some isn't directly applicable.

I don't think Europe is behind the US with respect to shelter care/management - but it is different with a lot of variation between countries, and that can be quite hard to get your head around [some of our volunteers who've moved here from the US struggle with the differences]. Northern Europe is generally excellent (and with a kitten shortage), southern/poorer not as good because there has been little funding available. Dutch shelters are ahead of the game (from what I've seen)! 

Hope to see you at a non-virtual conference some time!

Bettina

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2024 02:19 PM
From: April King
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi Bettina,

Thanks for finding and sharing this!  I'll need to troll that connection more deeply for other things might be useful. 

I was really looking for the research to support the vaccine protocol recommended for high risk shelter and foster animals here in the US, as we seem to be far ahead of Europe on shelter care standards and management.  Certainly way ahead of anything I've encountered in the Balkan countries. 

I've already shared the recommended vaccine protocols of ASPCA,  Shelter Vets, etc, but just learned, after a year of supplying the vaccines and requesting they follow those protocols.  They abandoned those protocols because of criticism from local Montenegrin rescuers and vets.   When I asked why, our English-speaking vet said I hadn't shared the research, and nothing he had read of "western" vet med suggested that beginning at 4 weeks for kittens in a shelter situation was safe or effective.   God only knows how old the textbooks are that he uses!

Perhaps we'll cross paths at a conference one of these days?

Thanks again,

------------------------------
April King
Volunteer and Board Member
Kotor Kitties
+1 206 407 5336
http://www.kotorkitties.org

Original Message:
Sent: 08-22-2024 11:07 PM
From: Bettina Vine
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Hi, April had asked in the chat about European guidelines/papers to point her vet to in order to have them vaccinate younger, I think it was? The European Advisory Board on Cat Diseases has a two page summary doc showing the different recommendations for pet vs shelter which might help. https://www.abcdcatsvets.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TOOL_Vaccine-recommendations_Feb_2020_EN.pdf

------------------------------
Bettina Vine
Animal Health Director
The Kitten Connection
Peniche, Portugal

Original Message:
Sent: 08-21-2024 08:56 AM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Here are answers to questions we didn't get to during the webcast, thanks to Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck (more to come):

Q: Is there anything we can use to screen kittens upon intake?

 A: We do not recommend using point-of-care (e.g. Idexx SNAP test) or PCR tests on animals who otherwise appear healthy. Performing intake exams at time of intake by trained personnel can be a reliable way to look for suspect animals- kittens who appear ill or unthrifty in addition to providing optimal preventative care such as FVRCP vaccination and parasite treatment. These can be trained kennel staff who have learned what signs to report to a supervisor or medical staff. Beyond admission, daily health monitoring combined with an efficient system for flagging concerns for further review is the best way to detect clinical signs early. 

Q: How long should newly admitted cats or kittens be quarantined after intake?

 A: Intake quarantines may be useful for animals coming from very high risk situations- known exposure, or perhaps another shelter that routinely has cases of shelter-acquired disease in their population, but they should not be used for all incoming animals. 

 Instead, prioritize intake screening to look for signs of illness and continue to monitor daily to address new concerns as they arise. Minimizing the amount of time spent in a high risk environment is the safest way to reduce infectious disease risks. So instead of intake quarantines, consider using Open Selection for animals that appear healthy at intake. 

Q: How long should cats or kittens with known exposure (e.g. a littermate is diagnosed,  transported from a high risk source shelter, etc) be quarantined before proceeding with vaccinations, spay/neuter, adoption, etc?

 A: For any infectious disease, a quarantine period is usually the length of that disease's incubation period. For parvovirus (including feline panleukopenia) this is considered 14 days. However, very few animals break with signs more than 10 days after infection, so a 10 day quarantine is likely to be a reasonably safe choice. 

 In order for a quarantine to be effective and safe for the overall cat population as well as the animals being quarantined, new exposure must be prevented, so when possible, placement in a low risk environment (e.g. a foster home without other foster cats) is ideal. 

TWO very important additional considerations: 

1. While you may delay performing a neuter or releasing a kitten for adoption until they are past a quarantine period, do not delay preventative care, in particular vaccination for cats or kittens being quarantined.

2. Quarantine can sometimes be reduced or avoided. Remember that using a risk assessment chart like the one in this handout can help limit which animals are at risk if exposed, AND, titer testing is an alternative option to an automatic quarantine. Kittens who have a protective titer at time of exposure are low risk and should be moved along, no need for a quarantine. 

Q: What about titers in kittens <16-20 weeks since that titer may be from maternal antibodies? Still move them out?

 A: A titer is a measurement of the number of antibodies at a snapshot in time. If the kitten has a protective titer at the time of exposure (whether the antibodies measured are short-lived maternally derived (MDA) or represent an active immune response) they can be considered low-risk at this point in time. But, because these may be MDA, the titer may be transient, so it is still essential that kittens be moved out of the high-risk environment (via rehoming, RTF, etc) as soon as possible. 

 Though availability can vary at times, we have provided information about some titer testing options in our handout here.

Q: Our shelter uses dog parvo tests to determine if a cat/kitten has Panleuk. How accurate are the results? 

 A: There are no feline specific point of care (POC) parvo tests available in the US at this time, and the accuracy of each test varies from one brand to another. There is a nice research paper published in 2008 that compares testing in cats between a number of POC tests. In general parvo tests are very specific and much less sensitive. This means that if the test is positive it is likely to be a true positive, while a negative test is less likely to be a true negative. Contact the company that makes the test you use if you'd more details about the specific brand of test you are using. 

Q: Does FVRCP vaccination interfere with snap or PCR parvo testing? Will we get positive tests after vaccination making interpretation of testing difficult? How should we interpret faint positive tests?

 A: If you have an animal with consistent clinical signs who is testing positive, assume they are infected and handle accordingly. 

Technically a recently vaccinated cat or kitten who was not vaccinated or infected can produce a positive test result on a point of care test (e.g. SNAP) or on PCR for a period of time following vaccination. This is one reason why testing should not be used to screen animals who appear healthy. PCR is very sensitive and very likely to be positive due to recent vaccination. With additional sequencing it is possible to differentiate between virus strain and field strains of virus but this is not regularly available. 

This open access research paper from 2021 looked at post-vaccinal shedding in healthy shelter cats as detected by a SNAP tests and qPCR testing. 

• One hundred and sixty-five fecal samples from 37 cats were included in the study.

• Only one sample from one kitten was positive on the SNAP test on day 7 after intake

• PCR testing is much more likely to detect viral DNA compared to the SNAP test (8 of 37 cats had a positive PCR test) but in nearly all cases only on day 7 following vaccination (tests were done on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 following vaccination)

• Conclusion: Trust a positive test result in an animal with clinical signs of panleukopenia.

A second paper by this same group of authors in 2021 compared SNAP test results (including weak positives) to PCR results in clinically ill cats.  They concluded that "Positive fecal SNAP test results, including weak positives, are highly likely to be true positives in clinically affected animals."

Q: Talking to another vet, they don't recommend testing sick kittens if they are not having diarrhea. This is contrary to what I have done, as I test when they are sick whether they have diarrhea or not. Am I over testing?

 A: Many cats and kittens with panleukopenia will not have diarrhea, or the diarrhea may be transient. It is reasonable and appropriate to test cats and kittens without diarrhea even if they do not have diarrhea. Clinical signs can include (but are not limited to): 

• Sudden death or deterioration

• "Fading kitten" or weight loss in neonates

• Fever

• Anorexia

• Lethargy

• Vomiting

• Dehydration

• Diarrhea

• etc.

Q: Are there any updates for treatment of cats/kittens with panleukopenia?

 A:  Unfortunately there remains a lack of evidence specific to cats, but we can apply learnings from studies in dogs with parvo. The best treatment we know remains aggressive supportive medical care, which includes

• Hydration support 

• Antibiotics to control secondary bacterial infection

• Control of vomiting

• Encouragement of eating

• Pain management

 Which specific medications to give or routes of administration are selected are best decided in consultation with a veterinarian. However, whether the animal is hospitalized vs receiving outpatient care is an important consideration. It's also important to avoid oral medications until GI signs are resolving (no more vomiting, interest in eating, etc). 

Other treatments that some individuals report success with are listed below, but at this point in time we don't have enough evidence to recommend them as a routine part of treatment.  

• Vaccination- no treatment value in an animal who is already infected

• Tamiflu (Oseltamivir)- In addition to lacking evidence of efficacy, Tamiflu is NOT RECOMMENDED due to the public health need to preserve its efficacy for humans at high-risk of severe disease/death from flu infection.

• Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody- no data yet about efficacy (does it work), dose, safety. 

• Neupogen (filgrastim)- a human medication that is used to stimulate production of white blood cells. Limited evidence from small case reports suggests it may be helpful but very expensive; unknown efficacy, dose, safety data. 

• Recombinant feline interferon-ω- published reports show minimal to no value.

• Passive immunization by serum transfusion- can provide transient protection from infection PRIOR to exposure (no treatment value)  but complicates efficacy of later vaccination. Consider risks of disease transmission from donor cat. 

• Other nutraceuticals, natural remedies, etc. - nothing that we know of. 
  
  

Q: Which disinfectants are effective against panleukopenia virus?

A: There are several disinfectants that show good efficacy against parvoviruses in general (including FPV). However, keep in mind that shelf life, appropriate dilution, contact time, and a thorough sanitation process that involves many important steps other than disinfection all play a role in helping to decontaminate surfaces. Additionally, some disinfectants, while effective against parvovirus, are readily inactivated (e.g. bleach solution), so ease of effective use should also be considered. 

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) ARE NOT effective, despite having names like "Parvosol," "Parvocide," etc, and also run the risk of toxicity to cats. If you are not sure what type of disinfectant you have, take a look at the active ingredient list. It is a QAC if any of the chemicals have "onium" in the name: Benzalkonium chloride, Alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, Dodecyl didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), etc.

Effective disinfectant products include: 

• Accelerated hydrogen peroxide (e.g. Rescue, Prevail)

• Sodium or calcium Hypochlorite (e.g. bleach solution, Wysiwash)

• Potassium Peroxymonosulfate  (e.g. Trifectant, Virkon)
  
  

This handy chart from ASPCA compares disinfectants and provides considerations for effective use such as shelf life, dilution, and appropriate contact time. 

 A note about efficacy: few (if any) chemical disinfectants have been specifically tested against feline panleukopenia virus. Instead, efficacy is extrapolated from experiments testing them  against other similar viruses (non-enveloped), such as other parvoviruses, norovirus, etc. 

Q: How effective is steam cleaning or other high temperatures (such as a vehicle on a sunny day)?

A:  Unfortunately we can't say for sure. What we do know is that parvo can persist longer in the environment in cooler (and wetter) conditions. One reference states that application of heat >75 C (167F) can be effective, but this may not be achievable/safe in routine steam cleaning processes. 

In a foster home setting with surfaces that can be difficult to clean and disinfect, use of steam cleaning with use of a disinfectant such as accelerated hydrogen peroxide are likely to reduce risks but MUST be accompanied by thorough drying prior to arrival of new animals. 

Q: Is hand sanitizer appropriate to reduce spread when handling lots of different animals? If not, what is recommended?

A: No, hand sanitizer should not be relied upon to decontaminate hands where panleukopenia is a concern. Thorough handwashing with soap is much more effective, washing away organic material that the virus may be hitching a ride on. Another option where frequent hand washing is not possible is to wear medical gloves that are changed between different animals. 

Q: How long should a foster home wait before bringing in new kittens after they have had a cat with panleukopenia?

 A: Parvoviruses are hardy and can last months or even years, but a thorough sanitation process that includes thorough cleaning, disinfection, and drying is likely to dramatically reduce the risk to future foster cats. Consider carefully whether the welfare and exposure risks to a kitten are higher in a foster home that previously had panleukopenia compared to staying longer in shelter care. 

 Rather than losing a good foster home for any time period, focus on performing a deep cleaning process based on basic sanitation principles (important between groups of kittens even without occurrence of panleukopenia) to the extent possible, and supporting fosters to

• Keep kittens in a space that is readily sanitized between groups (e.g. a bathroom vs a carpeted bedroom)

• Only take as many different groups of cats/kittens as they can while still being able to prevent spread of disease between groups and notice signs of illness early on. Different groups should not have direct contact, different equipment/daily care supplies should be available, and the foster must be confident in their ability to decontaminate themself as they interact with different groups. 

Q: Can panleukopenia virus be spread through ventilation systems in a foster home?

 A: No it cannot. The virus is present in all body secretions of infected animals, such as saliva, vomit, or poop and can remain on contaminated surfaces (like wet paint) but doesn't travel through the air. Think of the virus like wet paint:  anywhere a cat or fomite (contaminated surface) could spread wet paint by contact is a surface or object where we would be concerned about virus persisting and potentially being a source of new infections. 

Q: Do you have specific recommendations to prevent transmission of panleuk in a spay/neuter clinic setting? 

A: Aside from reviewing your sanitation practices to ensure your protocol for cleaning recovery cages between animals is thorough and effective, other ways to help reduce risk of transmission include

• Supporting staff handling animals or performing cleaning tasks to wash their hands frequently and well

• Wear gloves and long sleeved outerwear (e.g. scrub coat) while handling patients that are changed between animals from different households

• Linens and care supplies should not be shared between patients; instead, towels, blankets, warming objects, etc should travel with each patient and be thoroughly washed/sanitized between use. Shared surfaces (e.g. scale) can be covered (e.g. puppy pad, towel, etc) or sanitized thoroughly between animals from different households. 

• Heavily soiled linens should be discarded rather than washed (e.g. if a surgical patient leaks feces). Take time to clean any equipment that becomes heavily soiled before using with a new patient. 

• Keep track of previous known cases; for example, if there is a particular cat colony in the community that has had cases of panleukopenia, ensure your team is aware when new surgical patients from these high risk places are on site for care.

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund

Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2024 03:31 PM
From: Alison Gibson
Subject: Webcast August 15, 2024 - Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (video) https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (15 minute video) 
https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (15 minute video) 
https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------

Hi there! I do have a question regarding vaccinations on intake. What happens if you have records that indicate that the animal was recently vaccinated (through a private party, other rescue or shelter, or veterinarian)? Does that change the vaccine on intake protocol, or are you still recommending vaccine on intake even if they received a vaccine, say, 5 days ago at a county shelter, and are now moving to your facility?

Animal shelter and rescue agencies across the country often struggle to protect cats and in particular kittens from the infectious diseases that tend to rise as 'kitten season' surges each year. This webinar focuses on safeguarding cats of all ages from feline panleukopenia (sometimes also called feline distemper or FPV), a highly contagious and potentially fatal viral disease. Veterinary experts will discuss disease recognition in individuals and within a shelter population, effective prevention methods, and best practices for managing outbreaks in shelter environments and foster homes.

This webcast was recorded on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 12n Pacific / 3pm Eastern

WATCH THE RECORDING HERE

SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO RECOMMENDED ONLINE RESOURCES

Join Dr. @Becky Stuntebeck, Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian at the Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Dr @Uri Donnett, Lead Veterinarian at Dane County Humane Society and come away knowing how to implement effective prevention strategies within the shelter or foster homes, including proper vaccination protocols and sanitation measures - and much more. 

This webcast will be moderated by @Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP, Fran Marino Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida.

This webinar has been approved for 1.25 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been approved for 1.25 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) approval. Maddie's Fund does not share registration information.

About the presenters

Dr. Julie Levy,  DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DAVBP

Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at the University of Florida, where she focuses on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 80,000 cats in Gainesville since 1998. A decade later, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to launch Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This educational and discovery initiative has a global impact on the care of homeless animals and served as the academic home for development of the Fear Free Shelters program. She later teamed up with Dr. Kate Hurley to start the Million Cat Challenge, a shelter-based campaign that saved more than 5 million cats in shelters across North America and then Maddie's Million Pet Challenge to create transformative "communities of practice" that deliver access to care through humane community-centric programming-inside and outside of the shelter-to achieve the right outcome for every pet.

Dr. Rebecca Stuntebeck, MS (Becky)
Becky is the Facility Design and Outreach Veterinarian for the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis. She has consulted with many shelters across the country as well as worked as a shelter veterinarian at two private shelters in Wisconsin. In addition to facility design her interests include shelter data, proactive population management, infectious disease prevention in shelters, and building relationships with folks across the sheltering field. Outside of work she enjoys petting kittens, getting outside, and reading. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, 1 aged moggy, and 1 rowdy mutt.

Dr. Uri Donnett,  DVM, MS, DABVP

Dr. Donnett is the Chief Veterinarian at the Dane County Humane Society in Madison, WI. Uri is board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. His veterinary interests include high quality/high volume spay/neuter, other shelter surgery, transport programs, epidemiology, and infectious disease in the shelter setting as well as high-quality low-cost medical care for rural and resource­ scarce shelters and communities. Uri served on the board for the Association of Shelter Veterinarians from 2018-2024.

Recommended online resources

Guide to Raising Unweaned & Underage Kittens www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/guide-to-raising-unweaned-underage-kittens&fbclid=IwAR0zNiA0c15L_di03axUhOMH6DPC11Fz03kIpOhM7h0vvwk2osnFRb5iCvU 

Feline Panleukopenia Guidebook: www.sheltermedicine.com/library/guidebooks/feline-panleukopenia/feline-panleukopenia 

Million Cat Challenge Pathway Planning (Community Cat Superhighway): sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/wordpress/files/2024/02/Community-Cat-Superhighways.pdf 

Deciding whether to treat algorithm (focused on canine parvo but completely applies to feline panleukopenia) www.maddiesfund.org/canine-parvovirus-treatment-algorithm.htm 

Shelter Medicine Resource Library: search for any topic of interest, including sanitation for shelters and foster homes, vaccination protocols, capacity for care, and much more. www.sheltermedicine.com/library/

Feline Panleukopenia and Kitten Vaccinations (15 minute video) 
https://ucdavis.app.box.com/s/5ou5qijyxabmll87rox16mqi8bbs3c7o

Feline Pediatrics, How to treat the Small and Sick https://vetfolio-vetstreet.s3.amazonaws.com/a4/d21eb0d49e11e090940050568d3693/file/PV0911_Little_FF.pdf

Fluid therapy for pediatric patients https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7124297/

Having an outbreak? Sign up for a consultation with the ASPCA Shelter Medicine Team https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters

University of Florida Shelter Medicine newsletter https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/about-us/newsletter/

ASV 2022 Guidelines vaccination schedule (page 39) https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/asvguidelinessecondedition-2022.pdf

Kitten College (they have effective protocols for preventing and treating kittens for FPV in foster programs) https://www.kittencollege.org/ 

Protecting Kittens from Feline Panleukopenia: Essential Strategies for Animal Shelters and Rescues - presentation slides https://forum.maddiesfund.org/viewdocument/protecting-kittens-from-feline-panl

Overall presentation overview with details on treatment, risk assessment etc.: https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/pbyyz4i1j8zmel2t9zixl2cfhxjgg0f6

Diagnostic testing for outbreaks (titers, antigen tests, etc. https://maddiesfund.box.com/s/a39aaionw8l6ut2m6z0yuvm4wm6yxjok

#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

------------------------------
Alison Gibson
Media Projects Manager
Maddie's Fund
------------------------------