This is what one of the veterinarian schools has to say and hopes to finally achieve when it comes to URI infections in felines.
Controlling feline upper respiratory infection will help keep shelter cats healthyFeline upper respiratory infection (URI): for pet cats, it's often nothing more serious than a common cold. But for shelter cats, it's one of the leading causes of illness and euthanasia, affecting millions of cats each year. At the Koret Shelter Medicine Program we aim to stomp out this disease or at least greatly decrease its impact. Just a few years ago, the idea of defeating shelter feline URI seemed like a crazy fantasy. But we now know that this disease really can be controlled, even in the challenging environment of an animal shelter. While it may not be eliminated entirely, rates of 5% or less are attainable. Through two studies funded by the Morris Animal Foundation, we are teasing out the environmental and management factors most closely linked to respiratory infection in shelter cats and designing practical ways to improve their chances of escaping infection. We have found that housing plays a significant role, which led us to develop an information sheet for shelters on how to convert small steel or fiberglass cages into cat-friendly double suites comparable to those found at the shelters with the lowest URI rate.
But then again as a lot of us know the leading cause of death in animals that are healthy is killing them in shelters, the shelters that made them sick through disease spreading, lack of food and care which in turns makes them sick. So it's a lose lose situation for pets in shelters.
Controlling feline upper respiratory infection will help keep shelter cats healthyFeline upper respiratory infection (URI): for pet cats, it's often nothing more serious than a common cold. But for shelter cats, it's one of the leading causes of illness and euthanasia, affecting millions of cats each year. At the Koret Shelter Medicine Program we aim to stomp out this disease or at least greatly decrease its impact. Just a few years ago, the idea of defeating shelter feline URI seemed like a crazy fantasy. But we now know that this disease really can be controlled, even in the challenging environment of an animal shelter. While it may not be eliminated entirely, rates of 5% or less are attainable. Through two studies funded by the Morris Animal Foundation, we are teasing out the environmental and management factors most closely linked to respiratory infection in shelter cats and designing practical ways to improve their chances of escaping infection. We have found that housing plays a significant role, which led us to develop an information sheet for shelters on how to convert small steel or fiberglass cages into cat-friendly double suites comparable to those found at the shelters with the lowest URI rate.
But then again as a lot of us know the leading cause of death in animals that are healthy is killing them in shelters, the shelters that made them sick through disease spreading, lack of food and care which in turns makes them sick. So it's a lose lose situation for pets in shelters.
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