UF veterinarians receive grant to expand shelter medicine program

The University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine has received a $1.7 million grant from Maddie's Fund to create a comprehensive shelter medicine program that will enhance support for local animal rescue operations, improve disease control and adoption rates among shelter animals and expand professional training to fill the current shortage of skilled providers in this area.

The three-year grant will establish the Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at UF and will build upon UF's existing shelter medicine program. Through that program, which was created in 2003, veterinary students gain clinical experience by providing spay/neuter surgeries to animals awaiting adoption at the local animal shelter.

"This is a transitional time for the animal welfare field as growing demand for animal-friendly solutions is challenging traditional sheltering paradigms," said Julie Levy, D.V.M., Ph.D., who was a co-investigator on the grant and who will become the Maddie's professor of shelter medicine at UF.

"There is an international desire to shift from a reactive animal control model in which massive numbers of animals are processed through shelters with an overall high euthanasia rate to one in which proactive preventive measures reduce shelter admissions with individualized programs tailored to different types of animals to result in higher save rates," Levy added.

The college's existing shelter medicine program was founded by Natalie Isaza, D.V.M., UF's Merial clinical assistant professor of shelter medicine, and has grown in popularity among veterinary students in recent years.

"In the meantime, Dr. Cynda Crawford's investigations of mysterious disease outbreaks in shelters led to the discovery of new infectious diseases and demand for help from shelters across the country," Levy said.

Crawford, a UF scientist, will become the Maddie's clinical assistant professor of shelter medicine. A co-discoverer of the canine influenza virus, Crawford will work closely with Isaza and Levy to implement additional clinical and educational programs aimed at educating not only veterinary students but also technicians and others associated with shelter efforts.

Existing partnerships with Alachua County and local animal rescue groups will also be enhanced through the new grant.

Levy said UF was uniquely positioned to become a center of excellence in shelter medicine in the southeastern United States because of its diverse faculty expertise, its location in a region with a large number of animal shelters and rescue groups, and a highly supportive administrative structure.

Maddie's Fund has also worked closely with Drs. Levy, Crawford and Isaza on Maddie's Pet Rescue Project in Alachua County.

"We are thrilled to expand our relationship with this incredibly talented team of veterinarians," said Maddie's Fund President, Rich Avanzino. "I'm certain their work in shelter medicine will take this emerging field to a whole new level."