Description
“Shelter medicine” described the veterinary role in the management and treatment populations of unowned companion animals. It has been estimated that around a third of the UK’s (approximately) 10 million dogs and 10 million cats were acquired from a rescue and over 90% of veterinary surgeons in first opinion practice in the United Kingdom treat animals from charitable organisations. Some vets are employed directly by charities to undertake the clinical work and get involved in the policy making and management of the organisation. This may be at a charity hospital or at a rehoming centre. However it is thought the majority of the work is done by vets in private practice working with local organisations to safeguard the health and welfare of animals cared for by the charity. Whatever the situation the challenges when working with populations of animals where there is a limit on the time and budget that can be spent on each animal are very different to working with a cat or dog owned by a client. In shelter medicine each individual animal’s health and welfare needs to be addressed within the context of the population. An understanding of basic epidemiology, diagnostic test accuracy and the values and circumstance of the organisation need to be balanced with the financial and physical environments in which the animals are cared for. A dose of pragmatic and ‘big picture’ thinking is also needed to be a successful shelter medicine clinician! This webinar will discuss some of the basic principles and skills need to start thinking as a shelter medicine veterinary surgeon in first opinion practice.
Rachel is the director of the Centre for Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine and a Clinical Associate Professor in Feline Medicine, at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, The University of Nottingham. She leads a multidisciplinary research team who undertake research directly aimed to help improve clinical practice but also improve the searching for, appraisal of and delivery of evidence to practice. Rachel set up the shelter medicine programme at the university of Nottingham to promote excellence in undergraduate and postgraduate education and research in this new and emerging field. She holds the RCVS diploma in feline medicine and in her spare time she treats cats and is particularly interested in geriatric medicine and infectious diseases.