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Maddie's Fund Aids Shelter Medicine |
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Vet School Funded to Inaugurate Nation's First Comprehensive Shelter Medicine Program
Maddie's Fund is storming ahead with its plan for a "no-kill nation." The
recipient of Maddie's Fund's latest beneficience is The School of Veterinary
Medicine at the University of Californi in Davis, with the first of an
annual $394,000 grant for funding a new Shelter Medicine Program. The total
funding will comprise $2.2 million over a six year period. The full press release follows. Way to go, Maddie's Fund!
(Alameda, CA - November 2000) Maddie's Fund, a pet rescue foundation
whose aim is to help animal shelters throughout the nation establish
community-wide adoption guarantees for healthy cats and dogs, announced
today that is has awarded $394,000.00 to support the first year of a
pioneering new Shelter Medicine Program at the School of Veterinary
Medicine, University of California, Davis. Funding will continue over six
years for a total of $2.2 million dollars. The program will be designated
Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program after the Foundation's inspiration, a
miniature schnauzer named Maddie.
The School of Veterinary Medicine is creating the new Maddie's Shelter
Medicine Program to help reduce incidences of disease and behavior problems
in shelter cats and dogs. The Program will improve the quality of pet lives
during shelter stays, reduce shelter deaths and increase the adoptability of
shelter animals. The Program will also develop a well-informed pool of
specialists who will be important resources for shelter managers nationwide
in years to come. The Program is scheduled to begin in January, 2001.
"This is truly a groundbreaking effort," says Janet Foley, DVM, the
Coordinator of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program. "The topics we're focusing
on have never been thoroughly addressed in a formal manner by the veterinary
profession. Disease problems in shelter environments, facility design,
husbandry procedures, shelter animal housing and flow patterns, vaccination
regimens and stress reduction have never been a part of pet medicine, which
has traditionally been the cornerstone of small animal medicine training."
The new Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program is designed with three major
components:
- Shelter Medicine Training - classroom instruction and hands-on shelter work
for veterinary students and post-graduate residents.
- Shelter Medicine Service -diagnostic and medical support for shelters,
including animal behavior assistance, a shelter consultation service and
symposiums for continuing education.
- Shelter Medicine Research-lab or field based studies to improve medical
delivery for shelter animals.
"UC Davis is making a huge statement with the launch of Maddie's
Shelter Medicine Program," says Maddie's Fund Veterinary Consultant, Dr.
Laurie Peek. "Now, a premier school of veterinary medicine is bringing
national attention to the increasing importance of animal shelters in
society, the necessity to train veterinarians to work in shelters, and the
need to make shelters safer and healthier places for our companion animals".
# # #
To read the entire twenty-eight page proposal submitted by the UC Davis
School of Veterinary Medicine, go to www.maddiesfund.org and look under
"Funded Projects".
Maddie's Fund, 2223 Santa Clara Ave.,#B,
Alameda,CA
94501,
(510)337-8989,
www.maddiesfund.org
