Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell
Components of the Cornell Program
The Cornell program consists of four components:
Veterinary Student Education, Residency Training, Shelter Outreach and Life-Saving Research.
Didactic Classroom Teaching
Core curriculum (required for all students)
Core lectures include:
1st year:
Homeless Pets and Veterinary Ethics: An Introduction to Shelter Medicine.
Cats & Shelter Medicine: An introduction to examination of cats of all different sociability levels.
2nd year:
Dog Bites and Dangerous Dogs
Epidemiologic case examples involving diagnostic testing in shelters
Pathology case examples involving animal cruelty and veterinary forensics
3rd year:
Shelter case examples in outbreak management and cruelty investigation
Canine and feline vaccine lectures
- includes guidelines for vaccinating cats and dogs in shelters
Core laboratories include:
Shelter Medicine and Physical Examination
Every veterinary student visits the local shelter during his or her freshmen year for a comprehensive behind the scenes tour in order to understand the functions of an animal shelter and the role of the veterinarian in an animal shelter and to examine animals awaiting adoption!
The Cat Lab
Lap Cats to Feral Cats: Handling, Restraint and Examination of Cats of all Different Levels of Sociability
The purpose of these labs is to give freshmen students a true appreciation of the art of using both applied behavioral science and finesse to handle cats successfully to minimize stress and ensure safety (for cats and people). Find out more about the Cat Lab.
Shelter Ambulatory Service
Each week, faculty and residents accompany veterinary students from the Community Practice Service to the Tompkins County SPCA shelter for hands-on service learning experience in shelter medicine! Students gain valuable hands-on experience with shelter-admitting examinations, infectious disease surveillance and diagnosis, procedures for animal handling, quarantine, shelter preventive health care protocols, and medical and behavioral assessments.
Elective Courses
(offered each spring and open to all veterinary students)
Veterinary students take up to three elective courses relating to Companion Animal Welfare and Shelter Medicine. These include:
Companion Animal Welfare - Syllabus
Shelter Medicine I - Syllabus
Shelter Medicine II - Syllabus
Opportunity Blocks in Shelter Medicine - Overview
VSPCA Student Shelter Medicine Club
The Shelter Medicine Club is an official student chapter of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. The VSPCA was established to stimulate interest in shelter medicine by providing opportunities for veterinary students to gain in-depth understandings of issues affecting shelter animals. The Shelter Medicine Club hosts lectures by leaders in the field on a variety of important topics in shelter medicine, such as infectious diseases, cruelty and neglect, pet overpopulation, and behavior assessment and modification. The Shelter Medicine Club also holds bi-monthly Shelter Medicine Clinics at the local Tompkins County SPCA, where students are able to perform physical exams and help provide treatment and preventive health care to shelter animals under the supervision of Dr. Berliner and the shelter medicine interns.
Training
Shelter Medicine Residency Training Program at Cornell University
(October 2009)
Residency training will not be offered in the academic year 2010.
Shelter Outreach Contact Us
Shelters collaborating with the Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program (by providing field training sites) benefit in several ways:
- Diagnostic Support - Practicing herd health requires information about the nature and frequency of disease in the population. Diagnosing the presence of infectious disease agents is necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of control and prevention strategies and diagnosing the cause(s) of disease outbreaks. The Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University provides diagnostic services to collaborating shelters.
- Medical Support - Clinicians provide consultative medical support to collaborating shelters. They advise shelters regarding preventive medicine protocols, antimicrobial and other treatments, animal movement, and a variety of other issues.
- Dissemination of Information - Maddie's Shelter Medicine web site is a growing repository of information regarding the Shelter Medicine Program, as well as medical protocols for a wide variety of shelter needs. Information includes basic shelter disease descriptions, prevention and treatment protocols, and links to other pertinent websites.
Participating "Core" Shelters
Working with our "core" shelters is an integral part of the Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program. This work allows our residents, students, and researchers to identify and solve many shelter-specific problems as well as those common to all shelters. In return, the shelters receive detailed information about the health of the animals in their care. The goal of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program is to develop programs aimed at improving animal welfare that are applicable to all types of sheltering organizations.
Our "core" shelters are:
The SPCA at Tompkins County
The Humane Society at Rochester and Monroe Counties at LollyPop Farm
Pet Pride of New York
Peace Plantation Animal Sanctuary
Life-Saving Research Programs
Research is an essential component of the training and service aspects of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program. Scientifically sound information is fundamental to good education and successful preventive medicine programs. Faculty from many disciplines mentor and participate in research projects with residents, focusing on health issues.
University faculty and residents will perform projects (either bench-top laboratory or field studies) relevant to shelter medicine. All projects will advance the discipline of shelter medicine through innovative research involving physical or behavioral aspects of shelter pet health.
Stay Tuned: as projects are planned and implemented, additional information will be available.