01-30-06 Special Called City Council Retreat Meeting of La Porte City Council

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• - • Ouarantine If a healthL stray animal coming in through the triage process is being held for biting/rabies observation, the animal would be housed in quarantine for the rabies hold period. This animal could then be euthanized or valuated for adoption, depending on the circumstance of the bite. If the animal is owner surrendered and determined to be aggressive or unpredictable, but has not bitten, he would be euthanized. If he is a stray and determined to be aggressive or unpredictable, but has not bitten, he would be held in quarantine (to limit staff contact) for the stray hold period. If the quarantine area is full and the animal is not sick, he would be held in the healthy hold area until the stray period is complete, where only the staff has access. Sick bite case or sick aggressive animals should be housed in isolation. Dog kennels with guillotine doors will limit staff handling of dogs in quarantine housing. Quarantined cats should be housed in special cages that limit staff from having to handle them. With these cages, staff can move the cats to one side in order to clean the other side, similar to the guillotine doors for the dog kennels. No matter what room bite case or aggressive animals are housed in, their kennels/cages should be locked at all times and the animals should remain in the same kennel or cage for the duration of their stay. These kennels/cages should be clearly marked "QUARANTINE" or "AGGRESSIVE." The public should not be allowed in these areas unescorted. The number of quarantine kennels/cages designated should be based on the typical number of animals needing to be quarantined. Iolation 0-5,-T�Fmals that arrive sick or become sick while at the shelter should be housed in these areas. The public ould not have access to these areas without staff escort. The number of kennels/cages will depend on the agency's resources and desire to treat sick animals. In order to keep the general population healthy, the following animals would be housed in the isolation area thereby minimizing the spread of disease and sickness: ➢ A stray, sick animal that is brought in and needs to be held for the stray hold period ➢ A dog or cat that got sick during his stay at the shelter ➢ A sick animal that is surrendered by his owner Animals in the last two categories should be kept only if the agency feels they have the staff and budget to attempt treatment. The agency needs to determine if its infrastructure can support the treatment of animals for illnesses such as URI or kennel cough. There will be many animals that come in sick and will have to be treated for their stray period, but the agency needs to decide if it has the luxury of treating animals beyond their stray period. Please note that euthanasia recommendations are made based on the assumption that there is no foster program or behavioral modification program in place. In order for the isolation and separation concept to work, it must be strictly adhered to. Some organizations make the mistake of bending the rules by not using space as it is designated. There may be times when the AWealthy hold kennels/cages are full and instead of making a decision to euthanize an animal that has been at the facility to make room, some agencies make the mistake of housing healthy and sick animals together. This negates the entire reasoning and benefits that result from the isolation and separation concept by exposing healthy animals to sick ones. 3