The Association of Shelter Veterinarians released the latest version of its Guidelines for Standard of Care in Animal Shelters on Tuesday, January 17th at the VMX 2023.
The ASV guidelines were first issued in 2010 to offer evidence-based approaches for the standard care practice of veterinarians in animal shelters, fosters, sanctuaries, rescues, and similar settings. The guidelines have since been utilized as a framework to improve shelter consultations, regulation, and advancing care in animal shelters.
Under the latest edition, the Five Domains model was adapted to broaden the scope of assessing animal welfare. It puts additional focus on opportunities for positive experiences and mitigating negative ones within the areas of nutrition, environment, health, behavior, and mental state.
The new care guidelines extensively discuss the approaches to,
- Management and record keeping
- Population management
- Animal handling
- Facilities
- Sanitation
- Medical health
- Shelter surgery
- Forensics
- Behavior and mental well-being
- Euthanasia
- Animal transport and relocation programs
- Disaster response
- Public health
Dr. Erin Doyle, the senior director of Shelter Medicine and Residency Programs for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and ASV Taskforce co-chair, says that the guidelines are limited to an extent - as they are mostly focused on primary care for cats and dogs as well as the “what and why” of the care strategies instead of procedures to implement them. Nonetheless, the guidelines emphasize the use of the words “unacceptable,” “must,” and “ideal” to address priority in terms of standards of care in animal shelters.
“The guiding principle of the guidelines is meeting animals’ physical and emotional needs, regardless of the mission of the organization or the challenges involved in meeting those needs,”, said Dr. Doyle, in their launching at the VMX 2023.
To read the ASV guidelines in full, click here.
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