is provided in Table 3.1). The shelter whose data appear in the table included the incidence and prevalence of major infectious diseases in its facility, mortality due to natural causes, and the number and percentage of euthanasias for medical reasons. This type of table provides a snapshot of the status of disease in the shelter, provides data to justify allocating funds for medical‐related goals, and summarizes progress toward improving the population's health on an annual basis. The medical staff should monitor common diseases or those associated with particular goals more frequently for timely identification of concerning trends (see the section on frequency of review, interpretation and communication).
Table 3.1 Annual medical profile in an adoption guarantee shelter.
Source: L.J. King, National Animal Health Monitoring System in the USA: a model information system for international animal health, Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz., 1988, 7 (3), 583–588.
| Disease | Number in Cats | Prevalence (%) in Cat | Number in Dogs | Prevalence (%) in Dogs |
| Coccidiosisa | 106 | 24.7 (106/429) | 81 | 15.2 (81/533) |
| Giardiasisa | 36 | 8.4 (36/429) | 51 | 9.8 (51/533) |
| Sarcoptic Mangea | – | – | 37 | 8.6 (37/435) |
| Heartwormsb | – | – | 162 | 9.3 (162/1746) |
| FeLVb | 30 | 0.91 (30/3310) | – | – |
| FIVb | 112 | 3.4 (112/3310) | – | – |
| Disease | Number in Cats | Incidence (%) in Cats | Number in Dogs | Incidence (%) in Dogs |
| URTD/CIRDc | 637 | 18.3 (637/3484) | 106 | 4.8 (106/2227) |
| Mortality (all causes) | 55 | 1.6 (55/3484) | 18 | 0.81 (18/2227) |
| Euthanasias for | 216 | 6.2 (216/3484) | 31 | 1.4 (31/2227) |
| medical reasons | 0 | – | – | – |
| ● Treatabled | 216 | 6.2 (216/3484) | 31 | 1.4 (31/2227) |
| ● Non-treatable |
a Animals positive for this organism among those tested with signs possibly associated with this disease.
b Animals positive for this organism among those tested during the intake examination.
FeLV, feline leukemia virus.
FIV, feline immunodeficiency virus.
c Disease that developed among the shelter animals while they were in residence in the shelter.
URTD, feline upper respiratory tract disease.
CIRD, canine infectious respiratory disease, also known as kennel cough.
d Could be treated in the future with additional resources.
One issue complicating the collection of surveillance data is the failure to reach a diagnosis. For this reason, some software programs enable shelters to retrieve both “diagnoses” and “clinical signs” (check your software). From a disease‐surveillance standpoint, a diagnosis is preferable, but since a specific diagnosis is often not possible in shelters, recording and monitoring important clinical signs can be helpful. An unusual frequency of diarrhea might prompt the collection and submission of samples for diagnostic testing and identify, for example, an outbreak of giardiasis. Sometimes, the level of uncertainty of diagnosis is incorporated into disease data. For example, some studies incorporate case descriptors such as “possible,” “probable” or “confirmed” or “presumptive” vs. “confirmed” for diagnoses and incorporate these levels into their analyses. It can be helpful to have data regarding both diagnoses and signs, particularly when diagnoses are suspect, or the shelter wishes to monitor disease severity. If both signs and diagnoses are collected, they should be in separate data fields to avoid double counting.
To achieve consistency of data recording among staff over time, shelters need written descriptions of each of the diseases they include in the surveillance system. Staff members require training regarding those definitions and the importance of adhering to them. For some diseases, this is relatively easy. A diagnosis of feline leukemia virus (FeLV), for example, is based on a positive result on a commercially available, validated test; for other diseases, such as canine infectious respiratory disease (also known as kennel cough or CIRD), defining cases is more difficult, as respiratory signs alone rarely establish a definitive diagnosis. In these instances, a “working definition” of