One of the worst nightmares for any shelter is the outbreak of a disease within the shelter. We are entrusted to look after these animals so if they get ill under our care that is a horrible outcome.
Ringworm is one of the most common outbreak in most shelters, it spreads easily, and before you know it, most of your shelter is infected.
Fortunately, there are some simple steps that you can take to significantly reduce the chances of an outbreak in your shelter, thus ensuring that you take the utmost care in looking after your animals. Here are five of the best:
1. Diagnosing Infected Animals Quickly, & Isolating Them – This is the best step in preventing an epidemic if you have an infection in your shelter. The problem is that accurate tests are not always available. This is why it is best to adopt a ‘worst case scenario’, and isolate any potentially infected animals before they have a chance to spread the ringworm.
2. Decontaminating An Infected Environment – If you have an outbreak, then effective decontamination is essential. In some cases normal disinfectant will suffice. But you might want to go a step further, and use a broad spectrum of disinfectants to ensure that you don’t suffer any relapses.
3. Identify & Remove Exposed Animals – This is separate to infected animals, as it involves removing animals that are showing no symptoms and are not yet definitely infected. Basically, to stop the spread of ringworm as much as possible, you need to remove any animal that even might have come into contact with an infected animal. So if two dogs shared a kennel, but only one is showing symptoms, then it is best to remove them both to an isolated area.
4. Keep Newly Admitted Animals Protected – For many animals, a vaccine is available against ringworm. So to ensure that both they, and future animals are protected, try to get new arrivals vaccinated as soon as possible. This is especially important in shelters that may have already been infected.
5. Keep Everything Documented – For both ease of access, and to cover your own back, you should ensure that everything related to the ringworm outbreak, as well as what you are doing to prevent it is documented. This way you have easy access, and any authorities do too. You will know which animals are infected, which ones are exposed, and it will be much easier to control.
