Saving Lives with Extended Care Humane Society Silicon Valley

 Saving Lives with Extended Care Humane Society Silicon Valley August 17, 2015
Executive Summary
The mission of Humane Society Silicon Valley is to save and enhance lives. This mission applies
especially to the lives of the animals in our community who need our help the most because of their
behavioral and medical conditions. Our organization has the unique ability to provide extended care to
these animals with challenges that, if left untreated or unmanaged, would hinder their chances of being
adopted. We provide critical services for this at-risk population of animals, and in doing so, we improve
the save rate of the overall Silicon Valley community and provide second chances to wonderful
companion pets who might otherwise not be saved.
The Case for Investment
Serving the Need
In 2004, Humane Society Silicon Valley along with San Jose Animal Care and Services formed the
WeCARE (Community Alliance to Reduce Euthanasia) alliance of Santa Clara County shelters1. In 2011,
the Alliance reached its primary goal of achieving a 100% save rate2 for all dogs and cats categorized as
“healthy,” and has done so ever since. The ultimate goal, however, is to achieve zero avoidable loss of life
across the community. Other shelters within our coalition are well prepared to meet the needs of the
healthy population, but large numbers of homeless animals still require more time and care than can be
provided by other coalition shelters because of their limited resources.
Through our Regional Rescue program, we transfer animals that need extra care from other community
shelters to our Animal Community Center, alleviating the strain on the community shelters’ resources.
Humane Society Silicon Valley is equipped to provide medical treatment and behavioral modification for
these homeless pets through several assets and specific actions:
• We cultivate and maintain partnerships within a large network of veterinary and behavior
professional in the animal welfare community. These specialists provide care outside the scope of
our in-house capabilities.
• Our designated quarantine spaces, kitten nursery, and individual air exchange systems for each
room reduce the spread of contagions, which is critical for keeping our population of shelter
animals healthy.
• Our robust group of volunteers and our foster home program provide a growing pool of reliable
people power, expanding our ability to provide hands on care for shelter animals. This expansion
of capacity is critical to meet fluctuating needs within the animal and sheltering community.
• We foster a spirit of collaboration in our staff and volunteers, and encourage staff with
specialized skills to consistently expand their capabilities through continued education.
• These resources are supported by a generous community of donors who are inspired to invest in
saving the lives of our homeless pet population.
1 Learn more about the WeCARE coalition in our White Paper Leading a Community to Save Lives: Six Shelters,
One Goal http://hssv.org/BetterFuture/#whitepapers 2
Save rate is the percentage of animal lives saved out of all total outcomes, where total outcomes includes lives
saved and lives lost.
Community Impact
On average, 15,000 out of 24,000 total animals per year coming into WeCARE shelters require extended
care3. Within Humane Society Silicon Valley, currently 76% of the animals we bring into the shelter
require extended care - an increase of 29% since 2011. Despite this upwardly growing trend, we increased
our overall save rate, from 81.2% in 2011 to 88.7% in 2014. We are on track to exceed a >90% save rate
in 2015. Additionally, the community save rate has reached 83.8%, including both healthy animals and
those requiring extended care. This success reinforces our commitment to be the safety net for animals in
Silicon Valley, and demonstrates that we can do so while increasing our lifesaving impact.
Humane Society Silicon Valley Animals 3,500 81.2% 2,000 87.2% 1100 985 2,666 2,171 88.7% 100.0% 90.0% 939 3,000 2,500 86.2% 941 2,795 2,271 80.0% 70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 1,500 30.0% 1,000 20.0% 500 Overall Animal Save Rate Number of Animals Saved 4,000 10.0% -­‐ 0.0% 2011 2012 Extended Care 2013 2014 Healthy Medical Care
One of the unique features of Humane Society Silicon Valley’s Animal Community Center is our Lyn
Lasar Medical Center. It provides basic services (low-cost spay/neuter, vaccinations, and microchipping)
for community patrons, and serves as the hub for our shelter animals’ medical needs. We have highly
skilled staff veterinarians, overseen by Chief of Shelter Medicine Dr. Cristie Kamiya4, who diagnose and
treat skin conditions, eye problems, broken limbs, respiratory ailments, internal conditions, and dental
conditions.
3 The WeCARE coalition tracks its statistics based on cats and dogs only. When including rabbits, guinea pigs, and
other small pets, Humane Society Silicon Valley’s save rate is greater than 90%. 4 Learn more about Dr. Kamiya in our White Paper Role and Impact of the Chief of Shelter Medicine http://hssv.org/BetterFuture/#whitepapers Thanks to donor-assisted investments in specialty equipment, we have
expanded our in-house diagnostic abilities. This includes a standard digital xray machine, dental x-ray machine, a diagnostic incubator for fungi, and
three blood work machines. Our donors have also enabled us to invest in
specialized surgical kits and continuing education to support our
veterinarians’ continued development of skills and their ability to assist
animals that come into our care. Our veterinarians have continuing education
in specialty areas such as soft tissue and orthopedic surgery, internal
medicine, ultrasonography, small animal surgery (guinea pigs, rats, etc.), and
dental radiology. By supporting their education and providing the appropriate
tools, we are reducing outside expenditures for surgeries that can now be
performed in-house.
Partnerships
When cases are beyond the scope of our in-house expertise, we work with specialists who provide their
services at significantly reduced costs. These specialists help us serve animals with more unique ailments
related to neurology, ophthalmology, extensive dentistry, physical therapy, and dermatology. For
emergency cases after hours, as well as support for foster families with extended care patients, our
partners at Sage Center for Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Care provide support for complications
during recovery, and surgery and post treatment for animals that cannot be fully assisted by our staff.
These community partnerships are not only beneficial to our animals, but also for the education of
veterinary professionals. For example, UC Davis’ surgery department has a shelter program in which they
perform certain fracture procedures at no cost for local shelters. This is a mutually beneficial partnership
– our animals receive free surgeries, and residents performing the surgeries receive expanded training
opportunities. Additionally, some of our partner veterinary specialists come to our facility and allow our
staff veterinarians to “scrub in” with them on complex surgeries to learn advanced techniques.
PJ, a two-month-old kitten at another shelter, had a
condition called “pectus excavatum,” meaning that the
lower portion of his chest cavity curved inward toward
his spine, reducing the space in the cavity for the heart
and lungs. This put him at serious risk for internal
injuries as he matured. Typically, cats with this severe
condition are euthanized right away, but knowing that
HSSV veterinarian Dr. Andrea Moore is a highly
talented specialist in these cases, he was transferred
into our care. Dr. Moore performed the surgery and placed a splint on the kitten for five
weeks that pulled the sternum and rib cage back to a more normal position.
PJ recovered beautifully from the surgery, and was already purring as soon as he
recovered from the procedure. His foster mother, Karen, adopted him, and he is now a
full-grown adult cat with a loving forever home.
Behavioral Care
Equally as important as the investment in the physical health of our animals is the investment in their
mental and behavioral well-being. Our skilled staff and team of volunteer assistants work closely with our
animals to evaluate and understand the roots of their behavior. They then develop behavior modification
plans, utilizing force-free training methodology based on current animal behavior research that will best
help that animal to transition to a home. Some of the more common behaviors that require adjusting are
fearfulness that results in shy or aggressive behavior, “rude,” jumpy, and mouthy dogs who have not
learned polite interactions, and cats that over stimulate easily and need structured interactions.
Our organization utilizes a three-tier system that categorizes our animals based on their behavioral needs.
Emerald animals have little to no behavior concerns and can be handled by all volunteer animal
socializers and staff. Animals requiring some level of extended care are either diamond or sapphire
animals. Diamond animals are typically handled by trained volunteers and staff, and generally require
higher levels of enrichment and training than emerald animals. Sapphire level animals have highly
structured plans and are handled by designated staff, and volunteer evaluation assistants.
There are dedicated spaces for some of our animals in the sapphire categories that require the highest
level of specialized attention. Our Jungle Room for cats helps felines that are displaying fearful
aggression in response to human interactions. In this room, our staff can slowly build up a cat’s trust and
confidence by sitting quietly and allowing the cat to approach when ready, and offering structured play
and training with tunnels and obstacles. For individual canines, our Real-Life Room is set up to look like
the inside of a home in order to establish a comfortable routine with team members who work to prepare
the dog for life outside the shelter.
For our adopting families, we provide support after adoption, if needed, to manage behavioral concerns as
their new pet is settling in. Transitioning to a new environment can be difficult for companion pets, and
our behavior team ensures that any family who adopts such an animal understands the nature of the issue,
and how we have treated or managed that issue. We provide resources to cultivate a successful
relationship, including counseling through our behavior helpline, training support, and training
scholarships for assistance from behavior and training professionals.
Community Partnerships
Our partnerships with local professionals have been invaluable for our animals. Dogs with behavior
concerns receive opportunities to attend training classes offered onsite, as well as offsite specialty classes.
This can involve sports classes like agility, leash reactivity classes, or basic obedience courses. These
opportunities allow our dogs to expend extra energy, learn appropriate behaviors around other dogs and
people, and to have a more enriching experience that reduces the stress inherent in a non-home
environment.
For animals with behavior concerns that are not conducive to remediation in a classroom environment,
our staff and volunteers collaborate with Certified Professional Dog Trainers (CPDT) and a veterinary
behaviorist. Work in this area often involves canine playgroups with role model dogs, interactive play for
cats, balancing training and medication, and structured conditioning and desensitization for aggressive or
fearful behaviors.
Eeyore, an affectionate stray puppy, struggled in the shelter
environment. He barked, paced, and spun in circles when
he was left in a room - a compulsive stress behavior. He
began to lunge to demand attention, and inappropriately
nipped at legs. These behaviors were amplified by the fact
that Eeyore is deaf, meaning that normal vocal-based
training techniques weren’t going to work.
Our staff created a plan to reduce his stress and get him to
focus when his compulsive behavior began. They used hand signals, such as a thumbs
up for “yes, good boy” when he did something right, and utilized time-outs to
discourage his inappropriate behaviors. Volunteers took Eeyore to leash reactivity
management class and obedience classes.
Eeyore eventually moved to the Real Life Room, where he was able to start
transitioning to a home type environment. We activated a webcam which not only
allowed our behavior staff to observe him, but also showcased him to potential adopters
through our website. After a total seven-month stay, Eeyore was adopted by Rich and
Denny, who couldn’t resist his “quirky” charm.
Volunteers and Foster Families
In addition to community partnerships, we also rely on volunteer partnerships to help supply the much
needed people power for our extended care programs. We have a very dedicated group of volunteers who
assist our veterinary technicians by administering basic treatments, monitoring animals after surgery and
supporting the flow of animals from behind-the-scenes spaces to new adoption suites. Volunteer
socializers also provide attention and enrichment for the animals in our care, and our most experienced
volunteers become evaluation assistants and sapphire volunteers in order to provide training support for
animals with the greatest challenges. They work directly with animals, note and share their progress, and
become their biggest advocates.
We also utilize the support of foster families for many of our animals with behavior challenges, to
provide them a break from the shelter environment. This is particularly important for shy and fearful dogs
that benefit from consistent positive interactions with humans, and for mouthy and rambunctious dogs to
learn appropriate behaviors. Volunteer foster families care for many of our medical patients that require
post-surgical treatment, recovery and physical therapy. These families often work around the clock to
provide a level of personal attention that cannot be provided by our staff onsite.
In addition, volunteer foster families assist with the most at-risk extended medical population: bottle
babies. These kittens and puppies are brought to our shelter before they
are old enough to eat on their own. Volunteers and staff work extremely
hard to save these animals to provide them a chance at a full life. This is
especially true for kittens during spring and summer months when litters
of kittens come into shelters in very large numbers. Bottle babies require
constant attention and round-the-clock feeding. We couldn’t save these
lives without our volunteer foster parents or the foster program team.
Efficiently Helping More Animals
Because of its deep impact, the sustainability of extended care programs is a priority for our organization.
In order to continue our work and increase our impact, we have made significant improvements in our
operational efficiencies, and reduced the length of stay for the animals in the care of our shelter. In doing
so, we are making space available faster to provide a safety net for all animals in the community, and
increasing our ability to save more lives.
For example, incidences of Upper Respiratory Infections (URI) and Ringworm in cats have decreased
significantly due to internal upgrades of our cat kennels and improvements in our quarantine processes.
We have begun transferring cats with URI and ringworm for quarantined treatment into our facility to
support shelters that do not have the resources or facilities required for their treatment. We are also
working with our partner shelters to establish quarantined “safe rooms” for animals that will be
transferred to HSSV, reducing the spread of these diseases while the animals await transport to our
facility.
An additional initiative to reduce the amount of time an animal will be in the care of Humane Society
Silicon Valley is to allow families to adopt animals while they’re mid-treatment, with a commitment that
our staff will continue to support them until treatment is complete. Most pets heal faster outside of a
shelter environment. We find that the community is more than willing to partner with us to get these
animals into homes, thereby freeing up resources to save more lives. As a result of this change in process,
we lower the barriers to adoption and reduce shelter-related stress for these pets. The result is ultimately
finding homes for more animals faster.
Support and Funding
Our current cost for supporting extended medical and behavioral care is $1.6 million per year. This funds
not only the in-house operational costs, but also covers fees incurred by our valuable partnerships with
colleagues in the community. Because the number of animals needing extended care coming into our
shelter is increasing each year, we must increase funding to support this growing program.
Part of our Paint a Better Future campaign’s working goal includes a specific objective for our extended
care program. The working goal for this program is $12.9 million and includes funding for our existing
work as well as its expansion. $9.6 million is for six years of funding to sustain our existing programs
and grow our efficiency ($1.6 million annually times 6 years) and $2.3 million is to build endowment for
financially sustainable program expansion to ensure we’re meeting the needs of the community and
saving more animals that are most in need.
Conclusion
Because of our leadership contributions to the WeCARE coalition, and the commitment of the coalition
shelters, healthy animals in our community are well supported. Our organization provides crucial support
for at-risk animals in order to be the safety net for our community’s pets. We utilize a variety of resources
and partnerships in a large effort to save as many lives as possible, and to offer second chances to animals
that might otherwise be euthanized. In order to achieve the goal of “zero avoidable loss of life” in our
community, Humane Society Silicon Valley must both sustain and increase this funding to commit to this
program going forward. With the help of our supporters and volunteers, we can help ensure that every
savable animal has an opportunity to find a loving forever home and the best quality of life possible.