Our Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Intern, Dr. Megan Barry and our Janet L. Swanson Intern of Shelter Medicine, Dr. Kara Kochek attended the 2025 VMX conference in Orlando, Florida from January 25-29. Key takeaways from the event can be found below:
“We had a great time at the 2025 VMX conference this year! We really enjoyed connecting and learning from the shelter medicine speakers, as well as visiting the different expo booths.
Here are some interesting things that we learned from the amazing shelter medicine speakers:”
- Rabbit housing in shelters is very important for their overall wellbeing and health.
◊Enrichment and exercise can help prevent the following: GI stasis, stress, and obesity and should be done around dusk/dawn to mimic natural behaviors. - As many of us may know Feline Calicivirus may cause oral ulcers, gingivitis/stomatitis and hyper salivation but in kittens it can also cause something called “limping syndrome” in which the virus replicates in the joints, causing a limp.
◊This limp can even switch to different limbs over the course of the disease process. - Cat housing in shelters— things to keep in mind:
- Very important to not have a shelf above the litter box to enable space and proper posturing when using the bathroom.
- Cats that are moved less than twice in the first week are less likely to have URI risk.
- Cat welfare RED flags:
- Hiding in litter box is an abnormal behavior.
- They should be provided a place to hide.
Written by: Dr. Kara Kochek, Janet L. Swanson Intern of Shelter Medicine
For any additional questions regarding the above findings, you can email sheltermedicine@cornell.edu and one our MSMP veterinarians would be happy to assist.
