As part of CVET’s legislative mandate and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s mission of contributing to the enhancement of the veterinary profession, CVET will conduct and support efforts to improve animal disaster response knowledge and operations. CVET will gather response data during deployments, conducting ongoing research of animal evacuation and care, and will share findings with the animal and disaster response community to improve future preparedness and response efforts. If you are a county that has information to share regarding response operations, or wants to be a partner in gathering data, email us so we can discuss collaboration efforts!
Current Ongoing Research:
Equine Bloodwork Study
Over the past eight years, California has experienced unprecedented fire conditions affecting thousands of horses and horse owners across the state. An abstract published in the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Proceedings in 2021 found that in review of three major wildfires, 20% of horses in emergency evacuation shelters needed veterinary care (Sonder et al, 2021). Despite this finding, there is still debate over the amount of veterinary presence needed in a large animal shelter.
CVET is collecting blood samples from horses evacuated during wildfires to better understand the impact stress, transport, and poor air quality have on these animals. We are working with counties to integrate owner consent to sampling before a fire hits, allowing collection of blood as soon as they enter the sample. Horse will be monitored with additional samples over the course of a week to evaluate any changes. If you are a county representative interested in partnering with us for this study, email us!