August 2012 by Lesli Groshong, DVM

Audience: Veterinary Team

Video Length: 18 minutes

When approached from a team perspective, an outbreak of parvovirus does not need to be a crisis in your shelter. On a weekly basis, The Humane Society of Boulder Valley accepts large transfers of puppies from high risk shelters, and each group is considered at risk of breaking with parvovirus infection. Dr. Lesli Groshong, Chief Shelter Veterinarian for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, presents at the 2012 Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Conference at University of Florida on how communications with shelter personnel, clinic personnel and adopters can lead to a positive, healthy outcome for the parvovirus patient.

Learning objectives:

  • Understand how the use of parvovirus treatment templates simplifies the process of treating parvo, from staff identification of parvo-infected puppies to initiation of treatment, to transition of animals after recovery into the adoption center
  • Recognize how integrating husbandry procedures, medical treatment protocols and medical disclosures at adoption creates a smooth system within a shelter after parvovirus is identified
  • Shift the veterinarian's role from "putting out fires" to mitigating disease and focusing on a healthy shelter population
  • Achieve positive post-adoption outcomes when a puppy breaks with parvovirus in the adopter's home

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Lesli Groshong, DVM

Dr. Lesli Groshong is a native Coloradoan and 1992 graduate of Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine. After moving to Boulder in 1994 she joined the Humane Society of Boulder Valley (HSBV) when she learned of a part-time veterinary opening while purchasing dog licenses. She is now the Chief Veterinarian for the organization. HSBV is an open admission municipal shelter which has achieved a 92% live release rate and strives to be innovative to save more lives. She has mentored hundreds of veterinary students in spay/neuter techniques and shelter medicine.

Dr. Groshong has organized spay/neuter clinics in the Yucatan since 1998, and in 2001 co-founded ViDAS, a non-profit organization that annually coordinates several large spay/neuter campaigns in the Mayan Riviara. Her free time is spent keeping up with the activities of her husband and their children, ages 9 and 11, who all love to ski and spend time outdoors. Her animal family includes horses, peacocks and shelter adoptees.