Julie Levy

University of Florida | UF · Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Approximately 5% of cats in animal shelters in the United States test positive for either feline leukemia virus (FeLV) or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which translates to more than 100,000 positive cats managed by shelters each year. Little is known about the current status of retroviral management in animal shelters, particularly in region...

A meeting of veterinary school faculty and partners, many associated with shelter medicine, and/or community medicine programming, was convened at the 2019 Shelter Medicine Veterinary Educators Conference in Pullman, WA to discuss challenges with shelter medicine program sustainability and defining the future. The discussion was facilitated by an o...

The rise in subsidized spay-neuter access helped drive the euthanasia of shelter pets in the US from an estimated 13. 5 million in 1973 to 1.5 million in 2019. When the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered lockdowns beginning in March 2020, many veterinary providers suspended nonessential services such as routine spay-neuter surgeries. The pu...

Substantial societal investment is made in the management of free-roaming cats by various methods, with goals of such programs commonly including wildlife conservation, public health protection, nuisance abatement, and/or promotion of cat health and welfare. While there has been a degree of controversy over some of the tactics employed, there is wi...

Introduction: In 2011, authorities of Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, approved an ordinance to promote public health and animal welfare through responsible pet ownership promotion. The population of dogs was not known, and the relationships between dog abundance, socioeconomic factors, prevalence of zoonotic gastrointestinal parasites, and pet...

Objectives: This study used computer simulation modeling to estimate and compare costs of different free-roaming cat (FRC) management options (lethal and non-lethal removal, trap-neuter-return, combinations of these options and no action) and their ability to reduce FRC population abundance in open demographic settings. The findings provide a reso...

In a frequently cited 2005 paper, a Ricker model was used to assess the effectiveness of trap–neuter–return (TNR) programs for managing free-roaming domestic cat populations. The model (which was originally developed for application in the management of fisheries) used data obtained from two countywide programs, and the results indicated that any p...

Although human interactions with cats are often even typically analyzed in the context of domesticity, with a focus on what sorts of interactions might make both people and cats “happy at home,” a large number of cats in the world live, for one reason or another, beyond the bounds of domesticity. Human interactions with these more or less free-livi...

Background Various heartworm (HW) diagnostic testing modalities detect products of, or reactions to, different life cycle stages of Dirofilaria immitis. Microfilariae (Mf) can be directly visualized in blood, antigen (Ag) from immature and adult heartworms may be detected on commercial assays, and antibody (Ab) tests detect the host immune response...

The prevalence of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) in shelters mirrors the rates found regionally in pet cats. Though characteristics such as sex, age, lifestyle, and health status can be used to assess the likely risk of FeLV and FIV infections, cats in all categories are at risk. Shelter cat intake continues to...

Retroviruses belong to an important and diverse family of RNA viruses capable of causing neoplastic disease in their hosts. Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is a gammaretrovirus that infects domestic and wild cats, causing immunodeficiency, cytopenia and neoplasia in progressively infected cats. The outcome of FeLV infection is influenced by the host...

In 2011, authorities of Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, approved an ordinance to promote public health and animal welfare through responsible pet ownership promotion. The population of dogs was not known, and the relationships between dog abundance, socio-economic factors, prevalence of zoonotic gastrointestinal parasites, and pet ownership res...

Longitudinal studies of cats naturally infected with feline leukemia virus (FeLV) are important for understanding disease outcomes. Levels of p27 antigen and copy numbers of proviral DNA have been associated with FeLV-infection courses. The purpose of this prospective study was to establish cutoff values for p27 antigen concentration and proviral D...

The cornerstones of diagnosis of heartworm (HW) in dogs are the detection of circulating antigen from adult female Dirofilaria immitis or the visualization of microfilariae in whole blood. These tests are less sensitive in cats because of the feline immune response leading to low numbers of adult worms, but heartworm antibody tests are also license...

The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vpoa.2020.100027. The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal

Objectives The purpose of this retrospective study was to assess outcomes of cats referred to a specialized adoption program for feline leukemia virus (FeLV)-positive cats. Methods Cats referred to an FeLV-specific adoption program between January 2018 and July 2019 at an animal shelter in Austin, TX, USA, were first identified based on their puta...

Recent international epidemics of coronavirus-associated illnesses underscore the urgent medical and public health need for vaccine development and regulatory body approved therapies. In particular, the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has quickly intensified interest in developing treatment options to mitigate impact on human l...

Clinical importance Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infections are found in cats worldwide. Both infections are associated with a variety of clinical signs and can impact quality of life and longevity. Scope This document is an update of the 2008 American Association of Feline Practitioners’ feline retrovirus m...

This study used a previously developed stochastic simulation model (1) to estimate the impact of different management actions on free-roaming kitten and cat mortality over a 10-year period. These longer-term cumulative impacts have not been systematically examined to date. We examined seven management scenarios, including: (1) taking no action, (2)...

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the utility of using body weight for age determination in kittens. Methods: Medical records were reviewed for serial body weight measurements collected from neonatal kittens (up to 8 weeks of age) from a breeding colony of specific pathogen-free domestic shorthair cats and for single-point bo...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2019.00007.].

OBJECTIVE To characterize the clients served by and the cats and dogs admitted to nonprofit spay-neuter clinics. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE 2,154 dogs and 1,902 cats that were owned by 3,768 survey respondents and admitted to 22 nonprofit spay-neuter clinics across the United States between April 29, 2013, and January 24, 2014. PROCED...

Objectives: Non-surgical contraceptives are under development to provide accessible, affordable and humane alternatives for the management of free-roaming cat populations. The objective of this project was to develop a research approach for promising non-surgical contraceptives using outbred cats in a simulated free-roaming setting, meeting high s...

Objectives Non-surgical contraceptive management of free-roaming cat populations is a global goal for public health and humane reasons. The objectives of this study were to measure the duration of contraception following a single intramuscular injection of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone-based vaccine (GonaCon) and to confirm its safe use in femal...

Background: Dogs seized by law enforcement agencies during dogfighting investigations are at increased risk of Babesia gibsoni infection. A rapid and cost-effective diagnostic test would increase the feasibility of mass screening of dogs for infection and monitoring treatment efficacy in B. gibsoni-infected dogs. Objective: To determine the perf...

The nonlethal management of community cats is one of the greatest challenges in animal welfare. Currently, many animal shelters are struggling with rising cat intake rates and low live-release rates compared to dogs. One contributing factor to these trends is impoundment of feral cats. Stray cats who have lived in the wild for an extended time may...

OBJECTIVE To estimate seroprevalences for FeLV antigen and anti-FIV antibody and risk factors for seropositivity among cats in the United States and Canada. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. ANIMALS 62,301 cats tested at 1,396 veterinary clinics (n = 45,406) and 127 animal shelters (16,895). PROCEDURES Blood samples were tested with a point-of-care ELI...

Background: Approximately one-third of dogs confiscated during dogfighting investigations are infected with Babesia gibsoni. Traditional management of B. gibsoni with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-screening, treatment with commercially available azithromycin and atovaquone, and PCR testing after 60 and 90 days is costly and impractical for large...

High volume spay-neuter (spay-castration) clinics have been established to improve population control of cats and dogs to reduce the number of animals admitted to and euthanazed in animal shelters. The rise in the number of spay-neuter clinics in the USA has been accompanied by concern about the quality of animal care provided in high volume facili...

OBJECTIVE To determine the seroprevalence of heartworm infection, risk factors for seropositivity, and frequency of prescribing heartworm preventives for cats. DESIGN Prospective cross-sectional study. ANIMALS 34,975 cats from 1,353 veterinary clinics (n = 26,707) and 125 animal shelters (8,268) in the United States and Canada. PROCEDURES Blood sam...

Background: More than 3 million cats in the United States are infected with FeLV or FIV. The cornerstone of control is identification and segregation of infected cats. Hypothesis/objectives: To compare test performance with well-characterized clinical samples of currently available FeLV antigen/FIV antibody combination test kits. Animals: Surp...

Table S1. Serological and PCR testing results in individual dogs for Babesia gibsoni after 10 days of 1 treatment with azithromycin and atovaquone.

As community efforts to reduce the overpopulation and euthanasia of unwanted and unowned cats and dogs have increased, many veterinarians have increasingly focused their clinical efforts on the provision of spay-neuter services. Because of the wide range of geographic and demographic needs, a wide variety of spay-neuter programs have been developed...

Dogs used for dogfighting often receive minimal preventive health care, and the potential for spread of infectious diseases is high. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of infectious diseases in dogs rescued from fighting operations to guide medical protocols for their immediate and long-term care. A total of 269 pit bull-type...

Background: In 2011, authorities of Quito, Ecuador, approved an Ordinance to promote public health and animal welfare. Two limitations are that current population of dogs is not known, and the relationships between dog abundance, socio-economic factors, prevalence of dog with gastro-intestinal (GI) parasites and pet ownership responsibility has not...

Objectives Despite the common use of rectal temperature for assessing health and identifying infectious diseases in cats, there is little evidence to support frequently cited feline reference intervals for rectal temperature. Body temperature measurements are most commonly performed indoors in animal shelters and veterinary clinics. In these facili...

Shelter staff and veterinarians routinely make subjective dog breed identification based on appearance, but their accuracy regarding pit bull-type breeds is unknown. The purpose of this study was to measure agreement among shelter staff in assigning pit bull-type breed designations to shelter dogs and to compare breed assignments with DNA breed sig...

GonaCon™ is the trade name of a GnRH-hemocyanin conjugate immunocontraceptive vaccine formulation shown to prevent reproduction and inhibit production of sex hormones in numerous mammalian species for extended durations. GonaCon is currently registered with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for contraception of female white-tailed deer,...

Body temperature is commonly used for assessing health and identifying infectious diseases in cats. Rectal thermometry, the most commonly used method, is stressful, invasive and time consuming. Non-contact infrared thermometry (NIRT) has been used with mixed success to measure temperature in humans and other species. The purpose of this study was t...

Large populations of free-roaming cats (FRCs) generate ongoing concerns for welfare of both individual animals and populations, for human public health, for viability of native wildlife populations, and for local ecological damage. Managing FRC populations is a complex task, without universal agreement on best practices. Previous analyses that use...

Approximately 2-3 million cats enter animal shelters annually in the United States. A large proportion of these are unowned community cats that have no one to reclaim them and may be too unsocialized for adoption. More than half of impounded cats are euthanased due to shelter crowding, shelter-acquired disease or feral behavior. Trap-neuter-return...

Animal hoarders accumulate animals in over-crowded conditions without adequate nutrition, sanitation, and veterinary care. As a result, animals rescued from hoarding frequently have a variety of medical conditions including respiratory infections, gastrointestinal disease, parasitism, malnutrition, and other evidence of neglect. The purpose of this...

Shelter Medicine is an emergent area of veterinary practice for which few currently practicing veterinarians received prior academic training. Online training programs have the potential to reach a wide audience, yet none existed for this discipline prior to the creation of this course. The purpose of this case study was to use best practices for d...

It is estimated that more than 3 million stray dogs and cats enter animal shelters in the USA each year, but less than half are ever reunited with their owners. Lost pets with identification microchips are up to 21 times more likely to be reunited than those without. Finders of lost pets are more likely to consult veterinarians than shelters for as...

Regrettably, an error appeared in the ‘Injectable vaccine administration’ box on page 798: the pictures in Figures 8 and 9 were swapped with each other. ( The error appears in the printed copies of the journal, and in online versions downloaded before mid-October 2013.) The amended box is reproduced here in full. DOI of original article: 10.1177/10...

Feline injection site sarcomas affect 1-10 cats per every 10,000 vaccinated and are associated with high mortality. Radical resection may be curative, but is often associated with prolonged recovery, disfigurement and loss of function when tumors occur at currently recommended injection sites. The objective of this study was to assess alternatives...

Regrettably, two errors appeared in the 2013 AAFP Feline Vaccination Advisory Panel Report. Firstly, in the ‘Injectable vaccine administration’ box, on page 798, the pictures in Figures 8 and 9 were swapped with each other. The amended box is reproduced here. Secondly, the penultimate sentence in the second ‘Trap–Neuter–Return’ FAQ on page 804 shou...

Objective: To determine the proportion of cats entering a Florida animal shelter with serum antibody titers against feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), feline herpesvirus 1 (FHV1), and feline calicivirus (FCV) and to identify factors associated with seropositivity. Design: Cross-sectional study. Animals: 347 cats admitted to a Florida animal she...

To determine the frequency of enteropathogens in cats entering an animal shelter with normal feces or diarrhea. Cross-sectional study. 100 cats evaluated at an open-admission municipal animal shelter in Florida. Fecal samples collected within 24 hours after admission from 50 cats with normal feces and 50 cats with diarrhea were tested by fecal flot...

To determine the frequency of enteropathogens in dogs entering an animal shelter with normal feces or diarrhea. Cross-sectional study. 100 dogs evaluated at an open-admission municipal animal shelter in Florida. Fecal samples were collected within 24 hours after admission from 50 dogs with normal feces and 50 dogs with diarrhea. Feces were tested b...

To compare 2 assays for use in the identification of dogs with a protective antibody titer (PAT) against canine parvovirus (CPV) and canine distemper virus (CDV). Prospective cross-sectional study. 431 dogs admitted to a municipal animal shelter in north central Florida. Blood samples were collected from dogs on the day of admission to the shelter....

The optimal vaccination protocol to induce immunity in kittens with maternal antibodies is unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of maternally-derived antibody (MDA) on serologic responses to vaccination in kittens. Vaccination with a modified live virus (MLV) product was more effective than an inactivated (IA) product a...

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection cause similar clinical syndromes of immune dysregulation, opportunistic infections, inflammatory diseases, and neoplasia. Renal disease is the 4th most common cause of death associated with HIV infection. To investigate the association between FIV infection and ren...

Transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza and the recent pandemic H1N1 viruses to domestic cats and other felids creates concern because of the morbidity and mortality associated with human infections as well as disease in the infected animals. Experimental infections have demonstrated transmission of influenza viruses in cats. An epidemiol...

Serum antibody titers are a useful measurement of protection against infection (feline panleukopenia virus [FPV]) or clinical disease (feline herpesvirus-1 [FHV] and feline calicivirus [FCV]), and their determination has been recommended as part of disease outbreak management in animal shelters. The objective of this study was to determine the sens...

The uncontrolled reproduction of free-roaming feral cats contributes to overpopulation and associated concerns regarding their welfare and impact on public health and the environment. Nonsurgical fertility control that could be administered to feral cats in the field would be a powerful tool for cat population control. The objective was to test the...

Free-roaming unowned stray and feral cats exist throughout the world, creating concerns regarding their welfare as well as their impact on the environment and on public health. Millions of healthy cats are culled each year in an attempt to control their numbers. Surgical sterilization followed by return to the environment is an effective non-lethal...

Cats are at risk for heartworm infection (Dirofilaria immitis) wherever the disease is endemic in dogs. Diagnosis is more difficult in cats, and little information is available regarding effective palliative and curative treatments for infected cats. In contrast to the challenges of diagnosis and treatment, chemoprophylaxis is highly effective, and...

The high prevalence of heartworm infection in shelter dogs creates a dilemma for shelter managers, who frequently operate with insufficient funding, staffing, and expertise to comply with heartworm guidelines developed for owned pet dogs. The purpose of this study was to survey canine heartworm management protocols used by 504 animal sheltering age...

To determine the prevalence of infectious diseases of animal and zoonotic importance in cats and dogs rescued and transferred from the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina. Cross-sectional study. 414 dogs and 56 cats rescued and transferred from the Gulf Coast region within 4 months after the hurricane. EDTA-anticoagulated blood and serum...

To determine the earliest day of gestation at which relaxin could be detected in pregnant queens by use of a commercially available point-of-care test designed for use in dogs, and to calculate sensitivity and specificity of the test for pregnancy detection on any specified day of gestation. Evaluation study. 162 female cats (24 queens from a breed...

To describe the characteristics and frequency of gross uterine anomalies in cats and dogs undergoing elective ovariohysterectomy. Prospective and retrospective case series. 53,258 cats and 32,660 dogs undergoing elective ovariohysterectomy at 26 clinics in the United States and Canada during 2007. Clinics prospectively reported gross anomalies and...

To determine the percentage of pet cats still wearing collars and having functional microchips 6 months after application. Randomized controlled clinical trial. 538 client-owned cats. Cats were randomly assigned to wear 1 of 3 types of collars: plastic buckle, breakaway plastic buckle safety, and elastic stretch safety. Each cat was fitted with the...

Arthropod vectors of canine infectious diseases are present throughout Florida. Since crowded housing has the potential to bring vectors and infected dogs into close proximity, it is possible that prevalence of infection is higher in intensely housed dogs. In this study, the seroprevalence of Dirofilaria immitis, Ehrlichia canis, and Borrelia burgd...

This study found that government-funded surgical sterilization of companion animals has been widely promoted as a means of decreasing shelter intake and euthanasia. However, little information is available about the true impact of these programs on community and shelter nonhuman animal population dynamics. This study estimated the impact of the Ani...

To determine the proportion of dogs entering an animal shelter with protective antibody titers (PATs) for canine distemper virus (CDV) and canine parvovirus (CPV) and identify factors associated with having a PAT. Cross-sectional study. 431 dogs admitted to an open-admission municipal animal shelter in north central Florida with a history of infect...

Although the presence of adult Dirofilaria immitis in the pulmonary arteries and its associated arteritis and thromboembolic disease can explain some of the manifestations of canine and feline heartworm disease, the cause of other findings remains unclear. Cats with D. immitis antibodies but lacking adult parasites in the pulmonary arteries frequen...

Annually, 55,000 people die of rabies in Africa and Asia where canine rabies is endemic the world Health Organisation favors mass vaccination of dogs over wholesale culling. Vaccination of *street dogs* coupled with sterilization resulted in a progressive decline in both human and dog rabies in India. Dog rabies was eliminated from the U.S. via vac...

A dog that was referred to the University of Florida Veterinary Medical Center was discovered to have a bamboo skewer within the right atrium and right ventricle, traversing the tricuspid valve. The skewer was ingested approximately four months prior to referral and was partially removed via gastrotomy. The presenting complaint at the time of refer...