Advancements in Animal Housing to Improve Patient Welfare

Our goal at Therian is to connect the veterinary and animal care industry with innovative, trusted, and proven veterinary fit-out products.

At Vet Expo 2023, Therian Sales Consultant Loren Copp (Bachelor of Science, major Zoology, Bachelor of Equine Studies) presented a top-line review of the latest available research and guidelines on the use of new technologies and animal housing design concepts in Australia for the enhancement of post-surgical recovery in small companion animals.

Areas of focus for this included:

• Housing materials
• Lighting
• Heating

With the overall aim to minimise stress and optimise recovery in hospitalised veterinary patients.

Every pet owner will understand that going to the vet can be a stressful experience for almost all animals. The typical veterinary environment is bright, busy, and noisy, and some odours are unsettling for our pets. Furthermore, animals pick up on and absorb the stress of other animals in the environment.

Veterinary patients often have their post-operative recovery (at least initially) occur within close proximity of the treatment room. This is not species-specific, and it is very difficult in this environment to control general movement, noise, and odour.

The key to improving this experience and outcomes for animals in recovery lies in creating a more advantageous micro-environment via patient housing.

Considerations include:

1. Enclosure size
2. Odour and noise control
3. Functionality
4. Visibility
5. Hygiene

Critical areas within a veterinary hospital often require housing for different species; dogs and cats are usually housed within the same area post-operatively.

• The Journal of Feline Medicine & Surgery recommends that, if using tiered housing, feline patients ideally be accommodated in the upper tiers. This enables the cat to view its surroundings from a height and retreat when possible.
• Ideally, large canine patients will be accommodated in a walk-in enclosure, particularly during the recumbent recovery phase.
• Consider the housing needs of such as rabbits, rodents, and ferrets. This includes potentially clipping plexiglass to stainless steel wire doors to prevent escape. Alternatively, full, ventilated plexiglass housing walls optimise cleaning and enable the attachment of supplemented ventilation and oxygenation.

Innovative and fear free products available in the market include CASCO WELLKennel™ enclosures. These modular veterinary enclosures are manufactured from toughened glass and allow for multi-species housing. They are also available specifically designed for dogs, cats, and exotic species, with large lower-tier options for dogs and upper-tier housing more suitable for cats. Configurable to your needs, as long as they are not placed facing each other, multiple species can satisfactorily be housed in the same area.

Noise and odour in the hospital environment can significantly increase stress.

Odour:

Dogs and cats are highly olfactory species. They gain much of their information through their sense of smell and scent-marking via urine, faeces, and other secretions. Odour minimisation, therefore, is important not just for the welfare of staff but also for patients.

• Factors such as housing material greatly influence odour control in these environments. Surfaces should be robust, inorganic, easy to clean and disinfect, and conducive to active ventilation. This includes door materials.
• The Journal of Veterinary Behaviour published a 2020 study that considered strategies to minimise stress in hospitalised cats. It concluded that attaching clear or opaque plexiglass panels to stainless steel caging may reduce unfamiliar olfactory materials – as long as in-enclosure ventilation needs are maintained.

Noise:

Many animals, including dogs and cats, hear noise beyond the acoustic spectrum available to humans. Much of the noise in a veterinary environment is ultrasonic – and everything from running water to dripping taps, clinical equipment, squeaky chairs, human conversation, and noisy doors can stress animals much more than we might expect. Cats and “pocket pets” in particular are sensitive to high-frequency sounds; these can damage the cochlea in pets including guinea pigs.

It’s important to choose housing (based on enclosure material and latch choice) to minimise and dampen noise for the animal. Solid doors absorb noise – but should be a transparent material.

Choose enclosures made of toughened glass for its noise-dampening capabilities as well as being hygienic and easy to clean. Soft-close latches and plexiglass or glass doors enable passive ventilation and additional odour and noise control.

Perio-operative and post-operative monitoring is essential. Incorporating optimised heating and lighting into individual patient enclosures assists staff with this and enables micro-climate and micro-environment adjustments based on the patient’s needs.

Heating:

Thermoregulation is crucial perioperatively. Sick, sedated, paediatric and geriatric patients require warmer environments and body temperature must be preserved. Perioperative hypothermia has been linked with prolonged recovery times. As such, visible enclosures with thermostat-controlled heating are ideal.

Lighting:

Independently lit animal housing in hospitals is also optimal. ISFM (International Society of Feline Medicine) Feline-Friendly Nursing Care Guidelines indicate that maintaining low light can help calm cats and encourage them to rest. Creating a bespoke environment on a case-by-case, species-by-species basis can optimise recovery by minimising stress.

CASCO WELLKennel™ housing offers unique integrated heating and lighting to encourage rest, maintain visibility for staff, optimise recovery, and even create zones of differing temperatures for the patient to move between warmer and cooler spots.

Visibility of patients to staff perioperatively is critical – yet many species cope with stress and recovery by retreating and hiding. This applies particularly to feline patients.

• Studies have found that hospitalised cats prefer enclosures with opaque plexiglass. For example, frosted glass on the lower half of the enclosure offers cats the privacy they seek while allowing staff to view the patient easily.
• Canine patients benefit from enclosures with a clear, toughened gate or door as opposed to stainless steel wire caging in terms of minimising anxiety and biting behaviours.

In terms of cable management, enclosures will ideally have purpose-built cut-outs and areas for pump holder attachment to minimise line tangling and patient discomfort. There are also WH&S implications for the staff that this serves. Adequate cable management also helps reduce unnecessary noise and vibrations on and within the enclosure.

Stressed patients are more susceptible to infection. Hygiene in the entire veterinary setting is paramount and this includes patient enclosures.

It’s important to select housing materials that maintain hygiene and are easy to clean and sterilise between patients to prevent cross-contamination. New technology assists with this and ideal materials include smooth-surfaced toughened glass, stainless steel, and fibreglass. Organic materials (such as natural stone and wood) must be avoided, as they can harbour bacteria and other disease-causing microorganisms and are difficult to adequately clean.

Furthermore, look for enclosures with fluid-retention lips, sealed joints, and other hygiene features. CASCO WELLKennels™ come with integrated blue UVA lighting which is designed to expose inorganic materials in the enclosure to assist staff with cleaning.

Therian provides high-quality veterinary industry equipment and technology. For more than two decades, we have been proudly supporting the veterinary industry with vet equipment for the highest outcomes in terms of animal care. We also provide bespoke vet clinic design solutions.

CASCO WELLKennel™ veterinary enclosures are an optimal choice when designing, refurbishing, or improving your practice – and we are a proud supplier of these and more.

With exceptional attention to detail and our commitment to 48-hour quoting processes, we can help you improve your veterinary hospital environment to enhance patient outcomes and your job satisfaction. Contact us today to have a chat about your needs.