Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program

Saving lives through science, leadership, and service.

Shelter Consultation Services


We welcome consultations with shelters!

Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program at Cornell offers a range of population and organizational level consultations to shelters and rescues.  We are happy to help with topics such as preventive medicine protocols, infectious disease management, shelter staff training, outbreak management, shelter facilities, and animal welfare issues.  Additionally we can assist with interpretation and application of diagnostic testing submitted by shelters through the AHDC at Cornell. We provide email, telephone, and in-shelter consultations.

Email and Phone Consultations

Annually MSMP at Cornell responds to over 100 email and phone consultations. Shelter-related topics include disease management, shelter medicine and care protocols, treatment of animals, facility design, and guidelines and advice pertaining to COVID-19 and shelters.  

To ask a shelter-related question, please email us at sheltermedicine@cornell.edu and include your contact information (name, organization, email, phone, etc.). A member of our team will respond to your request within 24 hours M-F.

Outbreak Response Assistance

If you are experiencing what seems to be a disease outbreak in your shelter, please email us at sheltermedicine@cornell.edu with the work OUTBREAK in the subject line. Include a description of why you are contacting us along with your contact information (name, organization, email, phone, etc.). A member of our veterinary staff will respond to you ASAP. 

We do not charge for general email or telephone consultations.

On-site Shelter Consultations 

At this time we are unable to travel to provide on-site shelter consultations outside of our region.

If you are located within 2 hours of Ithaca, NY and need an on-site consultation, please complete this request for consultation form

For shelters beyond our region, we encourage you to contact other organizations currently offering shelter consultations:

ASPCA Shelter Medicine Service

https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-support-animal-shelters

Maddie's Million Pet Challenge

https://maddiesmillionpetchallenge.org/consultations/

UW-Madison Shelter Medicine Program

https://www.uwsheltermedicine.com/shelter-support/shelter-consultations/