Draft Final Project: Baby-Safe Biosecurity
Big Idea
By implementing baby-safe biosecurity practices between intake and foster placement, shelter staff can significantly reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission within the neonatal kitten population, ultimately improving live outcomes for one of the most medically vulnerable populations in the shelter.
Audience
This class is intended for shelter staff working on intake, animal care, foster, and veterinary teams, and any volunteers working hands-on with kittens in a shelter setting.
ASV Guideline References
· Page 23-28 (Section 5. Sanitation)
· Page 30 (Section 6.5 Medical Assessment)
How I will know the students have achieved the goal(s)
I will assess what the participants have learned through a combination of discussion, hands-on activities, and quizzes. Attendees will observe videos and photographs of various kitten handling scenarios and determine opportunities for improvement. They will also complete a “Clean Paw, Dirty Paw” activity to demonstrate their ability to distinguish between contaminated and clean items and surfaces while handling kittens. Understanding of sanitation protocols will be assessed through a quiz on proper cleaning and disinfection of kitten supplies and surfaces. Group discussion will help me assess the participants’ ability to explain how biosecurity from the time of intake through foster placement supports the kitten’s health in the foster setting and improves the likelihood of a live outcome.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this class, students will be able to:
· Identify potential fomite transmission risks in example photos, videos and classroom examples.
· Demonstrate proper use of gloves during kitten handling, including identifying which items and surfaces should be touched with gloves versus clean hands.
· Identify the proper steps for disinfecting kitten surfaces and supplies.
· Prepare a biosecure examination or feeding station using protective barriers, appropriately disinfected supplies, and safe handling practices.
· Apply baby-safe biosecurity principles during simulated intake and care scenarios.
· Explain how effective shelter biosecurity practices support the foster program, decrease medical burden, and improve outcomes for neonatal kittens.
Why I selected this topic:
Neonatal kittens are immune naïve and at high risk of contracting infectious diseases, especially in high-volume environments where they are easily exposed to pathogens. Because young kittens are community-dependent and typically rely on foster care for survival, they do not tend to spend prolonged periods in a shelter facility—but the time they do spend there can make or break their health status once placed in foster.
Most foster caregivers are not animal welfare professionals, and they often fail to recognize the subtle signs of illness quickly enough to access timely medical intervention. While increased foster education and medical intervention are important tools for addressing this issue, perhaps the most important way to support foster kitten health is to prevent disease from starting in the first place. Even brief exposure during intake or on-site handling can greatly impact the foster experience and threaten their survival.
Having worked with dozens of high-intake shelter kitten programs, I rarely see biosecurity protocols specifically tailored to the unique vulnerabilities of newborn kittens. I selected this topic because practical baby-safe biosecurity measures are absolutely foundational to any shelter that seeks to improve their outcomes for kittens, and that the downstream effects of proper biosecurity from intake to foster placement can be a defining factor in the kitten’s ultimate outcome.
Learning theories
My final project is focused on baby-safe biosecurity for shelter kittens, particularly during intake and handling prior to foster placement. I plan to use a combination of adult, experiential, and constructivist learning theories to help shelter staff and volunteers learn in a way that is interactive, practical and rooted in real life problem solving rather than memorization.
Why I chose these theories and how I'll apply them
Adult learning theory is relevant because the audience consists of adult learners. Adults learn best when material is intrinsically motivating and relevant to their responsibilities. Because this audience is presumably already motivated by helping animals, I want the lesson to connect biosecurity practices to kitten survival and foster parent experiences rather than present them as abstract rules. By providing a series of “Spooky Stories” in which protocol breaches result in devastating outcomes, I hope to tap into learners’ empathy and intrinsic desire to improve biosecurity compliance. These stories will be followed by discussion.
Experiential learning theory is highly applicable because I will be creating many activities to help learners build knowledge with their own hands. During my “Clean Paw, Dirty Paw” activity, learners will play a game in which they will use a gloved hand to touch items that should be considered contaminated and a clean hand to touch items that should be considered clean. During my Glo Germ simulation, learners will participate observe the impact of fomite transmission.
Constructivist learning theory is also applicable because learners may have deeply ingrained habits and assumptions surrounding kitten handling. Rather than simply lecturing, I want to actively construct new knowledge by reflecting on realistic scenarios. For example, instead of simply telling learners what to do, I will ask them to look at different photos and videos to investigate potential fomite risks. My hope is that this will help them build upon their foundational knowledge while challenging assumptions and identifying small changes that could significantly improve their practices.
Draft Lesson Plan
Engage: Invisible Exposure Discussion
As participants arrive, they will sign in using a clipboard and pen covertly covered with Glo Germ. I will also intentionally handle the GloGerm and interact with materials throughout the introduction including my clicker, a stuffed kitten, and other items to model how contamination spreads unintentionally. Initially, I will not reveal that I have done this.
Once participants have settled, I will open a discussion about neonatal kittens and disease exposure. I’ll briefly introduce the concept of fomites: objects and surfaces that can carry pathogens from one animal to another. Learners will be asked to predict which items might be at risk of becoming contaminated during neonatal kitten intake.
I will then reveal how even one invisibly contaminated item, like a clipboard, can unintentionally spread these pathogens to the hands, phones, and other materials of each person in the shelter, potentially exposing vulnerable kittens to disease. I will use my own supplies, such as my clicker, to show that even a well-trained person can become a fomite when unknowingly interacting with a contaminated item.
This stage is intended to create an “aha” moment while demonstrating that biosecurity is a systems issue, requiring all members of the team to work together.
Explore: Investigating Risks
Learners will investigate how contamination can move through shelter environments by reviewing photos and videos of kitten handling in shelters and veterinary clinics. They will be asked to identify potential fomite risks such as hands, sleeves, countertops, pockets, and hair, and to discuss what steps could be taken to mitigate risk.
Rather than being told the correct answers immediately, learners will work in small groups to discuss contamination pathways, and each group will be asked to share their reasoning for a different assigned photo.
This stage is intended to help the learners apply their existing knowledge, work together to challenge assumptions, and become more aware of the many opportunities for disease transmission.
Explain: Baby-Safe Biosecurity
I will provide direct instruction connecting the observations made in the previous stages to baby-safe biosecurity principles for neonatal kittens. Topics will include neonatal kitten immune naivety, fomite transmission, enveloped vs non-enveloped organisms, ringworm spores, hand hygiene, glove use, cleaning vs disinfection, and the length of time various pathogens can live on contaminated items and surfaces.
I’ll end this stage with a series of “Spooky Stories” illustrating real-world situations in which biosecurity lapses contributed to disease outbreaks or poor kitten outcomes. These examples will help learners connect abstract concepts to real situations and their consequences, building motivation to improve their practices.
Elaborate: Practicing with Barrier Protection
Learners will apply and extend their understanding through an interactive activity about glove use. Before the activity, we will review photos of glove use in shelter settings to identify potential problems, and discuss why gloves alone do not prevent disease transmission if contaminated gloves continue to contact clean items and surfaces.
Learners will then take part in the “Clean Paw, Dirty Paw” activity. Each student will be given one glove, and will be asked to raise their “clean paw” (ungloved hand) or “dirty paw” (gloved hand) to identify which hand they would use to interact with various objects commonly encountered during intake and shelter care.
After the activity, we’ll discuss additional barrier strategies such as gowns, pee pads, and other surface barriers. The purpose of this stage is to transfer concepts into practical decision-making they can implement daily.
Evaluate: Applying Biosecurity Principles
Participants will complete a pop quiz using realistic situations they might encounter while handling neonatal kittens. These scenarios will include a variety of complex issues such as a member of the public handing them a kitten in a laundry basket, retrieving supplies while handling a kitten, preparing for fluid therapy, and becoming thirsty while doing a kitten feeding. For each scenario, learners will choose the best course of action to demonstrate understanding.
