Vets quit volunteering at King County animal shelters

A group of veterinarians that volunteered this year to treat sick animals at King County's two animal shelters has quit, citing a lack of accountability and a reluctance from shelter staff to fix a broken system.

In a searing letter to the county last month, one veterinarian stated that "pervasive negativity" and an unwillingness to change led the vets to stop offering their services at the Kent and Bellevue shelters.

"The general feeling was we were being used as an extension of the shelter while there were no significant changes being made to try and improve the problems plaguing the shelter," wrote Dr. Brad Crauer, medical director of the Redmond Animal Hospital. "I did not want to act as enablers to the proven failed procedures."

Animal-control officials say they are doing their best, and even though the agency has a long way to go, significant strides have been made. A plan is expected to come out this month outlining three options: whether the county should discontinue providing animal-shelter services, partner with another agency or keep operating as is.

The vet setback is the latest for King County Animal Care and Control, which has come under fire in the past year for running understaffed, overcapacity shelters with high euthanasia rates.

Two reports, one from a citizens committee in 2007 and a follow-up from a group of veterinarians at the University of California, Davis, called conditions at the Kent shelter deplorable, and pointed to poor sanitation, outbreaks of canine parvovirus and feline upper-respiratory infections, failure to vaccinate some animals and no place to isolate sick dogs.

Scrutiny of the agency grew even more intense this week after a vicious pit-bull attack in SeaTac left residents calling for more animal-control officers to patrol neighborhoods where dogs are known to roam. (King County Executive Ron Sims asked the county council last month to add more officers in SeaTac, Tukwila, Shoreline and Kirkland at the cities' expense. The council hasn't made a decision yet.)

In April, the county gave animal control $965,000 to pay for improvements such as new dog runs, cat cages and increased staffing.

Since then, "there's been a marked change in the health of our animals," said Wendy Keller, acting manager for animal control.

She said the euthanasia rate — which was once around 40 percent in 2006 — dropped to 20 percent between January and June. Staff members have installed more than 100 stainless-steel cat cages at the shelters, started adoption-outreach programs and set up portable pens outside to hold animals at the Kent facility.

The volunteer-vets program was a welcome part of this overhaul, she said.

"We were really grateful to have [them]," she said.

When Keller got Crauer's letter, she said, "I was kind of stunned."

Eight vets volunteered at the Kent and Bellevue shelters from April through July. After their visits, they submitted surveys rating their experience and offered recommendations.

While several said staffers were caring and attentive to the animals, some felt that medical care was "sporadic and disorganized," according to copies of the surveys.

One vet wrote that the cats "were like little prisoners" in their tiny cages. The staff does its best, given the situation, "which is a crappy situation," one vet wrote.

They wrote about being overwhelmed by the animal volume and encountering hostility when they made suggestions.

Another recurring theme: lack of proper isolation procedures for sick animals.

"They need effective isolation protocols," wrote another vet. "The tech did not wash her hands or change gloves between animals ... Animals with contagious disease should not be mixed in with the spay/neuter population."

Crauer, who volunteered at the Kent facility, said isolation is "the biggest problem."

"You've got sick cats everywhere," he said. "We kept going down there to try to be helpful. But I was amazed at the absolute lack of direction."

Despite the vets' frustration, Keller said she would like to find a way to work with the vets again.

"The intent out here is always supposed to be what's best for the animals," she said. "I practice the open-door policy."

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com. Information from The Seattle Times archive is included in this report.