Companion Animal Surveillance Initiative (CASI) Evaluation
The western Canadian Companion Animal Surveillance Initiative (CASI) was launched 2 years ago. Small animal practicing veterinarians can report occurrences of specific diseases of interest throughout the year, providing a picture of occurrence over time (https://www.wecahn.ca/wecahn-networks/companion-animal-surveillance-initiative).

Now it is time to evaluate our efforts to engage the veterinary community in this surveillance initiative. We are looking for interested individuals willing to be interviewed via telephone or virtual platform. Information gathered will be used to update the current initiative format.

While the time commitment is minimal (approximately 30-45 minutes of your time), your insights and feedback will be incredibly valuable. To learn more or if you are interested in contributing, please contact Shaneice Fletcher-Hildebrand at shaneice.fletcher@usask.ca or Maggie Coupland at Maggie.coupland@usask.ca. This research has been approved by the University of Saskatchewan Behavioural Ethics Board (BEH 4469).

Have you recently diagnosed an increased occurrence of specific diseases (i.e. Parvovirus or Distemper) among your clinic’s patients? Are you seeing a rise in tickborne illnesses (i.e. Borrelia, Anaplasma or Erhlichia) or other climate-driven diseases? Have you diagnosed a disease in a dog that recently traveled or was imported into Canada (i.e. Brucella canis)?

Cases that you see at your veterinary clinic reflect important changes in companion animal diseases and/or zoonotic diseases — pathogens that haven’t been consistently monitored through previous surveillance programs in animal health. That’s why we have recently launched the new Companion Animal Surveillance Initiative (CASI) in Western Canada.

What’s in it for me? We recognize the efforts of veterinarians contributing to this initiative and hope that providing the information back in the form of short quarterly updates, disease alerts, and longer annual reports will provide regionally important indicators of risks to your patients. Additionally, you will find disease specific information to share with your clients through the surveillance initiative’s secure website.

Want more information about CASI? CLICK HERE for more details or contact Dr. Tasha Epp by email (compan.surv@usask.ca).

How can you help with this critical surveillance initiative? It only takes a few minutes to register with the Western Canadian Animal Health Network (WeCAHN) so you can access the Companion Animal Surveillance Initiative’s secure website. Click on the blue JOIN US button in the top right toolbar to get started.

Ticks and other vectors of disease can have a big impact on pets' health. Here are some sources of good information:

 

Tick-borne diseases and climate change page: BC Centre for Disease Control web page

 

Vector-borne diseases webpage: Canadian Animal Health Surveillance System

Canine Distemper was detected in British Columbia April 6, 2022 Information on this detection is reported here: LINK

CAHSS recently made a new infographic on Canine Distemper (CD) in collaboration with OAHN, Dr. Scott Weese, and several other subject matter experts. Infographic link is here: https://bit.ly/3N6oGT0