Basic infrastructure for ABC Programmes:Revised Module for Street Dog Population Management
Before an ABC Programme can be carried out, care must be taken to ensure that minimum standards of housing, feeding, hygiene and veterinary care are provided for the street dogs.
The preparation room and operation theatre must be well equipped with necessary instruments, equipments and medicines to adequately handle the volume of work as well as to ensure that surgery carried out on the dogs is free of any untoward complications.
Care must also be taken to ensure that adequate number of personnel are available on duty to run the ABC Programme efficiently.
There must be provision for a doctor’s room, pre-operative preparation room, post-operative recovery room, kitchen, medicine stock room, attendants’ quarters, suitable kennels, quarantine facility with a separate entrance etc.
- Housing
It is essential that in addition to the general housing arrangement made for the street dogs selected to undergo the ABC Programme, arrangements are also made to provide a separate quarantine area to house dogs suspected to be rabid.
Besides this, the ABC facility / campus must also have a separate isolation area to house individual dogs that show symptoms of illness.
Arrangements must be made to ensure that the drainage system is kept separate in the areas where the suspected rabid or other ailing dogs are housed for observation or treatment.
- General Considerations
Open kennels in which a large number of dogs are kept loose is not a satisfactory arrangement. Care must be taken to ensure that that dogs that fight must not be housed together.
During the period of stay at the kennels, the dogs must be provided with access to clean water at all times, and adequate food at least twice a day. Adequate shelter from climatic extremes must be ensured.
- Kennels
The kennels for individual dogs should be at least 3 feet wide, 4 feet deep and at least 6 feet high. The kennel should be provided with a door or gate of vertical iron bars. The gaps between adjacent bars should be no more than 2 inches.
Adequate roofing is necessary to provide shade and shelter from inclement weather and also to prevent the dogs from escaping. Care should be taken while designing the kennel to ensure that there is sufficient cross ventilation of air through the kennels.
iii. Doors, Windows, Doorways, Walkway & Verandah:
Doors (and windows, fences, etc.) should be made of iron welded rods and bars. Doors should open both inwards and outwards as this enables easier kennelling of dogs and easier checking of dogs postoperatively. Doors should be secured by bolts.
Adding metal bolt hole plates on the door jamb to prevent bolt holes becoming enlarged is helpful as dogs attack the doors. The hole in the bolt hole plate should not be circular in shape but of an elongated shape running vertically which will provide better support in the event that the door drops on it’s hinges over time.
Rather than using angle iron for the door frames, it is recommended that masonry pillars be used, which is why bolt hole plates are needed. A disadvantage of using angle iron is that, the doors can then be opened one way only.
The walls and surrounding fences should be designed to make climbing difficult. No gap should exceed 2 inches to prevent pups escaping. This includes gaps between door frame and floor. Two inches is measured from the edge of one bar to the adjacent edge of the next bar, i.e. does not include the thickness of the bar.
Windows
Rear windows (barred as for doors with an inter-bar space of 2 inches) improve ventilation and light. If possible, such windows should have bars so positioned that there is no window ledge within the kennel.
Again depending on location, windows may need verandahs / overhangs to prevent sun or rain entering the kennel. If rear windows are not possible, then air vents should be incorporated to allow inflow of fresh air.
Doorways
Doorways should be of adequate height to allow easy access and exit for the personnel of the ABC implementing agency.
Gates from kennel areas should open into the kennel enclosure and should be fitted with spring closing mechanisms to limit the possibility of dogs forcing the gate open, or of them being left open inadvertently.
Bolts securing the outside gates should have chains so that the bolt may be secured in the closed position to prevent the dogs from moving the bolt.
Walkway
Outside the kennels, a walkway of concrete is needed. Slope of the walkway should be away from the kennel.
Verandah
Depending on the situation kennels should have an adequate verandah to shade the kennel from the sun.
Example: The example given below is from the kennels constructed at the Help in Suffering Shelter in Jaipur, Rajasthan and may be used as a guide to build the Kennels
Dimensions of the two designs of kennels used at the Help in Suffering Shelter are given below:
‘A’ Kennel block (outside)
Width: 4ft 10 in.
Depth 5ft
Height 7ft 6in.
Doors 3ft wide (total aperture)
Platforms depth (front to back) 2 ft. height (above floor) 1 ft 5 in. (but would be better at 4 inches)
‘N’ Kennel block
Width: 3 ft 6in
Depth: 4 ft 6 in
Height: 7 ft 6 in
Doors 2 ft 5 in (total aperture)
Platforms depth (front to back) 1ft 9 in. height (above floor) 4 in
Fencing of Enclosure:
Fencing generally: 6 ft 10 in. high Fencing at unloading area, and between shelter and street: 8 ft 3 in (with last foot as inward facing overhang)
- Flooring:
The floor should be of concrete to facilitate easy cleaning and should be sealed with a sealing material like Bondcrete or any other equivalent.
The kennels should be designed to have a raised area at the rear of the kennel so that the dog may lie down comfortably there.
- Drainage:
The floor must be designed with a slight slope so that fluids can be easily drained out and cleaning the floor of the kennel is easy. Drains must be covered by a secure, rust resistant grill or jaali.
Drainage channels or pipes should be straight.
Each kennel should have a separate drain (covered with jaali) leading to a main effluent drain.
Drains should be kept straight and have well designed chambers with access from surface at frequent points to allow cleaning.
PVC pipes of at least 4 inches diameter may be better than ceramic pipes.
Adequate access chambers to drainage pipes are required for cleaning purposes.
Run-off water from roofs should drain out separately and should not be allowed to enter the kennels.
Care should also be taken to ensure that all plug points, electrical switchboards and cables are located at a sufficient height above the ground.
Dogs are naturally curious animals and have a tendency to bite wires and play with pieces of tubing. This should be taken into consideration when constructing kennels.
- Unloading Areas
Separate areas for unloading dogs from vehicles and to allow secure examination of dogs must be provided.
- Kennel Management
- Cleaning:
Proper arrangements should be made to ensure the kennels are efficiently cleaned. Cleaning and sanitizing products that are non-toxic should be used. The kennel should be thoroughly disinfected after releasing one patient and before admitting another one.
Complete fumigation and disinfection of the kennels and the drains is recommened at least once a month to prevent parasites and communicable diseases from spreading.
- Water:
Supply, Storage and Drainage Arrangements for adequate water supply and sufficient number of storage tanks, taps and pipes should be made.
Drains from each kennel and linking up to the common corridors and other spaces should be designed in such a way that they can be easily cleaned.
Limiting the number of bends in drainage pipes will facilitate easier cleaning. While designing the drainage system, care should be taken to ensure that access chambers are provided to allow access to the drains and to facilitate thorough cleaning of the drains in case there are any blocks.
Kennel management requires the use of large volumes of water. Hence, good rain water harvesting and storage systems should be set up. Besides, the staff should be encouraged to follow good water conservation practices.
iii. Food Supply, Storage, Preparation and Distribution:
Dogs must be fed nutritionally balanced food that is free of adulterants and obtained from a reliable food supplier / raw material supplier. It is recommended that dogs undergoing the ABC surgery be given only vegetarian food at least two times a day. Well balanced, nutritious food that combines a proper blend of carbohydrates, proteins and fats and is rich in vitamins and minerals should be fed to the dogs twice a day.
- Storage:
The food grains and cereals used for feeding the dogs must be stored in clean, air tight, moisture free containers so that no spoilage or contamination by fungi, yeast or bacteria can occur.
- Cooking and Washing:
The utensils used for cooking and serving must not be washed in the same sink or place where the surgical instruments and drapes used for surgery are washed. This is because of the risk of transmission of infections, either via the surgical instruments or through the food utensils. The wash sinks for the food utensils must be separate and at a sufficient distance from the wash sinks for the surgical instruments and drapes. After washing, the surgical drapes must be dried in a sunny, well ventilated area.
- Ventilation:
Making provision for large windows and open corridors can also improve the circulation of air and increase the ventilation inside the ABC facility / campus.
However, if the ABC Implementing Agency is working in a place where the climate is very cold, then care should be taken to keep the ABC facility / campus well insulated and warm.
vii. Number of Kennels:
While planning the ABC program, the population of the area to be covered must be calculated. Going by the estimate of dog population to be 3:100, the estimated number of dogs should be calculated.
Considering that the area needs to be completely covered within 2 years, i.e. all dogs need to be sterilized, and each dog needs to be kept in the kennel for post operative care for 3 days, a total number of kennels required may be arrived at.
Calculating the number of kennels needed (with an example):
A town with a population of 1,00,000 will have approximately 3,000 dogs.
To cover 3,000 dogs in 1 year, 250 dogs will need to be sterilized every month.
Considering that surgeries will be done for 25 days every month, at least 10 dogs every day will need to be sterilized.
If 10 surgeries are conducted daily and the dogs are hospitalized for at least 4 days pre and postoperatively in individual kennels, then approximately 40 kennels will be needed to house the dogs which are recuperating after surgery.
A further 10 kennels will be required to house the next batch of street dogs that is brought in for ABC. Additionally, at least 5 kennels will be required as a separate quarantine facility.
Not every dog may be ready for release at the end of 4 days, and may require a longer period to recover from the surgery. This needs to be factored in while calculating the number of kennels to be constructed.
A set of 10 spare, individual kennels must be available to house those dogs that fall ill after surgery as well as the dogs that take a longer time for healing. These spare kennels can also help the ABC Implementing Agency in dealing with emergencies.
Adherence to sound surgical protocols, especially aseptic technique is mandatory and will reduce the duration of post-operative hospitalization.
- Operating Facilities
The operation theatre must be separate from the preparation room and both the operation theatre and preparation room should be adjacent to one another.
The preparation room should have an adequate source of water supply as well as good lighting.
Besides, the room must be secure to prevent the dogs from escaping.
- Minimal requirements of a preparation room
Cupboard to store sterilized surgical packs, sterile surgical instruments, sterile surgical gloves, mask, cap and gown
Cupboard for storing suture materials, gauze bandages, anesthetics, analgesics, antibiotics and other essential medicines and a weighing machine
Washing sink with adequate water taps with elbow activated handles
Good ventilation and lighting
An autoclave (at least 20 litres) that can sterilize at least 8-10 surgical sets at a time. It would be best if the autoclave were to be kept in a separate room or at least in a well ventilated space to minimize the chances of injuries in case of explosion. The use of autoclave indicator tape should be encouraged.
Revised Module for Street Dog Population Management – By AWBI
