HSCC Standards of Care
The HSCC Standards of Care are meant to comply with the law passed on October 1, 2016, under the new Subtitle 17, Animal Shelters, in the Agricultural Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland also known as House Bill 494.
This law requires animal shelters to develop written veterinary protocols for dogs and cats that are consistent with the guidelines set forth by the most recent Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters and requires that we post a copy of the report on our website by January 1, 2017.
This document is not our operating procedure. It is a high-level overview that describes compliance with ASV Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters with respect to:
- Basic care
- Sanitation
- Population management
- Disease control and prevention
- Behavior health and mental well-being
- Euthanasia
This includes standards that are necessary to protect sheltered dogs’ and cats’ health, safety, and well-being as well as plan for the following:
- Quality of life enrichment
- Veterinary care
- Prevention and control of diseases
- Health and environmental factors that materially affect sheltered dogs’ and cats’ health, safety, and well-being
