title: Out-patient antimicrobial drug use in dogs and cats for new disease events from community companion animal practices in Ontario.
abstract: This study investigated oral and parenteral antimicrobial use in dogs and cats, and evaluated antimicrobial use in feline upper respiratory tract disease (FURTD), feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD), and canine infectious tracheobronchitis. Study journals (n = 1807) were submitted by 84 veterinarians. Sixty-five percent of the antimicrobials prescribed in dogs and 67% in cats were β-lactams. Most frequently prescribed in dogs were cephalexin (33%) and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (16%), and in cats, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (40%) and cefovecin (17%); 7% of the prescriptions in dogs and 12% in cats were for fluoroquinolones. Sixty-seven percent of the disease events associated with canine infectious tracheobronchitis, and 70% and 74% associated with FURTD and FLUTD, respectively, were treated with antimicrobials. These results suggest that cefovecin and fluoroquinolones may be over-used and antimicrobial use for the treatment of FURTD, FLUTD, and canine infectious tracheobronchitis could probably be reduced to lessen resistance selection pressure without compromising patient health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1. colleen.p.murph@gmail.com
authors.forename: Colleen P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Reid-Smith
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boerlin
authors.forename: J Scott
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Weese
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.forename: Nicol
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Janecko
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: McEwen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002415:Cats; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004285:Dogs; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009864:Ontario; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents