Therapeutic antibiotic use patterns in dogs: observations from a veterinary teaching hospital

Objectives: To describe therapeutic antibiotic use patterns in dogs at a small animal teaching hospital. Methods: A retrospective case analysis of randomly sampled antibiotic prescriptions in dogs from May 20, 2008 to May 20, 2009, deemed to be for therapeutic use, was performed. Records were reviewed to determine if there was documentation of confirmed, suspected or no evidence of infection. The five most frequently prescribed antibiotics were identified and analysed for their distribution in these categories. Results: In 17% of therapeutic antibiotic prescriptions there was confirmed infection, in 45% suspected infection, and in 38% there was no documented evidence of infection. Amoxicillin-clavulanate was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic, followed by cefazolin/cephalexin, enrofloxacin, ampicillin/amoxicillin and doxycycline. Doxycycline was the most frequently prescribed with no documented evidence of infection, and amoxicillin-clavulanate was the most frequently prescribed with either confirmed or suspected evidence of infection. Discussion: Clinicians use a variety of tools when deciding whether or not to prescribe an antibiotic and which antibiotic to use. As in human medicine, there is likely overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine. Veterinarians should engage in discussions regarding clinically applicable guidelines for appropriate antibiotic use.