Small animal disease surveillance: pruritus, and coagulase-positive staphylococci

Small animal disease surveillance: GI disease and salmonellosis

Presentation for gastrointestinal (GI) disease comprised 2.2 per cent of cat, 3.2 per cent of dog and 2.2 per cent of rabbit consultations between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017Diarrhoea and vomiting without blood were the most frequently reported GI disease clinical signs (34.4 and 38.9 per cent in cats and 42.8 and 37.3 per cent in dogs, respectively)The mean percentage of samples testing positive for Salmonella in dogs was double that in cats (0.82 per cent and 0.41 per cent, respectively) from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2016In dogs, autumn was associated with a greater proportion of Salmonella-positive sample submissions; no clear suggestion of seasonal variation in cats was observedIn both cats and dogs, isolates belonging to Salmonella enterica group B serotypes were the most common (68.9 per cent in cats and 55.0 per cent in dogs).

Patterns of antimicrobial agent prescription in a sentinel population of canine and feline veterinary practices in the United Kingdom

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Antimicrobial agent prescription was monitored in a large UK population of cats and dogs over a 2 year period (2014–2016).

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Systemic antimicrobial agents were prescribed more frequently to cats; topical prescription was more frequent in dogs.

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A temporal reduction (2014–2016) in antimicrobial agent prescription was observed in both cats and dogs in this population.

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Premises which prescribed antimicrobial agents commonly to cats generally also prescribed commonly to dogs.

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The most frequently prescribed antibiotics were cefovecin in cats and clavulanic acid potentiated amoxicillin in dogs.

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly important global health threat and the use of antimicrobial agents is a key risk factor in its development. This study describes antimicrobial agent prescription (AAP) patterns over a 2 year period using electronic health records (EHRs) from booked consultations in a network of 457 sentinel veterinary premises in the United Kingdom. A semi-automated classification methodology was used to map practitioner defined product codes in 918,333 EHRs from 413,870 dogs and 352,730 EHRs from 200,541 cats, including 289,789 AAPs. AAP as a proportion of total booked consultations was more frequent in dogs (18.8%, 95% confidence interval, CI, 18.2–19.4) than cats (17.5%, 95% CI 16.9–18.1). Prescription of topical antimicrobial agents was more frequent in dogs (7.4%, 95% CI 7.2–7.7) than cats (3.2%, 95% CI 3.1–3.3), whilst prescription of systemic antimicrobial agents was more frequent in cats (14.8%, 95% CI 14.2–15.4) than dogs (12.2%, 95% CI 11.7–12.7). A decreasing temporal pattern was identified for prescription of systemic antimicrobial agents in dogs and cats. Premises which prescribed antimicrobial agents frequently for dogs also prescribed frequently for cats. AAP was most frequent during pruritus consultations in dogs and trauma consultations in cats. Clavulanic acid potentiated amoxicillin was the most frequently prescribed antimicrobial agent in dogs (28.6% of prescriptions, 95% CI 27.4–29.8), whereas cefovecin, a third generation cephalosporin, was the most frequently prescribed antimicrobial agent in cats (36.2%, 95% CI 33.9–38.5). This study demonstrated patterns in AAP over time and for different conditions in a population of companion animals in the United Kingdom.