Antibacterial prescribing patterns in small animal veterinary practice identified via SAVSNET: the small animal veterinary surveillance network

• Published in: Veterinary record Vol. 169; no. 12; p. 310
• Main Authors: Radford, A. D., Noble, P. J., Coyne, K. P., Gaskell, R. M., Jones, P. H., Bryan, J. G. E., Setzkorn, C., Tierney, Á., Dawson, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Limited 17.09.2011; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Animal diseases; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Antimicrobial agents; Bacterial infections; Cat Diseases - drug therapy; Cats; Dog Diseases - drug therapy; Dogs; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; Drug Prescriptions - veterinary; Drug Utilization - statistics & numerical data; England; Food; Humans; Licenses; Mortality; Practice Patterns, Physicians' - statistics & numerical data; Rabbits; Veterinary Medicine - statistics & numerical data; Wales; England; Wales; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 0042-4900; 2042-7670
• DOI: 10.1136/vr.d5062

In this study, data from veterinary clinical records were collected via the small animal veterinary surveillance network (SAVSNET). Over a three-month period, data were obtained from 22,859 consultations at 16 small animal practices in England and Wales: 69 per cent from dogs, 24 per cent from cats, 3 per cent from rabbits and 4 per cent from miscellaneous species. The proportion of consults where prescribing of antibacterials was identified was 35.1 per cent for dogs, 48.5 per cent for cats and 36.6 per cent for rabbits. Within this population, 76 per cent of antibacterials prescribed were β-lactams, including the most common group of clavulanic acid-potentiated amoxicillin making up 36 per cent of the antibacterials prescribed. Other classes included lincosamides (9 per cent), fluoroquinolones and quinolones (6 per cent) and nitroimidazoles (4 per cent). Vancomycin and teicoplanin (glycopeptide class), and imipenem and meropenem (β-lactam class) prescribing was not identified. Prescribing behaviour varied between practices. For dogs and cats, the proportion of consults associated with the prescription of antibacterials ranged from 0.26 to 0.55 and 0.41 to 0.73, respectively.