Description
Antibiotics are an important therapeutic modality for bacterial infections in dogs and cats. All use of antibiotics, however, can lead to antimicrobial resistance. Optimization of antibiotic use can help preserve these drugs to treat both animal and human patients. This talk will focus on how to select of empiric antibiotics, choose and interpret diagnostic tests for bacterial infections (including interpretation of antimicrobial susceptibility testing), select dose, route and duration of antibiotic treatment, and improve client compliance. Useful clinical resources will be shared.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the importance of antimicrobial stewardship in veterinary medicine and identify strategies to optimize antibiotic use in treating bacterial infections in dogs and cats
- Evaluate how to select empiric antibiotics based on likely causative organisms, infection site, and the antibiotic’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties
- Describe how cytology assists in differentiating bacterial infections and guides empiric antibiotic choices while emphasizing the integration of cytologic evaluation with antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST)
- Understand the role, methodology, and interpretation of AST in selecting effective systemic antibiotics, particularly for recurrent or multidrug-resistant bacterial infections
- Optimize administration route, and treatment duration for antibiotics to improve patient outcomes
- Learn strategies to improve patient and pet owner compliance when prescribing (or not prescribing) antibiotic therapy
