Dog Owners’ Attitude toward Veterinary Antibiotic Use and Antibiotic Resistance with a Focus on Canine Diarrhea Management

Abstract

An ad hoc questionnaire was designed in order to investigate AMR knowledge amongst Italian dog owners, owner expectations concerning pharmacological treatment of canine AD, and client attitudes towards and compliance with alternative strategies to antimicrobial administration. A total of 250 questionnaires were returned. Most of respondents were female, aged 36–70 and workers. More than a half of participants owned one dog with mixed breed, with Labrador retriever, golden retriever, dachshund, and border collie being the most represented breeds. On average, each dog was treated with an oral antibiotic 1.044 times per year. Intestinal diseases were among the main reasons (19%) for antibiotic prescription. Oral antibiotic courses without veterinary consultation (21%) and anticipated termination of the therapy (17.1%) were less common than reported elsewhere. The majority of respondents knew the meaning of AMR with a significant inverse association between the level of education and the tendency to administer antimicrobials without consulting a clinician (p = 0.004). Most of the owners expected a rapid recovery of clinical signs after a first episode of AD and accepted natural dietary supplementation for treating the condition. Ninety-five percent of the respondents believed that public funding should be spent to study AMR. Even though an acceptable degree of AMR awareness emerged, we feel that further efforts should be made to increase public AMR knowledge and to stimulate proactive measures to fight the phenomenon. On the other hand, the development of guidelines for the treatment of uncomplicated canine AD would help clinicians to rationalize antimicrobial use.

Online-Assisted Survey on Antibiotic Use by Pet Owners in Dogs and Cats

“…Diarrhea was the most frequently cited reason for antibiotic administration in dogs in the present study. This is consistent with previous studies that also identified gastrointestinal or intestinal disease as a frequent indication for antibiotic administration [28,29]. However, current studies and guidelines state that there is no indication for the usage of antibiotics in acute uncomplicated diarrhea without evidence of systemic inflammation or sepsis [30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”

Probiotics and Cat Health: A Review of Progress and Prospects

“…Antibiotics are commonly used to treat pet diseases, and indeed significantly improve pet health. However, antibiotic abuse is not uncommon, especially when seeking to treat bacterial infections [ 2 ]. Such abuse can trigger bacterial antibiotic resistance, and excessive dosages can disrupt the intestinal floral balance, rendering pets prone to constipation, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal diseases that seriously endanger their health [ 3 ].…”