Factors associated with antimicrobial drug prescription among inpatient dogs and cats at an academic veterinary hospital

Widespread antimicrobial use in dogs and cats drives antimicrobial resistance in both animals and humans. Knowledge of the factors associated with antimicrobial use is limited in veterinary medicine. We examined factors associated with antimicrobial drug prescription among inpatient dogs and cats at an academic veterinary hospital.

This study identifies multiple patient and clinical factors associated with increased risk of antimicrobial drug use in inpatient dogs and cats that can inform veterinary antimicrobial stewardship efforts and may be useful for antimicrobial use benchmarking on an institutional or multi-institutional scale.