Antibiotic report ‘encouraging’ says RUMA 

An industry group has described new figures showing reductions in usage of the most critical antibiotics on dogs and cats as “encouraging”.

The trend was highlighted in the third annual progress report by the Responsible Use of Medicines Alliance – Companion Animal and Equine group, published on 18 December.

But while other data has indicated a continuing decline in sales, overall antibiotic usage in cats did increase even as the level for dogs fell.

The report showed use of highest priority critically important antibiotics (HP-CIAs) has fallen by 57% in dogs and 42% in cats since records began in 2014.

Record low

The latest figures, for 2023, showed HP-CIA active ingredient usage in dogs had fallen to a record low based on defined daily dose measurements and was the lowest in cats since 2015.

The same measurement, based on milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg), also fell for the second successive year, despite an increase in topical product usage.

The report said the latter could reflect a move towards more targeted therapy, which was felt to have a lower risk of causing resistance.

It added: “It is encouraging to see that the rate of use in both dogs and cats is much lower than overall topical use.”

‘Commitment’

The paper was released a few weeks after the annual VARSS report showed an annual 13% decline in overall antibiotic sales for dogs, while the equivalent figure for cats rose by 3%.

The CA&E report also showed a fall in active ingredient usage for dogs based on daily doses, with a slight rise for cats.

But the group’s secretary general, Steve Howard, said the figures were “testament to the extensive industry activities underway and overall commitment to antimicrobial stewardship from the profession”.

The report also revealed the group expects to report the results of the recent Antibiotic Amnesty campaign during the first quarter of 2025, though “early indications” suggested more practices had taken part than in previous years.