Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacterial Isolates from Dogs and Cats in a Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Colombia from 2016-2019.

The susceptibility to antimicrobials of bacterial isolates from dogs ( = 1256) and cats ( = 94) was retrospectively evaluated in a veterinary diagnostic laboratory over a 4-year period (2016-2019). Out of 1316 isolates in dogs, 771 were spp. distributed as follows: ( = 406), ( = 160), ( = 104), and coagulase-negative ( = 101). In common, all spp. showed a high prevalence (20-50%) of resistance to ampicillin, cephalosporin, enrofloxacin, gentamicin, tetracycline, and trimethoprim-sulfonamide, but a low prevalence (1-10%) of resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanate. With regards to the other families of bacteria, the number of antimicrobials for which resistance was high (>20%) in dogs was: (7/12), spp. (10/16), (11/15), spp. (10/13), and spp. (4/9). For urinary tract infections caused by or ( spp., spp.), amikacin and florfenicol were the only drugs that demonstrated 100% in vitro efficacy. Multi-drug resistance was observed in 18.7% (246/1316) and 22% (21/97) of the isolates from dogs and cats, respectively. Except for spp., known for intrinsic resistance, resistance in other bacteria was likely attributed to high selection pressure. In conclusion, empirical antimicrobial use cannot be recommended to treat most common infections, and selection should be based on results from susceptibility testing.