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VetVine Client Care

Posted On Feb 01, 2024

Updated On Sep 01, 2025

Antimicrobial Stewardship Made Practical For Practitioners

Antimicrobial Stewardship

Companion animal veterinarians are increasingly confronted with patients suffering from antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections. AMR is a problem across health sectors, though the focus has largely been on human and agricultural animals. Cats and dogs share our environments, and sometimes our ice cream cones, and we prescribe the same antibiotic drug classes as those used in human health. Recently, more attention is being payed to this oft ignored population in regards to AMR.

Antimicrobial stewardship (AS) considers the actions that prescribers take to improve patient outcomes while minimizing unintended consequences of antibiotic use, such as drug toxicity and the development of AMR. The American Veterinary Medical Association has outlined five core concepts of AS in veterinary medicine and has charged veterinarians, in service to our patients the community, to evaluate our antibiotic use practices and commit to use antibiotics judiciously.

In human outpatient practice, it is estimated that at least 30% of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. It has been postulated that inappropriate and over-prescribing in small animal medicine is at least as prevalent. In fact, one publication reported that 40% of dogs receiving an antibiotic prescription in a single hospital had no clinical evidence of infection. Often, too, veterinarians empirically prescribed antibiotics with a broader than needed antimicrobial spectrum or those of critical importance to human medicine. 

The need for enhanced antibiotic stewardship efforts in small animal medicine is clear to those of us who treat dogs and cats. The question for many is how?

In this series of webinars Dr. Jennifer Granick, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM) - associate professor of small animal internal medicine at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine - provides an overview of some common diseases treated in the small animal practice setting and offers treatment strategies to consider and employ that adhere to principles of antimicrobial stewardship.

Registrants will be provided a downloadable packet of supplemental materials including:

  • Handbook of Antimicrobial Stewardship in Companion Animal Veterinary Settings
  • Pocket guide: Antimicrobial prescribing for common small animal diseases
  • Checklist for Core Principal Implementation
  • Antibiotic Use Talking Points for Vet Clinics
  • "No Antibiotic Today" Handout / Prescription - a fillable PDF that can be provided to clients in lieu of a vial of pills (when antimicrobials are not indicated)


We are pleased to offer these select topics On Demand that meet antimicrobial stewardship CE requirements: