As World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022 winds down, I’ll touch on a statement that I’ve seen a lot over the past week. “We need to reduce misuse and overuse of antibiotics” or “Misuse and overuse of antibiotics are driving antimicrobial resistance (AMR).” Those are great sound bites but largely miss
Canine Pneumovirus Outbreaks: Important or Not? (Plus a Link to Antimicrobial Stewardship)
I’m focusing on antimicrobials this week since it’s World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, but this is a timely topic and there’s an antimicrobial twist.
A couple of recent reports about a canine pneumovirus outbreak in a shelter in Tacoma WA and a separate outbreak of canine pneumovirus in a shelter in Las Vegas NV have,
Antibiotic vs Antimicrobial: What’s in a Name?
I’ve spent a lot of time in meetings listening to people debating whether to use the word “antibiotic” vs “antimicrobial.” I tend to stay out of those discussions because I don’t care too much either way.
- Yes, they mean somewhat different things.
- Yes, we want to be precise when writing guidance documents where the difference
Veterinary Antimicrobial Use Targets: Do We Need Them?
As we start World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, I’m going to try to write a few posts about various aspects of antimicrobial use and resistance in animals. This first post is a bit long, but it covers an important topic: antimicrobial use targets.
I get asked a lot about whether antimicrobial use targets are need
Pet Vaccination Questions, Part 1: Rabies Vaccine Timing
For some reason, I’ve been spending a lot more time lately discussing vaccination, so I figured I’d write about a series of vaccine issues, questions and dogmas (that are often non-evidence-based or just downright wrong).
Age for first rabies vaccine
Here in Canada at least, rabies vaccines are licensed for use in dogs and cats
Rabies Round-Up Ontario, New Interactive Case Map
As the weather cools down and wildlife of various kinds become less active (as do many pets and people!), we tend to see a decline in the number of rabies cases detected in the province. It doesn’t mean the risk is no longer there, it just means we’re less likely to encounter the animals that
Human-to-Dog Monkeypox, France
I’ll start this off with “don’t freak out, overhype this, or be paranoid about your dog.” (I’ll probably end with that too).
A recent report in Lancet (Seang et al. 2022) describes a pretty solid case of suspected monkeypox virus (MPXV) transmission from people to a dog. The dog, an otherwise healthy Italian
Reptile- and Feeder Rodent-Associated Salmonellosis: Alberta
Alberta Health Services is reporting a cluster of Salmonella infections linked to pet reptiles. In many ways, this isn’t really remarkable (unless you’re one of the people who’s infected). Reptile contact is a very well-known risk factor for acquiring Salmonella, especially in kids.
So far, 12 infections have been reported. Reported cases are always
Raw Diets and Shedding of Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria in Dogs
People can get pretty fired up when I talk about raw diets for pets. I’ll start off with my personal bias: I’d rather not see pets fed raw meat and raw animal-based products (e.g. pig ears and various bits-o-cow you can find in pet stores). There are clear risks to pets and owners from raw
New Canadian Dog Importation Rules
Hot on the heels of a recent update to dog importation rules in the US, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has announced new rules for importation of commercial dogs into Canada.
The essence of the change is quite straightforward: “As of September 28, 2022, World Rabies Day, commercial dogs from