Principal Investigator: Casey Cazer

Co-PI: Amelia Greiner Safi

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): 

Cefovecin is a third-generation cephalosporin (3GC) that accounts for one-third of all antimicrobials (AMs) prescribed to cats (1, 2) despite not being recommended for any feline bacterial infection (3). This improper use jeopardizes the long-term sustainability of effective AMs because cefovecin selects for 3GC resistance (4). The 3GCs are critically important AMs in human medicine (5); their use in animals should be minimized to avoid 3GC resistance. However, veterinarians think cefovecin is the best way to ensure sufficient AM therapy (6) as it is a long-acting, injectable AM and all alternatives are oral medications (3), which owners may find difficult to give to their cats. Yet, most pet owners report that they do give oral AMs when they are prescribed (7), suggesting that veterinarians underestimate cat owners’ ability to give oral AMs. We hypothesize that this disconnect, if true, contributes to the overprescribing of cefovecin. We aim to identify the drivers of veterinarians’ cefovecin use and barriers to giving alternative oral AMs by engaging veterinarians and cat owners in structured interviews and surveys, respectively. Resulting data can identify communication interventions between veterinarians and cat owners, and strategies to encourage more sustainable antimicrobial use (AMU).