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RUMA CA&E releases 2024 Annual Progress Report
Although antibiotic use in dogs continues to decrease, antibiotic use in cats is increasing.
Antibiotic use in cats has increased.

The Responsible use of Medicines Alliance – Companion Animal and Equine (RUMA CA&E) has released data in its 2024 Annual Progress Report on antibiotic use from 2022-2023.

The data reveals that, although antibiotic use in dogs has continued to decrease, antibiotic use in cats has begun to increase yet again.

Measured using the mg/kg metric, RUMA CA&E has recorded a 15 per cent reduction in antibiotic use in dogs between 2022 and 2023. This follows a trend as, with the exception of 2020-2021, antibiotic use in dogs has decreased year-on-year since 2016.

Antibiotic use in cats, however, had been showing a steady upward trend since 2015. Despite a decrease between 2021 and 2022, this year’s data shows an 11 per cent increase between 2022 and 2023.

The DDDVet data, which represents the average dose per kg animal per species per day, demonstrates a similar trend.

RUMA CA&E has also published data on Highest Priority Critically Important Antibiotics (HP-CIAs). The group says that products containing HP-CIAs provide valuable options for conditions which are more difficult to treat.

HP-CIA use in dogs has reduced by 14 per cent between 2022 and 2023. This is a nine year overall reduction of 57 per cent, bringing HP-CIA use to its lowest level since 2014.

There was also a 16 per cent reduction among cats between 2022-2023, taking cats’ nine year overall reduction to 42 per cent.

Gwyn Jones, RUMA CA&E chair, said: “RUMA CA&E’s mission has progressed in earnest over the past 12 months which has seen us continue our efforts to further evolve industry focus on antimicrobial stewardship across the CA&E sectors.
 
“Our key activities have included the delivery of another important industry roundtable event to continue to explore solutions towards reporting annual antibiotic usage figures for CA&E sectors; our Targets and Measures Working Group (T&MWG) has been working hard to further evolve a suite of measures beyond the national metrics for dogs and cats that were defined last year; and we have just completed the delivery of the third Veterinary Antibiotic Amnesty campaign which is one of our flagship industry AMS initiatives.”

Steve Howard, RUMA CA&E secretary general, said: “I am pleased to see that data from the latest UK-Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance and Sales Surveillance (VARSS) Report (2023) which was released on 19 November 2024, is showing reductions in antibiotic use in dogs and HP-CIA use in cats between 2022 and 2023, which is testament to the extensive industry activities underway and overall commitment to antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) from the profession.”

The full report can be read here.

Image © Shutterstock

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FIVP Practice Matters podcast returns for Series 2

News Story 1
 The Federation of Independent Veterinary Practices (FIVP) has announced that its podcast, FIVP Practice Matters, will be returning for a second series next year.

The bi-weekly podcast will return on Tuesday, 14 January 2025 with an episode on sustainability with Alison Lambert. The second series will include a range of new and familiar guests sharing veterinary initiatives and news from independent practices.

The podcast is available on Spotify and will now also be released on Apple Podcasts. More details about FIVP and the podcast can be found on its website

Click here for more...
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Further cases of H5N1 confirmed in Norfolk

APHA has officially confirmed that two more cases of H5N1 have been found on premises in Norfolk.

Testing confirmed that highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 was present at premises near Attleborough, as well as premises near Hingham in South Norfolk. The case near Hingham follows a slaughter on suspicion which was declared on 23 December.

A 3km Protection Zone and 10km Surveillance Zone have been implemented at each premises, and all the poultry on each premises will be humanely culled.

A third case has also been identified near Beverley in East Riding of Yorkshire.

APHA is reminding bird keepers to remain vigilant and follow biosecurity measures to prevent more outbreaks. Details on the current disease control zones and biosecurity guidance can be found on the APHA website.