Companion animal owners’ expectations and knowledge on antimicrobial use in Portugal

Abstract

While multiple studies have focused on motivations surrounding antimicrobial prescription among companion animal veterinarians, Owners’ expectations and knowledge on antimicrobials and their role on antimicrobial judicious use remains understudied. This work aimed to characterize the knowledge about antimicrobial use and antimicrobial-resistance by pet owners from Portugal. A nationwide survey directed to pet owners was conducted both online and at Portuguese companion animal veterinary practices. A total of 423 valid submissions were obtained. Although most respondents (97.9%) believed to know what an antibiotic is, 13.8% and 10.1% answered they could treat viral and fungal infections, respectively. Around 80% of respondents strongly-agreed/somewhat-agreed that it’s the veterinarians’ obligation to assure the antimicrobial treatment prescribed is both the most convenient and economic; however, effectiveness is favoured over cost when 87.7% of owners strongly-agree/somewhat-agree they’d prefer to spend more to identify the most appropriate antibiotic. Notably, 87% of respondents recognize that antibiotic resistance is a significant problem and 74.6% strongly-agree/somewhat-agree that antimicrobial use in pets may contribute to the development of antimicrobial-resistant microorganisms. However only 25.3% recognized that this risk could be the source of resistance in other animals and people, showing little knowledge of the interconnection between species. Moreover, 55.6% of respondents were neutral when asked if the most frequently used antibiotics in veterinary medicine were also very important for humans. These findings suggest that communication between prescribing veterinarians and pet owners should be improved to further clarify the impact antibiotic administration to pets can have to human health and vice-versa, and that this could be foreseen as an additional mean towards good veterinary antimicrobial stewardship.