The objective of this study was to compare medication compliance as measured by client interview, pill count, electronic monitoring, and veterinarian prediction. Owners of dogs who were prescribed short-term antibiotics were recruited at the time of discharge with the prescribed medication. Owners of eligible cases were invited to participate in a "Review of Veterinary Services in Companion Animal Practice" and asked that they bring in all of their medication bottles to the re-examination visit. The attending veterinarian was asked to complete a questionnaire and predict owner compliance. At the time of the follow-up visit, owners who agreed to participate were given a questionnaire to complete while a pill count was performed and the electronic dosage-monitoring device was collected. At the second visit, the attending veterinarian was asked to complete a treatment outcome assessment form. Electronic medication monitoring used the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS® device, APREX, a Division of AARDEX Ltd., Union City, California), a prescription bottle cap which contains microelectronics that records the date and time of day each time the bottle is opened. Methods of estimating compliance were compared using agreement and correlation.

Financial support for this study was provided by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine's Companion Animal Health Fund and Bayer Animal Health.