Introduction

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common bacterial infections encountered by small animal veterinarians. Moreover, the urine samples sent to the laboratory for microbiology test are almost 60% of the routine.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate the pathogens responsible for urinary tract infections in dogs and cats and also their resistance patterns.

Methods

Urine samples were collected and sent to the laboratory within 12 hours. The samples were taken either by catheterization, using the mid-stream method or by cystocentesis from 500 clinically suspected cases of urinary tract infections and tested bacteriologically using standard procedures. Both the identification and the antimicrobial susceptibility test were performed on the VITEK 2 system (Biomerieux). The efficacy ratios of the antibiotics were also calculated using the minimum inhibitory concentrations provided automatically by the instrument.

Results

Forty percent of the samples were found positive for bacteria. The pathogens isolated were Escherichia coli (31.5%), Proteus spp. (17%), Enterococcus spp. (16%), Staphylococcus spp. (13%), Streptococcus spp. (7%) and others.

E. coli showed the highest percentage of resistance to tetracycline (39%) and Proteus spp. to tetracycline and nitrofurantoin (88%). Staphylococci showed 58% resistance to penicillin, while Enterococci were 96% resistant to cefovecin and 100% to clindamycin and erythromycin.

Conclusions

This study showed that E. coli isolates were the predominant pathogens. As drug resistance among bacterial pathogens is an evolving process, an accurate antimicrobial susceptibility test with MICs and efficacy ratios should be conducted to provide veterinarians with the most effective treatment of UTIs.