Vet Times

Tag: antibiotic

  • Drugs of the devil

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    I’m not going to tell you how long ago I was at university, but I will say it was in a different millennium. It doesn’t feel very long ago to me, but then I still think of The X-Files as a new show. Let’s just say I can remember when we used to have pagers when…

  • Compromise: learning the ‘art of veterinary medicine’

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    It was my first day at work. I was nervous as heck, keen to impress, and desperate to prove to myself I could actually function as a veterinary surgeon (and, ideally, without writing my car off in the first week, which is what my university mates had voted me the person most likely in the…

  • Role of bacterial colonisation in allergic skin disease

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    As spring warms up, my own nose and sinuses have detected increasing pollen levels, and there’s been a corresponding increase in pruritic patients coming across the threshold. I think the role of pyoderma in allergic skin disease is well established and accepted. However, it is not uncommon to see dogs with no obvious skin lesions that are…

  • Cytology better than swabs for culture in cases of otitis externa

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    This one’s a little controversial, but some evidence exists that taking swabs for culture from cases of otitis externa can lead to poor reproducibility. Swabs taken from the same ear may produce different isolates, and even when the isolates agree, they may have different (antibiotic) susceptibility patterns (Bloom, 2015; Graham-Mize et al, 2004; and Schick, 2007). Bloom (2015),…

  • Using a probiotic and antibiotic at the same time

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    I had the privilege of attending the North American Veterinary Community Conference in January. The experience provided me with a number of top tips, which I thought I would pass on to you in the coming few weeks. For those of you who are skeptical of the role professional experience plays in establishing evidence, many authors accept…

  • Ticarcillin as a treatment for Pseudomonas otitis

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    I suspect we have all come across that tricky Pseudomonas otitis case that just seem to refuse to completely respond to antibiotic therapy in spite of extensive investigation for underlying causes. I had just one such case recently that, in spite of culture and sensitivity, blood work, skin biopsy, extensive flushing, lack of response to…

  • Preventing the post-antibiotic apocalypse

    Preventing the post-antibiotic apocalypse

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    I think we may soon lose the battle to keep our right to prescribe most antibiotics for animals, with apocalyptic visions of a “post-antibiotic” era in medicine being mooted. Antibiotics are a victim of their own success. I remember the vet I “saw practice” with in the 80s and 90s having huge glass jars behind him…

  • Because I say so

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    This blog entry isn’t a rant. It’s a plea. I got involved in a discussion on euthanasia techniques with a couple of other colleagues – and if there’s a topic that sparks discussion and opinions as much as this one I have yet to find it. We had our daily seagull brought in. It was…

  • Revalidation and us

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    As part of my studies at the moment I have to get up to speed with regulation of other professions. Part of this made my heart sink: in December 2012 the General Medical Council acquired the statutory powers to require revalidation of medical staff on a regular basis. Looking at the wording of the regulations…