Antimicrobial Administration Practices in Hospitalized Periparturient Goats: A Multicenter Study

ABSTRACT Background Understanding antimicrobial use practices in goats is essential to ensuring appropriate antimicrobial stewardship. Objective To describe antimicrobial prescriptions in periparturient does admitted to veterinary teaching hospitals and to determine if any factors were associated with the administration of antimicrobials in general or ceftiofur in particular. Animals One hundred ninety‐eight periparturient does presented to nine university veterinary hospitals from October 2021 to June 2022. Methods A multicenter cross‐sectional study in a prospective design. Data were collected from questionnaire completed by admitting clinician. Results Out of 198 periparturient does included in the study, 153 (77%) received antimicrobials during hospitalization. Commonly administered antimicrobials included oxytetracycline (n = 44, 29%), ceftiofur sodium (n = 43, 28%), ceftiofur crystalline free acid (CCFA; n = 27, 18%), potassium penicillin G (n = 15, 10%), procaine penicillin G (n = 14, 9%), florfenicol (n = 14, 9%), tulathromycin (n = 9, 6%), ampicillin trihydrate (n = 4, 3%), and ampicillin sodium (n = 1, 1%). Cesarean section was associated with antimicrobial administration in general (OR = 5.89; 95% CI = 2.49–13.98, p < 0.01) and with ceftiofur administration (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.25–5.17; p = 0.008). Significant variability in ceftiofur administration by hospital was observed (p < 0.001). Conclusions and Clinical Importance Marked heterogeneity was observed in the antimicrobial administration practices in periparturient goats between nine US veterinary teaching hospitals.