It’s no secret that there is a tendency for fluoroquinolones to be prescribed empirically, particularly in exotics and wildlife. As per the Antibiotic Prescribing Guidelines put out by the Australasian Infectious Diseases Advisory Panel, this should be avoided to reduce antimicrobial resistance.
Fluoroquinolones have their place, particularly in cases of sepsis and nasty gram-negative infections that are resistant to other antimicrobials. However, fluoroquinolones have variable activity against Streptococcus, enrofloxacin has no activity against anaerobic infections and I regularly see C&S results where first-line antibiotics are effective.
These first-line antibiotics include:
• TMS: broad-spectrum activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including some parasites
• Doxycycline: broad-spectrum activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including Mycoplasma and Chlamydia
• Metronidazole: for anaerobic coverage
These antibiotics are well tolerated and can be administered orally to many exotics and wildlife species.
