Yun Ip¹, Fergus Allerton², Dave Brodbelt¹, David Church¹, Dan O’Neill¹

¹The Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom. ²Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Objectives

To estimate incidence, risk factors and clinical management of cat bite abscesses (CBAs) in cats under UK primary veterinary care during 2023, with a focus on antibiotic use.

Methods

VetCompass retrospective cohort study of 1,310,576 cats. Risk factor analysis used multivariable binary logistic regression modelling.

Results

After accounting for subsampling from a random sample of 1,910 incident CBA events, the estimated annual incidence risk was 1.90% (95%CI: 1.88–1.93). Highest breed-specific annual incidence was Manx (20.00%, 95%CI: 7.05–45.19), Oriental (8.98%, 95%CI: 4.42–17.38) and European Short Hair (7.32%, 95%CI: 2.52–19.43). Compared with females, male cats showed 2.85 times CBA odds (95%CI: 2.54–3.20). CBAs were most commonly observed in the cheek/muzzle region (15.65%) and tail/tail base region (13.40%). Pain (46.53%) and lethargy (41.39%) were the most frequent clinical signs. Among closed CBAs (13.82%), lancing was performed in 76.52%, most frequently conscious without use of local analgesia (50.02%). Analgesics were prescribed for 84.67% of CBAs and antibiotics for 93.09% with amoxicillin-clavulanate (44.81%) and cefovecin (38.18%) the most common.

Statement: Impact/ Clinical Significance

This study supports clinical observations of increased CBA risk in male cats, identifies at-risk breeds and commonly affected locations to support focused examination. High antibiotic usage (93.09%), despite guidance from the British Small Animal Veterinary Association ‘Protect Me’ poster stating that ‘antibiotics are not indicated for cat bite abscess unless surrounding cellulitis or pyrexia,’ highlights an urgent need for wider antimicrobial stewardship discussion on CBA prescribing practices. These findings also provide a benchmark for future audits of antibiotic use in CBA management.