From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2011-07-26 15:40:54 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] was salivary mucocele surgery -- now avoiding antibiotic resistant bacteria
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>, weaseluva <weaseluva@verizon.net>
Eleanor, your's is the second post in a short period of time which shows a need for information on antibiotic resistance, so most of this post is about that, ending with part of what people need to do at home.
USEFUL: if you go to the first address in my sig lines and click open the Files section you will find vets list members have recommended, and also can find ferret vets by going to Ferret Universe online and by seeing which ones the shelters use at Support Our Shelters.
If you give your general location then people in that area can point you to vets and perhaps also to regional ferret groups with their own lists. Since lists need people everywhere to keep the list operators updated, small regional lists tend to be most up to date.
Now, you said that the ferret developed antibiotic resistance. That is a common confusion. It is NOT the individuals who develop antibiotic resistance, it is the bacterium type. In resistance, the bacterium strain genetically is less susceptible to the med used.
Antibiotic resistant strains of salmonella are COMMON, and salmonella is notoriously hard to treat in ferrets once they get it. Veterinarians have mentioned that in the past on the FHL.
The usual routes by which they get salmonella is through raw poultry or raw eggs, though there have been some sporadic situations of pet food which got contaminated, usually in the last stages of manufacture during a flavor spraying that some types of foods have. Salmonella is so common in poultry and eggs that the CDC advises consumers to just assume that it is present in any that is purchased so to cook poultry and eggs unless the eggs are pasteurized (available at some premier markets), and to be careful with cutting boards, sponges, hands, and such for clean-up to avoid cross-contamination. That is why you don't see daily reminders about the topic; sometimes something is just so common that public knowledge must be assumed, but you can find info at the CDC site, and if you look in the archives there was a recent study of rates done on market poultry which is mentioned:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL11983
Skim down to the Science News article with over one in five chickens carcasses at grocery stores having salmonella.
(Some people here, including a vet, make sure to buy such products only from little farms they personally examined, BTW, to try to reduce the chances of a hard to treat infection and that is also in the archives, and is an approach for people to discuss with their own veterinarians for reducing risks. Yes, there are vets who feed raw poultry, but often because they use such care first in the origin of the raw food.)
Ferrets are much better than humans at fighting off salmonella infection but they are also hard to treat when they do get it. I am sorry that your ferret has a salmonella infection. The huge difficulty you are having treating it is typical with ferrets when they get it.
Now, if you think about how short a generation for any type of bacteria is you can see why evolution into antibiotic resistant strains happens so fast with bacteria when viewed from a human time frame because so very, very many generations happen very quickly.
Resistance develops mostly in two ways. The first is misuse of antibiotics and the second is abusive levels of farm use of antibiotics.
Farm use first: Animals fed antibiotics on a very regular basis are likely to fatten a bit more, and less likely to be killed by serious over-crowding. With chickens they also trim the beaks to make them blunt in that current type of farm. Chickens are not the only farm animals in which antibiotics are overused and misused. Antibiotics are often also abused in feedlot situations before slaughter (and in cattle feedlots there appears now to be a connection to that misuse combined with a specific category of fattening-up food which increase the presence of shiga toxin producing strains of E. coli . E. coli like prion disease (mad cow) is more likely to be present in factory-made chopped/minced beef, the first due to the nearby presence of intestinal remains and the second due to automatic strippers which can grab some spinal cord). These uses are NOT being done in response to infections, and they are ***not being timed the way that antibiotics are timed or given at correct dose levels*** to kill specific infections. The result is that the bacteria which are present wind up having the most susceptible bacterial strains die off allowing the resistant versions to take over. So, the animals wind up packed with super-bacteria instead of treatable ones. Hence, the concerns about careful food handling and cooking with much of the food supply. The CDC website is great for food handling information.
It would not at all hurt if farm rules for antibiotic use and for conditions in housing and feedlots has safety improvements. In some nations in Europe they already have.
The same thing happens when antibiotics used in pets or in humans are not used properly. Antibiotics ABSOLUTELY need to be used until the prescription is finished unless the vet or physician says otherwise. If the infection persists there may need to be more than one run without a break between the runs of antibiotics. When antibiotics are used for times that are too short the result is that the easier to treat bacterial individuals are killed but the strong ones -- the more antibiotic resistant ones -- wind up being what is left and what populates the animal or person.
Some at-home rules to not create antibiotic resistant strains:
1. NEVER use an antibiotic without your vet's or physician's (for yourself) approval beforehand.
2. NEVER -- and this mistake has a huge bad impact -- ever do a shorter run of antibiotics or use a smaller dose than is prescribed. Both are huge mistakes, I am afraid.
3. NEVER use an old antibiotic or a weakened antibiotic. Looking at the expiration date is NOT sufficient. Amoxicillin and Clavamox both age much more rapidly once they have had water added and after 14 days must be discarded. This can become like making mistake number 2.
4. NEVER consistently fail to follow the timing for doses provided. This also result in making a version of mistake number 2. Yes, a mistake will happen here and there, but do not assume that such mistakes can be made regularly. Having large timing gaps results in times when not enough antibiotic is on-board and during those hours many generations of resistant bacteria can take over. *If you can not use the needed timing then ask about medication alternatives because there could be a different antibiotic that fits your scheduling needs.* Ask the vet how much leeway you have on that score. Some meds have a little leeway but others must be done precisely and you will find that using alarms and computer notifications are useful for those.
And now my eye is about worn out so for everyone reading this, PLEASE read this carefully and use it, and if you don't understand a part, please, reread and use recommended resources. I worked very hard to be be very complete and precise for you.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
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