ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE PATTERNS OF BACTERIAL ISOLATES FROM FELINE CLINICAL INFECTIONS IN A PRIVATE VETERINARY PRACTICE IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in companion animals is a recognized One Health concern, yet feline-specific AMR data from Pakistan is absent from the published literature. We retrospectively reviewed bacterial culture and antimicrobial sensitivity reports from 200 feline clinical infection cases (urinary, skin/wound, otic, respiratory, and other sites) presenting to a private veterinary hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, between 2021 and 2025. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was defined as non-susceptibility to at least one agent in three or more antimicrobial classes. Escherichia coli (33.0%) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (21.0%) were the most frequently isolated organisms, predominating in urinary and skin/wound infections respectively, while Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.5%) predominated in otic infections. Our primary MDR definition excluded organism-drug combinations attributable to intrinsic resistance. On that basis, prevalence was 62.5% (125/200; 95% CI 55.6-68.9%). The unadjusted panel-based figure, reported for comparability with published series, was 80.0% (160/200; 95% CI 73.9-85.0%). Twelve comparisons were run, so a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of P<0.004 was applied. Only infection site survived it (P<0.001 under both definitions), with urinary isolates carrying the highest adjusted burden (81.9%). Apparent associations with chronicity (P=0.049) and clinical outcome (P=0.023) appeared only under the unadjusted definition, did not persist after adjustment (P=0.097 and P=0.589), and do not survive correction. Both should be regarded as unconfirmed. Organism identity was the more consistent correlate of outcome: infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis or Proteus mirabilis resolved in 24.0% of cases versus 48.0% for other organisms (P=0.003). Resistance to amikacin (17.0%) and imipenem/meropenem (4.6%) remained low across all organisms, in contrast to high resistance to ampicillin (73.6%) and clindamycin (77.3%). Two constraints limit how these figures may be used. Concurrent ATCC quality-control strains were not available in this setting, so individual susceptibility calls carry unquantified imprecision. And every isolate came from a culture-submitted, treatment-enriched caseload. These are descriptive findings from one practice. They are not population prevalence estimates, and they should not be used as an empirical-therapy reference for first-presentation infections.