Scilight Press

One of the predominating bacteria that causes diarrhoea is Escherichia coli (E. coli) in canines and may need treatment. The present study was focused on the isolation of E. coli spp. from dogs; its morphological and biochemical characterization, and assessment of its antibiotic sensitivity. About 20.8% of E. coli were identified in 394 fecal stool samples of dogs collected from Haryana (India). Further, the age-wise distribution of isolates suggested that diarrhoea-causing E. coli was more frequently observed in dogs of more than one year age group (23.2%) followed closely by 0-3 months age group (21.2%). The present study demonstrated that almost 90% of sensitivity was observed to gentamycin, followed by chloramphenicol (89%), ofloxacin (85%) and tetracycline (84%). The isolates were found carrying resistance to ampicillin (87%), cephalexin (73%) and cefotaxime (68%) followed by amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, streptomycin and amikacin. It was concluded that bacterial diarrhoea in canine needed attention mostly in young puppies up to three months of age due to possible threat from viral enteric pathogens which lead to secondary bacterial infections along with low level of host immunity. Intervention of animal husbandry sector can prove to be a major tool for controlling emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.