NOVEL APPROACHES IN TREATING SKIN INFECTIONS IN CATS AND DOGS: EXPLORING ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AND ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES

Abstract

The rise of antibiotic-resistant skin infections in companion animals presents a growing challenge in veterinary medicine, necessitating alternative therapeutic strategies. This study evaluated the efficacy of novel treatments—phage therapy, essential oils, and probiotics—against multidrug-resistant bacterial skin infections in cats and dogs, with a focus on Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant strains. Sixty clinically diagnosed cases were treated using either alternative therapies or conventional antibiotics, with outcomes measured by lesion score reduction, pathogen clearance, biofilm disruption, inflammatory marker modulation, adverse events, and reinfection rates. Results demonstrated that phage therapy significantly outperformed all other modalities, achieving the highest mean lesion score reduction (78.3%), fastest pathogen clearance (7 days), and greatest biofilm disruption (80%), alongside a favorable safety profile and the lowest reinfection rate (5%). Tea tree oil was comparatively effective, resulting in lesion scores decrease by 65.2% and the disruption of biofilms by 55% but the changes in composition and toxicity are also undesirable. It exhibited immunomodulatory impact and moderate to poor antibacterial activity, making a lesion size of 55.4% on the lesions. Importantly, phage therapy also alters host immune response where it decreases pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α) and increases anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10) indicating its role in tissue repair during the process of inflammation. Thus, phage therapy has to be considered as a prospect, efficient, safe and effective approach which can be included alongside antibiotics in veterinary dermatology. Most importantly, they stressed the importance of combining stewardship with other modalities as well as approaching the rising threat of resistance in clinical development of new therapies.