A study covering 2018 through 2024 and published online on 15 October 2026 in Preventive Veterinary Medicine examines the epidemiologic determinants of antimicrobial resistance in feline urinary Escherichia coli isolates across the United States.

The paper carries the title "Epidemiologic determinants of antimicrobial resistance in feline urinary Escherichia coli in the United States (2018 – 2024)." Its author list spans eight researchers: Rasaq A. Ojasanya, J. Scott Weese, Kurtis E. Sobkowich, Anne Deckert, Donald Szlosek, Andy Plum, Theresa M. Bernardo and Zvonimir Poljak.

Why does this study matter at the exam table?

Urinary tract infection remains one of the most common reasons cats present for care, and E. coli is a leading uropathogen in companion-animal practice. The study's seven-year window, 2018 to 2024, positions it to capture resistance trends before, during and after the pandemic period, when antimicrobial prescribing patterns shifted in both human and veterinary medicine.

By framing its analysis around epidemiologic determinants rather than single-isolate susceptibility reports, the work aims to identify which factors — patient, geographic or practice-level — associate with resistant feline urinary E. coli. That framing matters for clinicians: determinants shape empiric drug selection while culture and susceptibility results are pending, and they inform antimicrobial stewardship programs in small-animal hospitals.

The publication venue itself signals the study's scope. Preventive Veterinary Medicine publishes peer-reviewed research on disease control and population-level health, which places this paper in the tradition of surveillance-driven resistance reporting rather than case-series description.

Who conducted the research?

The author team draws from institutions with established records in veterinary infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance. J. Scott Weese, a frequent contributor to the companion-animal resistance literature, appears among the co-authors, alongside researchers including Zvonimir Poljak, Theresa M. Bernardo and Anne Deckert, whose portfolios cover epidemiologic methods and digital health in veterinary contexts.

What changes for companion-animal practice?

For small-animal clinicians, the study's central question is direct: which cats are most likely to carry resistant urinary E. coli, and what does that mean for first-line therapy? Seven years of national data give the findings weight that single-clinic susceptibility summaries cannot match.

The full text, available online since 15 October 2026, details the isolate collection methods, the resistance determinants measured and the statistical models applied. Veterinarians seeking the specific drug-class findings will find them there.

The study arrives as companion-animal antimicrobial stewardship continues to tighten. Guidelines from bodies such as the American Animal Hospital Association already urge culture-directed therapy for feline lower urinary tract disease, and population-level resistance data of this breadth give practices a firmer basis for empiric decisions when culture is delayed or declined.

Whether the 2018–2024 trends show worsening resistance, stabilization or regional divergence, the dataset now exists for follow-up surveillance — and for veterinary teams calibrating how they prescribe for the next cat that presents with dysuria.