Study on veterinary antibiotic drugs handling and utilization in and around Holeta

A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the antibiotics drug handling and utilization practices of the animal owners from November 2016 to April 2017. A total of 384 randomly selected animal owners in and around Holeta were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Most of the respondents (animal owners) were educated (59.4%), whereas less than half of them (40.6%) were uneducated. The prevalence on the challenges faced by their animals was 25, 42.2, and 32.8% due to disease, feed shortage and both disease and feed shortage, respectively. A total of 6.5% of the respondents purchased antibiotics from private pharmacy and brought to their house by carrying them in pockets, while 3.9 and 2.9% of the respondents store drugs on the shelf and floor up to three months, respectively. Drug administration activity was performed by non-professional personnel simply by guessing. 66.1% of the respondents knew about withdrawal period of antibiotics whereas 33.9% of them did not know about withdrawal period of antibiotic drugs. At the time of drug administration, 12.8% sold the milk, 86.7% gave the milk for calf and 0.5% of them used the milk for home consumption without maintaining its withdrawal period. A few number of animal owners (2.6%) injected their animals below normal dosage resulting to resistance of the disease to the antibiotics. Majority of the animal owners (93.5%) used veterinary professional service to their diseased animals for treatment whereas a few number of the respondents (6.5%) purchased antibiotics from private pharmacy without prescription of the veterinarian for self-treatment of their animals. In conclusion, this study result revealed that there is improper handling and utilization practice of veterinary antibiotic drugs in the study area. It is recommended that training should be given for the animal owners on the appropriate handling and utilization practice of veterinary drugs and continuous follow up by the stake holders should be undertaken.