Tylosin in the treatment of canine superficial pyoderma

Thirty dogs with superficial pyoderma were treated orally with tylosin at a dose of 20 mg/kg twice daily for three weeks. Staphylococcus intermedius was recovered from 21 (70 per cent) of the dogs. Twenty-two of the dogs were free of clinical signs after three weeks of treatment and two dogs responded to a further two weeks of treatment, giving a total response rate of 80 per cent. Five cases (16.6 per cent) failed to respond and three of these subsequently responded to other antibacterial treatment. One dog suffered transient gastritis after the doses of tylosin and subsequently responded to a different antibacterial agent.