Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens the future welfare of both animals and humans. As antibiotics lose efficacy, treatment of painful animal diseases becomes less effective, increasing animal suffering in veterinary and farm contexts.
AMR is a welfare crisis in slow motion. As antibiotics lose efficacy against common pathogens, the treatment of painful conditions in animals becomes less effective and more prolonged. A dog with a MRSA wound infection faces a welfare trajectory that would have been easily resolved 20 years ago - now requiring extended, expensive treatment with limited options. Farm animals with resistant disease outbreaks face welfare emergencies that cannot be managed with standard antibiotic tools. The welfare case for antibiotic stewardship is direct: preserving antibiotic efficacy preserves the ability to relieve animal suffering from treatable infectious disease.