Surgical Site Infections in Small Animal Surgery

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most common nosocomial infections in human patient populations, accounting for 16% of such infections in all patients and 38% of nosocomial infections among surgical patients in the United States. 1 Although similar reporting of nosocomial infections does not exist in the veterinary field, SSI has been described as a complication of 0.8% to 18.1% of small animal surgical procedures, with significant variation associated with surgery type. 2-