Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major cause of death globally; the veterinary profession needs to promote the prudent use of antimicrobials to help preserve their efficacy. Veterinarians cite pressure from clients as a contributor to the decision to prescribe antimicrobials. No studies have assessed the impact of engaging pet owners in antimicrobial stewardship.

The objective was to create an informative animated film containing a targeted message about AMR and to evaluate its effect on owner attitudes towards antimicrobial use.

Ethical approval was obtained. The animation was iteratively designed using commercially available software (Vyond™). It was centred on a clinical scenario of a dog with acute diarrhoea and highlighted the seriousness of antimicrobial resistance, and the owner's role in antimicrobial stewardship. Key opinion leaders were involved in development of this resource.

A survey was created based on the health belief model incorporating six constructs that provide a measure of health-related behaviour. This included 20 statements (7 pre and 13 post-animation) answered on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). Owners attending six UK veterinary centres were invited to scan a QR code leading to a secure webpage. The website randomised participants to an ‘animation’ and a ‘no animation’ group (ratio 1:1). Responses were compared by the Mann-Whitney U test and statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Six hundred and forty-seven (647) owners participated in the study. Responses were excluded if they did not proceed past consent (n=91), took longer than 1 hour to complete the survey (n=11), did not watch the entire video (n=6) or did not complete the survey (n=189). There were 350 complete responses.

Responses to 11 of the 13 questions asked after the animation were significantly different between the ‘animation’ and ‘no animation’ groups (all p<0.05). There was no significant difference between groups in response to the seven statements asked before the animation.

The animation group were more likely to agree that lower antimicrobial use will help maintain future efficacy (p<0.001) and that requesting antimicrobials from their vet could increase unnecessary use (p<0.001). The animation group were more likely to disagree that they would expect antimicrobials if their pet had diarrhoea (p<0.048).

Owners that watched a short AMR engagement animation had greater awareness of the impact of AMR and were more likely to support measures in line with antimicrobial stewardship. This behavioural-nudge resource could support owners towards contributing to a multi-faceted approach to AMR.