Cellulitis

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VeDDRA Code: 970

355 adverse event reports referencing this reaction

355
Total Reports
66
Deaths
1860.0%
Death Rate

Species Most Affected

Dog 254
Cat 38
Horse 33
Cattle 16
Human 6
Rabbit 5
Goat 1
Sheep 1
Other 1

Breeds Most Affected

Retriever - Labrador 44
Domestic Shorthair 23
Terrier - Bull - American Pit 14
Boxer (German Boxer) 11
Pit Bull 11
Retriever - Golden 11
Bulldog - French 11
Shepherd Dog - German 10
Unknown 10
Crossbred Canine/dog 10

Associated Drugs

Carprofen 55
Tigilanol Tiglate 37
Maropitant Citrate 36
Moxidectin 33
Gabapentin 29
Prednisone 26
Oclacitinib Maleate 25
Meloxicam 22
Buprenorphine 22
Cefovecin 21
Diphenhydramine 18
Famotidine 17
Bedinvetmab 17
Enrofloxacin 16
Dexamethasone 15
Butorphanol 14
Diphenhydramine Hcl 13
Dexmedetomidine Hydrochloride 12
Tramadol 10
Ketamine 10

Data Summary

Metric Value
Total reports referencing reaction 355
Reports with fatal outcome 66
Case-fatality rate (reported events) 1860.0%
Species observed 9
Breeds observed 20
Drugs associated with reaction 20

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reporting (CVM AER); reaction term coded under VeDDRA 970.

Cellulitis Reaction Insights

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine database currently lists 355 adverse event reports that reference Cellulitis as a reaction term, including 66 reports with a death outcome — a 1860.0% case-fatality figure calculated across only those events where this reaction was coded. The reaction is indexed in the openFDA system under VeDDRA code 970, the standardized veterinary dictionary used to normalize clinical signs across submitters. Because reports are voluntary and often describe multiple concurrent signs per animal, the volume here reflects reporting intensity rather than true incidence in the broader pet population.

Cellulitis appears most frequently in reports for Dog (254 reports), Cat (38 reports), Horse (33 reports) — with Dog dominating at 254 entries. Within those species, the breeds most often named alongside this reaction are Retriever - Labrador (44), Domestic Shorthair (23), Terrier - Bull - American Pit (14). These distributions are influenced both by underlying breed popularity and by how veterinarians and owners code a given clinical sign, so they should be interpreted as a reporting fingerprint rather than a pure susceptibility ranking.

The drugs most commonly co-reported with Cellulitis are Carprofen (55 reports), Tigilanol Tiglate (37 reports), Maropitant Citrate (36 reports), Moxidectin (33 reports), with Carprofen appearing alongside this reaction in 55 submissions. Co-reporting does not establish that any specific product caused the reaction — FDA CVM data captures temporal association only. The value of these aggregates is in flagging which therapeutic classes appear repeatedly alongside a given clinical sign, so owners and veterinarians can ask targeted questions about medications currently in use.

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports Data reflects voluntary submissions and may not represent actual incidence rates

Related

Data sourced from official AKC, AVMA, ACVO, and breed-club veterinary references. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBreed Editorial