At FluoretiQ, our mission is simple yet profound: to make diagnosing bacterial infections faster, smarter, and more accessible. With our diagnostic platform, Veri-5® Vet, we aim to empower veterinarians with rapid, reliable tools that protect pet welfare, support antibiotic stewardship, and help tackle AMR head-on.
Why Current Testing is Failing
For decades, the “gold standard” of microbial testing has been culture and sensitivity analysis. While effective in controlled laboratories, the process is painfully slow in practice. Culturing bacteria from a sample takes 24–48 hours, followed by additional biochemical tests to identify species and resistance patterns (Morris, 2025).
This delay creates a dangerous gap: veterinarians are often forced to prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics while waiting for results. These drugs may work, but they also fuel resistance by killing beneficial bacteria and giving resistant strains room to thrive (Wellcome, 2022). For pets with acute urinary tract infections or skin infections, two days can mean the difference between recovery and serious deterioration.
Why Our Vets and Pets Need More
The urgency is amplified in animal health for three key reasons:
- Limited treatment options – Several antibiotics used in human medicine including fluoroquinolones and 3rd- or 4th-generation cephalosporins are restricted or subject to stricter licensing or responsible-use rules when it comes to veterinary practice.( NOAH )
- Pet welfare – In some cases, vets are not permitted to prescribe antibiotics without culture confirmation. This means pets can suffer unnecessarily while results trickle in.
- AMR is rising in companion animals –Resistant E. coli causing urinary tract infections is a growing concern in cats and dogs. Recent reviews show a sharp acceleration in AMR research on companion animals, with numerous studies published in the past few years. A 2025 scoping review on E. coli in dogs and cats mapped publication start-years and shows a clear surge in recent studies (plos one).
The stakes are high. Without faster, smarter diagnostics, pets risk delayed care and vets risk contributing to the AMR crisis.
A Need for Change
Today’s testing model is centralized and lab-intensive. Samples are shipped to distant facilities, introducing logistics delays that stretch turnaround times even further. While new analytical techniques are emerging, many were originally designed for research labs, not the unpredictable realities of veterinary practice.
Real-world samples are messy. A urine sample from a cat collected via cystocentesis is very different from one gathered at home by a dog owner. A true point-of-care diagnostic must cope with these variations, work quickly in busy clinics, and be affordable for practices and pet parents alike.
This is where most lab-adapted technologies fall short. They are powerful in theory but can be impractical at the point of care. What veterinary medicine needs is a test purpose-built for the clinic environment, designed with speed, usability, and reliability at its core.