Experimental induction of Proteus mirabilis cystitis in the pony and evaluation of therapy with trimethoprim-sulfadiazine.

Proteus mirabilis cystitis was induced in 9 ponies by chemically eroding the bladder mucosa before the organism was inoculated. Comparisons were made in the treatment of P mirabilis cystitis between ponies treated daily for 13 days with a trimethoprim-sulfadiazine (TMP-SDZ) paste and both positive and negative controls. Urine cultures from ponies treated with TMP-SDZ became negative for P mirabilis between days 3 and 9 after the start of the treatment, whereas positive controls remained infected until day 13. Urine cultures from all ponies were negative for P mirabilis on day 28. Urine concentrations of TMP and SDZ were relatively high after day 1 of therapy.