Objective: To establish specific veterinary surgical site infection (SSI) terminology to support the creation of consistent, comparable, and repeatable clinical and research datasets.

Methods: Establishment of SSI definitions by iterative Delphi questionnaires leading to a convergence of consensus opinion by a multidisciplinary panel of 32 specialists in large- and small-animal surgery (European College of Veterinary Surgeons, American College of Veterinary Surgeons), veterinary internal medicine (American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, European College of Equine Internal Medicine), anesthesia (European College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia), critical care (American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, European College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care), dentistry (European Veterinary Dental College), microbiology, preventive medicine (American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine), animal welfare (European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine), and human infection control. Consensus was defined as agreement by a minimum of 75% of panel members.

Results: The panel defined 18 terms for veterinary use, including those for superficial, deep, and organ/space infections; surgical procedure; pyrexia; wound classification and closure; and agreements on SSI monitoring timeframes.

Conclusions: A common clinical and research language appropriate to the veterinary field useable in future SSI surveillance practice has been established through expert consensus.

Clinical relevance: The use of a standard SSI language in veterinary practice is central to the future reliability of studies, their comparison, and the understanding of clinical risk factors in the development and prevention of SSI.