Ninety‐nine isolates of obligate anaerobic bacteria obtained from clinical material were tested for susceptibility to ten antimicrobial agents. Regardless of the species of animal from which the isolates were obtained 90–95% were inhibited by ≤4 μg of ampicillin/ml, ≤4 μg of chloramphenicol/ml, ≤1 μg clindamycin/ml, ≤2 μg metronidazole/ml, ≤8 μg minocycline/ml, ≤16 μg penicillin Gyml, and ≤16 μg tetracycline/ml. All the aminoglycoside antibiotics tested (gentamicin, kanamycin, neomycin, and streptomycin) were shown to be relatively ineffective requiring ≥128 μg/ml for the inhibition of>50%of the isolates. The minimal inhibitory concentration of penicillin G and tetracycline tended to be higher for isolates from non‐human primates (penicillin G)