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May 4, 2010

Lilly and Ginko have their annual veterinary exams later this month. And, one thing I desperately need solved is the problem with using an online pharmacy. Trust me, I know that the veterinary profession shuns such outlets, but even conscientious dog mom’s like me get driven to the brink.

Depending upon the situation, I use:

Being a  major rule-follower, I would use the in-house pharmacy all the time, if it wasn’t such a pain. My main issues? The prices and the dreary customer service.

Rather than buy the “dog” version of clomipramine (called Clomicalm), which is just silly expensive, we use a generic clomipramine capsule. It works fine at much less cost. But, then, the cost of that doubled. No reason. Just doubled through our veterinary hospital. I was paying about $28 for a month’s supply, and it just BLIP went up to nearly $60/month.

I may have hung in there with the in-house pharmacy, despite the increase, but several times I sat waiting to pick up refills for as long as 30-40 minutes … even though I’d called them in days in advance.

I drive about 40 minutes (each way) to the dog hospital. Add in a long wait on site, and suddenly it’s taking me 2 hours to get meds for Lilly and Ginko. Heck, I would even pay a little postage to have the meds mailed here, but no one ever offered that option.

So, I decided to get Lilly’s clomipramine and Ginko’s thyroid meds online. I can get two months worth of both for around $70 total.

[I have to get Lilly’s alprazolam (xanax) at Walgreens because the in-house pharmacy doesn’t have it.]

The Hitch

But, here is the hitch. It’s a total pain to get refills OK’d when I need them. Several times in the last year, I’ve waited a week or more for our veterinary hospital to approve my online or other pharmacy orders. So much for the efficiency of my solution.

I cannot tell if it’s them just being difficult because they don’t approve of my choice or if they truly do have such terrible processes in place to handle these requests. I had to call Monday to beg for a refill OK. After first swearing up and down they’d received no refill requests, the receptionist found the faxes and got them OK’d.

But, should I really have to call? I’ve even tried alerting them by phone that refill requests were coming, but that didn’t speed things up.

This year I may ask for written prescriptions with 12+months worth of refills because it is just silly to have an online or phone order take so long.

Either that, or our veterinary hospital needs to offer an online pharmacy of its own. If the prices were at least in the ballpark and the process less of a hassle, I would jump ship in an instant.

Since I write for several veterinary trade magazines and companies, including the one that offers Vetstreet. I KNOW this is something veterinary hospitals can offer, if they choose.

I sure wish mine would.

I’m pretty sure the meds I get online are what they claim to be. In other words, because of the medical response (including stuff shown in blood tests) is real … I’m confident that I’m not getting counterfeit drugs.

That’s one of the HUGE cautions about using an online pharmacy. Certain drug makers swear they do NOT sell to online pharmacies, and yet … I’m sure you see the TV ads for some common, brand-name meds.

Here’s my beef: If you don’t want pet parents seeking meds elsewhere, then get in the game and offer us your own version of what we seek.

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. My experience has been radically different. My vet regularly reminds me if I can get a med for much less cost on-line, and promptly faxes the info needed when the on-line pharmacy requests it. So, not all vets discourage it.

    My vet says that her hospital doesn’t make any profit on meds. She said that purely due to the huge volume sold by on-line places, they can buy the drugs and lower cost and pass along the savings.

    BTW, some meds cost the same at my vet and at the on-line places. Go figure…

  2. I have a great answer…move to the country! My rural vet is efficient, affordable, and they provide outstanding customer service.

    The actually asked if I wanted a prescription or to purchase Tri-Heart Plus directly from them. Maybe horses and livestock are more profitable.

  3. I too feel lucky that I’ve had no problem with getting my vet to prescribe online. But one solution is to turn the problem over to the online company. Drs. Foster and Smith (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/), for example, offered to call the hospital to make sure the prescription got through. It’s in their best interest to have this happen, and provides a reason for someone who needs vet meds to go through their company rather than one with less impressive customer service.

    1. I believe my place does call and poke at the doctors. And, they send me emails alerting me to any delays, but so far … it hasn’t sped up the process at all.

  4. In Florida, Publix provides free antibiotics for any animal so our vet writes a scrip. He also does it so we can get $4 steroids from Walmart when we need them. One of our dogs is on thyroid meds but my vet does blood work every 6 months. Is that unusual?

    1. That’s wild that you can get free meds. Some of those antibiotics can be pricey. And, indeed, those $4/month prices are terrific.

      We only check Ginko’s blood for thyroid stuff once a year, but he is very steady in his levels. When he first started taking the meds, I think we checked him every 2-3 months until we found just the right dosage.

      BUT, I do have a friend (KB, weigh in if you can) whose dog needs checks much more often because of the kind of thyroid meds used, which are different from the standard ones Ginko gets.

  5. Yikes Roxanne! I’m feeling very lucky with my vet, although Kona has never needed anything other than standard antibiotics, pain killers, anti-vomit etc. But even her flea treatment is as cheap as anything I can find online…I’ll count my blessings.

    I was astounded when I was looking for L-Theanine for Kona and found the dog version to sell for 6x the cost of the capsule form I can buy from our health food store.

  6. I had the same thing happen — after telling me that my pet had a simple infection that wasn’t at all resistant to antibiotics, the vet prescribed, thru the in-house pharmacy, a very expensive (more than $1 a pill) brand name drug. It was basically Augmentin, but branded for the pet industry.

    I’m not doing this again, when generic antibiotics are available at the more competitive pharmacy chains for $4 for a month’ supply.

    Vets make too much money from selling pet meds at a huge mark-up, that’s all there is to it. They don’t have an incentive to help you be a smart consumer. At the very least, they should honor requests to call in the prescription to a cheaper venue for you.

    Rox, with the thyroid meds, they should give you 12 refills. It’s not too much to ask for. This is how my own prescription for thyroid pills (for myself, not my pet) is handled.

  7. That’s a great point – if you don’t want me to take my business elsewhere, try being competitive.

    I’m pretty lucky in that respect. While my vet if not online, he does compete on price on the customer service is great.

  8. Thank you for calling attention to this problem! I find that our vet’s prices are high, but they are hostile when we want to buy online.

  9. I had a veterinary opthamologist charge me $25 for a tiny bottle of eye drops that cost about $8 to manufacture. You can bet I went elsewhere.

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