Pet prescriptions by mail order??

[Bob Weisner]

Hi:

Has anyone bought prescription medications for their pet through a mail order catalog?? I got a Drs Foster and Smith catalog and have found that their prices are MUCH !! cheaper than any of the local Vets. Also, a Veterinarian(SP?) has his own pharmacy set up in their place of business; how easy is it to get a Vet to write up a prescription so that you can get it filled at one of these mail order Pharmacies?

Thanks,

[Bob Winkler]

We get our dog's Heartworm and Tick meds through Petmeds.com. One is a prescription (I don't remember which). Petmeds phones my local vet to authorize the prescription. It's very painless, and like you said, significantly cheaper for the exact same medication.

Bob

[Brian Austin]

I looked at this but decided against it. When possible, I try to support local businesses. The vet makes money off of the meds, of course, and I'd really like him to stick around for a while. Yes, I pay a few extra bucks but it's insurance to keep my vet around.

I have heard (through others) about some vets charging a fee to write a prescription or deal with third party pharmacies. I don't know that for a fact, however.

[Richard Wolf]

I'm right with Brian on this one. Vets, work pretty hard taking care of our loved ones, and I think they should be supported. Why try to save a few bucks here when you may need your Vet down the road.

Richard

[John Cole]

I support my vet and buy drugs from him, however there are certain drugs he doesn't want to keep on hand and prefers us to order through Petmeds.

Petmeds works very smoothly - they call the vert to get the prescription and send them directly to us.

[Cecil Arnold]

Boy, I hate to be a Grinch, but the vet I know bought a practice for $900k paid it off in three years, and built a $300K+ house at the same time. This in Texas where housing is relatively cheap. While I can't address Bob's question, we get heart worm meds in Mexico for about half (or less) what we pay here. They're in the same packaging except the print is Spanish. The dog doesn't know the difference.

[Jim DeLaney]

I priced HeartGard & Frontline+ at PetMeds online, and found that they were the same price -almost to the penny - as my vet was charging me for them. The only difference is the state sales tax I have to pay for buying them locally. I really like my vet, and as a show of support, buy the meds from her.

[Bob Johnson2]

Pretty much as Jim said, the local vet is only a bit higher. At least it was a year or 2 ago when I checked.

[Mark Singer]

Each of my pets has their own credit card and does their own buying on line...I established a credit limit which is fine....they just use it all on treats and chew toys....and Dexter bought the doggie calender...he is looking at May ...a long haired female Chihuahua:rolleyes:

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Bob. For about 4 years we have been buying our Feline insulin from http://www.bcpvetpharm.com/ in Houston. They have an 800 number. I order, and it is delivered by UPS overnight the next day. I find their insulin prices to be about half of what our previous vet was charging. They are updating their web site so there is not much info vailable. Give them a call on their 1-800 number.

[Brian Austin]

Boy, I hate to be a Grinch, but the vet I know bought a practice for $900k paid it off in three years, and built a $300K+ house at the same time. This in Texas where housing is relatively cheap.
Being a greedy capitalist myself, I don't really have an issue with someone else's success like that, I guess. ;)

[Bob Yarbrough]

Ran a sled dog kennel for 8 years, worst case?!? I had 74 dogs in the back yard. (BIG YARD:) ). Did my own stiching, shots, etc. Bought all the meds, etc I could wherever I could find the cheapest prices. My local vet would "sell" me my rabies tags and forms, I gave the shots.

All the vets I ever dealt with had no problems whith me price shopping, because they knew that when I had to bring a dog in, the odds were pretty good that I was going to have a WHOPPER BILL.

Bob

[Cecil Arnold]

Brian, while defending your greed you seem to miss the point. Having a DVM is like having a license to steal and it is well deserved since it is harder to get into vet. school than medical school. Anyone who spends that much time learning their trade deserves to be rewarded. The point, however, is that after paying the vet for services rendered why should you give him/her and the drug companies a bonus when the same meds are available for less elsewhere.

[Brian Austin]

Brian, while defending your greed you seem to miss the point. Having a DVM is like having a license to steal and it is well deserved since it is harder to get into vet. school than medical school. Anyone who spends that much time learning their trade deserves to be rewarded. The point, however, is that after paying the vet for services rendered why should you give him/her and the drug companies a bonus when the same meds are available for less elsewhere. This sounds like you're contradicting yourself. It's a "license to steal" but "well deserved"? They "deserve to be rewarded" but "why give them a bonus"?

The whole idea of a free market is you have more choices. I prefer to give my money to a vet, in hopes that he'll be around for the long haul to help me out when needed. Some choose otherwise and that's fine. But the vet isn't forcing anyone to buy his services. I wouldn't fault him for his success.

Besides, I suspect his overall margin on the drugs vs services is probably not that significant. It takes a LOT of money to run a doctor's office, be it human or animal.

[Cecil Arnold]

Brian, sounds like we will never agree on this, since you appear to be a Limbaugh fan. I'll exercise my free market choice by paying half price for my pet meds in Mexico and spending the remainder on ww goodies.

[Brian Austin]

Brian, sounds like we will never agree on this, since you appear to be a Limbaugh fan. I'll exercise my free market choice by paying half price for my pet meds in Mexico and spending the remainder on ww goodies.
Wow. I just got stereotyped! Sad part is that I haven't heard Rush for at least six or seven years. I don't watch TV, don't listen to talk radio and don't read the paper. Doesn't matter who you listen to: it's all biased in some way.

Some of us think up this stuff on our own, too. To each his own.

[Jim Dunn]

My wife wouldn't trust me with making decisions concerning our dogs. She leaves it all up to the Vet. As one of the dogs is "HERS" I don't want to be responsible for any injuries or sickness's from the wrong meds. Best I can do is feed and take them out for their business.:(

[tod evans]

most medication is sold according to the patients weight:eek: :eek: :eek: 27242 i support my vet, quite well in fact

[Jim Dunn]

Tod, I had to look close to make sure that wasn't a herd of piglets:)

[tod evans]

jim, the smallest weighs 155#, the largest 185#. tod

[Jim Dunn]

Our smallest is 4# and the bigger one is a whopping 7#, real easy to pick-em up at bed time.

[tod evans]

gotta love`em!

[Jim Dunn]

All of em!