hospital Pharmacy
Why Our Hospital Pharmacy is Your Best Choice
Our pharmacy is a vital and integral part of our practice. It provides our clients and their pets with the latest technology, convenience, and the right medications at a competitive price. If you need a prescription refilled, please contact our office and we will have it ready for you to pick up shortly.
Price
Internet pharmacies are not always the cheapest source of medication. Our price for most items is typically less than most Internet pharmacies would charge. In addition, some medications are temperature sensitive, and require next day shipping.
Education
Representatives from companies such as Bayer, Pfizer, Norvartis, Merial, frequently visit our offices to set meetings for our staff. These representatives have access to the latest data and research, and they offer a valuable source of up-to-date product information which is then passed to our staff members.
Rebates
Our veterinary practice passes along manufacturers' promotions and rebates to our clients, which can result in a greater savings for you. These are not available online or from catalogs.
Convenience
Ordering from an internet pharmacy can cause delays in receiving your medication. It can take up to two days for the online pharmacy to contact us and process the prescription, which is the first step of the process.
Safety
Any prescription medication purchased from our hospitals has been approved by the FDA. Medications purchased online may have been purchased outside the United States, which can cause different labeling than U.S. products. If approved by the FDA, the label will say "Caution: Federal law restricts this drug to be used by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian".
Guarantee
Pharmaceutical manufacturers will only honor product guarantees when the medication was purchased by and from the pet's veterinarian. Internet and mail order catalogs do not qualify for the guarantees.
Insurance
Pet insurance companies require all prescriptions to be FDA approved.
Keeping your pet healthy & happy is important to us. From routine to advanced care our veterinary practice is proud to offer the very best in veterinary medicine.
Internet/ Mail Order Pharmacies Information
Internet pet pharmacies promote the convenience of home shopping with the benefit of big savings, but are they a wise option for you and your pet?
You are always welcome to call our office to discuss any questions you may have with veterinary online pharmacies.
If you wish to purchase medications from an internet or mail-order pharmacy you are welcome to do so. However, it is important to know the following for the health and safety of your pet:
Please be aware that there are times when we cannot authorize prescription medications. By law, we can only authorize prescription medication from an outside source if we would normally have prescribed it for your pet ourselves, and that we are monitoring the condition for which it is being prescribed.
For some medications, such as flea control, this may be as simple as your pet having been examined here within one year. For others, such as antibiotics, your pet must have been seen for the specific condition and may need to be seen before we can authorize their medication. Medications such as Rimadyl, Previcox and Deramaxx require periodic blood testing.
Heartworm preventative requires that we have seen your dog within one year and that your dog has had a heartworm test within 2 years if no doses of a preventative were missed, or within one year if any doses were missed.
We cannot authorize any medications for any pet we have not seen for more than a year. These statements are true regardless of whether we dispense it here or you get it elsewhere.
Some Internet pharmacies construe to the public that the prescribing veterinarian will not authorize medication because the veterinarian wants to sell you the medication directly at a higher cost to you for a profit. This is not true, as it is illegal for a veterinarian to refuse to write a prescription upon request for a medication that would have been dispensed.
Many of these Internet pharmacies are actually operating illegally, but it takes time to shut them down. They have been subject to multiple lawsuits for illegal practices in acquiring and dispensing medications. They will buy medications from other countries in bulk to offer a less expensive, but slightly different medication. The purchase of these medications is often more expensive due to extra cost hidden in shipping fees.
We try very hard to keep our heartworm and flea preventative medication costs as low as possible so there is little or no benefit to supporting these places. Our veterinary practice also passes manufacturers’ promotions and rebates along to our clients. These frequently result in a greater savings to you, which are not offered through the internet pharmacies.
Please be aware that many manufacturers of flea and heartworm medications do not guarantee their own products when sold through non-veterinary sources.
You are encouraged to call the manufacturers on such medications to confirm this statement.
For more information on how FDA regulates animal medication please visit their website here or call 1-888-463-6332