Cost of metronidazole?

[Mara]

So ACD/GSD dog, Simon, came down with a minor case of the squirts on Thursday. He didn’t seem out of sorts otherwise, just kind of runny.

I started with the minimalist approach - fasting for 24 hours and then a bland diet. He got a bit better, but this morning I took a sample to the vet for a check.

No parasites, just a bacteria overload, or garbage gut. He got metronidazole, which I figured would be the tX if he didn’t have parasites.

20 pills for $30? Seemed a bit steep. The fecal was $27, so it wasn’t inclusive of that.

I need to start hoarding this stuff. I’m not in a huff about it at all, as I am quite fond of my vet practice. I just thought that was a little high for a fairly common antibiotic.

[incentive]

I have a puggle who has a slight but constant bit of IBS. He has to be on metronizadole most likely forever. I can’t remember what I paid for it at the vet. Now I order it 100 tablets at a time from Drs. Foster and Smith really cheap.

[pmysliwski]

I just got the same stuff for the dog I just adopted. The total vet bill was about $200 but that was with blood work and 6 months of heartworm meds. I bet I paid about $30 for the metronidazole too.

[jreventer]

Just FYI-

A lot of costs with medications fluctuate because of backorder issues. Metronidazole is one of those medications that is constantly in short supply/backordered/prices jump because of demand.

So while your vet’s prices might be high, that might be because they are actually having to pay more for that drug right now. We recently had trouble finding metro at a reasonable price until we found a supply through the human hospital. But we had to search hard to find this source and tomorrow their price may sky rocket.

Other medications we have this problem with often are eye medications. We recently wrote a client a script for a triple antibiotic ointment and the cost at a human pharmacy (so our clinic made no money/no mark up/etc), was over $50. In the past we could sell this for <$10/tube.

[Simkie]

You can always check pricing on meds at www.drugstore.com: 500 mg tabs.

Target and Walmart also have their $4 programs, which are always worth checking, but neither has metronidazole as part of that.

Ah–it looks like Walgreens does have it as part of their club, but you’ll have to purchase the card to take advantage of it. $20 card, and 30 500 mg tabs price out at $12.55. If you think your dog will need more meds this year, it might be worth getting a card. I have one for my dog, who’s on clomipramine, and I had one for my horse, when she was on gabapentin.

[horsenut_8700]

cost of metro

I work at a small animal hospital, and I know that our office manager was shocked to learn that our cost for metronidazole had recently increased 800%!! And unfortunately the price increase gets passed on to the clients.

[Sonesta]

Just buy your metronidazole through the fish health suppliers. You can get it from KV Supply at http://www.kvsupply.com/KVVet/productr.asp?pf_id=30100&gift=False&0=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D9000%26Tree%3D%2CComplete%20Catalog&1=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D30000%26Tree%3D0%2COther%20Pets&2=dept.asp%2Cdept_id%3D30300%26menu_id%3D%26Tree%3D1%2CFish%20Health&3=product_family.asp%2Cfamily_id%3D19%26Tree%3D2%2CAntiobiotics%20for%20Fish&HSLB=False&mscssid=D7C07777B69740DDB9141CBAA617FF31 for $29 for 60 tablets of 500 mg each. No prescription.

[Mara]

[QUOTE=horsenut_8700;6058484]
I work at a small animal hospital, and I know that our office manager was shocked to learn that our cost for metronidazole had recently increased 800%!! And unfortunately the price increase gets passed on to the clients.[/QUOTE]

Ouch! I thought something like that might be the case. And I do know vets rarely, if ever, profit on medications like antibiotics.

[Horsegal984]

Yeppers, our clinic was shocked to learn what the cost of Metro was going up to!! It’s frigging rediculous, and we were VERY thankful that we got enough warning that we could stock up at lower prices and try to hold out on having to raise them to the clients. Unfortunately, we are now out of the “cheap stuff” and have had to order at the higher prices, so our clients will soon bee feeling the same sticker shock you are.

And for the record, I have no idea WTF is going on in the pharmaceutical world, but it seems like every time we turn around another half-dozen drugs are on backorder or going way up in price. Makes the every day task of keeping the clinic stocked that much harder when you have to spend three times as long trying to price shop, or just find someone with what you need!!

Katherine
Vet Tech

[horsenut_8700]

Today we learned that surgical cutting needles are backordered…is there anything that can just be available when we need it?

[AliCat518]

Hmm well I have 4 or 5 500mg tabs left from a previous unnecessay rx. Is it creepy to offer it to someone on here? I certainly don’t want or need it. (it was prescribed for me, not an animal, but it was not necessary for me to finish the bottle).

[Sonesta]

not creepy, but might not be legal since it requires a prescription. very nice gesture on your part, though!

P.S. the fish version has now gone up, too.