First, I want to start off by saying that I love my vets. However, I about died when I got the reciept for a bottle of Prednisolone for my mini with RAO. I get that vets have to make a living, and it’s true that they don’t charge for texts, and what not, but still…9and this wasnt just marked up by a few bucks)
What do you think? Does your vet do this?
You might not be taking into account that it might cost your vet quite a bit more than your local high volume human pharmacy or online cheap order pet pharmacy. So what you are assuming is a huge mark-up might just be them breaking even for the cost of the meds and them having to ship it in.
Some vets markup prescription drugs quite a bit. Can get dexamethasone for 5 dollars a 100 ml bottle…from one vet. Pay 28.50 for same bottle of dex from another vet.
See if your vet will write a prescription so you can take it to Costco, Target or wherever. My vet automatically does this for me.
My vet clinic prefers not to write scripts but they are fairly reasonable, as in they don’t say no if you ask but they will try to talk you out of it. They will also price match online pharmacies prices for a lot things or at least come very close which works fine for me.
Not the horse vet, but my (former, mostly for other reasons) small animal vet charged more for 10 days worth of my dog’s thyroid medication as I pay for 2 months ordering through Allivet. Nearly gave me a heart attack!
Yes they mark up, but sometime it’s worth paying more for the convenience of having the med right then and there. When I had two on previcox long term and one on pergolide my vets were happy to let me shop around for the !east expensive source. Oh, and I also had one on regumate and another on an inhaler at the same time so the monthly meds added up fast.
Yes ! like a bandit !
Yes, and local farm vet charges a lot more than the vet school hospital. For some things, I don’t make a stink over it. For example, it’s a lot easier for me to get a big bottle of Robaxin from my vet and still pretty cheap compared to him calling in a script to Walgreens (where they give me the :eek: face and say they have to order more). For bigger ticket items like Adequan, I ask nicely if it’s ok I buy online, because with a coupon code, I can save nearly $200!
Yes, and unless it is something that we are using long-term and the price they are charging is considerably higher than what I could get online, I buy from them. I feel that is the least I can do considering the amount of “extras” like texts, photos reviewed (Saving me a farm call), taking a free peak at a recovering horse, coming in on their day off to see my horse, taking my call at 4 am, etc that they do for me. They have to buy it, stock it, take the risk if something happens to it, so charging more is reasonable. That being said, my Vet owns a vet hospital and I have found his prices to be far more competitive than some of the mobile only veterinarians in the area that my friends use.
If that link works, that’s what I got. My vet charged me $110. Dressager - that’s my feelings too, for the most part. I paid it because I love my vets, and don’t want to muddy the waters at all. That said, writing me a prescription would save me quite a bit.
I use a very large, successful equine clinic. I have no problem asking the vets for a script for maintenance medications that I can wait for. Some of them will tell me how they are encouraged not to do it but none have ever refused. If I knew a small practice was counting on mark ups just to get by I might feel differently about shopping online.
There’s $150 difference in the Allivet price for Adequan and the clinic’s price :eek:
My vet gives me an open script to Farm Vet. No mark up for me.
I wouldn’t find the vet charging $110 for something I could have gotten for $82 had I ordered online outrageous, its only about a 35% mark up.
What I did find outrageous is one vet charging me $8 per 5ml syringe of dex, x4, when the next vet gave me the entire 100ml bottle for $15 which was probably pretty close to their cost. I’m fine paying a markup for the convenience of a vet having what I need on hand when I need it but I think the 800% mark up the first vet charged was nuts. That vet runs much higher on everything though and I no longer use her.
Remember Surpass? $60 per tube? Only by prescription?
You can get it from Canada, no prescription needed. And it is 2.3% instead of 1% – so, over 2x as strong. The cost is about $18/tube.
Just google it (I forget right now what the generic name is — Voleran?) and buy it so you have it when needed. I got 2 tubes; one for the horse and one for my arthritic knees and hands. 
It is called Voltaren. Yes it has basically the same “meds” as Surpass but it is a topical medication that is “designed” for human, human skin not horses. There is a recent study on its effectiveness when used on horses was found to be of little value. The “delivery agent” works with human skin not horses. Doesn’t make a difference if you shave the hair off and or rub it in, double the amount etc. It is just not meant to be used on horses. There are a lot of cross-over meds that designed for human that work with horses also. But this is not one of them.
The makers of Surpass were the first to come up with the most important part of just about any medication and that is the “delivery agent”. They patient it and it is proprietary so there is no “generic” version until their patient runs out.
It is a widely spread myth that is just as good as Surpass for a lot less money. I went into a lot of detail about this on several threads a year or so ago. I had several one on one discussions with the vets/clinic (New Bolton, Penn Vet school) that reviewed the study done in Argentina where Surpass is not available but Voltaren is. They wanted to make sure it was a proper substitute and found it was not.
There were a LOT of people that took exception on several threads that I have pointed this out. Saying their “study” subjective study on their horse showed it worked fine. What ever, I’ll stay with, go with what the experts tell me.
Lets not digress, side track this thread over this. It was thoroughly discussed in other threads. Especially when Surpass was off the market, impossible to get due to manufacturing issues.
I am not a big meds guy, I don’t pop a pill at the drop of a hat foraches and pains. But Voltaren is outstanding for sore, pulled muscles, back pain, knee pain, etc. Friends with arthritic conditions say the same. [ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“data-attachmentid”:9826417}[/ATTACH]
I’m sorry but that’s a very low mark up. Figure in shipping to that cost and you’re not far off especially if you had to overnight it because you needed it now.
It is my understanding by law, not sure if it is state by state or federal vets have to either match pricing or supply a script so the client can purchase at a price of their choosing. They can not say “no”. Though there are certain meds that can only be given by a vet. Mostly injectable but that is up to the vet and their relationship with the client and the client’s skill level. Meds that can be used for “nefarious” performance enhancing purposes.
Some friends of mine who are pharmaceutical reps have told me by contract vets are not supposed to make up the price set by the manufacture. But that has not always been the case. There was a lot of rape-rob and pillaging going on before we all had easy access to the internet to check comparative pricing. Vets that use generic, compounded meds can charge what they like.
When this became available more than 10 years ago I was SHOCKED at the mark ups. I run a big farm, lots of horses on slim profit margins. I was paying thousands more than needed.
IMO I am paying a vet for their “skills” not to be a retail pharmacy. As others have pointed out putting a reasonable convenience mark up is perfectly acceptable. Off the their truck pricing. All the vets I use will tell me if I need a lot of something that I can get it cheaper on line and are happy to write a script. Well, more like they have become “happy” to write a script.lol
However I live in an area with a lot of horses and a lot of vets to choose from. So it is competitive. Horse owners that don’t have this luxury should weigh the cost/benefit savings. If your vet has to do a lot of traveling around to look at 1 horse at each farm. And or your farm is far off their beaten path you may not want to get too “cheap” with them. Your call may not be returned too quickly.
I expect to pay more when the vet can instantly provide a medication that my animal needs now. After all they have to stock it and deal with expired meds. But the markup should not be outrageous. My vets have always been within reason and sometimes gave me a break on short-dated meds. They have also provided scripts for things like Adequan. My dog’s neuro vet put her on a reasonably expensive medication that didn’t have to start immediately but she would need for an extended period of time, so he advised me to price shop pharmacies and use GoodRx. When even that price seemed high he contacted a compounding pharmacy who provided the meds at about 2/3 the cost of the cheapest local pharmacy. Much appreciated!
The Costco and Target pharamcists, along with all the other stores, won’t fill script written by a DVM. Need a vet supply wholesaler, possibly compounding pharmacy depending on state licensing requirements.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
