I think that probably depends on where you live. In Ontario our vets don’t write RXs to be filled online, but they can write one to be filled at a human pharmacy, and I have gone that route if the vet didn’t have the required meds on his truck. It was less expensive at the pharmacy, and no tax, which I have to pay if I buy from the vet. Still 9 times out of 10 I buy from the vet for the convenience.
Yes, they do. Maybe It varies by state but they do in Washington state. Costco even has a list on their web site of animal prescriptions available at their pharmacies.
My vet will tell me right upfront if a prescription will be cheaper for me to fill elsewhere.
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In Massachusetts, vets legally have to provide you with a free prescription. So, I was shocked when I moved to Pennsylvania and the vets could refuse to write a prescription, forcing me to buy from that at marked up prices or pay for the prescription itself. After eight years, I have accepted it but I still feel that while meds are the same from any vet, the service is not and that is where I would like to see them charge more. I know it is apples and oranges, but there is a huge psychological component there for me – especially since I have lived where it was an illegal practice.
Thirty-six states have adopted legislation requiring vets to provide prescriptions. Here is the link to the list:
https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Pages/veterinary-prescription-orders.aspx
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Findeight,I live in the same state as you and the clinic where I work calls in scripts to Costco all of the time. I can’t comment on Target as ours here don’t have pharmacies.
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It depends on the meds whether you can use a regular pharmacy. Here, one of the vet supply stores will not fill a script for anything that is used as a human medication. To buy local, you have to get from the vet (who orders from elsewhere) or regular pharmacy. This includes things like Sucralfate, Robaxin. I don’t think you could get horse-only drugs from Costco.
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My vet (in Alberta) will also write certain prescriptions for me to fill out at a human pharmacy to save me $$$$ When Sullivan was on Sulfa antibiotics (15 pills 2x per day) I got the script filled at my pharmacy… they filled it as “horse Mclaughlin” (my last name LOL ) yeah I did get a funny look when I first explained why I needed such a large amount of tablets for the prescription, thus the horse and then my last name as by law it has to be under a name (I filled certain drugs for my dog at a human pharmacy when it was cheaper too)!
And Votaren is routinely used on horses up here, it’s an over the counter cream , available everywhere …(and now available in extra strength at 2.32%!)
Minnesota isn’t on the list. The one vet refuses to give written prescriptions. So I don’t use him anymore.
Yes, my vet marks up prescriptions, but there should be a markup for the convenience of him having something on the truck. However, he has absolutely no problem with writing prescriptions, and even called Valley Vet a couple of years ago to give them what they needed to fill and ship a prescription I ordered for Previcox.
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That same bottle cost the vet I work for $85. I know because I just purchased a bottle at cost for one of my horses. Her mark up is routinely 100% on products.
Not true. Depending upon the medication, you can fill a DVM’s precription at the local pharmacy.
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Mine was for sulfa too, prescription was filled for “Arden Almond”. The pharmacist took me aside and asked why it was such a huge dose, lol, he said are you giving this to a giraffe or something?
My vet will mark up the medications that they have on hand, though they’re generally pretty reasonable about the amount. There are some things that they just don’t keep around, though. They’re a small multi-species clinic so it’s a significant expense and hassle for them to try to keep a wide variety of medications in stock. I don’t begrudge them the additional fee for something that I might need unexpectedly, but they actually prefer writing prescriptions to fill online when possible so that’s always what we do for non-emergency things like Adequan or pergolide.
