Does anyone else have a problem getting a written prescription from their vet. My vet is the best, however, is a pain when asked for a written prescription, the vet feels that she does the work and should get the profits from the medication. How do you deal with this? I don’t want to alienate her, there aren’t too many large animal vets in our area. Thanks
Would she be happier if you used a pharmacy such as Smartpak that will fax the prescription to her so she can quickly sign it and have her office fax it back? Check your state veterinary laws. They may require her to give a prescription if you ask.
My equine vet doesn’t write prescriptions, period. I have never taken the time to look up whether that’s legal here or not, but I like him and have no intention of aggravating him. I am happy to buy meds from his clinic, even though they are more expensive, because that is part of his business, he is very good to me (always available for questions, very flexible with scheduling), and does a good job with my horses. He WILL match prices if it’s an issue for something. I don’t mind paying $75 for one-time antibiotics that I could order for $30 online. I also have the convenience of having the available immediately, and he has to keep things stocked and cover having meds that won’t get used and go unsold before they expire. I DO have trouble paying $100 for a vial of Adequan that I could buy online for $45 and I need 7 of them and will need them recurrently, and for things like that it is worth asking for a price match.
Perhaps if it’s an issue for you, you can ask if your vet would match catalog prices.
There is a bill in Congress now about this very thing for “pet” owners. The way it’s written though, I’m not sure it includes horses.
Here is a link to the text of the bill: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr4023/text#
[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7691052]
My equine vet doesn’t write prescriptions, period. I have never taken the time to look up whether that’s legal here or not, but I like him and have no intention of aggravating him. I am happy to buy meds from his clinic, even though they are more expensive, because that is part of his business, he is very good to me (always available for questions, very flexible with scheduling), and does a good job with my horses. He WILL match prices if it’s an issue for something. I don’t mind paying $75 for one-time antibiotics that I could order for $30 online. I also have the convenience of having the available immediately, and he has to keep things stocked and cover having meds that won’t get used and go unsold before they expire. I DO have trouble paying $100 for a vial of Adequan that I could buy online for $45 and I need 7 of them and will need them recurrently, and for things like that it is worth asking for a price match.
Perhaps if it’s an issue for you, you can ask if your vet would match catalog prices.[/QUOTE]
If you value your relationship with your veterinarian I suggest what was suggested above and ask for a price match. For all the reasons listed in this quote.
It is not legal for a vet to force you to use them for medications.
I think this site does a nice job of summing all the reasons why vets may make a client feel like they have no alternative choices. http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/2011/may/get_your_vet_to_help_get_drug_deals-11164
I love my vets dearly too but they mark up almost twice what the medications cost, if not more. I understand that huge profits aren’t typically made by vets who are softies (a lot of their work goes unpaid, waived, etc. b/c they often put the animal ahead of the bills) so I will buy some things from them and accept the over charge b/c I know their profit/overcharge is something they need to support their practice. I can’t speak for all vets but the vet I have isn’t driving a Mercedes and living a lavish lifestyle. She works hard long hours and has earned every penny she makes. So typically one time purchases, etc. I will buy from her but she understands that for chronic maintenance type medications that are expensive I have to shop around.
It’s tough. I wish vets didn’t constantly have to walk that line between putting the animal first and expecting to be able to put food on their own table. Overcharging clients that can afford it to supplement the no pay they will get from clients that cannot or just are dead beat and do not. I guess human health care is like this too. 3rd party payor insurances are charged more for individual services than uninsured. Our society has never figured out how to address the fact that poor people need/want expensive healthcare too. It’s an ethical bomb.
Ive never had an issue with the vet writing scripts for me or calling them in. Some vets in the past have charged me between $10.00 - $15.00 for writing the script which I have happily paid. My current vet doesn’t charge anything for them. he is also so well known at the pharmacy we use to fill the scripts, if he is on the road and cant give me something in writing, he will call it in for me so I can go and get it right away and then follow up with something in writing for them when he passes by a day or so later so their record keeping is in order
I think he and my vets before him recognize that when you have a lot of horses, something like the SMZ’s which I buy in bottles of 500 from the drug store just make economical sense rather than getting 100 or so from him at a time and on the script, there will be 3-4-5 renewals attached to it so if I need more I just get it renewed instead of bugging him for something like that
Its also far cheaper for me to get my vaccinations stateside and bring them in and vaccinate myself but I also recognize that he needs to make money from me as a client, so I have never gone that route for vaccinations - he gets all of that business no problem at all
[QUOTE=trailpal;7691101]
There is a bill in Congress now about this very thing for “pet” owners. The way it’s written though, I’m not sure it includes horses.
Here is a link to the text of the bill: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr4023/text#[/QUOTE]
I looked at who sponsored this bill as one of our NYS senators was on TV a while back indicating HE proposed it. Sorry Chuck baby, it wasn’t you! :mad: He’s on TV a fair amount and I’m just wondering how many more of these ‘proposals’ of his where actually sponsored by others(thereby thought up by others).
No he doesn’t get my vote. I will admit when he first ran I did vote for him (lesser of 2 evils) but I no longer vote for any incumbent unless I think they’ve done a really great job and so far, none running here in NY are doing that. :sigh:
Sorry, didn’t mean to sidetrack this thread. Everyone else go back to the initial question.
As for the local large and small animal vets I’ve used here in western NY, all have given me a ‘script’ whenever I asked. One even called in a ‘script’ for Pergoloid to a compounding pharmacy several yrs ago.
