Pharmacy for equine phenobarbital?

[DreadPirateRoberts]

I realize this is a long shot, but has anyone here found an economical source (e.g. online pharmacy) for phenobarbital for horses? My equine true love has spent some time in a virtual pit of despair in the equine hospital ICU and has come back from being mostly dead thanks in part to treatment with phenobarbital (and a few very expensive miracles).

Small animal formulations like what that hospital has in its formulary, however, are adding up quickly in cost and this horse will need to remain on the treatment for quite some time. With the pricing of our current source or our regular vet’s pharmacy this will add up to a mid-4-figure dollar amount (on top of those aforementioned expensive miracles) so I’m hoping some horse person out there has found a source for the drug that is more economical for equine dosages.

Our “Miracle Max” is willing to call in a script to any pharmacy if I can find one that can provide the drug at lower cost. So far the best price I’ve found is Costco, which has 180 count bottles of 97 mg tablets for $75. But I’m posting in the off chance that someone in this community has been down this road and has found a good source for horse-scale phenobarbital. Thanks if you have any information to share.

[Simkie]

Have you looked at GoodRX?

[erinmeri]

No leads, but also maybe try GoodRx. Costco, GoodRx, and Valley Vet were always my go tos for cat meds.

ETA:@simkie beat me to it!

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Oh my, @Simkie and @erinmeri ! That is far more economical than what I’m currently paying to keep this darling beast on the mend. I am totally unfamiliar with GoodRx, but its pricing is jaw-droppingly good compared to the prices I’ve found.

I know Costco will fulfill veterinary prescriptions. Right now in my area GoodRx has Walgreens as the lowest price (which is about 1/3 of the non-GoodRx Costco price in my area). Does anybody know if my vet can call in an equine prescription to Walgreens? Do I just have the vet call it in and then show up at the pharmacy with the GoodRx coupon? I’m a bit behind the times.

Thank you for helping me keep this wonder horse going. I’m grateful for this community of helpful and kind equestrians.

[erinmeri]

Yes, you have your vet call in the script and you use GoodRx to generate a coupon you show to the pharmacist!

ETA: my local pharmacies were well acquainted by name with my kitty Bergen!

Edited again to add that I am going to try this route for Albuterol and Fluticasone for the mare!

[2DogsFarm]

Another vote for GoodRX!
They now have a pet section.

When my vet prescribed gabapentin for my WB I filled the script at Walgreens.
Pharmacist was curious about the dosage, until I told him the patient weighed 1500#

[Simkie]

Yep, always check good rx for pet meds or anything for yourself that insurance declines to cover. Your vet can send the rx to any human pharmacy.

[IPEsq]

If you need the inhaler form of albuterol, the best price I found was at Heartland Vet Supply, especially since they usually had coupons. It was about the same there for my cat as my friends would pay for their own meds after insurance.

I never found a good price on inhaled fluticasone (Flovent), maybe because it’s brand name only?

[erinmeri]

@IPEsq

If you need the inhaler form of albuterol, the best price I found was at Heartland Vet Supply, especially since they usually had coupons. It was about the same there for my cat as my friends would pay for their own meds after insurance.

I never found a good price on inhaled fluticasone (Flovent), maybe because it’s brand name only?

Thank you! The fluticasone is definitively $$$$. I need to do the math to see if a GoodRx price is more reasonable than the compounding pharmacy. My eyes bled when I got that bill!

[cayuse]

Add me to the list of GoodRx fans. Use it all the time for two minis.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

I just wanted to update this thread with thanks for pointing me toward GoodRx.

I was able to get my beloved horse’s prescription filled for just about 10% of the price that I was paying from the vet hospital pharmacy when the horse was hospitalized. The local pharmacy was happy to fill the prescription with a GoodRx coupon code, and though there are limits on how much of this particular medication they can dispense at one time they can hold the remaining amount from the script at the pharmacy and I can stop by and pick up portions of it periodically. I hope some of the other meds folks here have posted about can also be acquired at a discount through GoodRx!

This will save me thousands of dollars over the projected course of treatment. I plan to use some of the other tips from this forum regarding ulcer medication when the time comes to wean the horse off of GastroGard for hospitalization-induced ulcers – thank you all for saving me a massive amount of money without compromising a dear equine friend’s treatment.

[Ponyboy]

For my seizure dog I’m currently paying $15 for 60 for 97.2 mg. That’s at Shoprite pharmacy in the NE US with a goodrx discount. I’m curious, how many are you able to get at one time? They’ll give me all sixty but strictly on the 30th day. They treat me like a drug seeker when I ask one day early if we’re going on vacation.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

@Ponyboy

I’m curious, how many are you able to get at one time?

I’m able to get 120 of the 100mg pills at one time. My pricing is just a wee bit lower than yours with GoodRx, probably because of the huge overall quantity of pills in the prescription (they accepted GoodRx for the whole prescribed amount, and kept the discount on file so it is automatically applied every time I check out with a new batch of pills).

That amount that I can get in one visit is 3 days of seizure prevention for a small horse!

Or in the eyes of the pharmacist (who side-eyed me as I straggled in with red, baggy eyes, stinky well-worn barn clothes, and a script for a small army’s worth of phenobarbital after a couple of nights of round-the-clock nursing for The Horse Who Lived), that’s enough barbiturates that if I were seeking drugs in order to crawl back to the Thieves’ Quarters and abuse them, I would have OD’d many times over a long time ago.

They have quickly gone from horrified to merely incredulous, to rather amused and willing to prevent checkout hassles by writing “HORSE” in big letters on the pharmacy bag to clue in whoever is working the register to the fact that it’s an approved veterinary prescription and not something shady.

[equinelibrium]

Ahh, I greatly enjoyed your “Miracle Max”/pit of despair/mostly dead references in the first post. But I only just noticed your username and profile photo - well played! The Princess Bride is my favorite movie.

And more on-topic, I’m so glad you were able to get your horse’s meds at a cheaper cost. Does he need chocolate coating to help it go down easier?

[DreadPirateRoberts]

@equinelibrium

And more on-topic, I’m so glad you were able to get your horse’s meds at a cheaper cost. Does he need chocolate coating to help it go down easier?

Ah, the chocolate coating! I imagine if the befuddled pharmacists filling the prescription could apply a chocolate coating as well as Valerie the pills would indeed go down easier and I wouldn’t end up wearing as many med splatters as I do after nursing this dear horse!

Alas, without it I have to resort to a way of administering meds that is not very sportsman-like.