Veterinarians and Online Pharmacies

My vet left me a message today saying that she looked into this further.

She said that she believes that the source of the drugs is questionable because its not available for that little money anywhere in Canada, even at cost to pharmacies.

For the record, generic fluoxetine without markup is just under $1 a pill. This is really disturbing to me, since I know how much cheaper it is in the US.

So my vet won't ok using this pharmacy, can't say that I blame her now that I know this. I am going to contact the pharmacy and see what they have to say anyhow. I want to see if they can prove to me where the medication comes from, although I'm guessing they won't.

In the mean time I"m going to contact the sheltie rescue and see if they know of a way for me to get cheaper drugs. I don't know what else to do. :(
 
OntarioSheltie said:
My vet left me a message today saying that she looked into this further.

She said that she believes that the source of the drugs is questionable because its not available for that little money anywhere in Canada, even at cost to pharmacies.

For the record, generic fluoxetine without markup is just under $1 a pill. This is really disturbing to me, since I know how much cheaper it is in the US.

So my vet won't ok using this pharmacy, can't say that I blame her now that I know this. I am going to contact the pharmacy and see what they have to say anyhow. I want to see if they can prove to me where the medication comes from, although I'm guessing they won't.

In the mean time I"m going to contact the sheltie rescue and see if they know of a way for me to get cheaper drugs. I don't know what else to do. :(
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First, I think contacting a rescue group is a good idea. They may know more. Secondly, bummer! But at least she explained it to you and now you know what is going on, on her end. And lastly, I thought I'd see how much it does cost here. Here's a price sheet from Costco. Looks like cost is $6-$30 depending on dosage.

I wish I could ship them up to you. Can you get it through something like Costco? Or is the price still about $1/pill?

Also, just as a warning to everyone here. Please DO NOT EVER flush medications down the toilet or put it down a drain. And do NOT throw them in the trash. Return them to a pharmacy or dispose of them to the proper people (sometimes police stations have drop areas for drugs-legal and illegal). I work for a groundwater protection agency and lets just say we find all kinda of pharmaceuticals in our local water supply. You may not have groundwater, but the point is, please don't put it in the system at all.
 
k9kreationz said:
First, I think contacting a rescue group is a good idea. They may know more. Secondly, bummer! But at least she explained it to you and now you know what is going on, on her end. And lastly, I thought I'd see how much it does cost here. Here's a price sheet from Costco. Looks like cost is $6-$30 depending on dosage.

I wish I could ship them up to you. Can you get it through something like Costco? Or is the price still about $1/pill?
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That was nice of you to check for me, but sadly I did buy Toby's pills from Costco. Here the cost is $1.18/pill. :(

Between my own medical expenses, missing work and Xmas just passing, Toby's medical expenses are getting to be too much. :(

We don't exactly have an extravagant lifestyle so I hate to have to cut back further, but it looks like I"m going to have to try and find the money somewhere.
 
OntarioSheltie said:
That was nice of you to check for me, but sadly I did buy Toby's pills from Costco. Here the cost is $1.18/pill. :(

Between my own medical expenses, missing work and Xmas just passing, Toby's medical expenses are getting to be too much. :(

We don't exactly have an extravagant lifestyle so I hate to have to cut back further, but it looks like I"m going to have to try and find the money somewhere.
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Ouch. Y'know, back in the day, when things cost more in CA, it made sense. I think your dollar was 1.5x more than ours. But now that it's not, yikes. That sucks.

Good luck. I know what you mean about money. At some point soon (as in this year), I may have to quit agility training. :(
 
I may try switching from Lactium to L-theanine and see what happens.

The L-theanine had stopped working for Toby before after he had a setback. Maybe it'll work for him now that he's more calm.

I can get L-theanine for roughly $10/month vs Lactium which costs $30/month.

I hate to take him off Lactium because it works so well for him but there's not much else I can do. :(
 
OntarioSheltie said:
I may try switching from Lactium to L-theanine and see what happens.

The L-theanine had stopped working for Toby before after he had a setback. Maybe it'll work for him now that he's more calm.

I can get L-theanine for roughly $10/month vs Lactium which costs $30/month.

I hate to take him off Lactium because it works so well for him but there's not much else I can do. :(
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Awww I'm sorry you're struggling so much here with this. I wish there were something I could do. I didn't know medicine was more expensive there. I wonder why that is. :( I hope you figure something out that works for all of you ...
 
I'm so disappointed. I was really looking forward to him being on a lower dose not only to wean him off of fluoxetine but also because I'd heard that generic fluoxetine was so much less expensive.

I thought if I could just get by on the high cost of his meds for a couple of months, then we could put him on something less expensive. Not sure if I can do this indefinitely. :(
 
I feel your pain. My Tennessee Walker - all 1300 lbs of her is on Recovery with HA for her arthritis. The product is the best help I've been able to find for her short of injecting her joints all the time. Right now I can get it from my tack store for $130/month but the regulators are going to make it only available through the vets. I expect a considerable mark up once that happens. It is a lot cheaper online from the states - amazing since it is manufactured in Canada - but I can't get it shipped here. I know that my large animal practitioner will not help me out as they are expensive as ....... but they are one of 2 clinics within 1/2 hour of here and when you have a horse down you want someone FAST. When they put all the new regulations in in Canada regarding dispensing meds it has really hurt the consumer. I couldn't even get a dose of Drontal plus for Tinsel when I discovered he was full of tapeworms because I didn't have anything on file in that weight category and, understandably, my vets are worried about their licenses. Two years ago it wouldn't have been a problem. I had to go to one of the Rescue vets so it could be put on their file. Hopefully you will have success with Toby's weaning and going back to the old med. I have my fingers crossed for you both.
 
My vet gave me a "talking to" once because we tried to use an online pharmacy for heartworm meds. He denied the call from the pharmacy. When I talked to him about it, he was clear in the fact that he does not like the online pharmacies because it's hard enough for small practices to make a living with the competition, and this extra outside competition on medications really hurts them.

After that time, for some odd reason he seems to have changed his mind on the subject...maybe it was too "big" for him to go against, but I won't "go there" with him again.

For several years now, I've been buying a generic heartgard plus online (out of the USA) and they don't require a prescription. Never had a problem. I found this site by accident while doing price comparisons.

So...it's definitely got something to do with $$ at least as part of the hesitation..IMO...and in my experience.

I'll tell you another thing.. BE CAREFUL with ANY pharmacy that you are in fact getting the medication you are supposed to be getting. I don't care how reputable they are. Mistakes happen. We had what could have been a life ending mistake from COSTCO. We were getting a prescription for our "late" boy Nicholas when he had cancer. Our vet told us how we need to make sure and use gloves when handling, wash hands thoroughly afterwards, etc., and NOT to let anyone in childbearing ages touch it because it could be harmful. Well, when I picked the Rx up at COSTCO, I came home and was reading through the info. It didn't say a word about special handling? I thought HOW STRANGE?? So...being suspiciously confused...I called the vet and asked him about it. When I told him the name of the medication on the bottle (generic), he FLIPPED OUT IN PANIC and asked me if I'd given any to Nicholas yet? I said "No." Turned out...it was a drug supposed to be used for TRANSPLANT PATIENTS and would have done our special boy IN! Being it was a generic...we didn't know what generic goes to what.. ASSUMING the pharmacy was always "right," wow!! What a mistake. Costco ended up giving us a full reimbursement, and NOT charging us for any future refills for our boy.
 
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