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slickgirl24: blog

slickgirl24's blog


price gouging of pet meds


Published Jan. 27, 2008

How many of you know you can buy your pet's Rx drugs at your local pharmacy? 

My husband and I found this out the hard way.  Our dachshund is 11 yrs old and has just recently been diagnosed with congestive heart failure(CHF). Well, like a lot of pet lovers my dog is my child, so of course we are going to do what we have to, to keep him here with us.  Losing him is a pain I don't want to bear right now.  We have been following his condition since December, when he was diagnosed with just having a heart murmur. His heart health has rapidly decline since.  Took him to the vet on Friday to have bloodwork and check him out. Doesn't have heartworms...great news, but has CHF. Wants to start him on heart meds and lasix.  Fine, whatever we have to do within our means!    " The heart meds are a little expensive"  "$3 a pill" the vet says. You do the math....30 pills @ $3.00.    OK not a promblem. We will just have to plan that into our budget.  Thinking we could get them a little cheaper online. Not knowing we could get a prescription from them and take it to Rite Aid as well.  You know buying it online for, I don't know $2 or $2.50 a pill.  We buy the meds at the vets office and take it home. By the way, our bill for Friday was $294. The heart meds alone were $90.00 for 30 pills.    Fastforward, I start researching online, HECK YEAH I could have gotten them cheaper online.  Wanna know how much cheaper....not even $1.50 or even $1 per pill.   1800petmeds I can buy them for GET THIS.......$.24 cents...CENTS...I couldn't believe my eyes.   OK, I was a little leary about buying his meds online...after all this is for his Heart...the one thing he needs to live.   We were waiting to hear back from the vet about his bloodwork to even start the meds.  I told her what I had found and that I could have gotten it so much cheaper.  She says" oh I'm sorry"  I'm sorry that's it. And then when I went back to pick something else up she tells me I could have gotten it @ the local drug store. 

Well my husband and I did some more research and found out that we could have gotten the meds from Wal-mart for $4, Rite Aid for $26 and Banfield for $16.   With this info in hand we will be getting most of our money back or they with will lose our business and you will be seeing this story on 5 on your side. 

 

Pet lovers... you have an option when it comes to getting meds to care for your beloved pet.

 

 

******Update*******

Well after confronting the vet..."it was a mistake inputing the price into the computer"  I don't know how much I believe that, or did they just get caught and that was their only way out?  Either way, I really like this vet. They allow us to charge most stuff and we got most of our money back.  $80 bucks.



16 Comments


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Go to www.allivet.com and find your medication then ask your pharmacist to match the price. My father had to do that with his Boston Terrier that also has a heart murmur. The pharmacy charged him way over what allivet's prices are and now they match the price, but of course he has to mention that price each time or they charge him the ridiculously high price.

I have found thatI can order my dogs drug needs on line from a company in Australia...www.petshed.com and get them here in 5 days, cheaper including the $5 postage, than I can get them here in NC. It doesnt seem right but it is...go see.

kidw4legs- no one can sell you small animal heartworm medication (Iverheart, Heartguard, Sentinel, etc...) without a prescription. If you buy heartworm stuff from TS, Southern States, etc... it has to be the ivermectin for large animals.

And I would like to caution anyone against giving heartworm medication to their dog without getting them tested for heartworms first. The heartworm medication attacks whatever heartworms they may have and kills the eggs. If they already have heartworms this can release them into their bloodstream and cause serious complications, includng death.

I had no idea, I've passed this info on to my son who has a dog with health problems. Thanks for getting this helpful info out. My vet never would have told me.

We do get our "7 way" vaccine from the local Southern States, and give it annually. That just leaves the Rabies as an absolute necessity from the vet where meds are concerned.

Pikemom, I am not aware that TS, Southern States, etc. sell heartwormer, unless it's giving ivermectin monthly on top of food. Is there something that these stores now have that I don't have to convert from dosing a large animal to a small one?

as the owner of a veritable zoo, 1800petmeds has received MUCH business from me! I've never had a problem with them and they have always been really quick with shipping and have excellent customer service.

I hope your pup does well! :)

I've heard that before. Vets rip you off. I think I've even seen where you can buy health insurance for your pet now.

elcid - excellent advice

First, please accept my sympathy for your dog's plight. I can identify with your situation. One of ours currently has diabetes and gets insulin injections each day.

Our vet also recommended that we give each dog one of those fish oil capsules each day as well. Apparently this has somewhat the same benefit for them related to circulatory health as it does for humans.

I'm sprry to hear about your pup, but I'm glad you found a way to get his meds at a reasonable price. He can do well with meds. Savannah's vets are the greatest, they always try to help their patients' parents out when they can. In fact, when Savannah felt bad from getting her vaccines, the vet asked if I had children's asprin at home, I could've given her that. I didn't, so they gave her an anti-inflammitory med. It was even grape flavored. She still made a face, though. I hope your little guy will be okay, I know how hard it is to lose a fur baby.

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