Anyone's dog use optimmune?

[meliss8599]

It's on back order until April of next year. I've googled to no end and cannot find it anywhere and our vet is out. Where have you found it?

 

[muffyn]

It's on back order until April of next year. I've googled to no end and cannot find it anywhere and our vet is out. Where have you found it?

yes our dog is on it.
our vet makes up their own formula & puts it in a syringe.(because of the shortage)
I can call our vet tomorrow & ask them about it.

 

[kirbydog48]

My dog is on it too. I have a compounding pharmacy fill the prescription, costs about the same. If you can get it in solution and use a dropper to put it in the eye, it's cheaper. Unfortunately, my dog wouldn't stand for that!

 

[Jennasis]

Shortage? My horse is on optimmune. Twice a day for the rest of his life due to a rare eye condition (immune mediated kerititis). There is a compounding pharmacy about 1/4 mile from DH's job that makes it in an ointment for us and puts it into several little tuberculine syringes (the tiny tiny ones) so I can squirt a 1/4" line in each eye.

 

[RUDisney]

I thought I had some downstairs that I was going to offer to send to you, but it must have expired and I got rid of it.

Sorry.

 

[WendyZ]

My dog is on it as well. They said it was on back order until Jan. but after searching online it said they discontinued making it. I confirmed this with my vet and they said yes. They now have his tubes specially made, it takes about two weeks to get it. The price went up big time, from $36 to $53 for this very small tube. Murphy has to have it though, he has an eye condition that without it they say he could go blind. It has been working great for him. That would be great if it really only was on backorder...anyone else heard of it being discontinued?

 

[meliss8599]

How did you go about locating a compounding pharmacy? My vet directed me to a canine opthamologist but they would not give me the medication b/c THEY had to see him. I guess trusting another vet is out of the question. I can't afford a few hundred dollar opthalmic bill for them to tell me what I already know.

 

[tonilea]

When I first started working at the vet clinic, back in the late '90s, we made our own. We used cyclosporine capsules. I don't recall the rest of the ingredients, but they were pretty common things.

 

[RUDisney]

My brother used to make this for me. He's a pharmacist. The pharmacy has to have a hood to use to make this so it remains sterile. When he made it for me, he was working in a hospital that made a lot of chemotherapy. They used the hood for that.

Perhaps you could check with a facility that dispenses chemotherapy. They might be able to tell you who makes it for them and you can go from there.

One thing I would also do is ask for samples of Restasis when I'm at the eye dr for me or my kids. It is basically the same thing as optimune. No eye dr ever turned me down when I told them it was for my dog. They know how expensive this is.

 

[aliensweetie]

Has anyone heard about the optimmune shortage ...i saw canadian generic available.. my dog is about out she has been on it for several years...gosh what is the company saying???

 

[Jennasis]

Has anyone heard about the optimmune shortage ...i saw canadian generic available.. my dog is about out she has been on it for several years...gosh what is the company saying???

Just had my horse's eye ointment script refilled. Vet called it in on Wednesday and DH picked it up Tuesday.

 

[meliss8599]

My vet said to NOT get it from out of the country or in the generic form--it can be dangerous. Others have talked about a compounding pharmacy but I have yet to look into it. I just don't understand the reasoning for the shortage. Did the company go under?

Edited to add that I just found the answer to my question:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...nt-violators-for-triple-damages-76623282.html

It now looks like many of those compounding pharmacists are part of the problem.