Dog meds

[coastiewifern]

Just got a rescue dog and its been 20 years since we've had a dog. Things have changed a bit. Need to get her a heart worm/flea pill. Where is a budget place to get that? Are these online pet med sites good and safe?

 

[coopcd]

The best price I've found is the pharmacy at Costco.

 

[coastiewifern]

The best price I've found is the pharmacy at Costco.

Is there a certain brand you buy there? I do have a membership but don't live close it one. Maybe Sams carry it too

 

[RitaE]

I've always heard that the online places that will sell it to you without a prescription are extremely dangerous - counterfeit drugs from China type dangerous. There are a few reputable online places that will require a prescription -- I can't remember the names now. My Vet told them to me though so I'd get a recommendation like that before ordering online.

My Vet has always done pretty well at being able to come close to the Pharmacy store prices so for convenience we've usually just fill prescriptions from his office. The humane society here runs a low cost spay/neuter/vaccination clinic once a month and they carry it also at very reasonable prices.

 

[teacup princess]

It's like $6.00 at Walmart. Need a prescription from the vet.

 

[coopcd]

The heart guard is what I buy. I think it was $70-75 for a 12 month supply.

 

[jmartinez1895]

Just thought I would toss in my personal experience here. We have two lage dogs that both take heat guard for heart worm prevention. It is $76 every 3 months ( we buy the 6 month box and split it between the two) if we buy it at the vets office. A few years ago I bought the heart guard online at petmeds.com and saved almost $20 on each box, but one of my dogs still ended up with heart worms. The treatment was $600. If I had purchased the meds at the vets office then the heart guard company would have paid for his treatment, but because I purchased them online I had to pay OOP.

I now only buy the heart worm meds from the vets office. I know that it is the correct medication and I have a guarantee that if one of my dogs has heart worms I will not be on the hook for a huge bill.

 

[got2sammies]

Some of our local spca have lower cost shot clinics and lower cost vet services. After paying $300 for one dog for a vet visit for 4 years, inheriting another dog from my deployed brother I started two years ago taking the two dogs for shots and heartworm meds..$200 (maybe less) for BOTH dogs with shots and meds....

 

[Rarity]

Just thought I would toss in my personal experience here. We have two lage dogs that both take heat guard for heart worm prevention. It is $76 every 3 months ( we buy the 6 month box and split it between the two) if we buy it at the vets office. A few years ago I bought the heart guard online at petmeds.com and saved almost $20 on each box, but one of my dogs still ended up with heart worms. The treatment was $600. If I had purchased the meds at the vets office then the heart guard company would have paid for his treatment, but because I purchased them online I had to pay OOP.

I now only buy the heart worm meds from the vets office. I know that it is the correct medication and I have a guarantee that if one of my dogs has heart worms I will not be on the hook for a huge bill.

OP, this is exactly what my vet told me when I tried to purchase from 1800PetMeds. When you buy from sites like that, you lose any kind of guarantee from the manufacturer. They also told me what previous posters have mentioned - that sometimes the medication that come from these online suppliers are expired or counterfeit.

My vet told me they would try to price match what 1800PetMeds quoted. I just brought a printout with the price, and while my vet couldn't match it, they got very close. I've been paying about $70 for a one year supply of heart worm prevention (I have a small dog). Definitely at least talk to your vet, and see if they can work something out with you.

 

[dpswift]

Another idea would be to check with your regular pharmacy for the heart worm pills. Someone suggested this to me but I have not looked into it. A prescription would still be needed.

As far as the flea prevention goes I am only comfortable getting from the vet. Even using the vet stuff he is sticky for a couple of days. I am concerned about the safety of some of the other flea meds for my family as well.

Another interesting fact is that flea meds have become a top theft item.

 

[LilyWDW]

I spoke to my vet and got the information from him as to what to use. If you have not taken this animal to your vet, please do so before you pick and purchase any sort of medications.

 

[dfchelbay]

Just got a rescue dog and its been 20 years since we've had a dog. Things have changed a bit. Need to get her a heart worm/flea pill. Where is a budget place to get that? Are these online pet med sites good and safe?

I used to get my dogs two heart meds from Walmart pharmacy. It was $10 for 3 months worth of pills. If you really want to be enraged, my dog was taking actual human medicine in same dosage a person would take. Can any of us get 3 months of heart meds for ourselves for $10?

 

[coastiewifern]

Thanks everyone. I am going to start with our SPCA and see if they sell the meds

 

[VLee]

We use Trifexis, which costs $20 per month--for our 80+lb dog.

When I had 7+ dogs, I had used the online pharmacies (some required prescriptions--some didn't) and never had any problems and they all lived 15 - 17+ years, but I would not do that again--since I am aware of the possible danger.

But my vet has given me a prescription for medicine at times for my dog and I have had it filled at my "human" pharmacy---much, much cheaper than at the vet's office. So sometimes, depending on the meds, you can ask that it be filled by a regular pharmacy and save.

 

[dminnie]

We use 1800petmeds for a few prescriptions for our elderly dogs. They won't fill them without verification from our vet. We've had no problems at all. We've never received anything other than what we've ordered and never has it been expired. Our vet is very reputable and has no problem at all with us trying to save on our meds which add up fast with two old dogs.

 

[mrsclark]

I would second the suggestion for Costco as the low cost high quality place for pet meds.


Do keep in mind for heartworm preventative it may be worth it to buy from your vet. Our dogs take HeartGard - if you buy through the vet and your dog gets heartworm, HeartGard pays for the treatment. It was explained to us that even if you forget to dose your dog and it gets heartworm, if you bought it through the vet, HeartGard still pays. For us, our vet is pretty reasonable on that medicine, so for the extra few dollars for insurance we buy through them. But for all of our other medicines (one of our dogs takes two prescriptions on regular basis and the other takes one prescription and an over the counter human medicine), we buy those at Costco.

 

[ceecee]

We use 1800petmeds for a few prescriptions for our elderly dogs. They won't fill them without verification from our vet. We've had no problems at all. We've never received anything other than what we've ordered and never has it been expired. Our vet is very reputable and has no problem at all with us trying to save on our meds which add up fast with two old dogs.

I have used them for years for my two labs Heartgard. My mom's vet is cheaper, ours is not and he has no problem giving me a Rx for petmeds. I use Dog.com for Frontline usually. Our local pet store did price match a grocery price the last time and it was cheaper that way. My labs get so excited when the petmed box comes because they smell the biscuit inside (they put one in with your orders) My UPS man also carries a supply, so now every time they see the brown truck on the street they go bananas!