OT: Anyone order flea prevention online?

[1daisy]

I have a dog, year and a half old chocolate lab, that has just been diagnosed with flea allergies. She bites all of her hair off. If she gets one flea, that's it, she bites and bites like crazy. Anyway, we are very aggressive with flea prevention. The last time we ordered the flea prevention from a company online. When I was at the vet to get her shot, the vet told me that the stuff that I've been getting is either not real or it's expired. Is that possible? They are the number one selling company online for this stuff. Wouldn't that be illegal? The commercials say their stuff is the exact same. Do you think that he just wanted me to buy it from him?

 

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To answer your questions; yes, no and yes. Depending on the company the products may be fake, diluted, counterfit or expired. These are not 'drugs' as such because they are classified as pesticides so the FDA does not regulate them, the EPA does. Most of the products carry an expiration date but not all of them. Some of these online companies buy over stock from vets looking to turn a quick buck on product they aren't selling so it may have sat in storage for a while before getting sent to you. Some of the products may be coming from outside the USA and have not been regulated as well as products directly from the manufacturer. That being said, even as a veterinary employee, I have a few online pharmacies that I trust. My favorite is www.kvvet.com about 80% of their products are shipped free and they usually have the best prices. I do not like 1 800 pet meds! I had to work with them and I do not agree with their tactics and sales practices. They were not licensed to sell medications in my state so when they got an order from our clients, they would suggest having the meds sent to a relitive who lived in a different state and then have them forwarded to the pet owner. (Sorry folks, that is illegal.) If they were willing to break the law to get those sales, I'm not sure they would think twice about other little inconviences in law, or back a product that they shouldn't have sold that wound up making your pet ill......

Just my $0.02, HTH!

 

[1daisy]

Thank you so much That was great info. I did use the 1800 ped meds, actually. I won't anymore! Thanks so much again

 

[aubriee]

I think I'd be looking for a new vet. I was going to order both flea meds and heartguard for my dogs about a year ago. I entered the name and phone number of my vet, so they could get the prescription for the Heartguard. I got an e mail the next day saying my vet refused to give it to them, so I called him. He told me basically the same thing your vet told you, but also said that if I would bring him a copy of whatever price I found on line for either, he would match it. Thus far he has done so. Anytime I need either flea meds or Hearguard I just go online and look around for the best price, then carry it to my vet's office and he matches the price (plus I don't have to pay shipping). His staff says they have alot of customers who do this and it's not a problem.

 

[janey99]

We are very happy with Medi-vet.com. One of our dogs has multiple allergies, so we order her prescription medication, flea stuff and heart worm pills from them, and have done for years. We have never seen a flea, so the stuff must be working, and I'm a vigilant date checker, and everything has always been within the expiration (loooong within it).

That being said, our old vet was very against this and used what I would consider to be pretty pathetic tactics to force us to buy from him at inflated prices, including all the comments you describe. Notice I say "old vet."

JMHO, but vets' response to market competition should not be threatening or attempting to scare their clients into using them as a supply stream. They are professionals and it cheapens their credibility.

Jane

 

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That being said, our old vet was very against this and used what I would consider to be pretty pathetic tactics to force us to buy from him at inflated prices, including all the comments you describe. Notice I say "old vet."

JMHO, but vets' response to market competition should not be threatening or attempting to scare their clients into using them as a supply stream. They are professionals and it cheapens their credibility.

Jane

Most vets are against online retailers for two reasons. One is the manufacturers don't have to and many do not uphold thier warrantees for the efftiveness of the products purchased online. This is because they sell directly to vets and most online pharmacies are not authorized retailers. The other is, they rely on the profits from the sales of medication to cover their operating expenses. If their clients all purchased meds from other outlets they wouldn't have that revenue topay for the expenses of opperating the business. Unfortunately, this means they would have to raise the price of the services they offer to make up the lost revenue.

There are many vets who are in the business because they love animals and want to ensure their good health and a good relationship with the people at home, there are also a lot who are vets because it's good money. No one goes into business to break even but there are some that look at their market and charge a lot more than what they have invested in the goods and services so they have a nice fat paycheck or retirement account. Vets are now being taught in school and at conferences that they are undervalued and they should be charging more for their services. There are ets who no longer practice medicine and do nothing but consult other vets about market conditions and increasing revenue. Believe it or not, one consultant actually said it was good to raise prices because those who complained or didn't like it probably weren't good customers and they tried getting too many discounts or freebies and were hurting the bottom line of the clinic. He said loosing these clients wasn't a loss since the good clients would continue to come back and would make up the revenue. He basically said it was a way to weed out the B and C clients that didn't bring in enough money. Upon his advice, prices started going up and at the end of 4 mos, prices were increased by 35% with more increases planned at a slower pace.

Having been in the veterinary field for almost a decade, I know what goes on in the vet's office and the way things are run. The staff gets paid anywhere from $7 to $20 depending on experience, time on the job and market conditions. (Where I am, it averages about $10 per hr but in smaller communites it's less and larger or more expensive cities the pay is higher.) They also have their building costs and utilites as well as equipment and supply expenses. If the vet wants to make money, he has to pass all these costs on to the client and have a mark up. It's simple business economics. Since the vet is also the pharmacist, they pass the costs along in the meds as well as the other services they offer. Many meds are specific to vet care so they have exclusive distribution and can charge what they want. I paid cost on my meds and it's sad but I bought meds for less than $5 while our clients paid $30. There are a lot of meds that are used in both humans and animals and it may be possible to get those at a pharmacy for less, especially with the $4 prescriptions that are available.