Not sure what the laws are where you are, but where I am it's not legal to prescribe a medication and not provide a prescription. We stock meds for your convenience, but we can't force you to buy it from us.
In that same vein, will you mail your dog off to these places when he's sick and needs a vet? I'm not trying to be a snot, but how can your vet stay in business if they don't make any money? I know vet bills SEEM expensive, but think about what it costs for YOU to go to the doctor. And I'm not talking about a co-pay, b/c very few people have pet insurance. I'm talking the actual cost of the vist: doctor time, supplies, overhead, procedures, labwork, etc. We use the same equipment, supplies and distributers as human medicine. We have to have insurance, pay employees, have inventory on the shelves...it all adds up and we don't get a discount just b/c our patients are smaller.
I am someone who has spent thousands and thousands of dollars on my dogs, cats, rabbits, horses (LOTS on horses), birds, guinea pigs... you name it. I have never hesitated to reach deep into my pocket (and once even drained my savings account for a major surgery). When they need care, I never begrudge it. I understand the cost of operating a practice and keeping valuable employees (ones who really care about the work they are doing). I think it's very tragic that some of the best vets I know, who work tirelessly to ensure the health of their patients, don't make a very good living. They deserve financial success as well as knowing that they were successful in saving lives.
On the flip side - I think it's tragic that many animals go without the basic preventative care they need because of the expense. Some people won't dig very deep or simply CAN'T dig deep (which is the saddest situation of all) and their companion animals suffer for it. I knew someone who had recently had two children and had to choose to put her dog down versus paying for ACL surgery. She didn't have the money. If she would have asked me for it, and I could have done it, I would have given it to her (sadly, she did not - I found out only after the fact). Elderly people who are living on social security, I've seen some make tremendous sacrifices in order to pay for their animal's medical care.
And with all the animals that need homes and are instead euthanized each year - it would be an ideal situation if the cost of their care were more affordable and more people could take them into their homes.
I'm assuming you are a vet and for that, I personally want to thank you for all that you do. I didn't have the strength to pursue the profession myself (after years of standing beside my small town vet, him offering me professional and emotional support during some very sad times of my life - the phases of my childhood always seem marked in my memory by the death of my pets), I knew I wasn't strong enough to go through the same thing almost every day of my life. I owe so many vets so much gratitude and there simply are not enough ways to say "thank you." I know how tough the work is, how hard it was to get there (human doctors need to understand human anatomy, diseases, etc. - vets have to know all of the rest of the species of the world), how expensive the education was - nothing about it is easy. And most do it simply for the overwhelming desire to help animals and the people who love them.
I just wish, on the flip side, that routine medical care could be less expensive. I didn't switch vets when he told me that he wouldn't write me a prescription. I was told by others that I should, but I didn't. He's been there for me again and again. He also ensured that when my dog did get worms while on Heartguard, he made them pay for her treatment. His records showed that I was in like clockwork to get the medicine and that was a definate benefit to me.
It's been a tough year financially. I was fresh from an expensive routine visit to the vet. It hurt my pocketbook and for that I was frustrated and a bit sad. But I would never compromise my critters for financial reasons - I would sell a kidney to take proper care of them.