Pet meds online?

[kellia]

Has anyone ever bought dog meds (heartworm and flea/tick) off of an online pharmacy or Ebay? If so, who did you use? Someone told me they get all of theirs off Ebay and I looked and the Frontline ones are very cheap, but come from Australia or Thailand, so I am a little worried. I'd love to save money, but don't want to kill my puppy or end up incurring vet bills due to it.

I am hoping some of my budget friends, a lot of whom seem to have done their pet homework, will be able to help me with this, too!

 

[tonilea]

Let me preface this by saying I work pt for a veternarian.

We find that most of the time when we get rx requests for somewhere like pet med express that our prices are actually cheaper. And if they aren't we are willing to work with our clients.

The other thing is that Merial (makers of Frontline and Heartgard Plus) will only sell to veternarians. That means that these were not purchased directly from Merial. So you don't really know how it has been handled or where it has been in the mean time. It also means the company/person you are buying them from were likely willing to purchase them through "shady" means.

 

[aynt79]

I've found that dog.com has the best prices for any of the major flea and tick medicines. I feel comfortable buying them from a major company like dog.com or 1800petmeds.

My vets price for Heartguard isn't too bad so I just buy directly from them. I believe that dog.com also carries heartworm medication, but you need the vet to fax the prescription to them. Some vets will price match, so you may want to check into that as well.

 

[tonilea]

Oh, and another thing... Merial has a buy six doses get one dose free. So be sure you factor that into the price. If the seller doesn't have a Merial account, they won't be able to offer that deal. That alone (depending on prices) could be a $10-$15 savings.

 

[JuneChickie]

When I asked my vet for an Rx so I could buy online from PetMeds ,, HE told me he would have to charge me a 12 dollar fee ,, Just for writing the prescription ,,,, ,, then he told me his prices were the same or less,

Well they werent, he was 10 dollars more, , so if I paid the 12 dollar fee then
that would have made the pedMeds place 2 dollars more than him ,,,,
My Vet also gave me this lecture about quality not being there and implied
that PEtMeds.com meds might not come from reliable sources. My hurt
my furbaby ,, etc, etc .
HIs goal was to discourage anyone from taking dollars our of his office
if you ask me !!!!

I don't think Betty White on TV would advertise for a bad online Vet
service if they weren't a legitiment business with reliable products.
Vets here just don't like loosing the business.

I would not consider buying meds for my furbabies on Ebay or some
company or person out of the country. But even our news channel
has done a segment on buying pet meds online and how our local
vets are trying to discourage it by having that fee for writing an Rx.
They verified which online petmeds places were legit and which ones
were questionable and why.

I called around to other vets to see if they all charged this prescription
writing fee and most ALL had some sort of fee for doing that.

 

[honey11dog]

My vet doesn't mind at all that I order online. He has been our family vet for over 20 years, so I know he wouldn't allow me to do it if he felt the medication wouldn't work. I order Heartguard and Frontline from EntirelyPets.com. I can get a 12 mos. supply of Heartgard for the same price as 6 mos. at your vet. And I get 6 mos. of Frontline for the price of 3 mos. I have been ordering online for at least 4 years now with no problems at all. And let me tell you I live in south Louisiana were flea medication is a must and we have one of the highest cases of heartworm in the entire country. And my animals are all heartworm and flea free. I think that a lot of vets that are not happy with the online medications b/c it takes business away from them. But pet expenses can be high especially with no insurance.

 

[Hedy]

I've gotten the best deal for my cats' frontline at Drugstore.com.

 

[Wigit12]

My vet tried to discourage us from doing web orders too but said he would write the script. The clinic just changed ownership--last vet lowered the price for us.
One of our dogs takes a thyroid medication twice daily. The new vet just raised the price a lot so we're going to take the online price with us again next time to see if they'll drop the cost again. If it's a significant difference I may order online.
We did buy frontline online and a joint supplement from www.petcarerx.com. Didn't have any problems. We don't use Frontline anymore but still get the supplement at a nice savings. This doesn't require a prescription though.

 

[DisneyClay]

I am an animal lover and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO not buy from Ebay. I bought a DVD for my sisters christmas present a movie she really wanted well I do not have a paypal account so I asked if I could write a check. Little did I know it was going to tyland (excuse spelling mistake) The dvd in the add said perfect in case BLA BLA BLA. Well I get the darn thing and someone had made it and slapped a sticker from the movie trailer on it and photocopied the package. I could not give this to my sister for christmas, I went to target and bought a new one. I had only paid I think 8 dollars for the junk DVD. So even though it was not pet medication it is just a byer be aware.
Keep us updated.

 

[aunt lissa]

I have found that entirelypets.com is cheapest in rates.

 

[me again]

I second www.dog.com they sell stuff for cats, too. I bought Frontline Plus from them, can't recall the price offhand, but it was about half what they wanted at Petco.

 

[mom2minniemouse]

Well, I guess I'm the odd one out. I bought Frontline Plus from Ebay and I couldn't be happier. However, you really need to examine the seller. I only bought from someone from the US who had sold this product in the past with 100% feedback overall. Also, I went with a seller who listed the American version of Frontline (Most listings state if they are made out of the country.).

Anyway, I got what would have cost me $87 in Frontline for two dogs for $45 shipped. I do, however, plan on buying from Total Pet Supply.com next time, and they seem to be slews cheaper than the other links I've seen on this thread. http://www.totalpetsupply.com/index...display/pn/Frontline.Plus/product_id/2557.htm

 

[mickeysaver]

We use http://www.vetshoponline.com/ and have been very happy. We are going to start buying Beanie's heart medicine through them too, since it's a few dollars cheaper and we can get it sent along with the flea and heartworm meds with free shipping. Maggie

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I won't buy anywhere but from my local vet. I don't care if it costs more - it's convenient and I know I can trust the source. That is good enough for me.

I completely understand the vets charging a fee for writing the prescription for you to order online. They pay what they have to for the products, and they are not going to sell them to everyone at a loss. If you choose to buy elsewhere then you should expect to pay for the service of writing the prescription, IMO.

 

[tonilea]

I completely understand the vets charging a fee for writing the prescription for you to order online. They pay what they have to for the products, and they are not going to sell them to everyone at a loss. If you choose to buy elsewhere then you should expect to pay for the service of writing the prescription, IMO.

Even though I work for a veternarian, I don't agree that they should charge extra for a rx. Can you imagine if your physician charged you extra for a script?

Anyway, I got what would have cost me $87 in Frontline for two dogs for $45 shipped.

We couldn't even buy it for that price! Wow!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

Even though I work for a veternarian, I don't agree that they should charge extra for a rx. Can you imagine if your physician charged you extra for a script?

The physician does not stand to make money off of the prescription. The vet, however, potentially does. I would not buy medication for myself by mail order and/or off ebay, and I wouldn't buy it for my pets either.

To each their own.

 

[tonilea]

It may be that it just isn't something that is done around here. I think we would lose clients over charging for a script.

I also know, from talking to on-line friends, that in some places clients are really hosed on medication costs. I have a friend in NC who was charged over $100 for approximately 100 tablets of a medication that we pay less than $25 and it comes in a 1000 ct bottle. That is a significant profit!

 

[hsmamato2]

I just bought Frontline plus from an ebay seller- she has GREAT feedback-great communication,and it cost me $30 for 4 doses for my 2 dogs...in my town, 3 doses for 1 dog is close to 40.00 now
it isn't rocket science- wholesalers cost less,but beware some sellers are from thailand or whatever,and I don't trust the stuff that's not EXACTLY the same as we get in stores here-

 

[ceecee]

My vet charges $10.00 each for Heartguard, so I asked about 1800PetMeds and he said it was fine. So I get it there and save a lot, I also order my C.E.T. Chews for $6.99 and I was paying $17.99 at the Vet for the same size package. With 2 labs I like to save as much as I can. PetMart actually has Frontline on sale a lot and it's cheaper there.

 

[daisax]

The trouble with ordering from out of the country is that you have no idea how the medication is stored (it can often lose potency if kept in hot and humid conditions, etc.).

Plus it's illegal for foreign agents to sell medication to people in the United States (don't know if it's illegal to buy it -- they go after them for dispensing medication without a pharmacy license).

As for ordering the meds within the country, most of the time you void the manufacturer's guarantee (so if your dog gets heartworm, too bad for you). And given the counterfeit toothpaste that people have been buying unawares, how closely are you looking at the packaging to make sure you're not getting adulterated product?

The EPA is investigating lots of fraud complaints, including cases in which the online pharmacies sell products that were manufactured overseas and then repackage them with bogus packages to make them look like US products.

He's a different old fraud complaint:

http://www.komoradio.com/news/archive/4119941.html

Petmedsexpress fined 100,000 for selling misbranded medication

http://www.epa.gov/region04/oeapages/02press/012302.htm

And committed securities violations

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct04/041001i.asp