Last month I wrote about my cost/benefit analysis on pet insurance. Here’s another useful tip for pet owners- if Fluffy or Fido is given medication by your vet, check to see if you can get it filled or refilled at your local pharmacy instead of the vet’s office. Much to my surprise, many pet medications are people medications, too. You’ll probably save quite a bit by getting the medication from the human pharmacy.
We discovered this out when we were looking to get a medicine for one of our cats, who is an idiot and gets constipated on a regular basis. The vet actually suggested this option to us, as her office charges about $6 for 100mL of the drug, while the local pharmacy charges $11.50 for 500mL. Given that this is something our darn cat will need on a fairly regular basis, it made a lot more sense to buy from the people pill pushers rather than from the vet. It’s also much more convenient for us, which is a bonus. Incidentally, the pharmacist also suggested another money saving technique- instead of taking said darn cat to the vet for an enema when things get bad (at a cost of $250 or so), why not do it ourselves? Let me be crystal clear on this- regardless of how much a visit to the vet may cost, I WILL NOT be performing DIY cat enemas as a frugal living technique. I don’t go to work every day just to spend my weekends covered in cat crap and blood. Some things are just worth paying for.
Back on the topic of pet meds, I had also looked at some online pet medication providers, but I’m a little skeptical- the last thing I want to give my pets is melamine-tainted drugs from China that I bought over the internet. Has anybody had any experience with online pet pharmacies?
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When my family had a dog whose anal glands* kept getting blocked, the vet kept offering to teach my parents how to empty them at home. Not surprisingly, they were also not quite THAT keen on saving money.
Great tip about the meds- I’ll be asking about that next time!
*in case you haven’t had to deal with this… I have no idea what a dog’s anal glands are for, but they make a stinky liquid that smells even worse when it gets backed up, and if it busts out before you get it emptied… not pretty.
There was a segment on a Canadian show called “Marketplace” which talked about how the vets greatly inflate the prices of pet drugs. This show indeed advocated asking the vet for a prescription to take to the pharmacy. The tricky bit is…vets understandable don’t like to do this. Asking for a prescription pretty much calls them on their game. LOL But I will do this the next time my doggie needs some medication. I have nothing to add on anal glands.
I’m keeping away from the anal glands myself, that’s a vets job for sure.
My brother turned me onto a great way to save money on pet meds for my two labs and my golden. I tried http://www.1800petmeds.com and saved money right away over my vet. Then I found a checkout code “RADIO” that saved me 10% and got me free shipping if I bought more than $39 worth of stuff, and I always do.
It’s worth a look.
Yeah, I will leave the anal glands alone for sure! I have 3 beautiful horses and the meds add up real fast! My vet suggested I give 1800petmeds a try too and I never thought I could save so much money. I use the code “ROCK” online and on the phone too. Sometimes I just don’t have the patience for the internet and filling out the forms! It saves 10% on everything plus the free shipping for orders over $39.
Thanks for the great site and thought other horse owners would like to know about that code!
Oh, one more note. I did research 1800petmeds and all of their medicines are FDA and EPA approved. Plus, my vet okayed it, too. That was all I needed.