What do you spend on pet meds?

[rodeosweetheart]

Just got back from vet where purchased a year supply of flea meds for 2 dogs.
Total was $504.

Does this seem high/low/similar to what you spend?

Heartworm seems to run about same, and Revolution for cat.

Cat thyroid pills are cheapest of all of them, around 25 dollars amonth, I think.

But anyone have any good ideas for lowering costs for the flea stuff and Heartworm stuff?

[kally]

way too much. About $16 a month for flea meds and $20 every couple of months for steroids. And that is with no one being sick.

[rodeosweetheart]

Hm. Do you buy them from your vet or do you get a prescription?

[iris lilies]

I don't know how much I spend on regular medications.

I buy general meds such as Heartguard and flea meds (when needed) from my veterinarians because saving a few bucks isn't important to me, I want to give them the business.

I buy specialized medications from the best source.

Until recently, I had a bulldog or Frenchie on eye medication and this is not something my general vet carried, so I used the Bulldog Rescue account (negotiated for low price) to place a mail order. That required a prescription from my vet, and she was fine with that.

I buy Apoquel from the dermatologist. It is not widely available to all veterinarians.

Other than for standard Heartguard and flea meds, I don't know that there enough general medications to compare notes. I actually think most veterinary meds such as antibiotics and steroids are pretty cheap

[sweetana3]

here is the pricing for our local low cost spay/neuter clinic. We have two clinics in Indy. http://facespayneuter.org/clinic/heartworm-flea-and-tick-products/

[Teacher Terry]

I use petmeds.com because 3 of our 4 dogs are on daily meds besides the heartworm, etc. One dog gets 2 meds/3xs/day, one 2 meds/2x's/day and i dog a am med only. It really adds up.

[pinkytoe]

Zero - don't use them but vet price sounds high.

[mschrisgo2]

That is about what I would spend if I used them, which I don't.
I have 2 dogs, we do twice a year heartworm/erlichia/lyme tests, $15 ea. and no Heartguard, which would cost $480. We don't have very many mosquitoes at all, living in an urban area, and these are house dogs.

I use Capstar if we pick up fleas somewhere, it works out to $10/pill but we only use 4 or 6 a year. So I spend about $120. a year, instead of $30/dog/month= $720, saving $600, not including the wear and tear on the dogs' immune systems to process all that stuff.

Instead, I use that to pay for wellness plans and insurance for both dogs; medications are deeply discounted with both of them.

I have found that the price of animal medicines has kept right up with the skyrocketing costs of human meds, at least here in California.

[cdttmm]

I was curious so I checked 1800petmeds.com and this is what I found. For 2 dogs (55 pounds each), a year's supply of Heartgard and Frontline would be $650 with the first-time customer 10% discount.

We have 3 dogs and we spend ~$750 per year for Heartgard and whatever flea and tick stuff we get from our vet. But we don't do flea and tick during the truly cold winter months here in the Northeast.

So to answer your question, yep, we spend (proportionally) what you're spending, rodeosweetheart.

[rodeosweetheart]

Thank you for the information! One of my dogs has horrible flea allergies, which is why we've gone to the year round.

[freshstart]

I just couldn't afford the vet's flea and tick stuff, she recommended over the counter brands, my dogs are inside most of the time. She also said as long as I got testing regularly, they didn't have to have heart worm meds. That makes me nervous so I may put them back on that. Neither needs meds for anything else. Vaccines and physicals are pretty high. I've read articles that older dogs do not need or benefit from all the same vaccines as younger dogs. Bernice is 13 but the vet felt she needed everything

[Geila]

Wow, that's pretty high. Let's see I spend $65 for a 6-month supply of Frontline Plus from Costco. I get the larger size, which is the same price as the smaller sizes, and I use one vial for my 2 cats and 2 dogs. I figured out the appropriate dosage and have a soft-tip syringe that I use to measure out and apply it. We're in a mild climate and the pets are all indoor/outdoor so I use it year-round. This is what I've done with all my pets and they have been healthy and long-lived. I never even knew we were supposed to be doing heartworm and all that stuff.

My vet, who is wonderful and really affordable, does not push extras. He does sell the Advantage Multi but when I priced it out it seems so high for stuff that they might not need.

A few months ago my kittie got sick and I paid $110 for two vet visits, anti-diarrhea med with syringe, two shots of penicillin and a dose of antibiotics.

A year ago my poodle mix had a skin tumor and I think I paid $150; the tumor was removed, he got shot of penicillin and antibiotics, and he had a follow-up appointment to remove the stitches. He healed great and we've had no problems since.

This vet is nearing retirement age and I'm dreading the day he retires. I don't think he makes any money in his practice, he just loves animals. It's a tiny shop with just him and his wife. Such wonderful people.

[Float On]

Bernice is 13 but the vet felt she needed everything
Sure. So she could charge you for it.
Our vet was holistic and thought 2-3 years for vaccines was more than plenty and even less for households who don't board their pets, have single pets, who don't mingle with other pets. My dog hasn't been on heartworm since he was 8. He's 14 now and we get about 45 minutes of active Tomdog a day now. Mostly he sleeps, walks to his food and water and goes back to sleep. He does have tracheal collapse cough but we treat that and his allergies with Robitussin DM, children's benadryl, and cinnamon,coconut oil, honey, lemon. At this age, there isn't much I want to spend big money on. We're kind of looking at him day by day as far as how long he'll have good quality of life.
There are a few holistic vets I like to watch on youtube.
The cat had a cancer tumor removed 10 years ago for under $200 (removal, meds, a few other things). We've noticed she has cancer on her nose now (she is white and outdoors feral). We'll just watch her too, when it gets too bad we'll have to say our goodbyes. I spayed her (feral cat/cat carrier was interesting), treated the first cancer (it was on her flank), flea meds give her seizures so we don't mess with that or vet visits.

[iris lilies]

We've had too many heartworm positive dogs in our rescue program here in Missouri oe me to ever skip that monthly treatment. We had a heartbreaking case recently: a young bulldog went through hearworm treatments, lots of money and time, lots of love from many supporters went into her treatment and recovery.

She recovered. She came to a bulldog rescue outing, she got over excited, and she died. It was devestating for everyone there. Soon after another one of our rescue bulldogs died during heartworm treatment.

We are not now taking heartworm positive dogs if their measure is on the high end.

As for innoculations on a 13 year old dog, I would likely pass on that.

[Teacher Terry]

We don't have fleas in our state but do the heartworm treatment. Our dogs are between 10-18 but the vet still wants all the shots. Between the preventives and the regular meds we are spending a small fortune.

[mschrisgo2]

It's making me crazy to see how many vets are still insisting on annual shots. The research is very clear that most dogs have complete lifetime immunity after their 2-yr old boosters. In fact, my vet suggested that we run titer tests on my 1.5 yr old, before we give her even 2-yr boosters. This is huge, because 4 years ago when I asked for titers for my then 6 year old dog, vet kind of balked. I insisted, hers came back with crazy high immunity, and vet updated his education. Now he's totally into titers, and injections ONLY if they come back with low immunity. Last time we talked about it, he'd only had 2 come back low out of hundreds of dogs now in 3 years.

"Annual shots" have been a big money maker for vets and the drug companies, but not good for the dogs, as evidenced by the numbers of autoimmune disorders and cancers rising so dramatically. Vets also have to market their services differently- Wellness Exams, not shots now.

[pony mom]

My horse (31 yrs. old on Wed.!) has Cushings disease, which is controlled on an rx drug that runs from $64-$85 mo., depending on what kind of discount I can get. Plus annual vaccines, fecal tests, and supplements.

Big animals have bigger expenses.

[Geila]

Are some dogs more prone to heartworm?

When I adopted 2 of my kittens I was told they had heartworm and had been treated for it. I assumed that was done, but it is the same kitten that was sick a short while ago. I guess I'll need to read up on the long-term effects of it. And maybe consider having him on the preventative meds. I didn't realize it was so serious.

Ok, I just looked up the symptoms for it and they don't match what my kitty had. Phew! I'm relieved.

[kally]

so do you feel safe buying flea meds like Frontline online? What about Revolution? Is that available? There is no way to buy any of this except at the vets here.