Order Dog Meds Online?

[CathyA]

About 4 years ago, we switched to a much better vet office. Unfortunately, it also comes with really high prices for visits and meds. Our dog is on a bunch of meds, and we can't keep paying the for the vet office visit, then several more hundred dollars for the meds. Anyone buy these meds online? I'm considering Allivet online. It seems to have all the right certifcations. They say that it's exactly the same meds that the Vets sell.
How do you feel about online pet meds and do you have a favorite that you trust?
Thanks.

[Tybee]

About 4 years ago, we switched to a much better vet office. Unfortunately, it also comes with really high prices for visits and meds. Our dog is on a bunch of meds, and we can't keep paying the for the vet office visit, then several more hundred dollars for the meds. Anyone buy these meds online? I'm considering Allivet online. It seems to have all the right certifcations. They say that it's exactly the same meds that the Vets sell.
How do you feel about online pet meds and do you have a favorite that you trust?
Thanks.

I would use them without any qualms at all. Also, Sams Club is supposed to have good prices on vet meds.
This online one is supposed to be good, but I have never used them and don't know if they are discount:

https://www.drsfostersmith.com/pet-meds/pr/c/9547

But would your new vet write you a prescription? I always felt like that might tick them off a bit, so I was never brave enough to ask.
We just spent 60 dollars for two weeks of antibiotic for our dog--do not know if that was cheap or expensive, although he apologized.

[Teacher Terry]

If it is a long term med I use Petmeds and my vet sends in the RX no problem. If it is a one time thing I buy it from the vet. I have saved a ton of $ doing it this way.

[mschrisgo2]

I ihave used Costco for pet meds too. Excellent prices!

[iris lilies]

We use Diamond something in Arizonia for eye meds. Bulldog Rescue has a discount there. Out vets dont carry this medicine anyway.

[CathyA]

Thanks everyone. Do you need a prescription from the vet for things like heartworm med, glucosamine, etc.?
I wish the vet wouldn't up the price so much. I did ask for a prescription from him once and he gave it to me, but I ended up not using it.
I think if they're going to charge us really high prices for office visits, etc., they shouldn't be bothered if we're trying to avoid high med prices too.

[jp1]

One of our cats is on thyroid meds. We get them from VPA. Our vet actually recommended this because it's a compounding pharmacy so the meds come as chew treats that Everett loves. Anyone who's tried to give a cat pills understands how awesome this is!

When our other cat needed an antiviral prescription our vet recommended getting it from Costco. It felt a little weird having them call out "Christian P. Your order is ready!" I believe this one is actually a human med that's also suitable for felines.

[jp1]

I think if they're going to charge us really high prices for office visits, etc., they shouldn't be bothered if we're trying to avoid high med prices too.

It's just like the eye doc. The one I had in NJ always sold me my contacts, $80 apiece. Since we moved to San Francisco I've been going to the costco eye doc. He doesn't sell glasses or contacts, but Costco has an optometry department where I get my contacts. Single focals were only $40 apiece. Now that I'm officially middle-aged I have bifocal contacts and they are $80 apiece at Costco. I can only imagine how much my old NJ eye doc would be charging. Yes, it's an awkward conversation for people who don't like confrontation, but at the end of the day it's your money and you certainly have the right to ask for the prescription so that you can make the purchase somewhere else.

[BikingLady]

Allivet, Dr Foster and Smith both very easy to use. Fill out the form on site, they contact the vet and the products arrive. This year I emailed the new Vet office and asked prices of flea and tick and heart worm preventative, then ordered from online. Also when the old girls need assorted meds for allergies and joints I do the same.

My neighbor feels some sort of owing to her vet reason is the vet is so good to her dogs and cats. I tell her you are paying for his Cadillac payment.

[CathyA]

Thanks again everyone. I did fill out the Allivet form online and hopefully they will follow through with the vet. Of course, the vets make it sound like nothing is more genuine or reliable than the meds they sell. If I order most of my dog's meds online, I can save about $100 each time I order them. They are exactly the same meds that the vet offers. Of course, we don't know how they are stored, etc., but it seems reasonable. You just have to check the expiration dates on things too.
It's funny......our first local vet didn't do nearly enough for our pets.......and now this place does too much. I really like our new vet. He is so knowledgeable and caring. But I do think he's OCD, and has to cover EVERYTHING he thinks could be a problem. That can get really expensive.

[BikingLady]

I struggle with doing too little or not enough for my loved 4 legged friends. I never used to, ever. Then again I do not remember so many treatments, meds, options for therapy and the list goes on. And then everything with pets got so expensive as you all know.

Here is the story of my crazy cat lady neighbor;) 3 small dogs and 4 outdoor feral cats. Myself and my other neighbor have come to the idea that the cat lady calls the Vet daily and the pets have more problems than ever imagine. If you call daily and visit a few times a week, the Vet will find issues, treatments anything to keep "owner" happy. Her bills total last year were $1400 a month generally it was $900. I know a few who visit this same Vet and they are not filling prescriptions weekly or treatments often. It is the Owner. I was thinking Vet was a pill pusher, no we all realized it was her. Side note she is a kind person.

[iris lilies]

Tere are people like that too who seek treatment for every tiny thing. Many doctors respond with scripts.

I fall on the side of too little treatment but I do watch their quality of life, that is my main determining factor as well as my own qaulity of life. A dailey treatment for a cat would be, for instance, not something I would do because it interferes with my own quality of life. The pets must be able to live companionably in our chosen lifestyle. Our dogs do get daily meds but that is easy, pop him a pill in cheese, squeeze eye drops in their eyes.

[BikingLady]

I gently tell this lady a similar line. That I feel my loved pets are to serve me and bring me joy. She hates that and says I am mean. I say I cannot afford her method. Her response is the same every time, "I would live in a cardboard box to make sure they have what they need". Oh yes this has been happening for 8 years now between us....then we go out to lunch>8)

[iris lilies]

I gently tell this lady a similar line. That I feel my loved pets are to serve me and bring me joy. She hates that and says I am mean. I say I cannot afford her method. Her response is the same every time, "I would live in a cardboard box to make sure they have what they need". Oh yes this has been happening for 8 years now between us....then we go out to lunch>8)
Oh yeah, I have friends like that.

I participate in rescue because these dogs bring joy to my life. I dont do it because “they must be saved and I am the saviour.” When they stop bringing me joy I will discontinue my participation in bulldog rescue.

[Teacher Terry]

I have kept beyond what is bringing me joy as long as they were not suffering. When I had 2 old dogs each on 4 meds 3x's/day that was not fun. Mainly because it wasn't just pills. One was liquid and shot down the throat. One a dog can smell no matter what you hide it in and tastes nasty. That had to be melted in hot water and poured down her throat. One had dementia and peed and pooped everywhere the last 2 years of her life. I has a 3rd where her backend didn't work well so she peed wherever she was. None of that was fun but all were small and still enjoyed life. I will not live in a cardboard box for my pets. The older they get the less willing I am to spend lots of $ because they are coming to the end of their lives.

[BikingLady]

"The Bitsy Syndrome" that is my title for things now that I loved really loved and then the situation became a curse. My Bitsy my chihuahua I had put down at 8, a good 1 and 1/2 years to late. I took her to a different vet one day with my list of issues, Night Terrors and having to be put in a playpen, to potty pads, to going outside and staring at the sky to bumping into walls... The new Vet looked at me and said this dog does not even know you she has dementia. I wish the past Vet at the time would have been so honest 1 1/2 year earlier :(

SO now anything not just pets in my life when I feel it could become the Bitsy Syndrome I tell myself cut the cord before it is too late.