Buying vet medicines online

[marinacortina]

Does anybody here buy veterinary medicine online? I've seen Metacam on offer here
www.vetuk.co.uk
Much cheaper than at the vets, but is it too good to be true? Is it the proper stuff?

You'll still need your vet to examine your dog and provide a prescription so you can buy online. Your vet will charge for the appointment and for the prescription. Might still be a little cheaper.

Thank you, but he is on a regular prescription and he won't need a special appointment. There won't be any additional charges. I just need someone to reassure me that the stuff is genuine!

Anyone?

Check the company is UK registered then it will be genuine as they are regulated. Your vet is entitled to charge a prescription charge in addition to the regular consult fee for providing a written prescription.

I regularly (well every 6 months) buy Stronghold flea drops for our cats from PetDrugsOnline.

As Wings says, I needed a prescription from the vet and still have to pay for that too, but once I have it I order from them. They then give me an order number which I write on the prescription, then post it to them and they send the medication once they receive the prescription.

I think it works out a little cheaper. I've had no problems or any reason to doubt it's not the genuine stuff.

I buy Practic and Drontal from Viovet. I used to get a prescription from the vet, which cost about £9, but it was still a lot cheaper. Now I'm registered with Viovet, I can self certify both dogs so no longer need a prescription. It's definitely the same stuff I used to get through the vet (or else it's a very good fake and works as well!)

Thanks all! That's put my mind at rest.

I have a friend who is a vet who is happy to give me the prescription free of charge.

I've just worked out what my dog has. At the vets we pay £79/month for incurin, metacam and proplin. £50 of that is the vets prescription/fees as I can buy the exact meds from the website for £29.

TheMoon how much do you pay for a prescription?

The previous vet (different practice) made it very clear that if we bought the medicines online, then he would charge us more for prescription and checkups. This has put me off even looking but I am tempted to ask the new vets what they charge for a prescription.

I buy prescription meds for my dog, she is on medication every day. The prescription from my vet costs £6.00 I then buy her meds from chemist direct. I save about £25.00 per month.

Its been very easy.

Hi Daisy this has got me trying to remember. I think it was around £7 per cat for ages then last Dec it shot up in price to iirc £12 which p'd me off no end . I certainly remember have a big grumble about it at the time.

That was at the local and expensive independent vet though. I shopped about and got prescriptions for a better price from Vets4Pets. I know it was less but can't recall the exact cost.

Marina that's brilliant if you know a vet who will give you FOC scripts. You'll get the meds at a great price if all you need to do is pay for them alone. I think my local vet was getting a bit fed up with people buying elsewhere, hence the price hike.

Beachy I'm v interested in your no script required with Viovet. What do you need to do to register and bypass the need for prescriptions? That's the part that's still the fly in the ointment for me, cost wise.

Yes, we're lucky, he's a lifelong friend who is semi-retired now. Dog has been through a lot of treatment at the surgery recently, so we have had a lot of expense, and being able to get the metacam cheap will be a big help.

Thanks TheMoon, if I could get a prescription for £12 then I'd be saving £30 odd pounds a month! I will ask when we go for our next appt on Thursday.

I have an old boy who has cushings, and heart disease so has lots of medication. I have always got my vetoryl for cushings online as its half the price that my vet charges, I now buy fortekor online too from Viovet, they are not the cheapest but provide a great service, think my vet charges about £9 for a prescription. I also buy human meds with a veterinary prescription for his heart disease ( Viagra !!! ) and get this from a human online pharmacy which saves me an absolute fortune on what the vet charges which was about £20 a tablet! Without buying the meds online I doubt I would be able to afford it all.

I don't think it's for all medications, Moon. I just discovered it by accident, after getting a prescription for the Tick treatment, then realising they didn't need it. Annoying that time, but good all the times after. I think the regulations must have changed on that particular drug....

I used to feel so tight going in to just ask for the prescription, but the savings were so great, I couldn't ignore it!

Thanks Beachy!

Annoyingly I don't think the flea drops I get are likely to go non script. And I'm scared to try anything else as the one I use has been excellent so far in keeping cats and house flea free, so I'll just have to suck it up.

Also don't feel tight for asking only for the prescription either! Blimey when I think of the costs involved at the vets they can hardly be surprised that people are prepared to shop about. Although having said that the receptionist at our local one does get a little bit tight lipped about it which I ignore.

Ditto the optician I go to (for me not the cats that is ). I have an eye test, get the script then buy glasses online. They seem a bit peevish about it too sometimes, but that's how it is these days. People have more choice online than just what's on offer in the shop (or at the vet). .

If you just want to kill fleas use Advantage (no prescription) instead of Advocate (prescription only) which covers all sorts of other parasites you probably don't have and costs much more.

£8.12/item for prescription fee at my vets so £24.45 prescription cost plus £29 medicine cost. A total of £53.45. Currently it's £79.xx a month from the vets so would be a saving of £26.

The vet will only issue a prescription monthly so I'd still have to go and collect the prescriptions and then order so would need to be even more organised than I am now! £26 isn't to be sniffed at though!

Have to say I am disappointed with Vet UK as I placed an order on Friday which has still not been processed. I've just been on the phone to them and they say it will not be in the post until tomorrow, which means it will have taken nearly a whole week to reach me. Not what they lead you to believe on their site. Be aware that orders placed on a Friday are not even looked at until Monday. Poor service in this day and age. I won't be ordering from them again.

It gets worse. My vet friend gave me a prescription for the largest size, and I ordered a smaller size. Vet UK have now refused to dispense anything but the large size and asked me to re-order.

Marina with metacam they will only dispense the size of bottle on the prescription. If you want small bottles your vet needs to put 4 x 32ml bottles instead of 1 x 100ml as an example.
They are not being difficult it is the way the law is constructed.

I've just ordered from Viovet, and they have confirmed they will dispense the smaller quantity and I can re-order if necessary up to another 80 ml. (I don't know why he put 180 ml, he said he would give 100 ml.)

Vet UK had shut up shop for the day by 4 pm! No reply to my email and not answering phones. Bit of a part-time outfit by the look of it.

I think Viovet are great - I've just had to change worming tablets (as older dog has cottoned onto Drontal) and my scrip charge is £8.16 - funny how they are so exact! They can give me a prescription for 4 tablets for the same £8.16 though and the tablets are about £5 online. The Practic is still prescription free at Viovet though.

Yes, I'm impressed so far. Viovet were very helpful. They are open till 7 pm and have a phone number prominently displayed (unlike VetUK). Even better, they have a freephone number! And open Saturdays.

VetUK's hours are like something out of the 1950s. I would expect an internet business to fulfil orders on a Saturday, especially if it's medicines which might be urgent. They have sent me a snotty email blaming the delay on me sending a "wrong order". Oh well, pay peanuts, get monkeys.

Prac-tic is a non-prescription item as the drug in it is from a very old class, it's very, very similar to Fipronil ( in frontline and effipro) so doesn't need the adverse reaction reporting that new drugs do.

Just received email from Viovet to say my order has been despatched! Ordered at 5 pm yesterday. Now that's great service.