Our in hospital pharmacy is fully stocked with the medications necessary for treating your pets ailments. We offer a full line of the most commonly used medications as well as flea, tick, heartworm and parasite preventives. Prescription veterinary diets are ordered and delivered right to your door via our home delivery service.
On-line/catalog/Retail Chain Pet Pharmacies:
We are no different than you; we shop around for the best price and love to search the web for deals. But is every bargain really a good deal? Are you cutting corners with your pet’s health that could cost you more in the long run? Consider the facts:
- All flea/tick or heartworm medication sold in your veterinarian’s office is guaranteed by the manufacturer to work when applied or administered as prescribed by your veterinarian. These guarantees are void if the product was purchased on-line, via catalog order, pet store or chain retail outlet.
- If the manufacturer does not sell direct to internet pharmacies, catalogs, pet stores or chain retail superstores, where do they get their product? We don’t know exactly, and neither does the manufacturer, hence the voiding of your product guarantee.
- In several states across the country, including Ohio, many catalog and online merchants have been investigated and disciplined by various state pharmacy boards and Attorney Generals’ offices for offenses ranging from dispensing medications without a prescription to fraud to violations of environmental regulations to unfair trade practices.
- We have seen on-line unauthorized vendors sell products that are expired, short-dated, intended for overseas sale only or incorrectly labeled.
- Many of these online and catalog merchants advertise savings that simply do not exist and none of the manufacturer rebates or coupons are valid with these purchases.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration offers very good direction to pet owners in their article: “Purchasing Pet Drugs Online: Buyer Beware.”
Vet-VIPPS Accreditation
Before you order any medications from an online vendor, please check to see whether the pharmacy is Vet-VIPPS accredited (Veterinary-Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites). Pharmacies displaying the Vet-VIPPS Seal comply with the criteria that assure the customer’s right to privacy, authentication and security of prescription orders, adherence to a recognized quality assurance policy, and provision of meaningful consultation between customers and pharmacists.
Our Prescription Policy
When a catalog, online, pet store or retail vendor contacts us to request a prescription be faxed to them it will be declined. We will then contact you and arrange to provide a written prescription directly to you, the pet owner. As an educated owner, you may fax, mail or take the prescription to the pharmacy of your choice.
The Ohio Veterinary Medical Association provides an excellent overview of client’s rights and veterinarian’s obligations in the article, “Pet Medication Choices – Insuring Your Pet’s Health)” (pdf) An excerpt:
“To insure that a prescription is properly adhered to and cannot be easily altered or reproduced without the veterinarian’s knowledge or consent, some veterinarians elect not to fax prescriptions. Instead, when the veterinarian provides a prescription on a prescription pad they are giving complete flexibility in having the prescription filled as you, the client, decide.”
“When a veterinarian questions a prescription request initiated by an outside pharmacy, or is concerned with honoring a prescription request to be sent by facsimile rather than as an original on a prescription pad, they are not violating the law or a code of professional conduct. A veterinarian is your pet’s health care professional who first and foremost is concerned with the medical circumstances when issuing any prescription.”
If it is simply the convenience of home shopping and delivery you are looking for, be sure to sign up for our home delivery service via VetSource. Enjoy all the comforts and convenience of shopping anytime, day or night and purchase the right products for your pet with manufacturer guarantees still intact, delivered right to your door. Sign up for your account
At Village Animal Clinic it is our highest priority to maintain the exceptional standards of veterinary care for our patients, while offering convenience and affordability to our clients. Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions about our prescription policies.
