I just wondered if anyone has actually asked their vet for a prescription and then purchased drugs elsewhere (where they are cheaper).  I haven't actually done this as anything prescribed for my two has been urgent so far but for anything that could wait a couple of days or that needed repeating would it be worth it or would the relationship with your vet be at risk?  Our vet, although very good, has a huge mark-up on everything (for example I can buy Frontline and Drontal Plus for around half the cost from the internet).  Would be interested to hear anyone's experiences.
Many thanks
Alex

In my vet they have price lists on the wall telling you thier charges for most common items to compare with website prices ....very handy.

That is very handy!  Ours tend to prescribe something and give it to you and you have no idea what it costs until you pay (which is when I usually fall over backwards in shock).

I was going to but when I talked to the vet about it, he said if I produced proof of the lower price (ie print of web page giving details of price and delivery charges) he would match the lower price.  This was for long term medication where I was making a considerable saving every month.  I would never think of shopping around for cheaper short term medication though.

I have heard of a Vet that discouraged buying from anywhere but a Vet. He said there were a lot of "fake" drugs being sold and he would not be responsible for treatment of dog if a problem occured. This to me is a bit of emotional blackmail. I think there are reputable suppliers out there and they should be available to us without being made to feel guilty.

     

That's very interesting although I agree there are reputable suppliers certainly for routine treatments whose service is excellent.  I have to say I hadn't thought of shopping around, just mulling it over while ordering the normal flea treatment and wormers as they are so much cheaper and the supplier I use now stocks prescription drugs.  Routine treatments are easy to purchase this way though because you know you need them in advance.  Having had time to think about it I believe it could be worth considering for long term medication where the difference in cost would be so great (but obviously worth discussing with the vet in advance from what Annie has said) but I would have trouble waiting for anything the vet thought my dogs needed there and then.  Unless it was ongoing treatment, you must have to wait at least two days before you could start the medication which most of us would not be willing to do.

depending on price you could ask him for 2 days supply and wait for the rest to arrive by post.
On very expensive drugs I would def consider doing this.
For example my vet charges £30 for a box of insulin needles for my cat who is diabetic I can buy these on line from Hyperdrug or vet-medic for £7 I have complained to them what is so amusing is they get thier supply from the same place.
You can save £2-3 on wormers and the more you buy the cheaper it becomes and similar on flea treatments.

i did it the other day dropram was £16 plus vat my vet would right out a prescription free of charge they cannot charge know for a prescription.

but the product i need i got it the a web site order it monday at 1pm was at my door step tuesday at 9 am from irland,the cost £9 with vat.p/p
but then it all depends if you can claim on your dog insurance for the prescriped drug or not

good point about  claiming off insurance

Good point about insurance - and also getting a two day supply, didn't think of that!

if it an on go condition then claim

Because my vets charges are very reasonable and he does't put a huge mark-up on medications/and routine flea/worm treatments I would not consider buying elsewhere as this is a valuable part of a veterinary practice's income. I can quite see that if you are with a vet who charges excessively it would seem to make sense to buy these things, but it occurs to me that if this becomes widespread it will have the effect of putting up the general fees which in turn will put up insurance costs. Would we really be making any saving in the long term?

They may not be able to charge for the actual presciption, but they are quite within their rights to charge for the vets time in writing one. £6.22 at my practice. Therefore any meds would have to be extremely cheap to make any difference.

I have a elderly veteran on long term medication - Vivitonin & Medrone

when I suggested to my vet that I could get it cheaper elsewhere he was
awkward and wouldn't write me a prescription - can I insist?  Is it lawfull if he asks for payment to write a prescription?
From the vet I pay £ 21 a month for Vivitonin - which can be got for much less elsewhere.

Pam

Vets have an obligation to provide a prescription if the client wants one, and they are no longer allowed to charge for it.

I don't think they are allowed to refuse to write a prescription if you ask, and they are quite within their rights to charge you for the time it takes to write it, but not charge you for the actual prescription. But all that boils down to is that yes they can charge you for it.

I had my last GSD on Cyclosporin, VERY VERY expensive - was costing nearly £300 per month. My vet happily suggested to me that I phone around pharmacies and see how much I could get it for (it did vary from pharmacy to pharmacy) with a private prescription and I ended up getting it for £180 per month. Luckily over 6months we phased down the dose and within about a year got off it completely! I had to go this route as her insurance at that time had a 12 month limitation and we simply ran out of time!

Kat

If I had a dog on long term expensive medication I would be fairly tempted to ask for a prescription - but I personally feel that my vet is not raking in the cash by any means, and if they lose out on the income from mark-up on drugs the costs of treatment and consultation will just have to go up.  This is probably more the case with horses/farm animals - but I think it still applies to small animal practice.

This is exactly the point I was making in my earlier post-if this becomes the norm it will send already expensive insurance premiums even higher! Vets have to make money like any other business and we all want them to invest in up to date equipment etc so that our beloved animals can have the best possible treatment.

Sorry so you did - seem to have missed that one - and you put it better than me! :)

I think we are both just singing from the same hymn-sheet-glad someone agrees with me! :)

I'm there too :)  I read somewhere that prescription medications make up 20% of a vets takeover, well before the new rules anyway.  It is obvious to stay viable they would need to replace that sort of potential loss.  If we have an animal at one time needing quite a bit of expenditure on drugs, where money might be saved, at another time we will have one needing investigation, surgery etc where the price with be increased.  It's swings and roundabouts I see nothing to be gained from changing the status quo.