Does anybody know how reliable pet medicine is from particular internet companies?? We are just looking to get Heartgard for our dog and we're looking at $33 from petcarerx.com verses $43 from the vet, so thought we'd go with the internet company. But then the vet required us to talk to them first and when I called she said you never know with the internet...that they may repackage and you don't know where it is coming from. PetcareRx is a pretty big company, so I thought it to be okay. Anybody really know??
We went with the internet company (petcarerx). Hopefully all is well with it...seems so. Will keep in mind 1-800-petmeds for the future, though this time the price was the same as the vets on that site, but good to know that place is so reputable and I think I've seen coupons for them that would bring the price down from the vets. Thanks!!!
We've been using http://www.petshed.com/
It's a company out of Australia. Cheapest price, good stuff. I used to pay 150.00 for Heartgard at the vet for 6 month supply. Now we pay 30.00 for the year!
I've been using 1 800- petmeds for about a year now. Love it. You can even get the same thing in generic form. Iverhart Plus is the same as Heartgard Plus and it's even cheaper. Downside: my dog doesn't like them as much as the Heartgard chewables, but she does eventually eat it.
We always buy ours from Pets Megastore from Australia, we get a 6-month supply of Frontline for $46 (though it did go up to $53 recently), and i think it's like $6 shipping. Takes a week to receive, and it's the same brand/item as you get here. AU $ has less value than US $, so the exchange rate for us is much better :) Here's their link:
I have worked as a vet tech for years before staying at home with my daughter and the only difference I know of is they (the company that makes the product) don't guarantee if you buy from the internet. Meaning that if you bought your Heartgard from your vet and 1 in a million chance your dog still contracted heartworm- Heartgard will pay all treatment costs whereas if you buy the meds online there is no guarantee. It's cheaper online because they buy in extremely large quantities and get a discount where your vet doesn't. To be honest with you a vet I used to work for required us to say things like the repackaging thing to discourage clients from buying elsewhere and taking away the revenue. I'm not saying that's what your doc is doing but that's what this jerk I worked for did. Online pharmacies are also way cheaper for other meds such as heart meds or allergy meds and etc because they don't charge filling fees like alot of vets do. Ex. say you get prednisone for your dog. at 1-800-petmeds it's .50 a tablet. It's probably about the same at the vet maybe a few cents higher but they charge a filling fee (the last vet I worked for charged $17 for a filling fee). So if you buy 30 it would be $15 but at a vet the price could be something like $32. The vet is trying to cover the cost of labels and vials and warning labels, etc. But if you buy from an online pharmacy make sure they are a reputable place such as 800-petmeds and such.
I also use 1 800 PetMeds and have for quite a while. I have had absolutely no problem, and my vet also knows we get our Heartgard from there and has no problem with it.
I also worked at a Veterinarian's office for several years. The only thing I can say is to make sure they are licensed in Indiana. Some are not. Also try printing the price with shipping from the internet company and ask your vet to price match. We would do that at our office on Heartgard and Cosequin.
While we had a dog, I asked the vet's office about this. They said they'd match any price from the online services. This way, there's the savings, along with the peace of mind of knowing the meds are fresh and not from a warehouse or who-knows-where. There have been stories of meds compromised by being stored in hot warehouses. I'm not saying this is common, but it could be a concern.
I recently tried 1800-petmeds for Heartgard. It was cheaper and it came in the same original packaging as the vet's so I say save money.
Hi, I just saw this post and figured I'd give my 2 cents. I used www.petpharm.org out of Canada for my last dog's meds b/c he required mulitple daily meds for Addison's disease. The Canadian pharmacy was by prescription only, but saved us approx 75%. We could order refills online and the meds were shipped direct to our vet for pickup. They have a list of available meds and prices at the website listed above for review. Hope this helps for future purchases.
