Internet Prescriptions Information Sheet
At
Wilderness Animal Hospital, we take pride in being your furry family
member’s doctor and see our role as an integral part in providing
healthcare to your pet. The primary focus of our practice is centered on
offering a professional level of high quality medical, surgical and
dental care. In addition to these professional services, we do stock
numerous forms of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and products for your pets.
We carry these items in our practice primarily for two reasons; (1) Many
items are animal specific formulations or for animal only usage - often
these products aren’t carried locally by traditional brick and mortar
pharmacies and (2) there is a convenience in having items readily
available onsite rather than sending our clients to another location
just to sit and wait for prescriptions to be filled elsewhere.
Wilderness Animal Hospital takes measures to ensure the vaccines,
medications and products we provide to our patients are properly handled
and stored from initial manufacture until they reach our facility. The
items we offer from our hospital supply are obtained either directly
from their manufacturing source or via our relationships with selected
major distributors which track these items to verify their integrity.
We also offer the convenience of ordering your pet’s long term medication online through our own internet pharmacy. The items sold through our internet pharmacy are of the same quality and handled in the same manner as the items we stock in our hospital. This insures quality and effectiveness of the product, along with the convenience of ordering from home and timely home delivery.
We’re
fully aware there are many internet sites and catalogue houses which
sell pharmaceutical products directly to consumers. Contrary to slick
print and television advertising marketing touting pet medications
available at less than half the price from the veterinarian, this
veterinary hospital generally offers full-sized packaged medications
(Sentinel, Deramaxx, Rimadyl, Revolution) for similar prices – in fact,
we might be even lower when company “bonus doses” or manufacturer
rebates are taken into account. We also match 1 800 Pet Meds pricing on
parasite control medication that we carry.
It is our practice policy to honor internet prescription requests to our
clients at their request. We do not charge a fee for processing
internet pharmacy prescription requests for our patients. We do, however
wish for your decision on where to have your pet’s prescription filled
to be an informed one, and feel it is part of our responsibility as your
pet’s doctor to advise you consider the following:
1. We will process an internet pharmacy prescription on request provided
we have recently examined your pet and the particular medication or
product is appropriate. The time frame of ‘recent examination’ is at the
doctor’s discretion but will never exceed a maximum of one year from
your pets’ last annual examination. We request a faxed prescription
request from the internet pharmacy you are using.
2. Please double check to ensure your prescription is sent, filled,
labeled, shipped and used correctly. Carefully select your choice of
pharmacy including thoroughly researching the company for Board of
Pharmacy disciplinary actions.
3. Some guarantees made by manufacturers regarding their products are
null and void (not honored) if their products are purchased through
non-approved channels. This includes the guarantee reimbursement for
heartworm / intestinal parasite claims if your pet contracts heartworms
or specific parasites while on prevention.
4. Some internet based pharmacies and catalogue companies have been
repeatedly reprimanded by the FDA and State Boards of Pharmacy for
violating prescribing procedure. Several well known companies have been
cited and fined repeatedly for the same violations in the same states or
several states!
5. Pharmaceuticals manufactured and labeled for use in other countries
(Australia, New Zealand) have been illegally diverted and sold through
some internet sources and catalogues in the United States. In addition,
counterfeit medications, preventatives and product have been produced
and sold to unsuspecting consumers. The FDA-CVM has documented these
problems with the use of some internet sources. http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm115432.pdf
What is most important to us is a long healthy life for your pet. Using quality medication both for treatment and prevention of disease helps us reach that goal. Our hope is that giving you information to make the best decision for your pet will help us be successful.