Vet prescriptions... what a rip off!!!

catflea

Personally, I think my cats vet is very reasonabally priced so I have no objection at all to paying them for the bits and pieces. Not only does it mean that I definatly have the right stuff, it also saves me the faff of trying to find stuff cheaper.

He is insured though and the vet will deal direct with insurance, so if it gets really expensive I have even less to worry about

growleygrumps

Hi

I too buy my medication for my dog online and depending on what you buy you may not need a prescription for the items. For 8 drontal tablets i paid £13 at the vet it was costing me £5 for 1 and a half tablets. For the frontline i have paid £21 for 6 pippettes i was paying more than double at the vets. The only thing you need to be aware of is your pets weight as this determines the dose. The vet that said shop bought worming tablets are useless i would completely agree with as i have discovered to my expense. You could try and get your vets to give a prescrition for 2 monthly periods which will cut costs, they are not keen to do it but if you ask they will. I have a very good rapore with my vet she knows that i buy online, but she also knows i would never do anything to compromise the health of my pets.

GG:jxx

Road_Hog

golucky76 wrote: »

i was charged £60 for flea treatments for my cats yesterday at the vets as they told me quite firmly that shop bought stuff such as Frontline and Bob Martin is completely useless and doesn't work.

In fairness, he's right about Bob Martins, don't waste your money. But Frontline is fine. What thye don't like about Frontline is that the patent is finished and they have to compete with non prescription online sellers and they can't justify their mark ups.

Which is why they want to sell you something that can't be bought outside of the vet circle.

EHL123

It's also worth giving your vet the change to price-match if it's something you'll need regularly, especially if you're willing to buy in bulk anyway. Our vet is very reasonable so we've never needed to buy online, but if I told them I could get something cheaper online and gave them the opportunity to price-match (of course taking into account P&P and pescription charges too) and they couldn't/wouldn't do it, then I wouldn't hesitate to buy it elsewhere. At least you've given them the opportunity to take your money first

But when it comes to worming and flea treatments, I think sometimes buying non-prescription treatments online can be false ecomony. I think most people know that cheap supermarket options are useless and some can actually be downright dangerous. But even buying the 'premium' brands like Frontline and Drontal might not be the best value for money. We get pescription-only Advocate from our vet and one spot-on does fleas, mites, ticks and worms. To treat two XL dogs and two XL cats costs us £25 a time and we treat 6 times per year (1st Jan, 1st Apr, 15th May, 1st July, 15th Aug, 1st Oct), so it costs us £150 per year for the four animals. But to buy a year's worth of Frontline and Drontal online from VetUK would be £175 and would provide no protection against mites or lungworm like the Advocate does. I'd also have to fork out the full £175 upfront instead of just paying £25 a time to the vet, because if I didn't buy in bulk it would be even more expensive. So I'll be sticking with my pescription-only stuff

hotcookie101

EHL123 wrote: »

But when it comes to worming and flea treatments, I think sometimes buying non-prescription treatments online can be false ecomony. I think most people know that cheap supermarket options are useless and some can actually be downright dangerous. But even buying the 'premium' brands like Frontline and Drontal might not be the best value for money. We get pescription-only Advocate from our vet and one spot-on does fleas, mites, ticks and worms. To treat two XL dogs and two XL cats costs us £25 a time and we treat 6 times per year (1st Jan, 1st Apr, 15th May, 1st July, 15th Aug, 1st Oct), so it costs us £150 per year for the four animals. But to buy a year's worth of Frontline and Drontal online from VetUK would be £175 and would provide no protection against mites or lungworm like the Advocate does. I'd also have to fork out the full £175 upfront instead of just paying £25 a time to the vet, because if I didn't buy in bulk it would be even more expensive. So I'll be sticking with my pescription-only stuff

Advocate doesn't protect against ticks, just fleas, mites, roundworm and lungworm. It also is supposed to be used monthly-if you used frontline and drontal less frequently a years supply would be also be cheaper.

I like advocate, its a really good drug, especially for dogs that eat grass or slugs and snails, as its the only product licensed for lungworm with a routine dosage. But if doesn't do ticks. Bayer do a tick one for dogs thats called Advantix, but it contains permerthin which is highly toxic to cats, and doesn't do worms.

I always advise people to look at the lifestyle of their dog/cat. A cat that doesn't hunt, is regularly treated for fleas (eg frontline, advocate or stronghold monthly) doesn't generally need tapeworm treatment-o if you use stronghold or advocate monthly in that cat that would cover your parasite control. But if they get ticks, you need to use frontline, as (off the top of my head) fipronil is the only safe product to use on cats for ticks. Same with dogs, for most dogs monthly stronghold or advocate will cover all bases, but if they get ticks, you need to use something different.

EHL123

hotcookie101 wrote: »

Advocate doesn't protect against ticks, just fleas, mites, roundworm and lungworm. It also is supposed to be used monthly-if you used frontline and drontal less frequently a years supply would be also be cheaper.

Sorry I didn't realise it didn't do ticks. It's not something we've ever had a problem with though, we must have just been lucky. We've never had a problem with fleas either, maybe it has something to do with living on the scottish coast, probably too cold for the little beggars! :rotfl:

Our vet advised us that the Advocate only needs to be used monthly for the flea protection like Frontline does, but the worming protection lasts for three months. So they get it every three months in the winter and every six weeks in the summer months when fleas might be more of an issue (six treatments per year in total - it's also six treatments I priced up for the Frontline and Drontal which comes to £175). The cats don't hunt so we don't treat them for tapeworm, but if we needed to I'd probably use the Droncit spot-on as it's impossible to get tablets down them without risk of being mauled. You'd think in this day and age they could make a spot-on that did everything, it'd make things so much easier!

Dizzyduck

The cats don't hunt so we don't treat them for tapeworm, but if we needed to I'd probably use the Droncit spot-on as it's impossible to get tablets down them without risk of being mauled. You'd think in this day and age they could make a spot-on that did everything, it'd make things so much easier![/QUOTE]

Trying to give my cat tablets is a nightmare too!
Last time I was at the vet they gave me a spot-on for worms called Profender by Bayer - obviously another one that needs a script but at least I'm not shredded

catflea

Have you tried putting the tablets into a small lump of cheese or a bit of ham end? works a treat with Dave and he has always been a little sod with pills

Rebob

Dont forget that you can get the frontline from pets at home which for me was much cheaper than from the vet. You have to see a member of staff and have the animal weighed before they will sell it.

catflea

I get frontline from my local Scats Countrystore. Worked out about 50p more expensive than the cheapest I found online and its only half a mile down the road! Only thing was, I needed to tell them how fat Dave is!:eek: