Obtaining Alternative Vets Prescription (cats)

Tiffany1812

Hi My cat has recently been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and has been treated with 15mg Vidalta, for the past three months. This has reduced her levels back to normal and she has regained weight.

My agreement with the vet is for me to have her checked again in three months time for change in condition then have another blood test in 6 months time to monitor.

My tablets cost £43.65 for 30 from my vets but (£1.50 per tablet). But can by tablets from online vets for (0.45), so they are more than three times expensive.

My cat is likely to be on these for the rest of her life. I asked my vet about giving me a prescription for a larger quantity, but they want to charge £10 per prescription and will only do this for 30 tablets at once. Hence this will cost me £120 per year getting a separate prescription per month, (although this will still halve the current medication costs.)

I asked why they would not provide a prescription for more tablets and they said they have to ensure that the cats condition is monitored. But I don't understand this as they have said she does not need a check up for another three months, when I would be bringing her taking her in anyway so can't understand why they wont give a prescription for 90 days instead? I guess its to make more money!

Does anyone know of a safe international site where I could by the vidalta without a prescription?

or is there a good vet in the west yorkshire area who might do a longer prescription for the same cost.

Many Thanks

Tiffany

rising_from_the_ashes

When a pet is first prescribed medication no vet will give a prescription for a long period of time - and a months' supply sounds about right

They are taking responsibility for providing the drugs and have to be sure they agree with your pet

Once your cat has been on them for a while (probably after her 3 month check up), you should find they'll write a prescription for a larger amount / longer time

They are allowed to prescribe a max of 6 months supply on one prescription

£10 is a fair price to pay for each prescription as your vet will have to spend time reviewing your cat's history

ETA do not buy drugs from any site that will sell prescription drugs without an actual prescription - lord knows what they really are!

Have you asked your vet if they can bring the price of the tablets down a bit - most can't compete with internet prices but some do try to bring the cost down a bit

krlyr

I wouldn't trust any site selling prescription-only medication without a prescription. You run the risk of counterfeit, out-of-date, generic, etc. medication with no comeback, especially if ordering abroad where you may not be able to contact/source the originally company if things go wrong. I've heard of one vet product company trading with a UK website, constantly changing the name because of the poor service they provide - half the time the products don't show up, genuine or not.

The RCVS (governing body for vets) guidelines for prescriptions quote the Veterinary Medicines Regulations as saying that the animal must be "under the the vet's care", which is later defined as (being interpreted by RCVS) "

1. the animal or herd must have been seen immediately before prescription or,
2. recently enough or often enough for the veterinary surgeon to have personal knowledge of the condition of the animal or current health status of the herd or flock to make a diagnosis and prescribe"

I would argue that if your vet only requires a 3 month checkup for prescribing the medication from their own stock, they deem this a suitable case for the cat to go without a checkup, and that they should therefore issue a 3 month prescription to buy elsewhere. It might be worth contacting the RCVS with your concerns (or raising the issue with your vet first).

If you do want to change vets, perhaps phone around and ask if you can speak to a vet regarding this issue - you could pop in and express your concerns and ask their opinion, before registering and taking your cat in.

http://www.rcvs.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/code-of-professional-conduct-for-veterinary-surgeons/supporting-guidance/veterinary-medicines/

paddypaws101

I agree with above comments re the medication and prescriptions.
How old is your cat? Unless it is really elderly or unwell otherwise, I would personally be pushing for corrective surgery, or even the Radio active Iodine treatment.
As you have seen, the costs for ongoing medication DO add up and also over time the drugs may cause nasty side effects or even become ineffective.
The drugs are used to bring thyroid levels down to an acceptable level over a 3 month period after which corrective surgery can be carried out.

Fosterdog

£10 is a very good price for a prescription, my vet charges £19 with no checkup or £13 with a checkup but also has the check up fee added too bringing it up to £29.

My vet did the same as yours for my dog's Metacam, they only gave a prescription for 100ml at a time and only a single prescription. After a few of these and continued monitoring they now give me a prescription for 180ml bottles with one repeat on the prescription, that means I get 4-5 months worth from one prescription instead of a little over a month previously.

Speak to your vet again about possibly after the first three months of single prescriptions getting a three month supply on the single or a one month supply on a repeat twice prescription, that would take you up to the six month blood tests and you can look again at what meds are needed then.

Tiffany1812

Thanks for all your responses, I will wait until current tablets are used and call in and ask the vet ask if they could possibly do me a repeat over a few months so the online chemists only dispatch 30 tablets at a time. Maybe they will agree to that or possibly I might have to wait a bit longer than three months to see if her condition is stabilized as suggested in the above response.

I was just checking for international sites without prescription as I did not know if in the US you needed a prescription as standard practice for vet. medication?

I will also check out the link suggested.

My cat is 13 and the tablets are working well for her, I hide the tablet in pill pockets and she takes it easily as a treat. I did not want to put her through surgery as it it appears statistically that in most cases they remove one thyroid gland only to find that the other one needs doing at the other side within a short period of time and some times the surgery can disturb/destroy (I think the vet mentioned another gland which solublises calcium?), which results in the cat taking further meds to resolve this.
I have looked at the radiation treatment and it means that after the operation you have to have minimal contact with your cat for a period of a few months because of the radioactivity (after the cat has already being hospitalized for 2 weeks); This would disturb her too much for me to have to ignore her and not let her sit on my knee or show her any affection for such a long period of time!

paddypaws101

Tiffany, I do understand the reasons you give for not wanting surgery or Radio active treatment,,,,but at 13 your cat is still pretty young and the chances of her remaining stable and well on medication for 5, 6, 7 years are limited.
Advice post radio active treatment does vary, and depend in part upon whether you are of child bearing age, so the restrictions are not necessarily so harsh It IS curative though.
I would advise joining a Yahoo user group specialising in HT, and doing some more research.
Remember....the medications DO have side effects and CAN stop being effective so to take action sooner rather than later would be advised.
oh, and I am on my 3rd HT cat so have thought a lot about all of this and shared all your concerns.

Wickwar

£10 is good my vet wanted £40 (told them point blank they were robbers) for a script for a month,lucky my folks live in Spain & they could buy them over the counter for buttons compared to buying them in the UK at over inflated prices.

enabledebra

My cat had radioactive iodine treatment and she stayed 2 weeks at the vet and after that we just avoided touching her litter for a few weeks. The specialist vet just advised not to let her sit on our laps or sleep in our room for a while- we were allowed to pet her normally just not prolonged contact for a while. My general vet is from New Zealand and says that there the cat is just given an injection and sent right home. Humans have the treatment in the UK and are kept isolated for 3-5 days only.