Drug costs from vet

MouldyOldDough

We have to pay £85 for a 100ml bottle of Thyronorm (thyroid medicine) from our vets for our cat - roughly 6 weekly

This costs just £47 from an on-line pet drug store - but they need a prescription - which costs £10 from our vet

This is a win-win for the vets and I believe that they overcharge ?

elsien

You are paying for their ongoing, training, their expertise, their overheads and the checkups to ensure the medication is still relevant. 

£10 sounds pretty cheap to me in the circumstances. 

How long is your vet willing to issue prescriptions for - they may agree to do one for 6 months worth. Have you asked? 

Katiehound

£10 for writing the prescription seems very cheap to me 

if you get that you are still saving money 'though I suspect you will need a vet consultation every 6 months or so to confirm that the drug is needed. (£38 /£39 or £40 round here)

sheramber

Does the corner shop sell at the same price as the supermarket?

Online chemists can bulk buy because they have a large turnover. Your vet cannot as  his turnover is smaller and  drugs go out of date.

The  online chemist can search for the cheapest source. The vet is restricted as to who he can buy from.

Do you want your vet to be around when you need him? Surgeries cost a lot to maintain, nurses have to be paid for, ongoing training ir a requirement.  Without money coming in to pay for it all there will be no vet for you to consult.

My vet charges £25 to write a prescription.

vic_sf49

Mine is £24 per prescription, but that was for 3 lots of medication,  and that comes in packs of two, so 6 month's worth.

Much cheaper than buying medication at the vets. The prescription paid for itself in one month.

sheramber

My vet actually advised me to buy online rather than from them, as it was cheaper.

SensibleSarah

My vets charge I think £18 for a prescription. For ongoing meds they always recommend that we buy online to save money - they don't really make anything profit-wise from selling medication themselves. Vets in general aren't out to 'do us over' and they are limited in terms of what difference they can make to pricing. Every time I wince and pay a vets bill for one of my gang, I thank my lucky stars for the NHS.