Getting prescription from vet ...

Snowy Celandine

Snowy Celandine

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... to buy Danilon online and I was shocked at how much the prescription cost (£22) and not sure if you pay VAT on top of that? Anyway, they said that it can be used 3 times so can anyone explain how that works please? Do I need to put in a fresh order with the internet company every month or can I buy 3 month's worth in one hit? Thank you and sorry if it's a silly question but I've never done this before.
 
Prescription from my vets is £10.50. I used to order 2 boxes of danilon at a time. More recently I have been ordering alamycin, vet would prescribe 3 Tins at a time. I rang and put in my order, got an order no, then rang the vets with the order no and fax no of company and they faxed direct.
 
Given what you both pay I think I'm being overcharged for the prescription :( I use a small animal vet and an a large animal/equine practice and both charge similar rates for providing prescriptions. I can't change practices though because they are good in every other way. I'll ring the online company and see what they say about getting 3 months prescriptions in one hit.
 
I have had prescriptions with repeats on and the company I bought the product from have held the prescription and supplied a further lot when I have ordered it until the repeats have run out. I thought mine was expensive at £15 :(
Basically they can charge what they like and some load it on to make it uneconomic for you to buy elsewhere
 
If you are happy to use bute instead of Danilon then it is much cheaper just to buy direct from Abler - and yes I know its illegal - just saying!
 
my vet charged me £18 every 3 months for my prescriptions. you can order all in one go if you need to! I used to get my horses meds from ani med direct! would recommend them
 
JillA, I agree about the vet making it uneconomic for you to go elsewhere. I couldn't afford to buy my dog's regular meds on line due to prescription costs. It gets very expensive when one has a lot of ancient animals :o

Thanks but no thanks Pork Chop - I'll stick to Danilon for now.

Will take a look at animed direct, thanks Kezzabell :)
 
My vet charges around £19 which is standard in my area. You can use the prescription 3 times, not buy 3 times as much in one go
 
The written prescription should state exactly how much of any medication can be supplied each time the prescription is filled, it should also state how many repeats it can be used for.
If the prescription is for three lots of medication it should say repeat twice, the first time you use it and then 2 more times.
Written prescription costs vary slightly but they are not there to stop you making a saving but because a vet is the only one who can issue one and each time they do so a receptionist has to take your request by phone or in person, that has to be relayed to a vet, they have to read through the animals history and notes, check dosage is correct and write, print, sign the prescription, get a receptionist to call you and then store or post the prescription.
We tell clients if they can save by ordering online eventhough the vets raise more income spending time in consults than they do writing prescriptions.
 
I found that ordering Danilon from the Vet came to almost the same as having a prescription from the vet and buying the Danilon online. I think there was only a £2 difference
 
twiggy2 said:
The written prescription should state exactly how much of any medication can be supplied each time the prescription is filled, it should also state how many repeats it can be used for.
If the prescription is for three lots of medication it should say repeat twice, the first time you use it and then 2 more times.
Written prescription costs vary slightly but they are not there to stop you making a saving but because a vet is the only one who can issue one and each time they do so a receptionist has to take your request by phone or in person, that has to be relayed to a vet, they have to read through the animals history and notes, check dosage is correct and write, print, sign the prescription, get a receptionist to call you and then store or post the prescription.
We tell clients if they can save by ordering online eventhough the vets raise more income spending time in consults than they do writing prescriptions.
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Thanks for the useful info on using the script online :)

Not sure I follow the sense of the second bit though? If one vet charges just £10.50 per prescription and another charges just over double, do the first vets pay their staff half the wages of the staff working in the second surgery in order to bring the job in on budget? Or is the second practice so inefficient that they make a hash of the job and so the costs double?

I'm genuinely interested to know how it can cost twice as much for the second vet to do the, surely simple in anyone's terms, same job? We are not talking about a vet practice in a wealthy area by the way so building rental costs cannot be to blame and I'm sure that all vets must have had the same or similar training so that outlay can't be what's making the difference. I am puzzled.
 
Clannad48 said:
I found that ordering Danilon from the Vet came to almost the same as having a prescription from the vet and buying the Danilon online. I think there was only a £2 difference
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Unfortunately, I would be paying a lot more if I were to buy the Danilon from the vet every month. If their costs were only a few pounds more than other suppliers I wouldn't be quibbling but my horse will be on Danilon for the rest of her life now so I'd be foolish not to look for cost savings :o
 
I used to pay £10 for a x3 boxes of Danilon prescription.
I'd scan it and send to v I o v e t
They would then allow the 3 boxes to be purchased as and when required so if I wanted just one at a time they kept the script on my record. Easy once you've done it.
My small animal vet did prescriptions free for my dog, he in fact suggested it.
 
Our eldest mare will also be on it for the rest of her life. Is there any way you can get the vet to give you a prescription for more than one month's supply - we had a description for 3 months worth, perhaps that is why is didn't work out so much more expensve
 
Clannad48 said:
Our eldest mare will also be on it for the rest of her life. Is there any way you can get the vet to give you a prescription for more than one month's supply - we had a description for 3 months worth, perhaps that is why is didn't work out so much more expensve
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Thanks Clannad :) I've not received the prescription yet but I think the receptionist said that it could be used 3 times so I took that to mean 3 x one month's supply? I'd prefer to get 6 months supply for the cost of the prescription but I guess it's policy at the vets to only give 3 months at a time. It will still save me just under £40 every 3 months or £160 approx. each year, assuming prices remain the same.
 
Snowy Celandine said:
Given what you both pay I think I'm being overcharged for the prescription :( I use a small animal vet and an a large animal/equine practice and both charge similar rates for providing prescriptions. I can't change practices though because they are good in every other way. I'll ring the online company and see what they say about getting 3 months prescriptions in one hit.
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My horse vet charges £20 for a prescription.
 
Snowy Celandine said:
Thanks for the useful info on using the script online :)

Not sure I follow the sense of the second bit though? If one vet charges just £10.50 per prescription and another charges just over double, do the first vets pay their staff half the wages of the staff working in the second surgery in order to bring the job in on budget? Or is the second practice so inefficient that they make a hash of the job and so the costs double?

I'm genuinely interested to know how it can cost twice as much for the second vet to do the, surely simple in anyone's terms, same job? We are not talking about a vet practice in a wealthy area by the way so building rental costs cannot be to blame and I'm sure that all vets must have had the same or similar training so that outlay can't be what's making the difference. I am puzzled.
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The cheaper vet will be more expensive in some other areas, or they have less overheads, cheaper staff etc etc. They just choose another area to create higher financial gain.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
My horse vet charges £20 for a prescription.
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Well that makes me feel a bit better because I was starting to feel I was being taken for a mug :o I can't remember how much the vet who looks after my small animals tried to charge me but I know it made the price of the online drugs prohibitive. At least I will still make a saving on the Danilon.
 
Snowy Celandine said:
Well that makes me feel a bit better because I was starting to feel I was being taken for a mug :o I can't remember how much the vet who looks after my small animals tried to charge me but I know it made the price of the online drugs prohibitive. At least I will still make a saving on the Danilon.
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I need Prascend for the rest of my mare's life, which as she is responding so well, will hopefully be several years. Vet charges almost £200 per box, online price works out about half. I am considering ringing the senior partner to try to do a deal on the box:D
 
twiggy2 said:
The cheaper vet will be more expensive in some other areas, or they have less overheads, cheaper staff etc etc. They just choose another area to create higher financial gain.
Click to expand...

Thanks twiggy :) I'd not thought of that but it makes sense!

Pearl, I tried to do a deal but the receptionist wasn't amenable :o

Britestar, that's very expensive for just one use :(
 
In terms of how much they can prescribe, according to my vet, they can only prescribe 6 months worth on a single prescription before seeing the horse again so mine will prescribe 300 bute on the basis of up to 2 per day.

I use vetimed who keep the prescription on file and I order one box at a time but it has to be within 6 months of the date on the prescription. I know because I slipped once and missed the date by a week so I couldn't order the last box. I pay just under £15 per prescription.
 
I started buying meds on line with a script when there was a short period years ago when vets weren't allowed charge for a prescription. I think that it was to open up the market. At the time I had a couple of aged, uninsured pets that were on longterm medication and it was a revelation for me in the difference in prices. I also bought POM flea and wormer treatments at quite literally a quarter of the price. I think I've used most of the UK firms at one point or another!

Once prescription charges were introduced I looked into the rules about how vets were allowed to charge and repeats as my vet at that time really hated writing prescriptions and tried to make it very difficult and expensive. Vets are allowed to charge a reasonable - always difficult to define - amount to cover their skills, responsibility and time spent but they must not treat you or your animal differently because you are buying else where. For example that vet tried to only prescribe 3 months advocate per animal with no repeats unless I brought them back for another consultation and paid for another prescription. However, if I bought from them I could buy 6 months worth at a time and they only needed to see the animal annually. A cat with a thyroid condition was on 2 tablets a day that they charged nearly a pound each for (felimizole IIRC) but I could buy them for under 30p each from a reputable online supplier, a huge saving but they would only prescribe a months supply. Again buying from them they were happy to only see the cat 6 monthly for their bloodtest but wanted a consult and prescription fee monthly if I went elsewhere. That was against the rules so it might be worth looking into Britestar.

Silly vets, that attitude lost them my business for 6 indoor animals and 2 horses. Even with buying meds elsewhere I spent thousands annually with them because I had elderly animals that needed more vet care than average which I was happy to pay for just not to pay treble the cost of ongoing meds.

I do understand that vets often can't match online prices as they can't buy in the quantities that those suppliers do and when discussed with some vets they tell me that they keep their consultation prices low to attract clients and then rely on extras like food and meds to cover costs. Quite frankly, that's not my problem - they need to charge a realistic price for all aspects of their service not have clients paying an inflated price for one part so subsidising the lucky people who have healthy pets that only see them once a year for their discounted vaccinations. I feel that if I have paid for a consultation/callout that a prescription should be issued free in that instance as the vets time and skill has already been charged for. By all means charge if a client has asked for a prescription without a consultation as there are costs and time involved but it shouldn't be a penalty charge.
 
I pay £11 including VAT for my prescriptions for Danilon, and then £7 for each additional item on the prescription (sometimes I order his Prascend at the same time if the timing coincides). My vet's prescriptions always specify "for one use only" and detail the quantity e.g. 60 Danilon.

I use Animed direct and would definitely recommend them - you can scan the prescription in when you place the order and the delivery is always prompt.

I have found it much cheaper using a prescription than going direct to the vet for his Danilon.

Hope that helps!
 
No offence aimed at anyone but people begrudge vets bills to such an extent, yet at 2 in the morning when your horse has colic you do expect them to turn up asap and have the right drugs to hand to treat any issue. They have to keep the show on the road somehow. I know you don't see many poor vets but their overheads are amazing. And just think how big their student loans must be.
 
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