Is it worth buying Bute on line

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Sandstone1

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Is it worth buying bute on line. I have a old pony who just needs one before farrier etc as finds holding his legs up for long a bit difficult. Hes happy in all other ways and vet checked him recently. Vet charges £32 for a prescription and their bute is around £150 a box. Prices seem to vary a lot on line. Anyone buy bute on line?
 
He has one day before and one day of farrier. Farrier is every 6 weeks. So roughly, 8 sachets in 6 months. A box of a hundred would last him ages. Probably easier just to get from vet as and when really. Was just trying to save money:)
 
I had a pony issue over lockdown, called vet and they advised to give a bite, the only one I could find went out of date in 2015 and vet said to give it, worst case it didn’t work, so I’d be inclined to buy a box from the vet and keep it safe.
 
Sandstone1 said:
Is it worth buying bute on line. I have a old pony who just needs one before farrier etc as finds holding his legs up for long a bit difficult. Hes happy in all other ways and vet checked him recently. Vet charges £32 for a prescription and their bute is around £150 a box. Prices seem to vary a lot on line. Anyone buy bute on line?
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I split a box with my friend last time, sometimes the dates are shorter thats the only thing.
Orbis never had any so they will probably be out of date before i need them
 
Sandstone1 said:
He has one day before and one day of farrier. Farrier is every 6 weeks. So roughly, 8 sachets in 6 months. A box of a hundred would last him ages. Probably easier just to get from vet as and when really. Was just trying to save money:)
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Do remember the law has changed for dispensing drugs. Unless the vets have already seen him and he is on a regular dose, they won't be able to dispense the drug without a visit.
 
AdorableAlice said:
Do remember the law has changed for dispensing drugs. Unless the vets have already seen him and he is on a regular dose, they won't be able to dispense the drug without a visit.
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Yes, Thank you. He has just been seen by the vet who sold me some bute. I was just wondering if its worth buying a box which would keep him going for ages . I can get a written prescription if I need it.
 
Sandstone1 said:
Yes, Thank you. He has just been seen by the vet who sold me some bute. I was just wondering if its worth buying a box which would keep him going for ages . I can get a written prescription if I need it.
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If the vet has just seen him and you are only using minimal amounts of Bute, then - if your vet is playing by the rules - should only issue a prescription for the amount he would be using within the next six months, and by the time you’ve forked out for prescription, postage etc, unlikely to be worth buying online.
Your vets may be more accommodating, however, and prescribe for an entire boxful(!), some practices more lenient than others with the rules.
If any sachets are past their use by date, such sachets should never be sold to you, but they will remain effective and usable by you for far longer, provided have been stored as per advice 😊
 
That’s quite reasonable. Cover are about £118 for 100 sachets. One of mine gets 1 a day and another 0.5 so vet generally does a prescription for several boxes. If I was only using occasionally and just keeping some in for emergencies I would just use the vet.
 
It was for me. Horse was on up to 2 Bute a day which let him prescribe 3 boxes on a single prescription. Note the phrase up to.

I save about £40 on vet prices and prescription was £15.

Petdrugsonline which I have used are just over £80 and seem to be offering 10% off the first order.
 
It may well be that if you only use a couple of sachets around farrier visits that your vet will decline to write you a prescription for a full box. We are only allowed to write prescriptions for the amount of drugs a horse will require before its next recheck - which is generally 6 months. It does not sound like you will get through anything close to 100 sachets in that time.

Some practices ignore this rule, but they are doing so illegally.
 
Gamebird said:
It may well be that if you only use a couple of sachets around farrier visits that your vet will decline to write you a prescription for a full box. We are only allowed to write prescriptions for the amount of drugs a horse will require before its next recheck - which is generally 6 months. It does not sound like you will get through anything close to 100 sachets in that time.

Some practices ignore this rule, but they are doing so illegally.
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Vet was quite happy to let me have a box or a prescription for a box. I choose to just have a few at the time of visit.
 
If you are just buying a few sachets it won't be worth the prescription fee as they can only prescribe for enough to cover the next 6 months.
Just watch out though, for how much they charge per sachet. On a bill I had a few years ago I was charged £11.50 for two sachets! (I didn't pay that as I hadn't had them, they were on my bill by mistake, but the price shocked me a bit).
The vet is now very expensive for all meds, I've been buying regular meds online for a couple of years now, since being charged £220 for a box of Bute that I could get for £65 online.
 
Domirati said:
That’s quite reasonable. Cover are about £118 for 100 sachets. One of mine gets 1 a day and another 0.5 so vet generally does a prescription for several boxes. If I was only using occasionally and just keeping some in for emergencies I would just use the vet.
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Cragrat said:
My box of Equipalazone (normal bute) has 100 sachets


ETA just looked up my invoice out of curiosity - £112.69 inc vat, from my vet.
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I just bought a box of bute last week (mine is on 1 a day for arthritis). Its gone up in price significantly but I paid £88.95 for 100 sachets.
 
suestowford said:
If you are just buying a few sachets it won't be worth the prescription fee as they can only prescribe for enough to cover the next 6 months.
Just watch out though, for how much they charge per sachet. On a bill I had a few years ago I was charged £11.50 for two sachets! (I didn't pay that as I hadn't had them, they were on my bill by mistake, but the price shocked me a bit).
The vet is now very expensive for all meds, I've been buying regular meds online for a couple of years now, since being charged £220 for a box of Bute that I could get for £65 online.
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Yes it used to be about £65 but this year has shot up in price. A lot of different prices but per above, I pay just over £88 now for a box. Apparently there are different brands on the market now which is still bute but much cheaper so will ask my vet in another 6 months when I need a new prescription.
 
Sandstone1 said:
Is it worth buying bute on line. I have a old pony who just needs one before farrier etc as finds holding his legs up for long a bit difficult. Hes happy in all other ways and vet checked him recently. Vet charges £32 for a prescription and their bute is around £150 a box. Prices seem to vary a lot on line. Anyone buy bute on line?
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Yes always, as you never know when you need it.
 
Yep. My recent bute was £79.95 for box 100 and a £30 prescription which I can use within 6 months for another box of 100 bute if needed. Vet has written up to two boxes on prescription.

So altogether that would cost me £188.90 against the practice which would charge me £326 ( 2 x £163). Saving me £128.

My advice, make sure your vet writes two boxes permitted on the prescription and shop around, mine was on Equine Health Direct website.
 
AdorableAlice said:
Do remember the law has changed for dispensing drugs. Unless the vets have already seen him and he is on a regular dose, they won't be able to dispense the drug without a visit.
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Yes that's right, it's every six months, so if he's been time during that time he will be OK.
 
Birker2020 said:
Yep. My recent bute was £79.95 for box 100 and a £30 prescription which I can use within 6 months for another box of 100 bute if needed. Vet has written up to two boxes on prescription.

So altogether that would cost me £188.90 against the practice which would charge me £326 ( 2 x £163). Saving me £128.

My advice, make sure your vet writes two boxes permitted on the prescription and shop around, mine was on Equine Health Direct website.
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Equine Health Direct recently increased the price to £88 something. This is where I buy mine.
 
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