Vet repeat prescriptions

[egoold]

Just wondering if this is right or not, my dog who is 10 years old now has been on Apoquel daily for last 5 years or more, His insurance was going up and up so changed insurer and opted to pay for his apoquel myself rather than claiming through insurance.

been getting repeat prescriptions from the vet in order to buy the apoquel online and paying the vet for the prescription quite happily. He would get an annual consultation which i was happy to pay for too,

However now, the vet will only issue a repeat prescription (chargeable ) after a consultation (also chargeable) and each prescription will only last him 3 months. so that's £63.50 ever 3 months before i have even purchased the tablets!

Is this normal ? or is the vet being unreasonable ?

[spanner10]

Has the vet sold out to Medivet or similar?

All those shiny head offices don' t pay for themselves.

I think it's being plain greedy - try speaking to another vets , preferably an independent one if you can find one .

[Hashtaggggg]

I had a chat with my local independent vet about a similar situation a coupe of years ago when my Labrador was poorly.

I came to the conclusion that the charge was fair, after all who's door will we be banging on of the pet is injured etc..

In the end I ended up paying for the subscription medicine from the vets.

We live in a world of expecting everything to be at rockbottom prices and then moaning if the service is inadequate.


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Edited by Hashtaggggg on Tuesday 24th November 20:05

[moorx]

I believe that there may be a legal requirement for vets to see an animal regularly ?every six months? to continue prescribing.

[Mr Tom]

Written prescriptions are only allowed to be valid for 6 months.
When prescribing medications the animal is under the vets care and is healthy enough to receive the medication. Therefore 3 monthly checks are normal to ensure this.
I work got an independent practice in the north west of England. Prescription check is £26 and a written script is £15. Therefore £41 for a consultation to ensure the patient is healthy and you can buy your medications for a much reduced price.

[sociopath]

Our vet gives a 6 month repeat prescription (£18) but wants to see our dog each time they renew it (unless he's been recently and then they don't force us to have an extra consultation).

Paying for the consultation is still going to be way cheaper than paying your vet for the apoquel!

On a side point, we've moved off apoquel onto cytopoint injections which seem better, supposed to be monthly but actually only needed every couple of months, so works out cheaper than apoquel.