Catalogue/Internet Prescription Policy

At Paws, Claws, & All Animal Hospital, it is our policy to take every possible step to ensure that our patients receive the very best pharmaceutical products available. This is especially important with life-threatening illnesses such as heartworm disease. However, we understand and empathize with the desire to find products cheaper. We know that several catalogue houses and internet websites presently sell these products cheaper than we are able to. If you wish, we will gladly fax prescriptions for your pet for these products in lieu of selling them here. We do, however wish for your decision to be an informed one, and want you to know several things regarding catalogue house/internet prescription sales:

• All major manufacturers maintain a strict policy of sales exclusively through licensed veterinarians. All catalogue house sales are through non-approved channels.
  
  
• Most guarantees that manufacturers make regarding their products are null and void if their products are purchased through non-approved channels. This includes the guarantee reimbursement programs for Sentinel flea control, as well as all heartworm and intestinal parasite claims.
  
  
• Pharmaceuticals manufactured and labeled for use in other countries (namely Australia) have been illegally diverted and sold through these discount houses in the United States.
  
  
• Discount houses have been cited by the FDA and State Boards of Pharmacy for violating prescribing procedures. PetMedExpress (a.k.a. SaveMax), in particular, was recently fined over $100,000.00 by the FDA and Florida Department of Health. This particular discount house has also recently been sued by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and the Texas Pharmacy Board.
  
  
• Our products come with a person to help you utilize them in the most efficient manner. For example, we do not charge for recheck exams/consults for flea control if a prescription flea control product was purchased here.
  
  
• Shipping charges, delays, miss-shipments, and damaged products are several of the reasons that many clients feel that the hassles of dealing with the catalogue houses are not worth the savings.
  
  
• Understand that the sales of many of our retail products help subsidize the cost of other services at the hospital, namely many emergency and rarely used drugs.

 

If you prefer to purchase your products at catalogue houses or internet websites, we will gladly write prescriptions for these products according to the following guidelines:

• All state and federal prescribing laws apply, the same as if you purchase it here.  You must have a yearly exam done to purchase any kind of prescription medication and if you are purchasing heartworm preventative, a yearly heartworm test is required. Some medications are required to have blood work done twice yearly as well.
  
  
• We will fax this to the internet pharmacy and retain the original.
  

• To avoid any potential doctor-patient confidentiality issues, we will not communicate with the discount house except by fax.
  
  
• It is your responsibility to ensure that the prescription is sent, filled, labeled, shipped, and used correctly. The discount houses have a reputation for poor customer service, and we cannot be expected to take the time to oversee their operations.
  

We will not become involved in any product failure issues for products purchased through these discount houses. This includes flea, heartworm, and intestinal parasite prevention.