Online Pharmacy Policy

At Friendship Animal Hospital, we take pride in being your furry family member’s doctor and see our role as an integral part in providing healthcare to your pet. The primary focus of our practice is centered on offering a professional level of high quality medical, surgical and dental care. In addition to these professional services, we do stock numerous forms of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and products for your pets.

We carry these items in our practice primarily for two reasons: (1) Many items are animal specific formulations or for animal only usage – often these products aren’t carried locally by traditional brick and mortar pharmacies, and (2) there is a convenience in having items readily available onsite rather than sending our clients to another location just to sit and wait for prescriptions to be filled elsewhere. Friendship Animal Hospital takes measures to ensure the vaccines, medications and products we provide to our patients are properly handled and stored from initial manufacture until they reach our facility. The items we offer from our hospital supply are obtained either directly from their manufacturing source or via our relationship with selected major distributors which track these items to verify their integrity.

We’re fully aware there are many internet sites which sell pharmaceutical products directly to consumers. Contrary to  advertising touting pet medications available at “less than half the price” from the veterinarian, this veterinary office generally offers full-sized packaged medications (Heartgard, Frontline, Revolution, Rimadyl) for similar prices – in fact, we might be even lower when company “bonus doses” or manufacturer rebates are taken into account.

It is our practice policy to provide written prescriptions to our clients at their request. We do not charge a fee for writing prescriptions for patients. We do, however, wish for your decision on where to have your pet’s prescription filled to be an informed one, and feel it is part of our responsibility as your pet’s doctor to advise you to consider the following:

We will provide a written prescription on request provided we have recently examined your pet and the particular medication or product is appropriate. The time frame of “recent examination” is at the doctor’s discretion but will never exceed a maximum of one year from your pets’ last annual examination. The written prescription will be provided directly to you by picking it up from the hospital.

If you choose internet or catalogue sources, we advise you to copy your script and mail them the original.  We recommend this process for the same reason we will only provide written prescriptions to you and why we do not respond to fax requests or telephone calls from internet or catalogue companies – We require our physical prescription form to be used so it can be traced back and authenticated in the event of medication error, failure, or adverse reaction.

Please double check to ensure your prescription is sent, filled, labeled, shipped and used correctly. Carefully select your choice of pharmacy including thoroughly researching for Board of Pharmacy disciplinary actions.

Some guarantees made by manufacturers regarding their products are null and void (not honored) if their products are purchased through non-approved channels. This includes the guarantee reimbursement for heartworm/intestinal parasite claims if your pet contracts heartworms or specific parasites while on prevention.

Some internet based pharmacies and catalogue companies have been repeatedly reprimanded by the FDA and State Board of Pharmacy for violating prescribing procedure. Several well known companies have been cited and fined repeatedly for the same violations in the same states or several states!

Pharmaceuticals manufactured and labeled for use in other countries (Australia, New Zealand) have been illegally diverted and sold through some internet sources and catalogues in the United States. In addition, counterfeit medications, preventatives and products have been produced and sold to unsuspecting consumers. The FDA-CVM has documented these problems with the use of some internet sources at www.fda.gov.