Best place online for heartworm meds

Due to their methods of procurement, online sellers of heartworm preventative can not control the shipping and storage conditions of the product they sell. This is one of the reasons that manufacturers of heartworm preventative will not honor guarantees of efficacy for product purchased from sources other than veterinary clinics. That said, for years veterinarians have used these "preventative" pharmaceutical products to subsidize the costs of treating sick animals rather than charge higher exam fees, surgery fees, etc. (it was easier to just blame the pharmaceutical companies for the high costs). Online pharmacies are now forcing the veterinary profession to re-evaluate their pricing policies and many clinics (ours included) are now matching the price of online pharmacies to ensure that their clients receive medications with guarantees of efficacy. Of course, this requires the price of other products and services (e.g., exam fees, surgery fees, etc.) to increase since the overall costs of running the practice have not changed. All said, perhaps there is little justification for the cost of treatment of "healthy" animals to subsidize the cost of treatment of "sick" ones - one only hopes that theirs doesn't get sick.
Wayne Jensen, DVM, PhD, MBA
Wellington, Colorado

We have clients that come in and want heartworm medicine from pet meds. We will not authorize any prescriptions that come from here. The reason why is because this company gets there products from over seas and even know it is in the same kind of box and looks like the same product IT IS NOT THE SAME product. That product is not licensed by the FDA. If you give that medication and your dog comes down with heartworm you are on your own with the costs. The company will not pay for the treatment. The pro's for buying it from your vet is that if your dog gets heartworm while on there medication they will pick up the cost. That is one of the reasons why the cost is more at the vet clinic than online because you are paying for the research on the product and the guarentee on it. Pet meds will go as far as dispensing medication without a prescription which is illegal. If you do a google search on "pet meds complaints" you will see all the complaints and legal issues they are dealing with. If our clients want to buy the product online then we refer them to www.vetcentric.com and they will match any online company and they are a licensed vet pharmacy so the product is real and they ofer guarentees if the pet gets heartworm. I have seen dogs with heartworm and have treated them and I would rather pay a little more for a good product. There are times to scrimp with pet care and heartworm medication is not one of them.