What you should know about online pet pharmacies

Online pet pharmacies are cheap and convienent. But there are a few things you should know before purchasing your pet's medication from one.

No medications claim to be 100% effective. This is true for your pet's heartworm preventative as well. While the chances are relatively low, a small percentage of animals on monthly preventative still contract this deadly disease. The manufacturers of Heartgard, Trifexis, Revolution and others will only guarantee their products if purchased directly from your veterinarian.

If your pet contracts heartworms despite not missing any doses of preventative, the compaines will pay for the heartworm treatment only if the products were purchased directly from your veterinarian, so long as documentation can be provided showing proof of purchases.

Heartworm preventatives were never intented to be sold through online pharmacies. These companies obtain them from unethical veterinarians who divert their own purchases to these pharmacies, and then receive compensation for the transaction. In addition, who knows how many times those products have exchanged hands, and what environmental conditions these products were exposed to prior to arriving at your door.

You may have seen a recent commercial for a popular pet pharmacy state that they provide a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. This is NOT the manufacturer guarantee. If you purchase heartworm preventative from an online pharmacy and your pet contracts heartworms, the expense for the treatment comes out of your pocket up front, then you must rely on the online pharmacy to reimburse you for the treatment cost.

Recently, a client of ours had a negative experience from an online pharmacy with her purchase of flea control. The pharmacy refused her request to return the product because it had been opened.