1-800-petmeds

i'm currently away at college, so i don't purchase the medications for my dog. my mom is debating whether or not to buy frontline/sentinel from 1800 pet meds rather than my vet, but at the practice where I work as a tech, i know that the doctors tell the patients not to buy from any online sellers.

my question is, should 1800 pet meds be trusted? why or why not? can anyone provide some actual evidence as to why i shouldn't trust what they sell me?

what do you mean "be trusted"? They send you what you buy...are you worried they will tell your employer? Im confused

I don't like them, they're just as expensive as the vet office.

I've personally dealt with Omaha Vaccine (Pet Supplies Delivered / Omaha Vaccine Company) and KV Vet (KV Pet & Equine / KV HealthLinks - Dog, Cat and Horse Supplies, Pet Meds and Nutritio). KV Vet is the site I've always gotten my prescriptions through, they're AMAZING and very inexpensive.

With Heartworm medications they only guarantee them if purchased from the vet, this means if your dog gets heartworm while taking the medication which you got from the vet, they will pay for treatment. So, for this reason I think it is important to get this from your vet.

For flea meds however, I dont think it really matters... whats the worst that happens, it doesnt work that good, your dog gets fleas, you clean your dog, disaster averted... I have heard that some online resalers sell outdated/expired meds, but I couldnt give you any proof of that... I have no idea if it is true or not.

Good Luck.

well i had heard things like the products don't work the way they're supposed, they're not stored properly, they're expiration date is passed...pretty much you can't trust that the medication that you're getting will really work the way it should or be the medication it should be. i'm just worried about whether i can trust that it will work just the same on my dog.

i had also heard that if something happens to him (i.e. he gets heartworm i guess) then the company won't pay for it since i didn't buy directly from the vet.

personally, if i were buying my own medication, i wouldn't buy from online - so i'm just asking everyone else's opinion?

Oh ok...sorry I'd never heard of that. I buy TONS of stuff online...

last summer I bought like $120 in flea meds from them...worked fine...cheaper than my vet even with shipping... where I live we don't really worry about heartworms.

I buy most of my meds online from lambert vet supply. For the prescription stuff the vet just faxes the script over to their place and the meds come in the mail. They're fine with me doing it that way as they don't stock Strider's flea meds yet (he takes Comfortis). So far they have had the best prices on meds I have found, and came recommended by some friends.

How long have you been using the flea pill?

Is it working for you? Also did you have any flea problems before... I mean are fleas a problem in your area?

What made you choose the pill over the topical?

Sorry for so many questions, but I have been considering it but never knew anyone who used it.

No problem! We have bad fleas in this area since it's so humid. Ticks show up once in a while but not often, and I brush daily so find them right away if they are there.

We were living in an apartment for a while that had HORRIBLE fleas. I have some really gross pictures of Strider's belly and back where he pulled out all his fur, it was just bald with scabs and bloody. I gave him baths using pyrethrin based shampoos, let it soak in and they were still alive after wards. I used frontline, and they were still alive. Advantage and they lived. This was with observing the no bath for a week at least before and after application.

Bug bombs did nothing. The only thing that worked was spraying him with some cedar/cinnamon oil stuff that stank and stained his fur yellow. Even that was supposed to keep them off for a week. It would kill on contact but they'd start crawling through the area within minutes of it drying.

Comfortis was like a miracle. Seriously within half an hour of taking it, the fleas were dropping off stone dead. It's supposed to work without them having to bite which I love too. He takes it with food and has never had problems barfing afterwords. No side affects at all for him.

Some drawbacks, it doesn't work for ticks so you need something else to deal with them. Also, it's not recommended for dogs that have a history of seizures as it can increase the chances of having a seizure in dogs that had one previously. In the trials no dogs without a history of seizure had one after taking the meds. And actually, the ones that did were taking something like 5 times the recommended dose so it's probably not too risky if you follow the recommended doses.

manufacturers of the drugs say that they do not sell to online pharmacies, they only sell to veterinarians. therefore, where their stock is coming from is a question mark. i think most of it comes from europe. is it fine? probably. but there is more risk, so you need to decide how much risk you're willing to take with something like heartworm (and drugs that you're putting into your pet's body). the company will not guarantee product purchased from anywhere but a vet.

I buy mine from a company called Petshed.com. They are from Australia and are very inexpensive, plus they post the expiration dates of the meds on the site.

The way they get around the selling to a vet is to put a vet on the payroll at some of these places

A lot of vets (at least around here) won't give a prescription............so that's the end of that even if I wanted to buy online, LOL

I only buy my flea/tick meds (Frontline Plus) online at Petcarerx.com and they've always worked great. I buy my Heartgard from the vet and probably wouldn't buy it online.

You hit the nail on the head. I can't tell you how many people we've had come into the clinic showing us their box of heartworm prevention or flea meds and asking us why it gives the weight in kilograms versus pounds. Why does it? Because they are not getting US approved drugs.

I hate that company and have seen them screw people over, deliver unacceptable drugs, etc. And they are also in trouble for having a "vet" who will on occasion override a true vet's "NO!" decision to work with them. It's illegal and I know that about 2 years ago a lawsuit was pending against the company for that very reason.

Stay far, far away.

Like mentioned, look at sites such as Jeffers and KV vet supplies. They are much more reputable. In fact, they are on a whole different level.

1-800 Pet Meds does. But I know that a while back they were under lawsuit for having their "vet" override a client's vet when that client wanted a dog's valium filled 2 weeks earlier than it should have been (meaning that either she was waaaaay overdosing the dog when it was seizuring...or....she was taking the meds). That's a BIG NO-NO!

I get the Super Joint Enhancer from them and I have been very happy with quality and customer service.