Prescription Request Policy

Veterinary medicine is seeing an alarming influx of improper prescription requests, prescription fraud, as well as third-party errors made by non-clinical personnel. Our top priority is to optimize the health and well-being of your pets. The entire team at Easton Veterinary Clinic is committed to helping your pet enjoy a happier and healthier life. Veterinary medications dispensed in our clinic come from a qualified team who can answer your questions and assure you that your animal companion has the proper drug, dosage, and most importantly a safe product. When medications are involved, our primary goal is to ensure that you not only receive the proper medication but also any of the safety information as it pertains to your individual pet’s health. One of the greatest dangers in veterinary medicine is improper prescription requests. To safeguard our patients and provide the best service for our clients, we would like to inform you of the safest policy for prescription requests.

Please call the office directly for any prescription requests.

You can also request prescriptions and refills through our PetDesk app. Our team will be happy to fill your pet’s prescription so that you can pick it up directly from our clinic. We are also happy to ship prescriptions directly to you via priority shipping. Our policy enables you to have prescriptions filled directly through the clinic or have a written prescription prepared for you to deliver to a pharmacy of your choosing. Please remember to plan ahead. While we work diligently to accommodate requests as soon as possible. We ask you to provide 72 hours’ notice for prescription requests. If utilizing third-party/online sources, we encourage you to plan ahead 7 to 10 days to ensure adequate turn-around time from all parties involved.

Third-Party Prescription Requests

We respect the right of our clients to get their pet’s medications from the pharmacy of their choice. Unfortunately, there is a high number of requests by online pharmacies that are inappropriate and inaccurate. By calling us directly, we can provide the safest and most efficient service for your prescription refills. If you are choosing to have a prescription filled through another pharmacy, we are happy to prepare a written prescription for you to pick up, just as your doctor supplies you with a written prescription for any human medications. You may request to pick up a written script or ask for it to be mailed to your home address. Please be aware that most online pharmacies require the original prescription to be mailed to them. We advise that you keep a copy for your records and ensure that you receive the correct medication with the correct dosing instructions. This DOES NOT mean that you cannot get your pet’s medication from an outside pharmacy. Our policy will be to issue you a handwritten prescription. This prescription can then be taken or mailed to any pharmacy of your choosing. Each pharmacy will have its own policies as to how they process written prescriptions. Please make sure to check with the pharmacy you plan on using in advance so there won’t be any lapse in medications if they require you to mail in the handwritten prescription.

Need to Know:

● Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship – If your pet needs medication, the Veterinary Board stipulates that there must be a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. This means that in order for us to be able to fill any prescriptions one of our veterinarians needs to have examined your animal within the past twelve (12) months. Some medications require follow-up appointments and/or lab work to help monitor the response and risks associated with the use of the medication.

● Refill Requests Timing– Most of our prescription requests will be filled within the same day but we ask that you allow 72 hours for any prescriptions to be filled to allow our team to review the request and your pet’s medical record.

● Online Pharmacy Prescriptions – Our relationship with the drug manufacturers ensures that the prescription drugs we dispense are safe and trusted. In fact, all of the major veterinary drug manufacturers maintain a strict practicing veterinary–only sales policy. These manufacturers have this policy in place because they know that veterinarians and their staff are best suited to discuss the issues relating to safety and efficacy, as well as, the side effects and risks that may be associated with your animal companion. Exactly how some of the retailers and internet pharmacies acquire your pets’ drugs is not publicized given that they circumvent the “veterinary-only” sales policies of the drug makers. Many of these companies obtain their products through diversion. Diversion, for most of these cases, involves a way for these companies to obtain the drugs from an unauthorized channel. Most diverted product is purchased from the manufacturer by unscrupulous individuals who resell to an online pharmacy to make a quick profit. Although we recognize that diversion is not necessarily illegal, we do feel it is an unethical method. Diversion eliminates the ability to know exactly how your pet’s medication has been stored or handled and whether it is an effective or even a safe product. Furthermore, products purchased through online pharmacies will null and void any manufacturer guarantees or reimbursement programs due to product failure.

Our goal again is for your pets to live happier and healthier lives and we want our clients to be informed and aware of their options. We strive to make things as convenient as possible while still upholding our medical integrity.

Please visit the link below for further information: https://www.avma.org/prescriptions-and-pharmacies-pet-owners-faq