You may obtain Prescription Only Medicines (POM) from us, or ask for a written prescription and obtain these medicines from another veterinary surgeon or a pharmacy. As a vet will need to determine and check the medication to be prescribed, and as we are responsible for your pet’s care while they are on treatment, a fee is charged for providing a written prescription (currently from £18.50 for up to 3 months’ supply).
Written prescription requests are completed only when produced and recorded on our own computer system. A written prescription may not be appropriate if your pet is an in-patient or immediate treatment is required. Further information on the prices of medicines and fees is available on request.
By law we can only prescribe these medicines to animals under our care, and as such animals requiring repeat prescriptions will need periodic re-examinations with a vet for which a consultation fee will be charged. This also enables us to ensure the medication dose is appropriate and to monitor for side effects. The general policy of Greenbay Vets is to re-assess an animal requiring repeat prescriptions every 3-6 months, but this may vary with individual circumstances. If you request more medication but are due a medication check, you will be told an appointment needs to be made before any more can be dispensed; if you have completely run out of medication, enough will be given to tide you over. For prescription worming and flea treatments, we will need to have seen the animal within the last 12 months.
When requesting more medication or food please give us 48 hours notice. The main reason for this is to allow us time to check whether it is in stock (if it is not we can order it to arrive the next working day) and also to dispense it.
You can now order food/medication via the website using this form, or by sending us a WhatsApp message.
Why can you find some drugs cheaper on the internet?
We keep a wide range of medications in stock in order to provide treatment immediately to the animals in our care, including very expensive drugs that are rarely used. We also have to cover the costs of disposing of drugs that have passed their use-by date.
We employ staff who are trained to not only know what to prescribe, but who can also advise about giving medication to your pet and who will also know how to deal with any suspected side effects. We back up medication with care e.g. offering free arthritic clinics for pets on long-term pain-killers with our nursing team and offering advice for dealing with a flea infestation.
An online drug company only needs to pay the salary of a qualified dispenser, with no other clinic costs. They can also take advantage of bulk purchasing to reduce their buying costs. As a result they can often sell medications to the customer at a lower price than we can buy them in. Unlike ourselves, the online pharmacy is under no obligation to provide 24 hour care, which is hugely costly.
Please note also that all drugs are strictly temperature controlled in transit to us and on our premises to ensure the drugs maintain their efficacy. When drugs are sent out by post from an online pharmacy, there will usually be no measures in place to ensure e.g. drugs do not get too hot during transport in the summer.
You should never be able to buy prescription medications online without a prescription – if you can, this is illegal and should be reported to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Unfortunately we do know of clients who have bought medications online that are fake products.
Please note it is an offence under the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 for a person to alter a written prescription unless authorised to do so by the person who signed it.