Question About Atopica

Hi Angie,
There are good generics for Atopica and they are available widely. I suspect that the clinic you are using prefers that clients get their medications there and don’t want to give you a prescription so you can buy it somewhere else. Why do they do this? Because they probably feel, as a business, that the overhead of treating your dog is covered in part through the money they generate from prescription meds. They may also claim that they don’t want owners buying fake medications online that could be harmful.

My clinic has a general policy to that effect. However, because I use my clinic frequently for both dogs, they tend to bend that policy with me occasionally without complaint. For instance I use a heartworm product that they don’t carry. They didn’t have this policy when Chance was so ill and Atopica at that time was brand only but they charged me pretty much what the going price was online. But I think, overall, if I had asked for help in trying to keep my costs down (which were extensive), they would have responded to my needs by letting me go online for some items that would be significantly cheaper.

So this comes down to your relationship with your vet. My tactic would be to thank my vet for all the help she has provided to help my dog get better. Then I would ask if they could help me get my overall costs down by prescribing generics. If they don’t carry the generic cyclosporine, might I have a prescription, please, so I can fill it at one of the pharmacies? Then I would show the price that I can get it for to them and give them a chance to offer it to me for that price.

Any compassionate vet is going to respond to an owner who expresses their need this way. If you have been paying right along, it’s not a good time for them to squeeze you for $15. If they are smart, they will understand that.

If you cannot come to an agreement with your vet do you think there are other vets in your area that are not so rigid about this?
my best
patrice

Well done Angie. Sorry a bit slow on the scene, I’ve been away and am doing a catch up now.

Vally & Bingo