Prescription Veterinary Drugs
Questions: May I buy some xyz drug for my pet from
you? We have been purchasing it at our regular veterinarian’s
office and we just ran out.
Veterinarians are commonly asked to provide medications for pets
that are not established patients. There are many reasons,
including the owner just moving to Waco or
McLennan County, visiting the area, or just traveling through.
The answer depends first on the classification of the
drug. There are two broad groups known as:
1. Prescription or legend drugs
(Rx), and
2. OTC or over-the-counter drugs.
Most people can relate to their own experiences of going to
their physician, and having a prescription filled by a pharmacist,
vs. picking up a cold or pain medication off the shelves of a
pharmacy or other store. The medication directly from the
pharmacist generally would be a prescription drug while the other
drug would be an OTC drug. The difference is the doctor’s
order or prescription.
Veterinarians are allowed to dispense prescription drugs
directly to the client. Because the owner normally does not
see a written or phoned in prescription to the pharmacy, they are
not aware of the "doctor’s order", however, for a legend
drug, the veterinarian's prescription must
exist. To confuse the issue further, some veterinary
drugs can be prescription some of the time, and OTC at other times.
Veterinarians carry both prescription and OTC drugs in their
offices.
It is illegal for a veterinarian to sell a prescription
medication to an established client or anyone else without the
"doctor’s order" or prescription and the complete fulfillment of
all of the other requirements that must be met by the
veterinarian and client to allow for the making of that
order. By illegally selling medication to anyone under any
circumstances, the veterinarian risks civil fines, suspension, and
possible loss of their veterinary license.
Recently the state boards of veterinary medical examiners have
begun to interpret the pharmacy laws much more strictly on one
veterinarian dispensing a prescription drug for another. In
general that is no longer allowed.
While we don’t always agree with the rules and regulations of
laws, we must go by those requirements. So, regardless of how
long your pet has used a medication or whether or not
you only need a few days worth to get home, please
understand the fact that we would like to help but can not
unless we meet the complicated rules of being able to issue the
"doctor’s order". Only by establishing a proper
doctor/client/patient relationship can we do that, and that
requires your completing the correct paper work for our hospital
records and allowing us to examine your pet.
