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Buying pets meds from UK?

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  • 27-05-2020 9:06am
    #1
    shelly24
    Registered Users Posts: 77 ✭✭


    We rescued a little dog a few months ago and found out after she has a chronic skin problem and that's why she was given up, it's so expensive to treat and we can't get pet insurance because we brought her to vets once because of it (before we looked into pet insurance) so now it's a preexisting condition.
    She is on apoquel and it's now costing me 70 euro for just over a months supply (that's on top of the €50 special food and €35 shampoo that she needs to be bathed in once a week)
    I could get 100 apoquel tablets from a UK place but they require a prescription for it, I asked my vet could he give me a prescription instead of me buying the tablets from him and he said no
    Anyone got any ideas?
    We can't go to blue cross because we don't meet their criteria
    The whole thing is costing us so much money it's crazy but we wouldn't even consider for one second giving up on her, she's in a great place now but in the space of 6 months or so we've spent over 1000 euro between vet visits and the meds (she needed double dose of meds a few times when she was in a really bad place)
    Any tips welcome!
    We did approach the rescue centre because they had told us she was 100% healthy and only given up because her previous owner was pregnant but their only advice was for us to give her back to them which we obviously wouldn't do
    Thanks


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    #2
    tk123
    Registered Users Posts: 14,024 ✭✭✭✭tk123


    Some vets will give a prescription and some don’t. Mine does and it saves me €120. We’re due a renewal in the next few months and I assume it’ll be our last chance before brexit kicks in! :(. I got the prescription after asking if I could buy the meds in bulk from the vets rather than month by month as the cost was just crazy - she just wrote it for me. We're in the vets a lot for checkups, laser therapy so the vets know us well at this stage.

    Have you looked into diet at all eg wet food/raw instead of dry.


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    #3
    shelly24
    Registered Users Posts: 77 ✭✭shelly24


    tk123 wrote: »
    Some vets will give a prescription and some don’t. Mine does and it saves me €120. We’re due a renewal in the next few months and I assume it’ll be our last chance before brexit kicks in! :(. I got the prescription after asking if I could buy the meds in bulk from the vets rather than month by month as the cost was just crazy - she just wrote it for me. We're in the vets a lot for checkups, laser therapy so the vets know us well at this stage.

    Have you looked into diet at all eg wet food/raw instead of dry.
    Hi yes we looked into her diet, we put her on a raw diet for 13 weeks and it made no difference, I wasn't mad on the raw food with young kids around and we go up and down to our mobile so it would be awkward so we went onto special dry food for dogs with skin problems
    I think it's environmental more then good, we wash her paws with diluted hibiscrub after each walk, bath in malaseb once a week and apoquel and she is in a good place with that routine


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    #4
    DBB
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 9,727 Mod ✭✭✭✭DBB


    Was Apoquel your first port of call, or were cheaper alternatives investigated but found not to work?
    What's the diagnosis your dog got? Is it Atopy?
    As a matter of interest, is she a white dog? Or a Staffy or mix if Staffy? Just asking out of curiosity... white breeds and Staffies seem terribly prone to skin issues :o


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    #5
    rainemac
    Registered Users Posts: 170 ✭✭rainemac


    Our 14yr old dog is on apoquel, it's so expensive along with his other 3 medications we are spending €130 average per month. Because of his age we cant bulk buy, he's doing well now but in the cold weather was on his last legs!
    We had him on and off steriods for years, ddnt know about apoquel until the side effects of the steroids were killing him so I think it's the right medication for a young dog if he needs consistent medication for his skin condition.

    We settled on skinners duck and rice food a few years ago and it meant he ddnt require steroids all the time. No specific diagnosis given but it would affect his under belly and ears.


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    #6
    Icesmum
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭Icesmum


    Skin issues are hard to fix and can take many moths to see an improvement. My gorgeous girl was diagnosed with chronic dermatitis after a biopsy. She was scratching excessively and chewing her feet and had to wear a cone. I did a ton of research and treated my girl with a combination of a brilliant homeopathic vet and switching her to raw. It took many months to see an improvement but finally she is doing fantastic. She's 90% fixed and I've no doubt she'll continue to improve.


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