Carla, I used 1800petmeds.com for a year or so. I have an ongoing prescription for one of my dogs and it worked out well if I placed an order at least a week in advance. The price on her meds was quite a bit cheaper but if you don't spend over a certain amount ($40???) each time you have to pay shipping which for me ate up most of the money I was saving on the meds. I quit using them and here's why: Last year they screwed up my order. I had asked my vet to call in a prescription refill. Even though the refill didn't show up in my petmeds account I placed the order. Sometimes it takes a day or so for them to get it in the system at which point they are supposed to ship. Then I went out of town for the weekend. Came back and waited several days for my meds which never showed up. Petmeds showed my order as not being filled due to no refills being available. So I called the vet again and asked them to call the refill in again. After a few days the refill still didn't show up in my account and since the vet verified that she did call I decided to call their customer service #. Oh yeah, the person I was talking to was friendly and attempting to be helpful until the clock hit 4pm at which point the phone went dead. It's just a guess but was thier shift over and instead of finishing up with the customer they just hung up so they could go home??? Since I was basically out of medication I was forced to fill it through my vet. They told me they have had many problems with petmeds messing up clients orders - and this is a large university clinic... IMHO going through them to save a few bucks has not been worth the headache I've had dealing with them. You may have better luck than I did but if you do give them a try make sure you verify everything every step of the way. You don't want to have their screw up cause you to run out of medication....

Thanks Prof R...What you've said takes away some of the guilt I've had about his passing. I don't believe that he had a murmur before and he had recently gone through some pretty thorough exams trying to get to the bottom of what was causing his seizures. The only thing we didn't have done was an MRI, because they didn't have the capabilities at my vet, and we would have had to bring him to UT. Our vet and I made the decision that, even if we were to opt for an MRI and it showed a brain tumor, that there really was no reasonable treatment and we would just let him live out his days until it seemed like his quality of life was gone. He was a fighter and made it out of a horrible breeder situation. Part of his neurological disorder effected his balance, and we even had a little wheelchair specially made for him. He was a sweet little guy and we miss him dearly :( I think its wonderful that you work with a veterinary hospital. Ever since I was a little child, everyone told me I should have been a vet, and I greatly regret not going into that field and instead ending up in finance. I volunteer every weekend at a no-kill shelter and we also foster special needs dogs (how we came to acquire Dusty last year). Its not the same, but its my little contribution :) Tammy ps: sorry for hijacking gardenweb to talk about my Dusty!

My cat is a rescue cat & has PTSD & I don't think she would even sit between my thighs like that. It's taken TEN years for her to feel safe enough to even sit on my lap! I tried putting the fairly large half a tablet in her mouth but she just screamed, went berserk & clawed me! I've already wasted 3 doses. She's barely eaten for 3 days & would rather starve than take it. I think it would have gone better with liquid although I wouldn't swear to that. I have to give her Metacam & she just about accepts that from a syringe. Trouble is she has bad teeth & I'm just so afraid of hurting her because she even screams sometimes when she's not even eating! I've already paid £380 for some teeth to be removed but within 3 weeks she was screaming again & it seemed like I'd wasted all that money for half a job! A different vet said she needed more teeth out for another £380! I don't have that amount of money, it was only good timing that I had enough money the last time! So I spent £100 to take her to the PDSA (taxi fare) & another £10 for a donation. The vet wanted to see how she got on with the antibiotics before taking more teeth out because her kidneys are so small (I never see her drinking water) but she HAS to have these teeth out regardless of risk because she's in pain & it would be unkind leaving her with with toothache & a possible untreated abscess because I know what that feels like & it's a horrible pain..Never mind the fact that I have to chase her round the room to catch her & that's not easy either! I'm just in despair now & don't know what to do for the best.

Most drugs we use on animals ARE human meds. Some exceptions are parasiticides, heartworm prevention, things specific to animal diseases. There are very few drugs developed for the sole purpose of use in animals, and most of them are developed for dogs and cats. There is not one drug labeled for use in ferrets for example. Yet we Rx drugs for ferrets all the time. Benadryl is often used to help animals with alleriges. Again, there are not any allergy drugs specific for animals, so we HAVE to use human drugs. If you have any questions about the dose or effects, the vet is the person to ask. But I can say that benadryl is exremely well-tolerated in animals, even with long-term use. To save money just ask for the dose of whatever drug you need and shop around. You have to be careful with things like allergy drugs and make sure you purchase products that are ONLY antihistamines, nothing with a degongestant, or you will have one excitable dog with a heck of a tachycadia. But the stuff the vet sells you is just generic benadryl (diphenhydramine) and s/he may be able to sell it for less than a drug store. I give my dogs glucosamine/chondroitin now. When B'Elanna had hepatitis she got Sam-e and milk thistle on recommendation from the vet; both are OTC. I've never given a dog aspirin of any kind, because of its problems with GI ulceration; I prefer the Rx drugs for long-term use (using Rimadyl on K'Ehleyr now). BTW, Rimadyl was developed for people, but humans had too many reactions so it got sent to the veterinary market. I've given my allergic dogs chlorpheniramine and diphenhydramine. Aleks needed antacids when he was sick- Tagament/cimetidine, and a proton-pump inhibitor -Pepcid. Tatya got a couple doses of Immodium when she had soy-induced diarrhea (won't make THAT mistake again!). If your vet asks what drugs you give your pet, tell him or her everything about everything that isn't food. All the supplements, vitamins, OTC products, EVERYTHING! There are many OTC products that cause serious interactions with other drugs. BTW- if you are using aspirin on a regular basis in your dog and want to switch to an NSAID, the withdrawl time for the aspirin is 2 weeks! That means no pain control for 2 weeks while switching over. Also ANY NSAID (Rx or OTC) plus steroid= GI ulcer, I'd put money on that. So PLEASE tell your vet about ALL the drugs you give your pet, especially when the vet is going to Rx more drugs. S/he might need a reminder to avoid bad interactions.