Pet Med

4 Ways to Save Money on Pet Med Prescriptions

Times are tough, and sometimes, taking care of your pet can be expensive. Let's be honest, though: Your pet is your friend, or even a part of the family. You have to keep him healthy, which means spending some money on the pet med prescriptions that he needs. That doesn't mean, though, that you have to break your budget for it. There are several good ways to save money on your pet med prescriptions. Here are four of them.

 

#1. Ask for Generics. Most people already know that they can save money on their own prescriptions by getting the generic equivalent instead of buying the name brand. What many people don't understand is that this holds true of pet med prescriptions, as well. Several common pet med products, such as anti-inflammatory products and antibiotics come in generic brands that cost much less.

 

#2. Ask for a higher dose of the pet med prescription. Usually, a higher dosage won't cost much more than the smaller dose. The real advantage is that you can cut these in halves and give your dog or cat just one at a time. Usually, they're halved, ready for easy halving.

 

#3. Don't think that you always have to buy the pet med from your vet. If you ask, most vets will be glad to talk to you about other local places where you can find a more competitive price on that medication. It's true that there are certain advantages to buying directly from your dog or cat's veterinarian, like the fact that you can start treatment immediately. However, if the price seems unreasonable, then understand that you have options. One of those options might be buying from some other place.

 

#4. The easiest way of getting a good deal on your pet med prescriptions is to shop online. Online pharmacies allow you to check the prices of dozens of prescriptions at the same time, and to easily compare the generic price with its name-brand equivalent. Fortunately, the quality of online pharmacies has dramatically improved over the past several years. The best ones are as good as any animal pharmacy that you will find locally. Best of all is the convenience and low cost of shopping on the Web.

 

If you choose to shop online, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind.

 

- Make sure that the shipping costs that the online pharmacy charges you do not cause the cost of the pet med prescriptions to exceed the cost of buying them locally. This would defeat the whole purpose. Better still, find a pharmacy that offers free shipping.
- Deal only with pharmacies that offer some kind of guarantee for their prescriptions, so that you can order with a certain amount of confidence.
- Order only from pharmacies that make it easy to reach someone. That means they should offer both e-mail and telephone contact methods. Something more, such as online chat, is just icing on the cake.

 

You can't give up buying pet med prescriptions for your four-legged friends. You can, however, get a good deal, if you know how to shop.