Generic drugs

[hillybilly]

My elderly Staffie was diagnosed with congestive heart failure at her annual check up last week. In herself she's as well as she's ever been though has slowed down of course over the years and can't walk as far as she used to.
To control the condition, the vet prescribed a heart drug called Vasotop, the active ingredient of which is Ramipril (dosage 2.5mg for my dog, based on weight). She's been on this for a week now and there have been no side effects, in fact she seems really well, so all we have to do is continue with the medication (for life) and return for check ups every 6 months.
Now, I don't begrudge paying whatever necessary for drugs to keep her well but I do somewhat begrudge paying the over-inflated prices that the vet/drug co. want to charge, so I've been reading up on t'internet http://www.vetinfo.com/subscriber/0107digest.html etc about using generic "human" drugs for pets. Sure enough, my farmacia has the exact same drug and dosage in generic form, available over the counter for one fifth of the price that the vet wants for Vasotop. I've emailed the vet to ask if this is suitable to administer but haven't had a reply yet, so I thought I'd ask you other dog owners on here if you've done similar i.e. used generic "human" drugs for your pets?
On a side note, the condition was only spotted because the vet's local branch here has closed down and so I had to take my dog to the "dog hospital" in Puente Genil where they have all mod cons on site and x-rayed her as part of her check up. If I'd gone to my old vet this wouldn't have happened, so get your elderly dogs x-rayed!

[princess peach]

Hilly,9 times out of 10 all my dogs drugs are from the farmacia.
I had a very poorly puppy here a couple of years ago and he was permanently on different types of tablets all on prescription from the vet to pick up at the human chemists.
If you get no reply from the vet(which i doubt you will,as you are taking his profit away by going to the chemist)take the doggie drugs that the vet has given you to the chemist and ask them if the drugs they sell for humans are the same as your doggies vasotop,and would they be o.k for your dog.The chemists here are used to getting prescriptions from the vets anyway,so your not going to look daft.
If you have no joy with either,i will phone my vet who is also a very good friend of mine and ask him for you.

[hillybilly]

Thanks PP.
I'm not sure I shall get a reply from the vet either.
The pharmacist did say they would be fine...but to be honest I don't have a great deal of faith in him because he was also looking up the other ingredient in the drug and saying that he couldn't find it. I had to point out he was trying to find a non-active yellow colourant I mean, good grief, you don't expect to have to explain what the ingredients are listed in a drug to a pharmacist do you?! It would be funny if it wasn't so potentially serious...

[Jool]

Hilly, my dog is 12 and was diagnosed with heart problem was put on very expensive doggy bp and heart drug (we only used the first lot so I can´t remember the name). I spoke with our vet and he said the most important is the BP medicine and told me what to try and even wrote a prescription to take to the farmacia. Cost is about 2.60 euros for a month´s supply as opposed to 40 euros for doggy version........

My dog is happier on his human blood pressure med - in his case Enalapril 5mg, but an ace inhibitor like Ramipril, and we have done this for nearly a year now with no problems.......veterinary drugs are hellishly expensive here in Spain.

[anis]

Sorry to hear about your dog's diagnosis, Hilly.
I have just been back to the vet this week for some more antibiotic eyedrops for our new ex stray dog again. The infection had cleared up but is back, though not as bad.
The first drops she gave me were from her own surgery, but the second prescription was for a farmacia - she had run out of drops, so I guess medicines from the chemist are fine - it's just the doses that have to be correctly adjusted from human to dog.
Jool, my OH has been on Enalapril for years now and he's fine too
I wonder if there is a higher band of VAT for veterinary medication which pushes the price of it up ?

[hillybilly]

Thanks all. I think what I shall do is finish the first month's supply of vet prescribed drugs and then try her on the ones from the farmacia.
It's also good to hear that the prognosis on these heart drugs is good, although I realise it can never be cured, only controlled. My old girl is 11ish and has also been living happily with a liver condition for about 4 years, controlled by diet. Dogs don't know they're ill do they?! It's only their humans who get upset and worried lol.

[peteroldracer]

Just a word of caution if anyone is thinking of buying drugs over the internet - the vast majority are dodgy, some lethal, some just powdered chalk and colourants, so I suggest only buying from someone you can see face-to-face, and who wears a white coat!

[katy]

My old dog has a heart condition and takes Fortecor(?) It is about 15 to 18 euro depending which farmacia/vet. My Vet is now selling a generic for about 13 euro, noticed on the pack it is manufactured in the UK. York. She has been on them for 3 months.

[kexon]

One of my friends has an old jack russell terrier,the dog is blind,but needs daily drops to control another eye problem(sorry cant remember the ins and outs of it)anyhow she has been paying 19euros for these drops which have to be administered daily,one of her spanish friends was absolutely shocked at the price,so went to the pharmacy,purchased the same drug(without the brand name) and was charged 3euros!!!!!!!!!!!.

[Jool]

There is price fixing on some veterinary items, such as Stronghold, Scalibor collars etc...... but now I always use human versions and I know a lot of the dog rescue charities also use the human version of drugs, especially antibiotics for instance.......

My dog was visible happier and better on the human version than the expensive veterinary one and we are very lucky that our vet is so supportive of cost saving and will always write a prescription to take to the normal farmacia for drugs for the dogs.......however I think painkillers are different and you need to be careful with those

[Paula]

My last dog had congestive heart disease, which we didn't know about until he had a mild stroke. Certainly didn't have any symptoms as he still thought he was a puppy

Anyway he lived for another 3yrs+ until he was 13, quite a good age for a pedigree dog. My Uncle was a pharmacist, so any drugs prescribed by a vet he would tell me what I needed to get, which I was able to do in Spain. All of his heart type meds, inc diuretics I bought the human equivalent and up until the end he was a very happy, healthy dog. Good appetite, still enjoyed all of his exercise, the only slight problem was the summer heat here. We overcame by extremely early morning, and late night walks, with aircon inbetween.

[patricia]

You can order the required tablets from the pharmacy and they are much cheaper, just take the box along with name etc.

[Julie]

The local vet here send you to the pharmacy to buy generic drugs because they are cheaper than he can provide, so no worrys

[princess peach]

The local vet here send you to the pharmacy to buy generic drugs because they are cheaper than he can provide,

my vet does that too Julie,but i dont suppose they are all like that are they.

[julian]

"my vet does that too Julie"
and mine !

[tjtops]

The local vet here send you to the pharmacy to buy generic drugs because they are cheaper than he can provide,

And mine too....in this case, Glucantime, which is their treatment for leishmania so as you can imagine, can be quite a scrummage to get from the farmacia. However, my vet was quite upfront about telling me to try, even writing me a prescription. Certainly there is HUGE price difference: the price of the vet-supplied drug is around 15e for 5 ampoules, whereas the last time I managed to get the 'human' form, it was 4e something for 10 ampoules. Quite a saving, eh. And they only charge me a minimal amount to inject it -- since my two have to have it intravenously, I won't even go there!!!
Only problem is, since relatively few hu,ans contract leish, the 'human' drug is in EXTREMELY short supply!"!"