Like rising costs of most things, the rising costs of veterinary care often lead families to search for less expensive alternatives. Sometimes, however, good deals are not at all what they seem to be when it comes to pet medications.

“Who doesn’t like a bargain?” said Dr. Michelle McDonough. “At home, I might buy off brands for products my family uses, but Brand X paper towels or soup aren’t going to compromise anyone’s health or safety. Unfortunately, that is not always the case with online veterinarian pharmaceuticals from online box stores and general merchandise businesses.”

Sometimes owners think they will save money on medications, supplements and prescriptions by ordering from an online box store instead of getting it from the clinic’s online pharmacy. The owners may follow dosing as written on the container from the commercial chain, but sometimes the results are a frightening failure.

In fact, owners can end up paying twice as much if the products they buy aren’t made of exactly the right ingredients, not stored properly, mislabeled or are even counterfeit imports. When pets don’t get better after their cheap but incorrect treatments, the owners end up making an extra visit to the clinic and ultimately having to buy medicine twice. The worst part of that situation, of course, is the pet’s discomfort or poor health condition is prolonged.

Greendale Village Vet uses only pet pharmacies that are certified and accredited. “The problem with some online pharmacies is they advertise lower prices, but their standards are often not as high as those from our trusted partners,” said McDonough, “and their products can be risky to use.

“Some might sell expired or nearly expired products. There are sellers on the internet that advertise cheaper prices, but their medicines are counterfeit. The consumer will pay less, but the ingredients in the products can lead to either less effective or completely ineffective treatments for their pets. There are also pet pharmaceutical businesses that don’t store medicines properly, which compromise a medicine’s safety and effectiveness.”

McDonough said that as recently as November 2024, the Food and Drug Administration issued warnings to nine big box stores because they allegedly distributed unapproved antimicrobial medications. “Some of those places don’t even have pharmacists available to check medications or answer questions,” she said. “There have also been cases where the active ingredients are missing entirely or are of incorrect proportions. There have been medicines incorrectly labeled. There have even been incidents of wrong substitutions when the prescribing veterinarian wasn’t even consulted.”

She explained an even bigger problem with some box and general merchandise stores is they advertise selling medical cures to save a trip to the veterinary office. “Our pets should never be given medicine that wasn’t recommended after an actual clinical examination. It’s an extremely dangerous thing to do,” said McDonough.

She said the clinic stocks many medicines Greendale Village Vet doctors prescribe regularly, but sometimes they need to use their online pharmacy for certain types of medications that aren’t practical to keep stocked. “We don’t discourage owners getting medicines from outside sources, but it’s important to make sure they’re from the best and safest places.

“There are some regional online pet pharmacies that have proven to be reliable and provide quality medicines. One of the things we like best about our partner compounding drugstore, rather than a corporate box or online general merchandise store, is the pharmacists keep records of our pets.”

Greendale Village Vet favors GVV Pharmacy for good quality, safe and reasonably priced medications. “It’s more personalized, and we know medications go through a process of safety checks before being shipped directly to someone’s home.” They are also staffed with licensed pharmacists who never hesitate to call the doctors if they need clarification on a prescription.

“There’s another benefit to using our partner drugstore,” said McDonough. “By using our pharmacy, our pet families are also supporting the local community. Greendale Village Vet donates a portion of our profits to local organizations.”

For more information or to call for an appointment, contact the clinic at 414-421-1800 or visit GVV.