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Prescriptions from a vet

Published on: April 18, 2022 • By: Emmajoanne · In Forum: Dogs
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Emmajoanne
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April 18, 2022 at 08:59pm
Hi can anyone help please? My dog has arthiritis & has recently started a monthly treatment of Librela jab. It is working well but it is very expensive & I am trying to get a prescription from my vet, so that I can order it online & administer it myself. It is given as an injection just like insulin is, but my vet has refused citing this as the reason? I have read on this site that vets are legally obliged to offer a prescribed medicine they have correctly diagnosed for treatment & are willing to sell onto customers themselves. Am I being given the correct information & does my vet have the right to refuse me on the basis it is given as an injectable? I have been advised some vets do and some don't? I am currently being charged a 3-400% mark-up on the cost of ordering it online. Please advise as I would relly like to continue the treatment for my dog... many thanks Emma
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Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
April 18, 2022 at 11:27pm
Hello!   Librela is a sub-cutaneous (under the skin) POM-V, i.e. can only be given under prescription written by the vet.  Most of the time, vets are used to measuring out and administering such injections themselves.  A certain amount of training is required in order to store and administer a sub-cut injection appropriately.  This training is given to owners of diabetic animals for example, but with diabetes the needles are very fine and easy to use.  Librela will often demand a s/c injection of a larger size needle (eg 2ml) and is given infrequently enough that home injecting isn't strictly necessary (diabetics have to be injected at least once, usually twice a day).  The owner of a s/c-injected patient would usually take on responsibility for storing and safe keeping of the vial and sharps (needles) which need to be disposed of immediately into a sharps-bin.  Bottles may need to be discarded a certain number of days after being breached, so with only one patient some may be lost.  If none of this puts you off, I cannot find a rule actively refusing you the right to inject your own pet at home.  However, there is certainly a strong pre-existing convention, to the extent that if a client asked me if they could do it, I would almost certainly insist on giving my legal insurance team and the drugs' company a quick phone-call first for advice.   Perhaps you could ask that your vet does the same and comes back to you?
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