Our policy in regards to prescription medications and diets follow Federal and New York State pharmacy laws in the following manner:
1. Physical examination is required for all prescription medication and prescription diets. New York State Law requires a veterinarian-patient-family relationship exist before any medication or diet is prescribed, and this relationship can only be established with the physical examination of the patient by a veterinarian, consultation with the family, and the documentation of such examination and consultation within the patient’s medical records.
2. Yearly or bi-yearly physical examination is required for prescription medication and prescription diet continuation. Any pets with chronic illness that are on long term pharmaceutical or nutritional management require once to twice a year health exams to determine if their condition is being managed to the satisfaction of the veterinarian, family, and general well being of the pet. Certain diagnostic tests such as blood work or urinalysis will be required for the continuation of any long term therapeutic medications and diets.
3. Follow-up examination is required for continued medication and diet dispensing. Any pet that has a medical condition will require follow-up examination with the veterinarian to continue any course of treatment that was prescribed, or to pursue alternate forms of therapy. Failure to schedule and appear for follow-up examinations will result in the necessity of full exam fees being charged for future visits, even if it is “the same thing that happened before.”
4. Suffolk Veterinary Group will not provide returns, refunds, credits, exchanges, or any other form of compensation for any dispensed prescription medications. Families who have prescription medications for their pets they find they no longer need ought to dispose of those medications in a manner that prevents them from being obtained by children or pets, or as instructed on the package label.
Click Here For Drug Disposal Information
5. We can provide refunds and/or exchange on prescription diets. Provided you return the unused portion of the prescription diet along with the invoice as proof-of-purchase to our office within 15 days from the date it was prescribed and purchased.
6. We do not approve of any prescription medication requests faxed to our office from internet pharmacies. We cannot confirm the legitimacy of every internet pharmacy that is out there. We therefore do not feel comfortable approving prescription requests from such online pharmacies because of our concern for the well being of your pet.
We do not want your pet to receive counterfeit or toxic medications from any less-than-honest internet pharmacy. Please, use online and internet pharmacies with the utmost of caution.
Click Here For Warnings From FDA and EPA Regarding Internet Pharmacies
We have verified with our own pharmacy companies that they do provide medications and diets directly to our Vet’s First Choice Online Pharmacy. This way we can provide for you all the convenience of an online pharmacy from a legitimate source.
8. Suffolk Veterinary Group does not price match our in-clinic prices of any medication or diet with the prices of any online pharmacies. Families who wish to purchase medications from our clinic or our Vet’s First Choice Online Pharmacy may do so at our in-clinic and online pharmacy prices. Those in-clinic and Vet’s First Choice Online Pharmacy prices are subject to change at any time and without prior notification. It is the responsibility of the family to contact our clinic for updated costs information.
9. We will gladly provide for you a written prescription to submit to the pharmacy of your choice. Just like a human medical doctor hands you a prescription paper for your medication, we can provide such a prescription paper for your pet that you are welcome to submit to the pharmacy of your choice. You will be responsible for completing the submission process in accordance with the pharmacy you choose. This may cause some delay in your pet receiving their medications.
If you are submitting your written prescription to a local pharmacy, be advised that not all veterinary medications are Food And Drug Administration (FDA) approved for human use, and your local pharmacy may not carry the medication your pet needs if it does not have an equivalent FDA approved human form or strength. We will work with your local pharmacy to provide your pet with the best options available to them, but that option may still be a veterinary-specific medication not available at a local pharmacy or in a generic form.
Call us first, if your pharmacist is recommending any substitutions or alternative medications from the one that was prescribed, because not all human medications are safe and effective for pets, and the dosing is not the same in pets as in humans.
10. If you take a written prescription…and then decide to have that medication filled at our in-clinic or online pharmacy, we require that you return and submit that written prescription back to our office in order for us to fill it. In other words, once a written prescription leaves our hospital without being filled, we are no longer a prescribing hospital, but become a pharmacy under the law. And, as with any other pharmacy, we are required by law to have you submit a written prescription to us in order for us to fill the medication, whether it be through our in-clinic pharmacy or our online pharmacy. We do this because certain medications (heartworm preventatives, controlled substances, etc.) can only be dispensed in certain quantities at a time, and if we dispense those medications while there is still a valid written prescription “floating out there,” then we have violated the quantity restrictions on that medication. To ensure that your pet gets the quantity of medication they need, we require that you submit your written prescriptions to us just like you would to any other pharmacy if you desire us to fill them from in-clinic or online.
We look forward to working with you to provide your pet with comprehensive care.
Please call us at 631-696-2400 if you have any questions regarding prescriptions for your pet.
You can click the “Shop Online” button to go directly to our Vet’s First Choice Online Pharmacy for convenience and competitive pricing shipped directly to your home.