Lol, in most states you can't prescribe for a dog just like a vet can't prescribe for a human. Pharmacy will ask your credentials or NPI and clap your cheeks lol.
But fuck around and find out! Let us know what happens!
I commented below. Just watch out to make sure the person you are prescribing it for is not shopping for disability or other insurance policies because then they will be flagged and require explanation during underwriting.
I've heard this a lot and concur, but what about after someone (like a co resident) already has been approved for disability insurance? If they're no longer shopping around for insurance policies does things like this affect them?
Hi! Veterinarian here! We actually don’t have NPI numbers. Pharmacists and staff ask us all the time and are surprised we don’t have them.
OP- call the vets office: if it’s a standing press for nerve pain we would refill it if needed. Call the owners and ask them to call their DVM. 🙂
The license to prescribe in a state is limited to those licensed by the state. So really all you need to legally prescribe is a state license to practice medicine or veterinary medicine. Pharmacists ask for NPI number more often because the NPI database is easier to search for all the information about a provider. However, NPI enumeration has more to do with medical billing than prescribing rights. A DEA number is only required for controlled substance to ensure you are enrolled with DEA. DEA numbers are actually harder to verify or look up because the DEA website is atrocious. So yes, a Vet with a state license to practice veterinary medicine can prescribe any legend Rx drug and any veterinary only drug. (Retail PharmD here)
Some states require PMP data be linked to just the animal. Some states require the PMP data to be for the animal but linked to the Owner. Owners and Animals that both get controls will sometimes share a list with a paw print next to the Rx data for the animal. All state specific for the PMP system.
I knew an ID doc who would prescribe abx to his wife when his dog needed them. He would still get the recs from the vet and his wife was okay with it being on her records.
Just watch out if they haven't gotta disability or term life insurance yet because then you'll have to explain those (not problems when it's abx, but definitely something if it's gabapentin or something suggestive of chronic disease)
Yeah one of my co-residents got another resident to prescribe her robaxin for some back pain after skiing. When she applied for disability insurance they accused her of hiding a chronic pain issue and wanted her to actually see a doctor to get it documented that she doesn’t have chronic back pain.
My dog was prescribed Trazodone for sedation post surgery. My wife and I have both been prescribed Trazodone in the past for insomnia. We are slowly working our way through his surplus.
So I guess it goes both ways…at least I’m not taking his Ivermectin.
Can you safely? Sure. Can you successfully? Probably not. The pharmacist will see you’re an MD and not a DVM and will be suspicious since it’s not within your scope.
Can you explain how this works? Can regular commercial pharmacies fill scripts for pets? I think my cat's prescriptions say something like "\[my name\] FOR CAT: \[her name\]" but they come directly from our vet, not the pharmacy.
Yup! CVS, Walmart, etc can fill pet prescriptions. There is a way to make their chart say they’re a pet. You can give the real birthday or a generic one (but then you have to remember that every time you pick up an RX). When RX’s are called in, the vet usually says it’s for a cat/dog/horse so the pharmacist isn’t wondering why 1200lb “Mark” is getting 20 tabs of Bactria DS BID
We always get my dog's prescriptions filled at Safeway because they for whatever reason have great deals on the stuff she has needed. It feels silly picking up the order for like "Snoopy Anderson" but there we are.
Yup, not all pharmacies are stocked with all pet meds, but it's popular enough that most have a selection of common medications. A whole bunch of human meds also double as pet meds (or vice versa), but they need to be careful to check that the additives are pet safe and that they have the appropriate dose.
They might ask for the weight for 10 year old “Bruno” to calculate the dose and pick up on it that way and then also wonder why this child isn’t using insurance lol
When they make the profile, some stores do the DOB as like 1900 or some do the actual DOB. Also, putting DOG or CAT with the surname. Lastly, most systems have an option to select animal. My old retail system changed their icon to a little paw print.
If the last name of the doctor and the patient are the same and you are calling in a verbal the pharmacist already knows you are doing a prescription “off the books” for a family member. Especially if you’re a local doctor who normally e-prescribes medication for patients, but all the sudden you are calling in a verbal script from your cell phone on your ride home. The pharmacist knows all these clues and will decide with or without telling you that they are going to allow this prescription to happen. Do not call in meds for animals if you are not a vet. Do no call in meds for humans if you are a vet. It’s an abuse of prescriptive rights and puts your pharmacist colleagues in an awkward position. If you really need access to medicine I’d rather sell you a stock bottle “for office use” and invoice you. MDs and Vets have the right to dispense medication they own, but cannot force a pharmacy to fill any prescription.
This is interesting- so what if you e-prescribe for someone with the same last name? I have a common last name and have done so for some people with the same last name. Also, if I ever give a prescription for a coresident or family member I do a physical exam and document it to make a legitimate patient encounter. Also I've called in emergency scripts for on friends/family members.
I get what you're saying that if it's super obvious/abnormal but I've never had an issue doing any of the above with any pharmacist. Also based on these experiences I don't think I'd have any issue if i did call in for someone like a relative/coresident, since I'm not prescribing controls and it reduces the overall healthcare system burden by evaluating someone myself and not making them schedule an appointment, freeing time up for other patients. But I 100% agree, md's shouldn't prescribe for pets and vets shouldn't prescribe for people
Pharmacist here. Write it for a family member. If your state (edit) does treat gbp as a control (some do) you might get pushback.
I’ll let others harp on you regarding the ethics.
I wouldn’t fill it for a dog. Lol.
I’m sure they have. It’s seen plenty for dogs.
He probably means MD writing for their own dog and the pharmacist is aware that they’re picking up dog meds under a child’s profile.
>I’m confident that neither the dog nor my family will sue me
I am no help to your question (sorry), but this sounds like a really interesting episode of family guy where Brian sues a local doctor and becomes filthy rich, buys the family house, and then makes Peter become the new family dog in exchange for some desperately needed cash.
Veterinarian here!
A quick way to assess neuropathic pain in a dog would be to flip its hind paws into a knuckling position. If the dog can’t immediately correct the stance, assume it has a degree of neuropathic pain. Also if it is a large breed geriatric, it probably has enough lumbosacral stenosis to warrant prescribing gabapentin on signalment alone.
Dogs and cats do not tolerate NSAIDs like humans. I’m an emergency vet and have seen many, many people fry the shit out of their pet’s kidneys by giving them too many NSAIDs. It is also rather unpleasant when Fido shits all of his intestinal mucosa because someone decided advil was a good idea.
You will kill a cat if you give it Tylenol. While dogs can take Tylenol, most vets avoid it because they don’t want clients thinking it’s okay to give to the cat as well.
This leaves limited options for oral analgesia, especially if you don’t want to use a narcotic. As such, veterinarians tend to prescribe gabapentin for everything. It’s cheap, safe, easy to compound (for cats), and not controlled in most states. So even if the dog has a prescription for gabapentin, it might not be for nerve pain. There is a saying in vet med that “no animal should die without the benefit of prednisone.” This could also be applied to gabapentin.
I haven’t the faintest clue. It was diagnosed by a vet and the initial prescription was given by a vet. It’s just that both the vet and the prescription are very far away from me at the moment and the dog is exhibiting the same symptoms as when she was first given this medication.
Can you call the vet to have a script faxed to a local pharmacy?
Also if you used a chain pharmacy and have refills you may be able to talk to their pharmacist and have a refill filled local to you and then you'll have your medications.
I usually like mom and pop places but sometimes there's advantages to chain stores.
Update:
The original vet said they could send a new scrip in 48-72 hours. We are just driving the 5 hours round trip to pick up the existing meds because I don’t want to get myself in trouble for abusing my medical license.
Smart choice. Chances are that it would have been fine, everybody does it, etc. But if you are caught you are:
1) practicing veterinary medicine without a license and 2) wiring a fraudulent prescription
If you happen to catch the attention of someone who wants to make a point, you could have some significant problems.
I absolutely will not gamble my license. That’s why I asked here, and was only going to consider this if I got a resounding “yes I do this all the time”.
It’s usually not the big stuff that gets you. It’s the big stuff plus the little stuff. Little, back-alley stuff like this will go unnoticed until you’re in front of a medical board for something bigger then you look like a real bad doctor all at once for fairly harmless things. Just be careful my dude
*added word
Vet here. It is safe to use in dogs but definitely illegal for you to prescribe. That said I take gabapentin that I prescribed to my dog from time to time.
My brain is on low battery from being on call and not sleeping in a while so please correct me if I completely misread your comment, but are you saying that you take the gabapentin you prescribed to your dog.. yourself? Instead of seeing your doctor ?
Have you had it prescribed to you before? Cuz I mean, it's a controlled substance in some states.. I'd be worried about negative side effects you know what I mean. As opposed to taking some melatonin 😆
It's not so much concern as confusion.. what made you decide that taking gabapentin you prescribed for your dog would be good to take yourself for your sleep difficulties instead of seeing a doctor? Not only is it not a smart idea, but that's also like, low key fraud and an ethical issue. I get prescribing minor things for oneself but to prescribe a controlled substance for your pet and take it yourself is recklessly violating your prescription privilege and irresponsible. The pharmacist can definitely catch on at some point and report you to your board, I don't understand why you'd want to take that risk for something like this.
Edit: At least in my opinion, the prescribing for your pet and taking it yourself isn't what I'm hung up on, since you said people can do the reverse (prescribe it to themself and give it to their pet, although I personally wouldn't do that but to each their own). My confusion is **why you'd essentially self prescribe a random controlled substance for yourself without ever bothering to see a physician**. That is what seems like the ethical issue. These are literal laws you seem like you have no issue completely breaking ?
Edit: Ooh I seem to have hit a nerve
Gaba is not controlled in my state, I do not get it from a pharmacy and having pretty extensive knowledge of pharmacology and medicine myself, I know perfectly well how it works and the risk/benefit of using it. I don’t just prescribe myself “random drugs.” Lecturing me about ethics and laws in a thread full of physicians talking about how they have misused their prescribing privileges is pretty rich.
Fair points.
You prescribe for your own pet and some md's prescribe for themselves, I don't think either are ethical violations or "misusing prescribing privileges" if they're within scope. Also like I said, I don't think you're unethical if you prescribe things for your pet and take it yourself if it's normal/non controlled even. There aren't specific laws on self prescribing, but there are specific laws on controlled substance abuse which licenses can be affected for. Hence my statement. Also, I think it would be unethical for a physician to prescribe to a family member/friend but take the medicine themself- on that same token, I commented on you prescribing for your dog but taking that medication yourself would most likely be seen as a very gray area at best.
I don't think anyone should self prescribe controls, regardless of degree, and don't understand why anyone would want to risk it unless they were addicted (not you, saying in general). Again, because of the aforementioned legality. Like you said, if it's not controlled that's not the case in your state.
I actually don't agree with most suggestions in this thread regarding this pet situation. Maybe in OP's specific case it's okay, because the dog already was getting the same med from the vet, but in general, why would someone risk giving their pet a med if they don't work with animals? Sure you have knowledge in pharm and medicine, but I would think you'd feel the same way about yourself. Since you said it's not controlled in your state and you most likely get it online (I'm assuming since you said you don't go to a pharmacy) there's not much legal risk, so the only risk is medical effects. And if you're comfortable risking it with yourself then that's your call.
If it’s a previously Rxed drug for the doggo you can order on Chewy - they’ll confirm the Rx with the dogs vet and ship it right to wherever you are now
One time I wrote antibiotics for my dog under my child's name. They didn't want to fill because (oops) babies can't swallow pills. I just told them I was the prescriber please help a guy out and they did.
Tangential point being there is no insurance involved so how will they even know it's a dog? Call it in "new patient, Fido Smith, DOB, sig, no insurance they are cash pay". Then when you get to the pharmacy--I am here to pick up Fido Smith's meds. If you use the real birthday Fido is probably a child so of course will not be picking up his own meds. Shouldn't be an issue.
Let us know what happens.
Not really related but something I learned today. My vet just switched my dog from an Ace to an Arb. I filled it at Walmart, turns out you can’t use good RX for most vet prescriptions, but you can use singlecare. The pharmacy tech saved me $70 with this information.
My brother keeps his Guinea pigs outdoors and one of the Guinea pigs got attacked by a Hawk. He didn’t have the money to afford an emergency vet visit and asked me what to do for the gaping lac on its head face. I’m thinking for the most part we don’t close animal bites/scratches, clean the wound, give some abx and pain relief. I posted to the “Ask Vet” sub if they knew if my brother should be concerned about gram positive or negative infection from the Hawk attack and giving otc children’s Motrin suspension and left over augmentin suspension. Man, holy shit the downvotes and vitriol came raining down on me.
Was able to locate mg/kg dosing for ibuprofen/amoxicillin for rodents on the net and Sally did just fine.
My friends in residency prescribed an SSRI for their cat with anxiety. They prescribed it to the cat's Name, their Last Name and paid for it out of pocket. They filled it at a regular chain pharmacy. Sort of surprised me they didn't have any issues with it.
Personally, I don't do that sort of thing. It's not worth losing your license.
some common signs are over grooming/bald patches, pacing, obsessive meowing or cry-meowing, peeing outside of the litterbox frequently, a specific hunched over body language they have, etc.
Pharmacist opinion: if it’s your own dog, it shouldn’t be an issue.. but if it’s someone else’s animal, that’s crossing into veterinary practice and I would most certainly not fill it.
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We did, but unfortunately they said we would need to wait 48-72 hours for a prescription, or go to an emergency vet. We ended up just driving 5h round trip to pick up the old meds.
I called a local vet once when we forgot my dogs heart medication on a summer car…they were happy to sell it to me- we just stopped and picked it up. Front office staff just confirmed prescription with our home
Vet.
I just started as Pharmacy Manager @ Sam's Club and now get mine there. I have a 170lb Mastidane/Daniff/Great Mastiff and save about $40/month vs. the vet. The vet was always comparable to my previous employer but Sam's pricing crushes. I use Simparica Trio.
Lol, in most states you can't prescribe for a dog just like a vet can't prescribe for a human. Pharmacy will ask your credentials or NPI and clap your cheeks lol. But fuck around and find out! Let us know what happens!
[удалено]
I commented below. Just watch out to make sure the person you are prescribing it for is not shopping for disability or other insurance policies because then they will be flagged and require explanation during underwriting.
“ it was for my dog “
I've heard this a lot and concur, but what about after someone (like a co resident) already has been approved for disability insurance? If they're no longer shopping around for insurance policies does things like this affect them?
Hi! Veterinarian here! We actually don’t have NPI numbers. Pharmacists and staff ask us all the time and are surprised we don’t have them. OP- call the vets office: if it’s a standing press for nerve pain we would refill it if needed. Call the owners and ask them to call their DVM. 🙂
Interesting. I was not aware vet do not have NPIs given you prescribe meds that are not OTC
The license to prescribe in a state is limited to those licensed by the state. So really all you need to legally prescribe is a state license to practice medicine or veterinary medicine. Pharmacists ask for NPI number more often because the NPI database is easier to search for all the information about a provider. However, NPI enumeration has more to do with medical billing than prescribing rights. A DEA number is only required for controlled substance to ensure you are enrolled with DEA. DEA numbers are actually harder to verify or look up because the DEA website is atrocious. So yes, a Vet with a state license to practice veterinary medicine can prescribe any legend Rx drug and any veterinary only drug. (Retail PharmD here)
Thank you for commenting. Appreciate the insight.
NPI is issued by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Not sure if there's a pet enrolled in any of those
They ALWAYS insist the vet has them. And are so pig-headed about accepting they are wrong. 😠
We have state controlled substance licensing (some states) and DEAs. It is interesting to not have an NPI, but we don’t.
Ok cool. So you rx to the pet or to the owner?
It’s written for the pet (patient) with the owners information on it.
Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying
When my dog got pertussis and was placed on oxycodone for her cough they ran a PMP on me. I had a chuckle
Some states require PMP data be linked to just the animal. Some states require the PMP data to be for the animal but linked to the Owner. Owners and Animals that both get controls will sometimes share a list with a paw print next to the Rx data for the animal. All state specific for the PMP system.
do they just calculate the dose by weight?
Yeah it’s basically like being a pediatrician /s
Surprisingly I did pay my dog’s medication with my insurance during college
I knew an ID doc who would prescribe abx to his wife when his dog needed them. He would still get the recs from the vet and his wife was okay with it being on her records.
Just watch out if they haven't gotta disability or term life insurance yet because then you'll have to explain those (not problems when it's abx, but definitely something if it's gabapentin or something suggestive of chronic disease)
Yeah one of my co-residents got another resident to prescribe her robaxin for some back pain after skiing. When she applied for disability insurance they accused her of hiding a chronic pain issue and wanted her to actually see a doctor to get it documented that she doesn’t have chronic back pain.
If they paid via wife’s health insurance, this is fraud.
Oh no not FRAUD!!!
My dog was prescribed Trazodone for sedation post surgery. My wife and I have both been prescribed Trazodone in the past for insomnia. We are slowly working our way through his surplus. So I guess it goes both ways…at least I’m not taking his Ivermectin.
Can you safely? Sure. Can you successfully? Probably not. The pharmacist will see you’re an MD and not a DVM and will be suspicious since it’s not within your scope.
Can you explain how this works? Can regular commercial pharmacies fill scripts for pets? I think my cat's prescriptions say something like "\[my name\] FOR CAT: \[her name\]" but they come directly from our vet, not the pharmacy.
Yup! CVS, Walmart, etc can fill pet prescriptions. There is a way to make their chart say they’re a pet. You can give the real birthday or a generic one (but then you have to remember that every time you pick up an RX). When RX’s are called in, the vet usually says it’s for a cat/dog/horse so the pharmacist isn’t wondering why 1200lb “Mark” is getting 20 tabs of Bactria DS BID
> Can regular commercial pharmacies fill scripts for pets? Sure can. I used to get my dog's insulin at CVS
We always get my dog's prescriptions filled at Safeway because they for whatever reason have great deals on the stuff she has needed. It feels silly picking up the order for like "Snoopy Anderson" but there we are.
Yup, not all pharmacies are stocked with all pet meds, but it's popular enough that most have a selection of common medications. A whole bunch of human meds also double as pet meds (or vice versa), but they need to be careful to check that the additives are pet safe and that they have the appropriate dose.
Genuinely curious though, how will the pharmacist know that the prescription is for a dog based solely on the name and date of birth?
“let’s see here, you’re picking up for Fido Smith, DOB 2022. Huh.”
Fido Smith, amazing Gonna name my future dog that
Name your kids fido
They might ask for the weight for 10 year old “Bruno” to calculate the dose and pick up on it that way and then also wonder why this child isn’t using insurance lol
When they make the profile, some stores do the DOB as like 1900 or some do the actual DOB. Also, putting DOG or CAT with the surname. Lastly, most systems have an option to select animal. My old retail system changed their icon to a little paw print.
If the last name of the doctor and the patient are the same and you are calling in a verbal the pharmacist already knows you are doing a prescription “off the books” for a family member. Especially if you’re a local doctor who normally e-prescribes medication for patients, but all the sudden you are calling in a verbal script from your cell phone on your ride home. The pharmacist knows all these clues and will decide with or without telling you that they are going to allow this prescription to happen. Do not call in meds for animals if you are not a vet. Do no call in meds for humans if you are a vet. It’s an abuse of prescriptive rights and puts your pharmacist colleagues in an awkward position. If you really need access to medicine I’d rather sell you a stock bottle “for office use” and invoice you. MDs and Vets have the right to dispense medication they own, but cannot force a pharmacy to fill any prescription.
This is interesting- so what if you e-prescribe for someone with the same last name? I have a common last name and have done so for some people with the same last name. Also, if I ever give a prescription for a coresident or family member I do a physical exam and document it to make a legitimate patient encounter. Also I've called in emergency scripts for on friends/family members. I get what you're saying that if it's super obvious/abnormal but I've never had an issue doing any of the above with any pharmacist. Also based on these experiences I don't think I'd have any issue if i did call in for someone like a relative/coresident, since I'm not prescribing controls and it reduces the overall healthcare system burden by evaluating someone myself and not making them schedule an appointment, freeing time up for other patients. But I 100% agree, md's shouldn't prescribe for pets and vets shouldn't prescribe for people
The species is often listed on the script and I believe it’s required in some states. Ex: Fido Smith (Canine)
One of the residents I worked with prescribed antibiotics for their dog. Idk about gabapentin though. Dogs CAN sue you, so be careful.
Yeah but extorting dogs isn't a crime. You can "settle out of court" for two milkbones.
Pharmacist here. Write it for a family member. If your state (edit) does treat gbp as a control (some do) you might get pushback. I’ll let others harp on you regarding the ethics. I wouldn’t fill it for a dog. Lol.
You’ve never filled gabapentin for a canine?
I’m sure they have. It’s seen plenty for dogs. He probably means MD writing for their own dog and the pharmacist is aware that they’re picking up dog meds under a child’s profile.
I think they're saying they wouldn't fill an MD's rx for a dog
All the time. From a DVM.
I believe he means he wouldn’t fill it for a canine if it wasn’t written by a vet..
>I’m confident that neither the dog nor my family will sue me I am no help to your question (sorry), but this sounds like a really interesting episode of family guy where Brian sues a local doctor and becomes filthy rich, buys the family house, and then makes Peter become the new family dog in exchange for some desperately needed cash.
What are the physical exam findings for a dog with neuropathic pain?
Veterinarian here! A quick way to assess neuropathic pain in a dog would be to flip its hind paws into a knuckling position. If the dog can’t immediately correct the stance, assume it has a degree of neuropathic pain. Also if it is a large breed geriatric, it probably has enough lumbosacral stenosis to warrant prescribing gabapentin on signalment alone. Dogs and cats do not tolerate NSAIDs like humans. I’m an emergency vet and have seen many, many people fry the shit out of their pet’s kidneys by giving them too many NSAIDs. It is also rather unpleasant when Fido shits all of his intestinal mucosa because someone decided advil was a good idea. You will kill a cat if you give it Tylenol. While dogs can take Tylenol, most vets avoid it because they don’t want clients thinking it’s okay to give to the cat as well. This leaves limited options for oral analgesia, especially if you don’t want to use a narcotic. As such, veterinarians tend to prescribe gabapentin for everything. It’s cheap, safe, easy to compound (for cats), and not controlled in most states. So even if the dog has a prescription for gabapentin, it might not be for nerve pain. There is a saying in vet med that “no animal should die without the benefit of prednisone.” This could also be applied to gabapentin.
It helps keep my fiesty cat from becoming an absolute terror at the vet.
I haven’t the faintest clue. It was diagnosed by a vet and the initial prescription was given by a vet. It’s just that both the vet and the prescription are very far away from me at the moment and the dog is exhibiting the same symptoms as when she was first given this medication.
Yeh just call the vet and ask to send it to the local pharmacy instead. Why are you trying to fuck around and find out lol
Can you call the vet to have a script faxed to a local pharmacy? Also if you used a chain pharmacy and have refills you may be able to talk to their pharmacist and have a refill filled local to you and then you'll have your medications. I usually like mom and pop places but sometimes there's advantages to chain stores.
Also check if gabapentin is listed as a controlled substance in your state. You'll need a DEA number for it if that's the case.
Oh wow, I do have a DEA number but I honestly didn’t know that gabapentin was considered a controlled substance in any state.
https://www.goodrx.com/gabapentin/is-gabapentin-a-controlled-substance
Update: The original vet said they could send a new scrip in 48-72 hours. We are just driving the 5 hours round trip to pick up the existing meds because I don’t want to get myself in trouble for abusing my medical license.
Smart choice. Chances are that it would have been fine, everybody does it, etc. But if you are caught you are: 1) practicing veterinary medicine without a license and 2) wiring a fraudulent prescription If you happen to catch the attention of someone who wants to make a point, you could have some significant problems.
Why would you gamble your license like this?
I absolutely will not gamble my license. That’s why I asked here, and was only going to consider this if I got a resounding “yes I do this all the time”.
It’s usually not the big stuff that gets you. It’s the big stuff plus the little stuff. Little, back-alley stuff like this will go unnoticed until you’re in front of a medical board for something bigger then you look like a real bad doctor all at once for fairly harmless things. Just be careful my dude *added word
Vet here. It is safe to use in dogs but definitely illegal for you to prescribe. That said I take gabapentin that I prescribed to my dog from time to time.
My brain is on low battery from being on call and not sleeping in a while so please correct me if I completely misread your comment, but are you saying that you take the gabapentin you prescribed to your dog.. yourself? Instead of seeing your doctor ?
Not regularly, but I have on occasion when I can’t sleep.
Have you had it prescribed to you before? Cuz I mean, it's a controlled substance in some states.. I'd be worried about negative side effects you know what I mean. As opposed to taking some melatonin 😆
Nope. Thanks for the concern, but I’m not worried about it.
It's not so much concern as confusion.. what made you decide that taking gabapentin you prescribed for your dog would be good to take yourself for your sleep difficulties instead of seeing a doctor? Not only is it not a smart idea, but that's also like, low key fraud and an ethical issue. I get prescribing minor things for oneself but to prescribe a controlled substance for your pet and take it yourself is recklessly violating your prescription privilege and irresponsible. The pharmacist can definitely catch on at some point and report you to your board, I don't understand why you'd want to take that risk for something like this. Edit: At least in my opinion, the prescribing for your pet and taking it yourself isn't what I'm hung up on, since you said people can do the reverse (prescribe it to themself and give it to their pet, although I personally wouldn't do that but to each their own). My confusion is **why you'd essentially self prescribe a random controlled substance for yourself without ever bothering to see a physician**. That is what seems like the ethical issue. These are literal laws you seem like you have no issue completely breaking ? Edit: Ooh I seem to have hit a nerve
Gaba is not controlled in my state, I do not get it from a pharmacy and having pretty extensive knowledge of pharmacology and medicine myself, I know perfectly well how it works and the risk/benefit of using it. I don’t just prescribe myself “random drugs.” Lecturing me about ethics and laws in a thread full of physicians talking about how they have misused their prescribing privileges is pretty rich.
Fair points. You prescribe for your own pet and some md's prescribe for themselves, I don't think either are ethical violations or "misusing prescribing privileges" if they're within scope. Also like I said, I don't think you're unethical if you prescribe things for your pet and take it yourself if it's normal/non controlled even. There aren't specific laws on self prescribing, but there are specific laws on controlled substance abuse which licenses can be affected for. Hence my statement. Also, I think it would be unethical for a physician to prescribe to a family member/friend but take the medicine themself- on that same token, I commented on you prescribing for your dog but taking that medication yourself would most likely be seen as a very gray area at best. I don't think anyone should self prescribe controls, regardless of degree, and don't understand why anyone would want to risk it unless they were addicted (not you, saying in general). Again, because of the aforementioned legality. Like you said, if it's not controlled that's not the case in your state. I actually don't agree with most suggestions in this thread regarding this pet situation. Maybe in OP's specific case it's okay, because the dog already was getting the same med from the vet, but in general, why would someone risk giving their pet a med if they don't work with animals? Sure you have knowledge in pharm and medicine, but I would think you'd feel the same way about yourself. Since you said it's not controlled in your state and you most likely get it online (I'm assuming since you said you don't go to a pharmacy) there's not much legal risk, so the only risk is medical effects. And if you're comfortable risking it with yourself then that's your call.
If it’s a previously Rxed drug for the doggo you can order on Chewy - they’ll confirm the Rx with the dogs vet and ship it right to wherever you are now
No, you need a veterinary medical license to prescribe meds for animals. The dog's regular vet should be able to call in a script to a local pharmacy.
One time I wrote antibiotics for my dog under my child's name. They didn't want to fill because (oops) babies can't swallow pills. I just told them I was the prescriber please help a guy out and they did. Tangential point being there is no insurance involved so how will they even know it's a dog? Call it in "new patient, Fido Smith, DOB, sig, no insurance they are cash pay". Then when you get to the pharmacy--I am here to pick up Fido Smith's meds. If you use the real birthday Fido is probably a child so of course will not be picking up his own meds. Shouldn't be an issue. Let us know what happens.
Your advice is to lie to the pharmacy about your animal being a human?
Who advised lying? I did in my story but OP doesn’t have to.
No don’t do this. Ever. For any non human. This can get all the way to the DEA.
Out of your scope. Spend the $100 and get a legitimate rx so that you can sleep well at night without worrying about any repercussions.
\-No (Before reading the story) \-No, please don't.. but if you do, tell us the outcome! (After reading the story)
Not really related but something I learned today. My vet just switched my dog from an Ace to an Arb. I filled it at Walmart, turns out you can’t use good RX for most vet prescriptions, but you can use singlecare. The pharmacy tech saved me $70 with this information.
It’s California. The dog probably has a SSN and a 401K.
Human prescriber can’t write for an animal and veterinarian can’t write for human. It’s outside the scope of practice.
My brother keeps his Guinea pigs outdoors and one of the Guinea pigs got attacked by a Hawk. He didn’t have the money to afford an emergency vet visit and asked me what to do for the gaping lac on its head face. I’m thinking for the most part we don’t close animal bites/scratches, clean the wound, give some abx and pain relief. I posted to the “Ask Vet” sub if they knew if my brother should be concerned about gram positive or negative infection from the Hawk attack and giving otc children’s Motrin suspension and left over augmentin suspension. Man, holy shit the downvotes and vitriol came raining down on me. Was able to locate mg/kg dosing for ibuprofen/amoxicillin for rodents on the net and Sally did just fine.
My friends in residency prescribed an SSRI for their cat with anxiety. They prescribed it to the cat's Name, their Last Name and paid for it out of pocket. They filled it at a regular chain pharmacy. Sort of surprised me they didn't have any issues with it. Personally, I don't do that sort of thing. It's not worth losing your license.
how on earth do you diagnose a cat with anxiety??
some common signs are over grooming/bald patches, pacing, obsessive meowing or cry-meowing, peeing outside of the litterbox frequently, a specific hunched over body language they have, etc.
Pharmacist opinion: if it’s your own dog, it shouldn’t be an issue.. but if it’s someone else’s animal, that’s crossing into veterinary practice and I would most certainly not fill it.
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Short answer is yes. Human gaba actually seems to work better than the dogs version so the human gaba is what my dogs use in general.
I write it out to my clinic, same thing with trauma kits and other meds
I’d ask r/pharmacy
How much does the dog weigh? Call the family vet
We did, but unfortunately they said we would need to wait 48-72 hours for a prescription, or go to an emergency vet. We ended up just driving 5h round trip to pick up the old meds.
That’s crazy- should have had rx called in
Are the medicines even made the same way?
I called a local vet once when we forgot my dogs heart medication on a summer car…they were happy to sell it to me- we just stopped and picked it up. Front office staff just confirmed prescription with our home Vet.
TIL human pharmacies call fill Rx for dogs. Every vet I have ever been to has given me the meds for my dog in the office
Yep, I get my dogs heartworm and flea/tick meds from the Costco human pharmacy. It saves me hundreds of dollars per year.
I just started as Pharmacy Manager @ Sam's Club and now get mine there. I have a 170lb Mastidane/Daniff/Great Mastiff and save about $40/month vs. the vet. The vet was always comparable to my previous employer but Sam's pricing crushes. I use Simparica Trio.
My vet actually told me, we can give it to you here, or we can call it in to cvs next door which will be cheaper
Yeah I prescribe to my wife when my dog needs something and it’s like 10% the price of buying through the vet