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How Can Such A Mark Up Be Justified


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Two of the medicines for Danny have to be compounded. The first lots were provided by SASH and they charged over $200 for each.

The vet at SASH gave me a repeat and I've had to have one repeated.

Cost? $62.00.

Yes, we always expect to pay more at specialists particularly when they are providing 24/7 services, but to charge $200 for a med that cost me $62 to have compounded at my local pharmacy is tantamount to robbery.

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If you got he repeat from a pharmacist then the PBS could have been subsidising it.

I dont think so, they would recognise that the script is from a vet. I used to have to buy animal meds from a chemist but I couldn't get them on a health care card.

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PBS doesn't cover animal medication. All vet meds have a mark-up, its how vets make their money. If they are happy to provide a script, get it from your chemist. Also remember that chemists buy in much larger quantities than vets so will often be able to buy drugs for much less.

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I've had meds compounded at a specialist pharmacy (not all of them do it) and those were not PBS subsidised and were around the $55 mark.

I wasn't too thrilled and the meds did not work for me - I felt like my GPs personal experiment - and no follow up from her either. I haven't been back - I am not paying them over $100 per visit to be prescribed stuff that doesn't work.

Hopefully the vet prescription works.

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If you got he repeat from a pharmacist then the PBS could have been subsidising it.
No, not subsidised by PBS. The chemist did give me a receipt, just in case, but I haven't been to Medicare yet. She does have her doubts, though.
All vet meds have a mark-up, its how vets make their money.
Um, I don't really think so. I spoke to my local vet about this this morning as I had to take Danny back and he was pretty aghast. He said they put a 10% mark up on compounded meds. So if I'd obtained my compounded meds from him that would have cost $68.20. A visit to the vet doesn't always mean getting some sort of drug.

If they are happy to provide a script, get it from your chemist. Also remember that chemists buy in much larger quantities than vets so will often be able to buy drugs for much less.

I don't really understand this statement. Compounded medicines are done by specialist set ups. They aren't physically done at the vets or at the chemist I went to.

DDD, did u go to the pharmacy in Thornleigh ?

Yes, Inform Chemist. I really like the two women chemists there. They take an interest in you personally and always have time to discuss whatever it is you may want to know or just be curious about.
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That is a very big difference in costs :mad Adding such a huge mark-up to what you have already spent on the procedures seems very unfair (that is my polite way of saying what I really think)
You bet, Yonjuro. I am finding it very hard to be polite about them :mad Danny's procedure at SASH cost nearly $4,000. I'd already been there just a few months before when Myrtie died of Pulmonary Hypertension and than was about $6,000. So they have had a huge percentage of my pension this year :cry: . I don't begrudge a cent in an effort to try to save my dogs or keep them well, but I really think SASH's charges are outrageous.

One of the vet nurses (at my local vet) told me that a lot of people won't go back to them.

But in some cases, what other option is there?

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I guess they charged for the work of doing the compounding themselves at the Clinic and thus the higher cost.

I would be asking if this was the case, and what options they are prepared to offer.

I am so sorry to read this, DDD. With all the effirts you are making for wee Danny, being ripped off is not nice.

Ongoing prayers for you both.

:(

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I guess they charged for the work of doing the compounding themselves at the Clinic and thus the higher cost.

I would be asking if this was the case, and what options they are prepared to offer.

I am so sorry to read this, DDD. With all the effirts you are making for wee Danny, being ripped off is not nice.

Ongoing prayers for you both. :(

Re the emboldened - no, SASH sends out to a company called Bovac.

Thank you, VM. He isn't a well doggy and all this is taking its toll on my poor little man. He is much whiter on the muzzle that he was a few months ago.

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DDD I'm so sorry to hear this - I'd just ask SASH how their pricing works - good for reference - and then go elsewhere.

I too have Mac on a compounded ranitidine/cisapride combo and rang around to get prices - and they were all around the $70 mark for 90 capsules. Not cheap but a damn sight cheaper than the two bouts of overnight care at the Emergency Hospital for aspiration pneumonia - and haven't had a whiff of it since I stamped my feet and got the compounding script.

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Danny is on both Ranitidine and Cisapride liquid compounded meds, Westiemum. I can't use tablets because there is nothing I can disguise them in :( . The Cisapride has to be kept in the frig and the first supply of Ranitidine is still going. I was managing some of the time to give him Periactine in peanut butter, but I would regularly find that dumped on the floor somewhere. The Periactine was just a trial to see if it would increase his appetite, but as it made no difference, I have stopped that as of Sunday. The others are vital to trying to get him well again, so can't afford for them to be hit or miss.

BUT, thanks to your post, I am going to ask if they can be combined. It would mean fewer syringes of meds for him.

I will ask my chest today and also what they charge for Ranitidine.

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Danny is on both Ranitidine and Cisapride liquid compounded meds, Westiemum. I can't use tablets because there is nothing I can disguise them in :( . The Cisapride has to be kept in the frig and the first supply of Ranitidine is still going. I was managing some of the time to give him Periactine in peanut butter, but I would regularly find that dumped on the floor somewhere. The Periactine was just a trial to see if it would increase his appetite, but as it made no difference, I have stopped that as of Sunday. The others are vital to trying to get him well again, so can't afford for them to be hit or miss.

BUT, thanks to your post, I am going to ask if they can be combined. It would mean fewer syringes of meds for him.

I will ask my chest today and also what they charge for Ranitidine.

DD I'm not sure about the liquids but certainly the powder in the capsules can be compounded together. And even if liquids can't be compounded together I can't see why you couldn't combine the two meds in the one syringe at the time of administration if you are giving them at the same time anyway.

I wrap the capsules up in those homebrand 'plastic' cheese slices. Mac is on quite a cocktail - the ranitidine/cisapride combo three times a day (although I find twice a day - morning and night is ample), he's on gabapentin (a very old but good drug) for nerve pain/neuropathy, stilboestrel twice a week and loxicom once a day for his arthritic pain and inflammation. I've just stopped his Vivitonin as after a number of years I think its stopped working. And this regime is working well for him - although some vets have queried if he needs quite so much pain relief - but at 15.5 years I'm reluctant to mess with it all again as he's doing so well on this routine.

Luckily for me, my three foodaholics line up for cheese slices and the meds are down the hatch before they realise whats gone on!

Edited by westiemum
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pharmacy direct sells ranitidine liquid

http://www.pharmacydirect.com.au/product/zantac-syrup-300ml-004166.aspx?type=1

ps I noticed that both Bovavet and another company offer a compounding service for liquids that pet owners can access

https://bovavet.com.au/pet-owners

http://www.custommedicine.com.au/shop/products/cisapride-capsules.html

hopefully better value options

Edited by gillbear
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