Saving On Pet Meds

Just as us humans crave the outdoors after a long winter; our pets yearn to be outdoors as well. But as any good pet owner will tell you, our furry friends need to be protected against every little pest that wants to have them for dinner. Of course, I’m talking about fleas, ticks, lice, worms, and other parasites.

There are literally dozens of medicines on the market today to prevent against pet parasites. Pet owners have to choose not only what brand to buy but also where to buy them. Some require prescriptions, others do not. A veterinarian can recommend a brand name and even sell it to the consumer, but that’s not always the wisest route to go. Although not all flea and tick meds are created equal; more often than not, a vet isn’t concerned about your cost and will typically recommend an unnecessarily high-priced medicine. To put it simply, if you’re buying your preventative care meds from your vet’s office, you’re paying too much.

Typically, if you’ve heard the brand name of a medicine, like Frontline for example, then you know it works. But is the brand name the cheapest? Could you have bought another brand that is just as effective for less? Let’s start with flea and tick skin applicators. Most topical skin applicators come in boxes of 3, 4, 6, and 12 doses. To make a fair cost comparison, we’ll look at price per dose. Frontline can be bought as low as $11/dose from PetsGoHere.com or Petmedssource.com. Zodiac can be purchased at $2.75/dose at Kmart. BioSpot can be found at Petco for $2.35/dose. Sentry sells for the same at Petsmart, Buy.com, and Petco for $2/dose. Advantix II sells for about $10.25/dose at Amazon.com, Buy.com, and Petco. Though for about $0.75 more you can just as easily get it from 1800PetMeds, Petsmart, and Petmedssource.com. Sentinel goes for $11.50/dose on Discountpetmeds.com. Note that Sentinel also protects against some worms as well. Revolution can go as low as $11/dose at Discountpetmeds.com. The nifty thing about Revolution is that it not only does fleas and ticks, it also protects against worms, ear mites, and mange.

If you are a consumer more in the market of heartworm medicine (in pill form); you’ll most likely be looking for Heartgard Plus, Interceptor, Sentinel, or Advantix II. I should explain here the difference between Advantage and Advantix. Advantix contains a chemical that is toxic to cats and therefore is meant solely for dogs. Anyway, Heartgard Plus can be found as cheap as $4/dose at a place called KV Supply. The cheapest Interceptor found was at Petmedssource.com for $4.80/dose. Sentinel and Advantix II deals are mentioned earlier in this article.

To sum it up, I researched 14 different sellers, most were previously mentioned above; and the overall winner appears to be Discountpetmeds.com. Overall price per dose on flea, tick, and worm medicine barely edges out competition. When I say “barely” I mean if you have a coupon or if a product goes on sale at your local pet store, you can probably get it cheaper there. In terms of potency, Frontline and Heartgard lead the pack on flea/tick and heartworm medicine respectively. Avoid the vet’s office if you can help it. You’ll find no discount there. Please, remember that prices above are per dose, and often times the packaging you buy containing more doses will lower the per dose cost. We are at peak flea season right now. Stock up and keep your pets itch free.

1 thought on “Saving On Pet Meds”

  1. The thing about 1-800-Pet Meds is that my vet has a problem that they forge his signature on fake prescriptions. There are other companies that do this. National Pet Pharmacy has been the only online med site that he trusts, so far. But, NPP has just changed in that they will no longer ship to my state.

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