Online Pharmacy Policy
Willow Creek Veterinary Center Pharmacy Policy
At Willow Creek Veterinary Center it is our vision to provide lifelong personalized veterinary care as an affordable independently owned practice. We are committed to taking every possible step to ensure your pet receives the best pharmaceutical products available. Veterinary medications dispensed through our clinic come from qualified team members and are produced and sold by reputable manufacturers and distributors. We try our best to keep comparable prices but do appreciate that some products may be found through third party online pharmacies. We recently have been experiencing many issues with online pharmacies, such as medications not being dispensed properly, or approved/denied without veterinarian consent, and have been inundated by faxes and calls. These events and others have prompted a change in our policy.
AS OF JANUARY 1, 2023, WE WILL NO LONGER RESPOND TO FAX OR TELEPHONE REQUESTS FOR ONLINE PRESCRIPTION AUTHORIZATIONS.
If you would like to continue to purchase from outside pharmacies, our new policy is to issue handwritten prescriptions that you can pick up and take anywhere you would like. This allows us to focus on taking care of our patients and clients by eliminating the amount of time to manage faxes, emails, and phone requests from outside pharmacies. Please allow 48 hours for your written prescription to be approved and ready for pick up. It is your responsibility to ensure that your pets’ prescription is sent, filled, labeled, shipped, and used correctly. Please be aware most pharmacies require the original prescription be mailed to them. We advise you to keep your own copy for your records to ensure you receive the correct medication and dosing instructions.
Our goal is for your pet to live a happy healthy life and we want our clients to be informed and aware of their options. We feel it necessary to advise you of the following:
• Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship - To have any prescription filled via online pharmacy or in-house by one of our veterinarians, by state law of PA, there must be proof of a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. This means your pet needs to have a physical exam by our veterinarians within the last 12 months.
• In-house Refill Requests - Most of our in-house prescriptions will be filled the same day; however, we ask for 24 hours to allow our team appropriate time to review the request and get it filled. This also includes prescription food. Requests for special order food must be made by Friday at noon to be filled the following week.
• Online Pharmacy Advisory - Our relationship with drug manufacturers and distributors ensures that the prescription medications filled here are safe and trusted. We cannot support that statement for many online pharmacies as we do not know the exact means that they acquire their medications/drugs and cannot guarantee the safety of the medication. We also cannot vouch for how the products are handled and stored which could affect the integrity of the products.
• Vet Source - To help protect your pet from potential hazards of the online pharmacy world, we can fill your pets’ prescription through our own online pharmacy which can be accessed via our website or at this web address: https://vetsource.com/pet-owners/
• We can offer the same benefits through our online pharmacy as we can through our in-house pharmacy:
- Medical integrity and proper handling
- Manufacturer guarantee
- Vendor rebates
- Medications made and shipped directly from our trusted and accredited manufacturers
- Supports your family veterinarian and their dedicated team