Dear Medicated: One advantage to buying canine medication at your dog’s veterinarian is the purchase becomes part of his permanent medical record. This information could be instrumental in helping your vet with a diagnosis for a specific illness where this medication might have an impact.

And as I said last week, one of the hardest parts of giving monthly medications, like Heartgard® and Frontline®, to your dog is remembering to do it. Accurate purchase records can tell you when you bought that last batch. If you accidentally missed a month or so of Heartgard® and didn’t realize your dog had been untreated for a while, these records may show the need for a blood test before restarting medications.

Another way to save money from the vet is if you buy in bulk. Merial (the makers of Heartgard® and Frontline®) give discounts ranging from free doses to rebate coupons. Visit them at http://us.merial.com/pet_owners/promotions/index.asp for the latest offers available through your veterinarian.

Online Options

If you wish to bypass your vet to purchase these medications, you still need a vet’s prescription to purchase them from an online store. A recent survey of some of the sponsored links at Google for Heartgard® medication found surprising results as far as so-called discounts are concerned.

I went to www.petcaredirect.com and checked the prices for the Heartgard Green (dosages for a dog weighing between from 26 to 50 pounds) and found a price of $24.95 for six doses. This is the size you would most likely use for your Springers. This price is competitive with one area vet, which sells it for $26.

The site www.discountpetdrugs.com advertises Heartgard® for $15. Well, that’s the small size if you have a Chihuahua but for the 26-50 pound dog, they have a special price of $20.70. But don’t forget to add shipping at $3.95 and that puts the price back up to $24.65. That’s a whopping 30-cent savings over “petcaredirect”.

Beware of imitations on some of the sites. Both www.petshed.com and www.petvet-superstore.com advertise 50 percent off of Heartgard® but when you go to their websites they tell you Heartgard® is temporarily unavailable. They recommend you try a generic form called ValueHeart. It is the Valueheart product that is 50 percent off the price of Heartgard®. 

Another scenario might be that your vet is adding a huge mark-up on Heartgard® to make a profit. For example, I went to a vet once that charged $90 for a bottle of pills and when I went to another vet a week later I was charged only $60 for the same bottle of pills. Your solution may not be to go to the online discount stores, but to kindly ask your vet what his mark-up is and if he is willing to reduce it. If he isn’t, (remember you still have to ask him for a prescription to buy online) then you may need to shop around for a new vet.

Lisa’s Pick of the Litter

Recently, a new device invented by a veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to aid in the early diagnosis of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) disruption before a rupture occurs, could save dogs from unnecessary pain. 

According to a press release, “We’ve developed an objective tool for assessing knee stability,” says Dr. Mandi Lopez, a veterinary surgeon and researcher at the School of Veterinary Medicine. While clinical trials are still needed, the tool they’ve developed for early diagnosis (called the DGY2000) could allow veterinarians to stabilize the knee before complete rupture occurs, preventing the associated arthritis and pain. A patent has been applied for.

“The DGY2000 consists of a platform with two moving pieces. The dog’s leg is strapped onto the platform and the femur is held in place while a small force is applied to the front and then the back of the tibia while radiographs (also known as x-rays) are taken. An exact measurement of the amount of laxity in the joint can then be determined from the two radiographs. Excessive laxity is an early warning sign of ACL problems.”

While ruptures can happen anytime, most strike overweight dogs. If this device becomes widely available, it can help vets diagnosis a rupture before it happens and intervene with early surgery for repair.

Lisa Peterson, a breeder and exhibitor of Norwegian Elkhounds, is a Delegate to the American Kennel Club. Ask Lisa questions at ask@lisa-peterson.com or Dogma Publishing, P.O. Box 307, Newtown, CT 06470.