Updated Prescription Policy

Prescription Policy

Your pet’s health and safety is of our primary concern. In recent years, there have been increasing numbers of reports of dubious practices, such as dispensing counterfeit, adulterated, and expired medications; substituting similar, but non-equivalent products; randomly changing drug strengths and dosage instructions provided by the veterinarian; obtaining products illegally through redirection; filling prescriptions beyond their expiration dates; and more.

As such, effective January 1, 2023, we will no longer honor email or faxed prescription requests from third-party online pharmacies.

Dunham Animal Hospital carries many of the most common prescriptions that you may need for your pet. However, it is your legal right to obtain these elsewhere with a written prescription, upon your request. If you would prefer to obtain your pet’s prescription from an online or local pharmacy, rather than from us, we will gladly provide you with a written prescription, which you can provide to the pharmacy of your choice:

* If you need a written prescription while you are here with your pet, please tell us at the beginning of your visit.

* To request a prescription from home, you can call us, email us,  submit your request through our website. If approved, we will have your written prescription ready to pick up in our office as soon as possible, generally within 24 hours.

* Non-urgent requests, such as heartworm and flea preventives may have a 24-72 hour turn-around time.

* If you are out of state and need a prescription refill for your pet, please call us to make arrangements for your pet’s refill.

We may contact you prior to approving a prescription if we need more information and we reserve the right to decline any prescription that is deemed unnecessary and/or not indicated for your pet’s wellness.

Note that many prescriptions (such as medications for thyroid disease, heart disease, seizures, endocrine disease, and pain management) require routine physical exams and lab work to ensure that they are working as expected and are not causing harmful side-effects.

We encourage you be careful where you get your pet’s medications. Only use pharmacies that you know and trust. Look up the pharmacy’s license to practice and do your research to determine if a pharmacy has any legal actions posted to its business license.

Thank you for your patience and understanding,

Dunham Animal Hospital Staff