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Vidalta for hyperthyroid cat. Vet says we have to change

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My cat has been on neo mercazole twice daily for over 5 years. We crush the tablets over his food and he has never had any problems eating them and is doing really well. Yesterday we were called into the vets and told he could no longer continue with neo mercazole, as it's a drug for humans and that we must change to Vidalta, made specially for animals.

 

Vidalta costs almost exactly twice as much as neo mercazole and cannot be crushed onto food. It has to be given whole at the same time each day, as it is slow release. We've tried today and he just won't eat it whole with his food. Here are the options the vet gave us :

 

1. Force his mouth open and put the tablet down his throat. Ginger is 17 years old and has never been given medication this way. He'd hate it and would get very distressed. His mouth is tender, as he is hyperthyroid.

 

2. Crush the tablets onto his food. If we do this, he has to have 2, instead of one tablet a day as crushing impairs the quality of the dosage. This would double the cost of his medication. So from £14 for a 6 week's supply of neo mercazole, we would be paying £56 for Vidalta.

 

I want to go back to neo mercazole, but the vet won't supply it. Can anyone please offer help or suggestions? The internet doesn't give any info on the recent change from one drug to another and I don't know what to do.

 

Many, many thanks to anyone who can help.

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I had a cat with hyperthyroid and he was on Felimazole, which could be crushed and put on his food. He was like yours, and got extremely distressed if I tried to poke the tablet down his throat.

 

I've had a look on Petmeds website, and they still appear to do neo mercazole, though you have to phone them up.

 

Could you ask your vet if there is another animal-specific medication you could get, instead of the expensive stuff? And it is much cheaper to buy from the internet, rather than the vet, and the vet is obliged to give you a prescription if you want one.

 

Good luck.

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Dozy, thank you so much for your advice. I rang the vet and told him the problem I had trying to get Ginger to take the new medication and referred him to the possible internet purchase. He immediately offered to order it especially for me and I agreed. It seems that now vets must supply drugs especially developed for animals, rather than smaller doses of drugs designed for humans. As there is an alternative (Vidalta) to the human drug Neo Mercazole, the vet must supply this and he/she cannot store Neo Mercazole on the premises. They can, however, order it, as you rightly mentioned. The vet gave me the last few tablets he had in stock and the new supply arrives tomorrow.

 

Many, many thanks.

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Hi guys,

I know this thread was a while ago but hopefully you can help. My cat has been diagnosed with super high thyroid which was causing her massively high blood pressure and heart rate. Been on Vidalta 15mg now for 4 weeks now and last week bloods and heart rate all back down to normal. She has be on these for life now.

 

So, in the past month we have coughed up in excess of £200 for blood tests, tablets and blood pressure tests etc.

 

As recently as yesterday we were charged £14.72 incl VAT by our vets in Dronfield for 14 days tablets, ie £1.05 per tablet. On t'internet on Petcare I found them at 46 pence per tablet - BIG DIFFERENCE! but obviously I need a prescription...

 

Are my vets likely to throw a hissy fit about filling in this prescription - they honestly can't expect me to pay double just to go through them. Obviously I will continue to take her to the vets for regular check ups... she has thus far been as good as gold at taking them in a dollop of Primula cheese (easily bribed) although we had one occasion where she sussed it and spat it out....

 

Any advice please on how to approach the vets? Is this fairly normal? If so why the bloody hell are they profiteering from people's misery? I know they are in a business and expect to make a profit but this is daylight robbery.:(

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if you request a prescription from your vet to enable you to obtain your medications elsewhere they are obliged to do so

 

petmeds also have a forum under their rescue or rehoming section - that's probably the best place to ask for up to date info, as I'm fairly certain the ban on charging for writing a prescription may have been revoked (meaning they can charge you)

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yes I felt sure that somehow they would try and cover it by charging. Why on earth they should charge for spending 10 minutes filling in a piece of paper is beyond me, but hey - these are the people who are paid like solicitors, by the minute - or at least my vets are!! I will take a look at the pedmed website, thank you for replying so quickly, much appreciated.:)

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if you're unhappy with how your vets do business - change

 

I swapped as I didn't like the out of hours at our's being contracted out - so no access to medical notes when they're most needed, and charged through the nose for a bad diagnosis

 

We're now with peak at woodseats, which is a heck of a drive away, but I'm very confident that these guys are in business because they love animals

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We have been with same vets 15 years (since my cats were kittens), they are only 3 minutes drive away and apart from the fact that the male partner has no people skills whatsoever and insists on referring to my girl as "it", "the animal" anything but its name - I have no real complaints about the way they have dealt with problems. I have probably forked out over 15 years about £2k and I don't begrudge a penny of it, however I do begrudge paying over the odds for tablets which my baby has to be on for the rest of her life - I feel like I am being fleeced.

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My 43 year old pony was on Pergolide for his cushings disease and my vets (well - the one I use for my horses) Chris Greens At Sheffield - was right as a bobbin about writing a prescription (and he never charged me either) -he said that it would be much cheaper for me to get it from the chemist than him ordering it - apparently it is used for people with parkinsons I think. Also my cat is on Budenofaulk for bowel disease and I have to buy this from the vets as I would have to order a pack of 300 capsules from the chemist (she only has half every other day) and my vets charge me about £43 for 20 capsules - what a rip off - but she needs em - what can you do - they've got us hook line and sinker I'm afraid :( PS When I do order a repeat prescription there is always a medicines decision fee of £2.53 ???????? They are taking the pish :confused:

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Yes, quite. I am all for them running a business and making a profit. But profiteering?

 

Naively I suppose, I can't help thinking that they should make a profit but not to the point where its obscene. I suppose if enough people bought their meds online then they would have to bring their prices down.

 

However little old bids who take their ancient cats in, and who have probably never heard of the internet, will be fleeced of their money because they will just cough up!

 

Plus if the internet companies can make a profit and obviously do, by selling at 100% less than the vets....??!!

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Oh dear oh dear, there are some huge misconceptions out there about vets.

 

Vets are not profiteering, they have a middle man to go through and have, in relative terms, small premises to work from. Cut out the middle man and order and store in vast quantities with fewer overheads, like the internet companies do, and of course the price of a drug or tablet will come spiraling down. Its called competition, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, its healthy and exists to ensure consumers do not pay over the odds for things. Vets cannot compete with internet pharmacies because sometimes they cannot even get the drugs from their own suppliers as cheap as an owner can get them off the internet! They are also not permitted to go to internet pharmacies to supply their drugs! Its the rules and regulations that pet owners don't know about that prevent the vets from being able to offer the cheapest possible price, but of course the end result is that the vets get blamed for profiteering and making obscene profits. did you know that veterinary drugs and healthcare are charged at 17.5% vat for example. Do you think that is right? Many don't but changing that is almost impossible.

 

Vets cannot compete with internet pharmacies but they were banned by the competition commission for a set period to allow the necessary competition to develop. Now that internet pharmacies have established, the ban on charging for a prescription has ended. Do you not get paid by the hour? Do you not "charge" your employer for every 10 minutes of your time? I think therefore it is reasonable for a vet or any individual to charge for their time without being accused of profiteering or fleecing old ladies! If you are not happy with your vet and the amounts they charge, if you think they are some sort of heartless mercenary, just change!

 

With regards the neomercazole issue, vets have to prescribe according to a cascade system. If there is a veterinary licensed product available they legally have to prescribe it. Its nothing to do with fleecing you out of as much money as they can get away with. Vidalta 10mg once daily is the same as one neomercazole 5mg twice daily, i.e. it is sustained release. Crushing it makes it behave like neomercazole. It was designed to make it possible to dose cats once daily, and most do take it whole in food, but not all cats are the same. So the correct advice is to split the vidalta 10mg into 2 and add it crushed in food twice daily, or use felimazole. Vets are discouraged by the regulations from prescribing human alternatives where a veterinary licensed product exists.

 

I hope this helps.

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Hi, thanks for the feedback and I certainly didn't know the ins and outs of it and I agree it does seem unfair that vets can't buy off the internet, in terms of the VAT its unfair, but as the vets pass on the VAT to the client who actually can't claim vat back then thats not exactly fair either, its just the way of business.

 

As I said before, on the whole, I am happy with my vets and the issue is not to move, that is unless when I approach them for a prescription that they get the hump. I am not about the penalise my cat by dragging her half an hour journey to another vet because I don't want to pay extra. This isn't about changing vets. The question was originally whether people had experience of asking their vets for a prescription and what their response would be? I don't want to fall out with my vet but they have to understand that I am not going to pay them 100% more for the same drug. We are talking the difference between £365 per year and £167 per year. If she has to be on these for years its a huge saving.

 

obviously I will continue to take her and my other male cat to them for any normal vetinary issues.:)

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