Jeri:

<How does everyone get their vet to write you a prescription for either
cypro or Permax? Mine won't - I tried. I think the exact quote was: "When
you have an emergency, the pharmacy isn't going to come and treat your
horse, but Dr. _______ will always be available.">

So, who's the customer here anyway? It sounds to me like your vet is more
interested in his/her pocket book than your animal's well being! There's no
reason why they shouldn't write a script for you to take to the pharmacy of
your choice. The clinic I use has even checked prices for me (with no
prompting from me) and sent me to other pharmacies when they can't compete
price wise (and they have a large buying power compared to many small
vets!). None of the vets I use out of the clinic here have a problem with
giving me a written script or phoning in a script for any pharmacy I want to
use. They recognize that they will make far more money from me on my vet
calls (and referrals of other clients) than they might lose from a
prescription or two! Losing my business would cost them much more than
letting me save a little on a long term Rx. I use my vets pharmacy for most
of the routine equine stuff. It's just that Permax and cypro are not
normally equine drugs and therefore the vet pharmacies are not as likely to
have as competitive pricing as their human counterparts

My vets also know that there is other competition out there, and while I
don't want to make any changes in my current vet, I could (and would) if I
didn't believe they were genuinely interested in my horses well being and
providing the best service at a competitive price...........competition in
business is really a good thing for us consumers!

Carla Davis lmdavis@...