$114 A Month For Meds

[Hubcitypam]

Girlie Hounds Proin and Methocarbomal are coming out to $114 a month. According to Sam's Club Pharmacy there is no human dose even close for her on the muscle relaxer, and that is $80 a month..sort of makes Poodle's ~ $35 a month for insulin and syringes seem dirt cheap.

 

 

[MerlinsMum]

I hear ya. This month alone we've spent over $650 on Merlin And on a monthly basis it's costing us at least $150-200 to feed him his prescription food and meds. We're both getting second jobs.

[BootsyCollins]

Eek to both of you!

 

Kerry, I'm guessing this is not something you'd consider, but I have read that a lot of IBD dogs thrive on a raw diet. I bet it would be cheaper than Rx food.

[cleptogrey]

i ended up getting florneiff for my scottie from canada, i just couldn't afford to keep him alive. well, both my vet and i were totally shocked- the price including shipping was less than 1/3. needless to say, velcro lived another 10 years...

 

i checked out pharmacies in the states that compounded their drugs then went on a search up in canada. no problems w/shipping and that was when the stricter import export rules changed. so, maybe you will be that lucky!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Sam (65 pound greyhound) takes methocarbamol, 500mg tablets. He gets 1 tablet as often as three times a day, but we're generally fine with just twice a day.

 

His prescription is at Walgreens. Thirty pills is $11.99 on their "family plan" which saves $6 each prescription. (I think the family plan card was $35 for a year.) So Sam usually goes through two bottles a month for $23.98. Would that be an improvement in price?

 

P.S. The vet's instructions for Sam's methocarbamol are "2 tablets by mouth for 1st 3 doses. Then 1 tablet 2 to 3 times daily or as needed for muscle spasms." Sam's pills are the generic, I think, and this batch was manufactured by Qualitest.

 

P.P.S. I don't know what dosage Girlie is on, but these pills are scored, so in theory they could be split and one and a half pills would give you 750mg.

Edited September 27, 2011 by KF_in_Georgia

[Hubcitypam]

I hear ya. This month alone we've spent over $650 on Merlin And on a monthly basis it's costing us at least $150-200 to feed him his prescription food and meds. We're both getting second jobs.

vet bills last month were $650 plus this ongoing...plus Poodle. My only hope is that the two year old terrier mix that was dumped on me remains healthy as a horse (as a Terriorist mix -- he should be bulletproof).

[gryhnd_adoptee]

Girlie Hounds Proin and Methocarbomal are coming out to $114 a month. According to Sam's Club Pharmacy there is no human dose even close for her on the muscle relaxer, and that is $80 a month..sort of makes Poodle's ~ $35 a month for insulin and syringes seem dirt cheap.

 

We had a girlie on Proin several years back, and realized that she did beautifully on about 1/3 the prescribed dosage. The full dose made her pant a lot and very nervous, but went away when we reduced the dosage. We adjusted down until there was leakage again, and figured out what worked for her that way. It took time, but I also felt better about putting less of the Proin into her.

[Hubcitypam]

When I called Sams they said the human Metrocarbomal was 500mg...the bottles on my scripts for the muscle relaxer say 50, but the tablets are huge like 500s. Will talk to vet in the morning.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Hubcitypam

[Hubcitypam]

My vet e-mailed me and said to try 1/2 tab twice a day and see how it goes. If she is good go to once a day, then every other day...but if she leaks go back to the last level. He said sometimes if they are on it two weeks straight at 50 it somehow jump starts everything into working better, but not always.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Hubcitypam

[rycezmom]

Try getting your Proin here

 

http://www.kvsupply.com/KVVet/productr.asp?pf%5Fid=R40147&gift=False&HSLB=False&mscssid=7BB5B6B17BD941068252A12CC8209D63

 

My vet just faxed the Rx over and I could get six months worth for about $50.00. They have good prices, good customer service and I never had a single problem with them. We also monkey'd around with Rose's dosage to put her on the least amount needed.

[KF_in_Georgia]

When I called Sams they said the human Metrocarbomal was 500mg. I thought maybe the labels on the meds I had were wrong, but via the e-mail it appears needs a 50 mg dose at best.

 

I'd recheck the methocarbomal dosage. See here, where it says that, for dogs and cats, "The usual dose is 20-30 mg per pound of pet’s body weight every 8-12 hours for first day, then 10-30 mg per pound every 8-12 hours, thereafter." My 65-pound boy could be taking as much as 650-1950mg every 8 to 12 hours. (And he does well with 500mg every 12 hours.) If there's a typo in your prescription, it might explain why Sam's is charging you so much.

[Chicocat]

Methocarbomal is very reasonable online from Drs Foster & Smith. 60 count of 500 mg is only $17 and change.

 

 

Foster & Smith

[DaisyDoodle]

Daisy weighs around 60 lbs. and her methocarbarmol dose was 500mg every 8 hours. I got the script filled at Target and, at most, 90 pills were $12. I don't recall how much since it was a while ago, but the med falls under their $4 list, but 90 pills may be considered more than a 30 day supply.

 

Proin is kind of expensive. What dose is she on? Did they give you an antibiotic first? Daisy had 2-3 episodes of full bladder voiding and was on Proin/PPA for a couple of months. I never got her to the full dose for her weight, and only kept her on it for a couple of months. I weaned her off of it and she's never had another problem since. Lucky, on the other hand, needed higher than the dose for her weight and was on it for years.

 

How much does Girly Hound weigh, and what's up with her to need each of these meds?

 

ETA--if Girly is about Daisy's size, I'd consider that the vet wrote the script wrong, or did the weight calculation wrong.

 

Also wanted to add that 500mg every 4 hours is a human dose as well.

Edited September 27, 2011 by DaisyDoodle

[Hubcitypam]

On the Proin she is on one every 12 hours and has been for two weeks as of today I'm going to try 1/2 every 12 hours per my vet and see how it goes. We're going to taper her and if the leaking comes back go back up a notch until we figure out the least that works great. The vet said that there are 3 kinds of girlhounds 1. Those that need the whole pill twice a day foever 2. Those that only need it for a few weeks and it kick starts them back to normal and 3. Those that you can taper off after the initial time period.

Yes, we did a round of doxy first.

 

She weighs around 58 pounds. We really don't know but the vet thinks it has to do with the sheath on her spinal cord. About 3 weeks ago I woke up to her scratching on the kitchen floor. She had fallen and couldn't get back up. Her back legs were trembling like a magic fingers bed when we got her upright at the vet. Her temp was 103 and the vet said that was from the muscle tremors. She spent the night for fluids, full blood panel and observation. She started peeing the bed s 3 times a day. When I went in to get the Proin her legs went all wonky again so they kept her again and stated her on the metrocarbomol and proin. Everything has been fine except my pocketbook.

 

Th pills are the same size as the pronin so I feel sure they are 500s and that it is a typo on the label.

[KF_in_Georgia]

If the methocarbamol dosage of 500mg is correct (and the label reading 50mg is wrong), then Sam's should be about as cheap as everyone else for that prescription.

[rycezmom]

Never accept a prescription if you feel the label or the medication may be wrong. Too many mistakes by pharmacy personel. Please clarify and identify the pills and their strength. Safety first!

[krissn333]

Chiming in to say the methocarbamol shouldn't be that expensive. I was getting it for Sutra from the Target pharmacy and it was less than $25 for a month supply. If I have the bottle around still I'll see what the dosage for him was. He was around 60 lbs.