Terms & Conditions (Prescriptions)
Here’s how easy it is to get a prescription:
1. Speak to your vet to ask for a written prescription.
THEN
2. Use the search tool or look through our categories to find the medicine you need and buy the amount on your prescription or a smaller amount and use the prescription more than once.
We will need to see the prescription and you will be asked to upload the prescription at the checkout.
If you need to send the prescription by another method, you can reach us at: Patient@vetonthenet.com
OR
Pharmacy Team,
Oakwood Pines Business Park,
The Pines,
Fountains Road,
Harrogate,
HG3 3BF
Dr Louise Abuzet BVM&S Cert AVP (ECC) CertAVP (Zoomed) BSc (Hons) MRCVS, is the lead veterinary surgeon at Vet on the Net and has the final responsibility for checking prescriptions. She is a registered veterinary surgeon with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) and her number is 7013523. This can be checked on the register https://findavet.rcvs.org.uk/home/
She is assisted by a team of fully qualified veterinary surgeons. Please contact us by the above means if you would like to check their credentials.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Veterinary medicines fall into lots of different categories. POM V means that a written prescription is required and the pet must have been assessed by a veterinary surgeon who will then issue the prescription. Other medications such as those in the POM VPS and NFA VPS categories, require you to answer some questions about the pet(s) to be treated which will be checked by our veterinary surgeons or SQP. Some medications do not need these checks and you can choose the product you want without restriction. It will be listed next to a medication if a written prescription is required.
Don’t forget, as an online pharmacy with our very own consultation service staffed by fully qualified, experienced vets, we can support you to pick the right products for your pet!
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To ensure we comply with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) we cannot prescribe POM V medications. The good news is some cases don’t need these medications and there is lots we can do to support you with advice and other treatments.
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Currently we are only sending prescription medications within the UK but keep your eyes peeled, we are always increasing our service offering!
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Absolutely. Vets are highly skilled and trained and know exactly what information to put on written prescription. If you or your vet need any further support however, please email us at patient@vetonthenet.com or call us on 0333 242 0598. We can send you a blank prescription to take to your vet that will allow them to enter all the information we need.
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The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is responsible for this. They are a British Government department attached to DEFRA. They provide all the guidelines we follow when supplying veterinary medicines and those guidelines can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/veterinary-medicines-guidance-notes-vmgns -
You will often find there is a charge from your vet to provide a written prescription. This fee can vary and your practice will be able to advise you on their charges.
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This will vary depending on the individual case. Most vets will provide repeat prescriptions for long-term medications for 6 months. After this time, vets will want to check your pet over to make sure nothing has changed before prescribing more medication. As our veterinary team offer a consultation service, we can support you in between these visits from the comfort of your own home. Remember, we cannot prescribe POM V medications but there are still many ways we can help.
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No. Prescription diets are specially designed to help with certain medical conditions and this means, in many cases, they are not the right choice or necessary for healthy animals. We recommend seeking professional advice before choosing a diet and we are able to offer these consultations with a fully qualified veterinary surgeon to discuss the options in detail.
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For most medications, you can choose if you would like the full amount dispensing in one go or a “repeat” prescription. A repeat prescription allows you to buy a smaller amount of the medication several times. For example if a pet needed 1 tablet each month and you wanted to collect your 6 month supply all in one go, your prescription would be for 6 tablets to give one a month and no repeats. If you have a repeat prescription you might ask to pick up 2 tablets at a time for the 6 month duration so your prescription would say 2 tablets to give one a month with 2 repeats.
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A vet and owner always have the same ultimate goal – the best possible outcome for your pet. Vets understand that that may mean accessing medications from sources other than your veterinary practice to make it more cost effective. This means they usually want to support you in any way they can. It is very rare to need to know this but a vet cannot legally decline to provide a written prescription for a product they would have supplied to you themselves.
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We are unable to accept returns of any medication. This is because once it has left the pharmacy, we cannot guarantee it is in a safe condition to dispense again. This is to follow guidelines set out by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) on the safe dispensing of medications.
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Written prescriptions are valid for a maximum of 6 months from the date they are issued. Once the expiry date has passed (which will be show on prescription), even if there were more repeats left on the prescription, these cannot be fulfilled and the prescription becomes invalid.
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Yes, you can. Your vet will need to make sure that the product is the right choice for your pet. If they decide it would be beneficial and is safe, then a vet will happily look at this request for you.
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There are so many medications available to help pets these days that we do not stock every product. However, if there is a product you want that you can’t see on the site, email us at patient@vetonthenet.com or call on 0333 242 0598 and we will do our very best to source it for you.
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The VMD has a website which holds a “Summary of Product Characteristics” (SPC) for all the medicines authorised for use in the UK. The data base can be searched using the name of the medication you are looking for. There is also a link to specific products link below the description for each medication on the website. The link to the SPC page on the VMD website is: https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/productinformationdatabase/
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All medicines have a potential to cause an adverse reaction. If the adverse effect is known about, you will be able to find it on the SPC for the product on the VMD site. Sometimes an adverse effect may not be known about if it is very rare or only affects certain animals. To help the VMD and the veterinary profession identify these adverse effects, we have a system to report adverse events so they can be monitored. Sometimes the event may not be linked but it is important to report all possible adverse events so we can build an in-depth picture of the product. It is also important to report any products that did not appear to do what they were supposed to (lack of efficacy). A suspected adverse event or lack of efficacy should be reported to:
https://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/adversereactionreporting/