Submission Number: 560891-00463 

Received: 9/13/2012 10:46:00 PM
Commenter: Randal Ransom
Organization: 
State: Georgia

Agency: Federal Trade Commission
Initiative: Request for Comments and Announcement of Workshop on Pet Medications Issues, Project No. P121201
Attachments: No Attachments
Submission Text
I am a veterinarian and work in a 2.5 doctor small animal practice south of Atlanta.
Making it mandatory for veterinarians to give prescriptions out to every client would not only take away time from patient care but is also unnecessary. I have never turned down a written prescription request from a client and have many times offered prescriptions as an alternative for clients to save money. Costs overall for pet owners will increase from the time it will take to write all these prescriptions.
My apprehension about pharmacies carrying veterinary products is the lack of knowledge that these pharmacies have with these products and with animals. Do the pharmacists know that a dog does not need to be on a steroid and NSAID at the same time? Do they know that when treating a dog for atopy to refill the ketoconazole as well as the Atopica? If it is made mandatory for veterinarians to write prescriptions should it not be mandatory for pharmacists to have to take courses on companion animal pharmacology. Or better yet require the pharmacies to have a veterinarian consultant or veterinary specific pharmacists because people and animals are not the same.
Studies have also shown that 25% of people do not fill prescriptions sent to a pharmacy from their doctor and 33% percent do not fill a re-fill prescription. I fear that this number would be even worse for animals and thereby decreasing compliance and chance of this animal getting better.