There are many medical problems in pets that we commonly treat. What is very familiar to us may be very unique to our clients. Below are some of the questions we frequently hear followed by the best answers we can give without knowing all the specific details.  Remember that every situation is slightly different and may require a professional examination in order to make a proper recommendation.

A client calls the clinic requesting a refill on ear medication that was dispensed by Oasis Animal Clinic one year ago.  The dog has the “exact same symptoms” and the owner wants to stop by and get the medication and treat the ears again.  If the pet doesn’t get better in a week, they promise to bring him in.

They are told that we must see the pet again to see if the condition is the same. And yes, there is a Professional Exam involved and there will be charges.

A. The first “rule” of medicine is “Above all, do no harm.” To Oasis Animal Clinic this means that we are responsible to make sure that every pet is getting the best care possible.  Part of our treatment plan usually involves dispensing prescription medicine.  Because they are “prescription”, they generally have specific uses and actions that require supervision and evaluation of the progress.  Most medications also have side effects.  A prescribed therapy should result in a “cure” or improvement in symptoms so that the need for the drug should decrease.  Generally, if a refill is requested, it means that the medication did not give the desired result or a new condition has arisen. 

Some chronic conditions are not curable, but are treated continuously or intermittently for the remainder of a pet’s life.  Epilepsy, thyroid disease, arthritis, allergies and heart conditions are examples of this.  These pets will require medications for the rest of their lives.

The law requires, and good medicine dictates that we have a CURRENT, personal knowledge of a condition in order to prescribe a drug.  This means that we have to have seen the pet for the specific disease we are treating within the past 3 months, in order to be “current” about the care of that pet.  Most clients understand this and are happy to schedule an appointment. 

So, the bottom line is that we must see and reevaluate pets regularly in order to properly treat conditions.  If we were to refill medications without seeing the pet recently for that condition, we would run the risk of misdiagnosing and mistreating the disease, overlooking the pet’s improvement and breaking the law that governs the practice of Veterinary Medicine in Arizona.  We do have policies in place for chronic conditions like those listed above, whereby we can refill medications for a long period of time without rechecks.  But even those conditions may require repeated blood work to assure that the body is handling the medications without developing adverse reactions.