The Pharmacy

In-House for your convenience.

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Important Information Regarding Refill Requests

Because of the large volume of pharmacy requests we handle at FAH, it can take up to forty-eight business hours to process and fill your pet’s prescription. The length of time it takes to process requests is contingent upon several variables:

  • Is your pet’s annual exam up to date?
  • Are there refills on the requested medication?
  • Is the pet’s blood work up to date?
  • Is the prescribing doctor on staff the day of the request?
  • If the doctor asked for an update on your pet’s response to a new medication or change in dosing, did you call or email to provide the update?
  • Is the pharmacy adequately staffed?
  • Does the pharmacy have the medication in stock?
  • Does the medication require compounding?

If the answer to any of the above questions is “no,” then refilling your pet’s prescription will take a little more time. If your pet is overdue for his or her annual exam, for example, that exam should be booked before we reach out to a doctor to approve your request. The same applies to blood work that’s overdue: an appointment with the veterinary technicians should be booked before we reach out to a doctor for prescription approval. Failure to keep these appointments will hinder future refills.

I ordered my pet’s medications online a few days ago; why haven’t they been approved yet?

FAH often receives over thirty electronic prescription requests per day from online pharmacies like Chewy and PetMeds. Each online request must be processed by the pharmacy staff, which requires answering the questions above. Pharmacy staff must also ensure that the medication being ordered online is the correct medication at the appropriate dose and that it’s being ordered in the appropriate time frame (no, we cannot approve a year of preventatives if we just approved a year’s supply a couple of months ago).

Processing online requests can take even longer when requests are submitted with little or no identifying information (e.g. a pet’s name and an owner’s first name but no phone number or last name). We also receive many online prescription requests for pets we haven’t seen in years. Obviously, we cannot approve requests for pets with no active veterinary client pet relationship (VCPR), but each of these requests takes time to investigate, nevertheless.

I ordered my pet’s medications online a few days ago; why haven’t they been approved yet?

FAH often receives over thirty electronic prescription requests per day from online pharmacies like Chewy and PetMeds. Each online request must be processed by the pharmacy staff, which requires answering the questions above. Pharmacy staff must also ensure that the medication being ordered online is the correct medication at the appropriate dose and that it’s being ordered in the appropriate time frame (no, we cannot approve a year of preventatives if we just approved a year’s supply a couple of months ago).

Processing online requests can take even longer when requests are submitted with little or no identifying information (e.g. a pet’s name and an owner’s first name but no phone number or last name). We also receive many online prescription requests for pets we haven’t seen in years. Obviously, we cannot approve requests for pets with no active veterinary client pet relationship (VCPR), but each of these requests takes time to investigate, nevertheless.