You have several options for getting medications for your pet. Choose the option that fits you best:
Heal Vet Online Store
-
Online price averaging
-
Easy-Dose and Auto-ship options
-
Supported by Heal's customer service
-
Seamless Rx approval by our vets
-
Manufacturer’s rebates apply
-
10% off your first order
-
Shop Local!
Looking for home delivery? Start with our new online store for competitive pricing and on-demand, seamless prescription approval from our vets.
We partner with Midwest Vet (MVSO), a trusted prescription distribution warehouse that also supplies our in-house pharmacy. Every purchase directly supports Heal.
Use coupon code HEALVET10 for 10% off your first purchase.
We think it's easy to use, but click here for registration instructions, or call us for help.
Heal Vet In-house Pharmacy
and Special Requests
Heal stocks many medications in our pharmacy here at the clinic. This is particularly helpful when you need something quickly. You can pick up from us, or get your meds within one to two days when we ship USPS.
Additional services we can offer:
-
Compounded medications specially formulated for your pet's situation
-
Providing you with a script for use at a local human pharmacy
-
Special orders
-
Direct mailing or courier service if you can not travel
Whenever you need some thing from us either call our main number at 617-932-5166 or use this quick web form.
Note: controlled substance medications can't be mailed so are only available for pick up from us
Choose an area to learn more about the additional options available
Purina Food Portal | Scripting-out to local pharmacies | Ordering Hills Food
Vetsource | 3rd party online pharmacies
Conscientious Sourcing of Pet Foods | Our rant about the dangers of online pharmacies
Discount Codes
Script-out to local pharmacies
There are some controlled substances or medications that are best obtained from a local ‘human’ pharmacy. We can call in prescriptions to a pharmacy for pickup. Use our Rx Request Form, or call or email us to arrange for that.
We like the following local companies (and we really hate dealing with CVS!)
Hills Pet Foods
We have discontinued direct orders from Hills, but you can get all their foods from the Heal online store or our older store Vetsource.
We will maintain the original Heal online store from Vetsource, so if you have an existing good relationship with them, or standing orders or order history you want to preserve, no problem. You will probably find better pricing on our new store, but that may depend on the specific product.
3rd party online pharmacies
The final option, and the worst one for us in every possible way, is if you want to buy your products from a third-party online pharmacy like Chewey or 800-Petmeds. In this case we can send you a paper prescription form that you can use to facilitate your order.
Information about dangers online
From Clinician's Brief, the leading journal in the veterinary industry, focused exclusively on real-world applications of veterinary drugs in clinical practice, with leading names in therapeutics and pharmacology.
Online Pharmacies: Are They Created Equal?
"Online pharmacies are a dime a dozen and a quick internet search will return many options. Well-meaning veterinary clients sometimes turn to the internet to find less expensive medications for their pet; however, although it is understandable that clients want to save money, it is important that patient care is not sacrificed with the use of poor quality medications.
"Most online pharmacies do provide clients with less expensive options, increased medication variety, and convenience, but some may provide medications that are counterfeit, expired, contaminated, or otherwise substandard."
Thoughts on Conscientious Purchasing of Prescription Foods
In the world of prescription diets there are really only a small group of companies, all of which are owned by mega-corporations. Here is an outline of our thought process from our internal company knowledge-base on this issue:
Hills, owned by Colgate-Palmolive
-
Ranks very high (95) at CSR-Hub www.csrhub.com
-
Generally favord for ethics issues www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/colgate-palmolive-co
Royal Cann (IVD), Eukanuba, Waltham, Iams, all owned by Mars
-
Ranks low (63) at CSR-Hub www.csrhub.com
-
Recommended to avoid by www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/dog-food
-
Mars is one of the main big-money consolidators of the veterinary industry, and a significant threat to locally-owed veterinary businesses
Purina, owned by Nestle
-
Ranks very high (97) at CSR-Hub
-
Recommended to avoid by www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/dog-food and www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/nestle-sa
In addition to corporate sustainability and ethics, we need to balance some practical as well as medical issues around suppliers of medications:
-
Are the foods generally palatable - or do we get a lot of returns of food that pets won’t eat? Purina is usually the best.
-
Are they effective for the issues we are trying to treat - there are a number of unique products that work for specific diseases/issues that other manufacturers have not been able to compete with.
-
How do companies handle recalls and ingredient quality - Hills burned us badly on that last year.
-
What is the support and advice offered to our vets? Do the companies have veterinary nutritionists on staff, or just advisors?
-
What are the ingredients like - anything organic, how do they control quality, etc? For instance, most of Hill’s veterinary diets are preserved with artificial preservatives BHA, BHT, and propyl gallate.
-
How do the companies treat and support our customers with their orders, returns, and shipping issues? Purina is hands-down the best at fulfillment. Hills is pretty good.
-
Are the products available? Royal Canin is a total mess this year with many of their products only available on Chewy - and Chewy is a serious threat to our basic business model by sucking away our revenue.
Our vets prescribe foods from all three (Purina, Hill’s, and Royal). In a way, we dislike them all, and at the same time rely on them for helping solve medical problems with our dear patients. I hope this was helpful for you to see. We are trying to do the best we can with our recommendations.
