There has been a tremendous amount of marketing on the part of Internet and catalogue-based pharmacies in the past several years.  For a number of reasons, we prefer not to deal with these agencies.  We have concerns as to the sources of the drugs they sell, as well as concerns regarding legality of "virtual" pharmacies practicing in Michigan without hold necessary state-issued licenses.  There are numerous ongoing lawsuits involving PetMeds.com, which is probably the most well-known of these agencies.  Until these lawsuits are settled and we are convinced that this is a reputable source of medications, we will not accept telephone solicitations from these companies for prescription information.

If you choose to purchase your pet's heartworm preventive or other parasite controls from these agencies, we will issue you a written prescription which you can mail or fax to the company.  We do charge a $5 fee per prescription to provide this service.  It is important to note that, while heartworm season is generally recognized as spanning from May until December in Michigan, many virtual pharmacies require you to purchase a full 12-month supply of the drugs that they issue.  As well, despite the ads that claim a visit to the veterinarian is unnecessary to have your prescriptions filled, it is still our recommendation, based on information from the AVMA and other agencies, that all dogs be tested for heartworm on an annual basis.