Pet Pharmacies Are Like “Pretend” Drugstores

I was just on the Chewy website ordering my dog food. And I looked at the pharmacy area. It’s almost cute watching how that company (The same company subcontracts 800Petmeds, Chewy and Petsmart pharmacy enterprises) plays with the pharmacy industry like a child playing on the floor with colorful blocks.

That is, compared to real pharmacies with legally enforced responsibilities.

Pet pharmacy is still a Wild West – a low regulatory priority for the FDA / EPA and I believe it always will be; until they lose their market share and fade away.

Which they will shortly when credible human pharmacies move into their niche (Amazon/Pillpack) with legitimate records-handling and product-sourcing.

I can’t help but think of “pet pharmacists” pimping out their degrees and licenses working in the back of a warehouse, talking to no one, filling prescriptions and sending prescription authorizations based on an ‘educated guess’ by lay people for random things they think their pet should have.

You can bet that if those ‘pharmacists’ could get a job in the face-to-face or research private sector, they would. But (and this is a fact) you can’t stay employed when you get to work “as soon as you” can and meet the public drunk all day.

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Dr Erik Johnson is a Marietta, Georgia Veterinarian with a practice in small animal medicine. He graduated from University of Georgia with his Doctorate in 1991. Dr Johnson is the author of several texts on Koi and Pond Fish Health and Disease as well as numerous articles on dog and cat health topics.