The Canine Ledger

Buying Your Dog's Medicines Online, Safely

Online pharmacies can be far cheaper for ongoing medicines. How prescriptions work, the UK fee cap, and how to check a seller is legitimate.

Written by thecanineledger

This page carries no advertising, and nothing on it is for sale.

The UK’s competition regulator compared what vets and online pharmacies charge for the same medicines. It found that “commonly prescribed medicines are typically available at online pharmacies for prices that are 50% to 60% less than those at veterinary practices” (CMA final report summary, 24 March 2026). For an owner whose dog takes a medicine every month, it estimated the saving at “around £200 to £300 on average each year”, even after paying for a prescription.

Yet “only 26% of pet owners whose pet had been prescribed on-going medication purchased it from an online pharmacy.”

While buying online can save real money, it is only safe from a legitimate seller, and only with a prescription. This page explains both.

We don’t name or link to any pharmacy. We point you to the official registers instead.

1. Start with your vet

Your vet still decides what your dog needs and how much. The US Food and Drug Administration’s advice on buying pet medicines online begins: “Before you buy online, talk with your veterinarian!” (FDA, Be Website A.W.A.R.E.).

Ask whether the medicine is one your dog will take for months or years. That’s where the savings are. For a short course, the prescription fee may cost more than you save.

Our note: Some medicines need close monitoring or frequent dose changes, and buying them from your practice may make more sense. Ask your vet which of your dog’s medicines fall into that group.

2. You need a prescription

In the US, the FDA is direct: “Websites that sell prescription veterinary medicines without requiring a veterinarian’s prescription are breaking the law.” A legitimate seller should “ask you for the prescription from your veterinarian or verify it by contacting the animal hospital directly.”

In the UK, you ask your vet for a written prescription and usually pay a fee for it. Under the competition regulator’s Order, that fee will be capped. The maximum is “£21.40 for the primary prescription”, and practices “can charge up to £12.70 for each additional medicine prescribed within the same consultation” (CMA guidance for small veterinary businesses, 2026). Both figures are in GBP, include VAT, and apply until 31 March 2028, after which they rise with inflation. (Figures read 4 November 2026.)

The cap applies from 22 March 2027 at large groups and from 22 September 2027 at small practices (each rule starts the next working day). From 22 June 2027 at large groups and 22 September 2027 at small practices, practices must also give you the prescription either on paper by the end of the consultation or digitally “by the end of the second working day”.

Our note: We haven’t read the UK veterinary regulator’s guidance on written prescriptions and repeat checks. Ask your practice about its own policy.

3. Check the seller

In the UK, a website selling veterinary medicines that must be supplied by a qualified professional has to be registered with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), the government regulator. The VMD’s older voluntary scheme, AIRS, “ended on 30 October 2026” (VMD, 30 October 2026). Registered sellers now show a new logo, which “links directly to the VMD register”, and the statement “Registered Online Retailer of Veterinary Medicines”.

Don’t trust the logo alone. Follow its link, or search the VMD Register of Online Retailers yourself, and check the seller’s name and website appear.

In the US, “U.S. pharmacies must be licensed by the state board of pharmacy or similar agency in the state where they are based and where they fill prescriptions.” The FDA keeps a page listing each state board, so you can check.

Our note: We haven’t researched Canada, where each province regulates pharmacies. Canadian owners should check with their provincial pharmacy regulator.

4. Red flags

The FDA lists warning signs. Be careful if a website:

  • doesn’t ask for a prescription for a prescription medicine;
  • has “no licensed pharmacist available to answer your questions”;
  • doesn’t list a physical address or phone number;
  • has prices much lower than anyone else’s (“Suspiciously cheap medicines may be unapproved knock-offs, from another country (sometimes with the label in a language other than English), or expired.”);
  • sends medicines you didn’t order, or that look different from usual;
  • takes only Bitcoin or money transfers, not credit cards.

If a medicine arrives looking different from what your dog normally takes, the FDA says: “Don’t give these medicines to your pet”. Contact your vet and the seller.

Our note: The list we cite is US advice. We didn’t find a UK equivalent that we could read.

5. If something goes wrong

If your dog has a reaction, or the medicine doesn’t seem to work, call your vet first.

  • In the US, you can report a problem to the drug’s maker or to the FDA, and report a suspicious website to the FDA or your state board of pharmacy.
  • In the UK, registered sellers must tell you that you can contact the VMD about a medicine bought online, using its online form.

Buying from a seller abroad carries an extra risk. The FDA warns that if you have a problem with an order from a website outside the US, “you may not be able to get your money back.”

6. What we could not verify

Commonly saidWhat we found
“Online pet medicines are fakes”Not true of registered sellers. The risk comes from unregistered ones.
“Vets won’t give you a prescription”Not under the UK Order, once it applies. We haven’t checked the rules in the US or Canada.
“Online is always cheaper”Usually, for ongoing medicines, in the UK inquiry’s analysis. For a short course, the prescription fee may outweigh the saving.
How Canadian owners can check a sellerNot researched.

Sources

Always confirm with your vet before acting on anything on this page.