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Asheville Veterinary Associates

Prescription Refill, Return Policy & Written Prescription Policy

Prescription Medications

At Asheville Veterinary Associates, we take pride in being your pet's doctor and see our role as an integral part in providing healthcare to your furry best friend. The primary focus of our practice is centered on offering a professional level of high-quality medical, surgical, and dental care. In addition to these professional services, we stock numerous forms of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and products for your pets.

We carry these items in our practice primarily for two reasons:

  • Many items are animal-specific formulations or for animal usage. Often these products aren't carried by traditional pharmacies.

  • There is a convenience in having items readily available onsite rather than sending our clients elsewhere just to sit and wait for prescriptions to be filled.

Asheville Veterinary Associates takes measures to ensure the vaccines, medications, and products we provide to our patients are properly handled and stored from initial manufacture until they reach our facility.

We will not provide prescription medications for patients when they have not been evaluated by our hospital or seen by our doctors within the last year. This means we do not fill medications for problems diagnosed by other doctors outside of our hospital. This would require a separate Pharmacy Dispensing License, which veterinary hospitals do not usually possess. Although some veterinary practices may fill prescriptions for non-patients, this is technically a violation of both Board of Pharmacy and Veterinary Medical Board statutes. We simply will not violate regulatory statutes.

Refill Requests

We will refill prescriptions on request provided we have recently examined your pet and the particular medication or product is appropriate based on the veterinarian's diagnosis. The time frame of "recent examination" is at the doctor's discretion, but will never exceed a maximum of one year from your pet's last annual examination.

If you require a refill of your pet's medication, we recommend you contact the office by telephone first to confirm we have the medications in stock and to give the hospital enough time for the staff to verify the refill is authorized by the veterinarian and prepare the refill.

Prescriptions will not be filled on the same day. Please allow 48 hours for refills for legend drugs and 72 hours for any controlled drugs.

We will not provide prescription refills for animals that are not current patients of our animal hospital, nor provide refills for animals that are patients of another animal hospital- even when those prescriptions are written by other veterinarians or veterinary hospitals.

No Returns for Refund or "Credit"

Veterinary Medical Board and Board of Pharmacy regulations prohibit the return and resale of pharmaceutical products once they have left the control of the hospital. This is a basic safety issue and applies to pre-packaged prescription medications as well as loose pills or liquids.

Because we cannot- and will not- resell medications that have left the direct control of our hospital, we will not accept medications or "returns" which have left our hospital premises. For the same reasons, we do not offer "credit" or refund for any unused or unwanted medications once these medications have been dispensed to you.

Written Prescriptions are Provided at Your Request

We're fully aware there are many internet sites and catalog houses which sell pharmaceutical products directly to consumers.

It is our practice policy to provide written prescriptions to our clients at their request. We do not charge a fee for writing prescriptions for our patients. Medications obtained from internet pharmacies cannot be returned to the hospital nor will the hospital take responsibility for incorrect medications shipped to your home. For issues related to prescriptions online, you must contact the online pharmacy, not the hospital.

Thank you,

Asheville Veterinary Associates