my vet wants me to get a prescription at the drug store for zithromax for my cat, will this be covered under..
Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at
7:34 am
ok my cat has feline luekemia, my vetrinarian gave me a prescription and told me to get it filled at the local drug store for humans… will zithromax be covered under my insurance plan? or no??? i saw the price of it without insurance for the liquid is 00.00!!! how to do this?
Filed under: Pet Insurance
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Try Walmart. They sell a lot of drugs now under the 4 dollar plan. I got my dog some meds that were 200 bucks for 4 bucks at walmart.
It really shows how much the stores and the mfg’s. are screwing the public.
Your insurance plan will not cover your pets meds unless you get a doctor to write it up under your name and they won’t do it because if they get caught, they go to jail and lose their license.
I just checked Wal-mart and they do sell – Azithromycin, the generic version of Zithromax, an antibiotic, for $4 for a commonly prescribed dosage.
Yes.
Only if the prescription is written for yourself. Shop around and see if there’s a generic.
Generally health/prescription insurance companies will not cover medication that is for anyone or anything other than those on your plan. Since health insurance companies do not cover cats as dependents, I would have to say no. Unless, the vet wrote it under your name, which is insurance fraud.
Good Luck, sorry to hear about your kitty.
I am giving zithromax to my cat for a sinus infection – it is an antibiotic, not a cure for feline lukemia. Antibiotics cure bacterial infections and lukemia is a cancer that is caused by a virus, so an antibiotic won’t cure it. Your cat may have a secondary bacterial infection of some kind that the vet is treating with it. My health insurance doesn’t cover it, but I did get some limited prescription coverage from Walgreens. You pay $20 for the 1sr family member (pets included) and $15 for each additional member. The generic version cost me about $35 and the price with the Rx coverage was about $25. The generic is called azythromicin and I got the liquid form. Good luck.
No, this will not be covered under your health insurance. Call your vet and ask them to write a prescription for a different antibiotic. Zithromax is a superantibiotic, it delivers a dose that is way over the normal requirements to be effective. It is meant to deal with bacteria that is resistant to the average dose of antibiotics. You will be doing your pet a favor by getting a normal dose to treat whatever the ailment is. For humans as well, when you use antibiotics you are treating a problem that your immune system will fight off naturally, sometimes the body needs help fighting it off, sometimes it doesn’t. When you use excessive doses that aren’t needed, it tricks your body into thinking it doesn’t need to produce as many natural antibiotics as it normally would, and therefor you will become more susceptible to infections in the future. I’m not saying that you should never take antibiotics, or even superantibiotics, what I’m saying is be selective in your choice to do so. The body, and your cat’s as well, can fight off most infections in time if you let it, if you have a common cold, rest and let your body do what it was designed to do, if a cold persists for more than a week to ten days, then go to the doctor and get a prescription. If this is a preventative treatment, such as after a surgery, then you don’t need a superantibiotic, however, if this is a repetative treatment (as in the first treatment didn’t work) then a superantibiotic may be needed. To sum up this extensive answer, ask the vet to write a different prescription due to the cost of the one written, most will give you a new one, if they refuse to due so, ask, as politely as possible, their reasoning behind their decision. If you feel their explanation is inadequate you may want to find a new vet. Remember that the outragous cost of that drug is covering not only production, r&d, and profit, it also covers their marketing costs as well, which means they spend money to ensure that the drug is prescribed by doctors and vets. I hope that this helped you.
I am not aware that Zithromax (trade name for azithromycin) has any effect on feline leukemia. Sometimes Interferon helps, but it is only buying time. Feline leukemia is a progressive, almost 100% fatal disease that usually runs its course in a few months.
Azithromycin is not an expensive drug. Where I work we prescribe it for Bartonella infection. A two-week supply of the liquid form is about $40.00.
I’d also suggest signing up on some of the feline leukemia boards over at yahoogroups, to compare prices and meds with other owners who have cats with this condition. They can give you some help.
if you can not find help anywhere else you can look into buying generic zithromax from Europe (see site below) and crushing it and making your own drops, lots of work but better then $2,500
good luck