Compounding benefits through medication form options

Veterinarians know the challenges of prescribing and dispensing prescription medications. Medications can sometimes be difficult to administer, causing additional stress on the pet and pet owner, and ultimately resulting in an uncooperative animal.

The consequences can be significant, such as discontinuation or interruption of treatment or negatively impacting the bond of trust between pet parents and pets, and overall creating physical and emotional stresses that can negatively impact the pet’s long-term health. The pet owner could also look for other solutions, whether that be on the internet or through another veterinarian, which could lead them to take their business elsewhere. In these situations, compounded prescriptions may be a viable alternative for both the pet and the veterinarian.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USDA), drug compounding is often regarded as the process of combining, mixing, or altering ingredients to create a medication tailored to the needs of an individual pet patient. Compounding can also include the combining of two or more drugs.

Compounding pharmacists partner with veterinarians to tailor a prescription to meet a pet’s needs by modifying flavor, dose, or route of administrations (or all three) to make dispensing to one’s pet more seamless (and less stressful!) for all involved.

Compounding can also provide options for easier administration—for example, via a transdermal pen, dissolvable tablet, or a peanut butter-flavored chew—to make the taste and texture more palatable for pets that may have problems taking large volume liquid products or tablets.

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