Warning - Do Not Use DoctorsFosterandSmith Pharmacy!

Just found out from my vet yesterday why my poor Tweety Cat is in such poor shape.  Checked her T4 thyroid (she has been on methimazole now for 3 years) blood level and it was thru the roof.  A reading of over 9 when it should be in the 2.4-4.0 range.    Plus,  she has lost 2 pounds,  her weight is now down to 6.3 pounds despite eating 2-3 cans of food every day.

Trying to save $, I had begun getting her pills from the online DoctorsFosterandSmith pharmacy earlier this year instead of the vet's office.  $25 for 100 pills versus $54 from my vet.    What a bad mistake that was I had no idea,  thought the company could be trusted. 

My vet informed me they get their drugs from the country of India,  and they are not to be trusted. 

I feel so guilty now that I did not know this and subjected my sweet Tweety Cat to this.  The pills were worthless!  Did not contain the proper dosage!  Maybe did not contain any of the drug at all.  Just fake,  counterfeit. 

I emailed DoctorsFosterandSmith as soon as I got home from the vet yesterday and politely asked if they imported any prescription drugs from India.  Guess what,  as of 24 hrs later,  no reply,  they are ignoring my mail. 

Cowards!  I will be filing a complaint with the FDA animal health division as soon as possible.  In the meantime,  please help by alerting other pet owners.  Spread the word about the devious and deceptive DoctorsFosterandSmith pharmacy.  They have managed to conceal this information so far.  

No more! 

You can get most pet meds filled at regular pharmacies like Walmart, Walgreens, etc. Usually much cheaper than from the vet.

Drs Foster & Smith is an accredited pharmacy, so if they're giving bad meds you should report them to the proper pharmacist agencies.

Also keep in mind that hyperthyroid cats do need regular increases in dosage, and that can cause the symptoms you're describing. The meds might have been OK; she just needed a dosage change. The vet may just be badmouthing the competition .

willowy,  I am familiar with having to adjust her thyroid dose with regular blood checks -  over the past 3 years of doing this (and using the pills from the vet) the variation has been very slight.  Her last change was a reading that went from 2.4 to 4.0  Nothing like the huge jump to over 9.0 and the corresponding drop in weight.

Of course we are conducting a trial  -  by switching back to the vet's office source for her drug (and that has been verified as strictly U.S. produced) we will be re-checking blood again in 2-3 weeks. 

Of course,  besides the insider information from the vet (this is a very large practice I have used for 25 years and they are far too professional to engage in bashing  competitors) I have to wonder - 

Why hasn't DoctorsFosterandSmith replied to my email?  If they have nothing to hide,  why haven't I received any of these answers -

1.  No,  it is not true,  we do not import drugs from the country of India.

2.  Yes,  we do get drugs from India but they are completely safe,  reliable,  quality tested,  and we are confident they are just as good as those produced in the U.S.

Do you have explanation of why I am being ignored?   

It's only been 24 hours since you emailed them.  It may take longer than that to respond.  They have a 1-800 number you can call:  

• 1-800-381-7179
  7 am-8 pm CST, 7 days a week

I'm not defending them at all; if they sold you bad medications you absolutely should do whatever you can to remedy that and alert others. I'm just saying you should be certain they actually gave you bad medications :dk:.

Yes, if you need a quick response try calling the toll-free number. Some companies only have someone staffing the email during normal business hours, and it may take them some time to get around to answering all of them. Also, if all you said was "do you get your drugs from India?", they may view that as a junk email and not answer. I've worked in places where you just don't answer random things like that, answer only if the customer wrote more than just a one-line question.

@Willowy- 

   In my state it is illegal to record a phone conversation without the other party consent;  that is why I don't do phone calls if it involves a matter where having documentation (proof) of what a company represented may be needed later.  For legal purposes since I will be pursuing this with the authorities. 

That is why I would like to get something in writing,  one way or another. 

Either way,  I am thinking I am going to have to send a sample of the pills off to a lab for a scientific analysis of what they contain.  Am thinking I am going to want to get a private lab to do this before notifying the FDA. 

Also,  the form to be used for reporting adverse drug reaction (or lack of efficacy as in this case) to the animal health division of the FDA is quite lengthy and detailed. 

If DF&S would just fess up to what they are doing   - that might give the FDA people a nudge to prioritize my filing when they receive it because of the known link to India and importation of prescription drugs from that part of the world.   

thanks for taking an interest on this.  It is going to take a long time for me to get over the intense anger and rage I feel for foolishly believing DFandS to be a trustworthy company. 

btw,  my email made it clear I was a current customer with questions about past order,   not some crank sending junk mail.

* B U M P *

HI,  all,  am bumping this thead back up to share some good news -  Tweety just had her T-4 levels checked at the vet's this past week and it is now back down to 2.4 !  Thank God for that.  She has gained back only two-tenths of a pound of her body weight;  however,  the vet said getting her weight back up will be a slower process than returning her thyroid function to normal.  

The bad news is -  my part-time neighbor,  who works for the FDA in Rockville and keeps a weekend home here,  finally got back to me just before Christmas.  Ironically,  guess why she had been unavailable  -  she was in India on a fact-finding trip for the government.  Bettye told me this:  the animal health division receives over 50,000 (yes,  fifty thousand,  not a typo) reports of bad drugs given to animals in a year.  So,  to answer my next question, no,  they are not going to actually analyze the pills if I sent a sample,  they simply do not have the manpower and time restraints to do that.  And,  of course,  the cases where a cat or dog perished because of a dangerous drug are going to take precedence over cases like mine where suspected fake or worthless prescriptions harmed an animal's health by depriving of the needed medicine.  Which I fully understand and support.  Those cases should take precedence. 

Because of the huge volume of cases the FDA people have to deal with it will be months before the Doctors FosterandSmith company will be called upon to answer for themselves.  And,  even then,  they might do exactly what they did back in 2012,  a disturbing item I found researching an org called V.I.N. (Veterinary Information Network)

How would you like to read this -  a spokesman for Doctors Foster and Smith "declined to answer" where a certain drug came from !  And this query came from an official of the V.I.N. group who was preparing for an important conference on the issue in Washington.   Here's the link for that eye-opener

http://news.vin.com/vinnews.aspx?articleId=24469

This is why I always advise owners to buy directly from their vets, because the vet can always be the advocate in helping the owner should something go wrong - instead of dealing with a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th party who is so far removed from the product, it's pathetic.  A pet owner can never truly know what's going on behind the scenes of an online pharmacy.  1-800-petmeds, anyone?  It took years for the FL pharmacy boards to get them to act responsibly, but at the first chance of a loophole, you can bet they'll slip through it again like many others do.

It wasn't too long ago that Walmart pharmacists were giving owners generic or other insulin brands despite the scripts from their vets for a specific type and brand.  Many pets were affected by this, no pharmacist has a right to change a written script from a clinician, but they did.  All they got was a mere slap on the wrist and required additional training. 

Pet owners, always check your prescriptions before you leave the pharmacy, ensure it is exactly as your vet prescribed, at the doses prescribed.  Try to avoid online pharmacies and ask your vet if the product they recommend is only available through a local pharmacy, if they trust that pharmacy and any issues they may have had.