I believe it is illegal for a GP to issue a prescription for a dog, even if the medication is the same as for humans

I have to pay £8.85 for 20 days supply of medication for my dog - same medication as would be prescribed for a human and which would cost about 75p for the same amount if legally prescribed by a GP for a human.

[No free prescriptions for humans here, just a reduction for chronic medication]

I'm not suggesting the GP would be prescribing it for the dog..what if the owner was already on it? In UK some meds are free if you need them for life or was born with the condition you are exempt from prescription charges...if my older dog needed a small dose I'd be more tempted to give her one of mine than pay a vet for what was essentially the same as what I was already getting free!

Much as I love my dog, and I do not think anyone here would doubt that fact, I would not give her my medication at the risk of my own health.

I do know that in the UK some meds are free and at my age I would not have to pay for anything, chronic or otherwise, but I would still not give my beloved dog my own medication if it was a risk to my own health by missing my own medication.

I prefer to pay for her medication legally.

The tablets arent expensive and my boy is on soloxine 0.8mg x 1 a day

Last set of bloods (i get the nurse to do it as you dont need a consulation!) to check his levels = £83

I will check receipts and find out exactly how much the tabs were but i think about £13 a month or something like that

I thought they would be more expensive than that,how much was the first blood tests to establish thyroid issues ?

Pereg's basic blood levels are tested at the surgery while I wait, but her full thyroid panel and Pb levels have to go to an outside laboratory, and those tests are very expensive.

Luckily they have, so far, proven that she is not hypothyroid and some of her initial levels were due to her medication, and it has now decided that she does not need the full thyroid panel done now, just basic levels.. It is still, unfortunately, not going to be cheap, but I would rather pay for accurate levels than miss a potential disaster.

I had for £83

FT4
T4
TSH
TGaa (this is to see if they have the inherited type - his dad is negative and so is he for this but no idea about his mum)

We didnt have the 3's done - T3 (not at any point during his Thyroid investigation) my vet said they werent as indicative as the 4's and i had done a lot of reading and this is what i took from the stuff i read also

Pereg initially had the full Thyroid panel tests done because it might have been possible that her seizures were due to hypothyroidism. They were not, so the last couple of tests did not check the full Thyroid panel.

Having discussed it with both my Vet and also the Vet in charge of the Clinical Pathology of the Diagnostic Veterinary Pathology Services, we are only going to check TSH and Free T4 this time. Pereg's TSH levels are low but on balancing out the numbers since her first full panel test, they are normal for a dog taking Phenobarbitone. Her Free T4 results are exactly as they should be, and if this time there is no major change in her TSH levels then we will probably only check Free T4 next time.

After that? Possibly do another full panel once and depending on the results just do whichever tests are advised in the normal six-monthly tests. But obviously in her case it is not to check for hypothyroidism, more to make sure that her medication is not causing any problems.

Expensive, yes. But also very necessary,

do the dog ones come ins much smaller strength's then? mine are 100mcg per tablet and I'm on 300mcg's a day.. or is 0.8mg same as 80mcg or something?

I can see if they will send vet nurse for home visit to take blood when they come to do her vaccination and empty her glands. if it's gonna be longer than quick in and out visit they charge me full consultation & home visit now so thats £80 before I've paid for anything else! (Their village surgery is not wheelchair accessible at all - converted terrace house)... so every time one of them needs vet it ends up been around £100 and insurance doesn't cover the home visit or routine stuff anyway!

I was thinking of just sprinkling half of one of mine in her food to see if it made a difference before paying for tests which may not be needed.

I have spare in cupboard as I forget to take them some days anyway and the prescriptions get delivered automatically to my door every month so I wouldn't have to intentionally take any less to have enough to try her on and see if it would be worth paying for tests & medications to see if she needed to be on it full time.

Kati - how can you give medication to a dog if the dog has not been tested for the problem that might require the medication?

You could be giving her medication that could cause her serious health problems.