Veterinary Services
We proudly offer compounded medications for a variety of pets. Some of the species we most often compound medications for include: dogs, cats, ferrets, horses, rabbits, guinea pigs, lizards, turtles, and parrots.
The therapeutic class of medications that we can offer compounding for includes: Allergies, Behavioral Disorders, Canine Cushing’s, Cardiovascular Disease, Constipation, Hypertension, Hyperthyroidism, Infectious Diseases, Inflammation, Nutritional Deficiencies, and Seizures.
Sweetgrass Pharmacy can work with you, your veterinarian, and your pet to create the best clinical outcome plan via a compounded medication. Whether it is creating a concentrated solution in order to give a small volume dose for a 3 pound Chihuahua or using a transdermal lipoderm cream to help medicate a cat who simply won’t take anything by mouth, there are so many options to best treat your pet. Using the latest primary literature data in clinical research and working with formulas that allow for the best stability and safety of the drug being compounded, the options to treat your pet are limitless.
Pet Owners
What exactly is compounding for my pet?
Compounding is the unique niche in pharmacy that enables veterinary practitioners to prescribe, and animal patients to take, medicines that are specially prepared by pharmacists to meet veterinary patient’s individual needs. A growing number of patient’s have unique health needs that commercially available prescription medications cannot treat appropriately. Customized compounded medications prescribed by the veterinarian and formulated and prepared by trained, licensed compounding pharmacies is a unique way to ensure better health outcomes.
How do I fill my pet’s prescription?
You can either bring the hardcopy prescription written by your veterinarian into Sweetgrass Pharmacy & Compounding, ask your veterinarian to call us, or we are happy to reach out and call them if it is easier.
When are pharmacists available to answer questions about my pet’s prescription?
Pharmacists are available 8:30am through 6:30pm Monday through Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday.
How much will my pet’s prescription cost?
The average price of a compounded medication depends on the strength, dosage form, and quantity of medication prescribed. When your veterinarian calls in the prescription or you bring the paper copy in, we are happy to go over price with you before you fill the prescription.
I don’t live close to Sweetgrass Pharmacy, can you ship my pet’s medications to me?
Yes, we are happy to ship and do not currently charge to ship any compounds. Currently medications are tracked and shipped with USPS and delivery takes around 2-3 days. If the prescription is needed before then, Sweetgrass Pharmacy will be happy to work with you to ensure your pet gets the medication they need right away.
Veterinarians
What is compounding?
Compounding is a very well established niche of pharmacy practice that enables practitioners to prescribe, and veterinary patients to take, medications that are specifically prepared by pharmacists to meet these patient’s individual needs. A growing number of veterinary patients have unique health needs (based on species variations) that standard, commercially produced medications cannot meet. For these patients, customized, compounded medications prescribed by veterinarians and mixed safely by trained, licensed compounding pharmacists are the only way to better health.
How do you ensure quality of your compounded products?
Sweetgrass Pharmacy has a comprehensive quality assurance program that includes being in accordance with state board of pharmacy regulations as well as the standards set forth in the United States Pharmacopeia Chapters. This system also includes facility and equipment monitoring, training for compounding staff, compounding process verification, quality control checks and testing of finished preparations. This is done to ensure both quality and patient safety.
When are your pharmacists available?
Our clinical pharmacists are available Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 6:30 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm.
Do you offer client counseling?
Yes, our pharmacists are available for confidential, professional consultation in-person or via telephone to your patients. Our pharmacists are dedicated to compounding and are available to answer any questions or concerns from prescribers and their patients.
Can you ship directly to my patients?
Yes. We’ll bill and ship to your client’s home directly, dispensing the exact medication you prescribe. We’ll even call your patients with a reminder their prescriptions are due to be refilled.
Where can I get price information?
Prices vary depending on the active ingredients in the formulation, the concentration, the volume, and the dosage-form dispensed. Please feel free to call us and we can help you with a price estimate (843-654-4013)
Is compounding legal and who regulates compounding?
Absolutely. Compounding is an integral part of the practice of pharmacy. Compounding pharmacies, like all pharmacies and pharmacists, are regulated by State Law and State Boards of Pharmacy. State Boards of Pharmacy require that pharmacists have knowledge and proficiency in compounding to become licensed. Compounding is a fundamental part of almost all pharmacy curriculums.
Is compounding always an appropriate treatment option?
No, not always. Compounding, like any other type of therapy, is not always the best choice for every patient. However, thousands of patients do rely on compounded medications to meet their needs when another treatment option is not available or isn’t right for their specific therapy often due to variances in veterinary species being treated. Veterinarians may prescribe compounded medication when the best therapy for a patient is commercially unavailable, the active ingredient is not available in the desired strength, or a commercial product is on extended backorder and using the compounded preparation means there would be no interruption in the patient’s therapy.
Is a compounded medication the same as generic drug?
No. Generic drugs are essentially copies of brand name medications that are manufactured in large quantities by FDA registered companies. Compounded medications are custom and prepared in response to a prescription by a licensed prescriber.
When is compounding an appropriate treatment option?
Veterinarians may prescribe a compound in the following circumstances:
-When needed medications are discontinued or permanently unavailable from the pharmaceutical companies
-When the patient is allergic to certain preservatives, dyes, or binder in the commercially available medications (ex. dogs allergic to beef flavoring in commercially available Ivermectin)
-When treatment requires tailored dosage strengths for veterinary patients with unique needs (weight based dosing, metabolic limitations, renal impairment, etc)
-When the pharmacist can combine several medications into one dosage form in order to help increase compliance
-When the patient cannot ingest the medication in its commercially available preparation and a pharmacist can help by formulating the drug into a transdermal cream, oral suspension, topical or oral solution, troche, or other dosage form that is easiest for the patient to take
-When medication require flavor additives to make them more palatable. For example making an oil suspension with fish flavor for a cat or a water soluble ascorbic acid solution that tastes like mango for a guinea pig.