Pet Rescue Rx | Dr. Justine Lee

I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Glenn Buckley, the veterinary founder of a new online pet pharmacy called Pet Rescue Rx. I was intrigued about what he was doing, as there’s so much controversy in the veterinarian-versus-Walmart pharmacy sales right now. When I saw that a veterinarian started an online pet pharmacy, I wanted to further investigate!

NOTE: In full disclosure, most veterinarians don’t support Walmart or online pet pharmacies; they often see serious prescription errors when human pharmacists fill animal drugs (I’ve personally seen this many times since, most pharmacists have no experience with veterinary drugs at all), and also lose revenue when the pharmacy sales leave their clinic (Hey, I’m being honest here!).

So, knowing that approximately $7 billion dollars is spent annually on pet medications in the US (which is one of the reasons why Walmart wants to jump in on the profiteering), I wanted to know why I should support Pet Rescue Rx? Well, it turns out this online pet pharmacy is the first and only pet medication pharmacy which donates all of its profits to animal shelters and rescues. Since most animal shelters and rescues rely entirely on donations from the public to continue their work, Pet Rescue Rx is designed to be a sustainable business which can financially support these animal rescue organizations.

How?

Well, we know that pet owners have choices on where they want to purchase their pet’s medications: at their veterinarian, at their pharmacy, or online. The benefit is that if a pet owner elects to order online, they can potentially help contribute and donate to their favorite shelter also. When a customer signs up to order through Pet Rescue Rx, they select a shelter or rescue organization (in their town or anywhere in the USA). The proceeds from their purchase goes directly to that shelter. Rather than have the profits go directly to the online pharmacy (with one of the largest, unnamed ones making $17 million in profit last year), you might as well have the proceeds go towards a good cause!

Pet Rescue Rx is a licensed pharmacy in 23 states and growing.  It’s based out of the USA (located in Akron, New York), and is slowly growing. They’ve been mentioned in Dogster, Dog Channel, and even Modern Dog and Modern Cat magazine.

As of April 1, 2014, Pet Rescue Rx has donated over $10,000 directly to the registered shelters and rescues (so far, about 300 animal rescues are registered with them).

Kudos for the great work, and keep donating to support our animal rescue organizations! You can check them out at their website www.PetRescueRx.com or directly on Facebook.