The education of a veterinarian requires, on average, 8 or more years of college and veterinary school instruction. Educated to possess a thorough understanding of an animal’s bodily systems and functions, they are trained with a hands-on approach that gives them the knowledge required to properly evaluate, diagnose, and provide treatment regimens.

Herd Health
Veterinarians know what is required to keep an animal healthy. They also recognize the needs of large animal producers and realize how critical it is to maintain the well-being and strength of the herd.

Their knowledge and input is invaluable in areas relative to the on-going management of large animals, including:

• Diseases and how an animal responds to them
• Vaccination programs
• Breeding
• Housing
• Nutrition
• Production, including meat and dairy
• Herd management
• Techniques focused to appraise and monitor livestock production systems
• Zoonotic diseases and transmission risks to herds
• Methods to promote and establish farm biosecurity.

Pharmaceutical Decisions
Skilled to diagnose a disease, veterinarians are also trained to use sound clinical judgement in order to cure the disease.

When making treatment decisions that involve the dispensing of medicines, veterinarians rely on additional input from trusted veterinary pharmaceutical companies. These companies are able to identify if there are any new forms of treatment available, and can provide up-to-date medical information in order to determine the veterinarian’s best choice for treatment.

By obtaining their products from reputable and established veterinary pharmaceutical companies, veterinarians and their clients can be assured of the safety and authenticity of the products they use.

Pharmaceutical Distribution Support
Veterinary pharmaceutical companies prefer to only distribute their products through a veterinarian for the following reasons:

• Ensures a good veterinary-patient outcome
• Establishes a good veterinarian and herdsman relationship
• Protects misuse and inappropriate prescription of product
• Provides for quality control
• Reduces the chance of improper storage
• Maintains distribution of a safe and effective quality product
• Upholds the reputation of the pharmaceutical company
• Supports the desired outcome of the veterinarian and the herdsman.

Caution
The manufacture and distribution of animal drugs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM). According to them, animal drugs and products are being increasingly marketed and sold through illegal claims. Online pet pharmacies are not legally permitted to obtain their products directly from a veterinary pharmaceutical company.

The fraudulent online companies responsible are claiming to offer prescription drugs and animal products at greatly reduced prices, when in truth, they are actually selling unapproved and unregulated drugs and counterfeit products. Some companies also offer “new” drugs that have actually expired and are no longer effective for treatment use.

While it may sound tempting, herdsmen need to be wary of obtaining any animal products from online companies that label themselves as a pet pharmacy that can offer prescriptive medications without requiring the prescription.

Veterinarians and herdsmen that establish a good working relationship will benefit from working together.

If you are interested in additional information regarding the health and care of dairy animals, please contact your Covetrus representative toll-free at 855.724.3461.

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