Does your vet have to give you a written prescription?
In Ontario, yes, by regulation. In the US, yes with two conditions. What the document must contain, what it can cost, and who tracks the refill at home.
The bottle has four days left. The clinic quotes one price, an online pharmacy quotes roughly half, and between them sits a piece of paper nobody at the front desk has offered you.
In Ontario a veterinarian must give you a written prescription if you ask for one instead of having the drug dispensed. In the United States the same duty exists through the AVMA’s ethics principles, with two conditions attached. Where you fill it is then your decision. The practice is allowed to charge you for writing it.
Does your vet have to write one?
In Ontario, yes, and the duty sits in the regulation itself. Regulation 1093 under the Veterinarians Act says that when a vet has decided a drug should be prescribed and the client asks for a prescription instead, “the member shall give the client the prescription and shall do so in writing unless subsection (2) applies”. The College of Veterinarians of Ontario repeats it plainly: “If a client requests a written prescription, a veterinarian is obligated to provide it as per Regulation 1093 section 26.” Subsection (2) is the one exception, and it opens only at your request: an oral prescription, given to another Ontario vet, to a pharmacist, or to a vet practising outside Ontario, and only to someone you have selected or approved.
The American Veterinary Medical Association attaches two conditions to the same duty: its Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics “require that veterinarians provide prescriptions to clients upon request in lieu of dispensing a drug when a VCPR exists and the veterinarian has determined that the drug is medically indicated”. Both bind: the relationship has to exist, and the drug has to be the vet’s decision already. The AVMA adds that most states also have such laws; the FTC’s 2015 staff report counted 31 of them then, a decade-old count.
Britain’s version is the newest: the Competition and Markets Authority closed its veterinary services investigation on 24 March 2026 and decided that pet owners “must be told they can have a written prescription which could save them money”.
Can you fill it wherever you want?
The CVO’s guide puts the choice with the client: “once the client is provided with a prescription, it is left to them to decide where they will have the prescription filled”. The AVMA says the same to clinics running their own online pharmacy: clients “still have the option of filling a prescription at any pharmacy”.
Whether a given pharmacy will accept it is a separate question. The CVO says “the determination of the validity of a veterinary prescription is made by the dispenser”, so ask before you assume the paper travels.
What can the practice charge for writing it?
The CVO allows a fee, and what it costs is mostly left to the practice. Asked whether a vet may charge for writing one, it answers: “Yes, a veterinarian may choose to charge a fee for providing this service.”
In the UK the CMA found that “many practices charge £30 or above for each prescription”, and capped written prescription fees at “£21 (for the first medicine) and £12.50 (for any additional medicines)”. That cap is now made. The CMA’s case page records the Veterinary Services Market Investigation Order 2026 and the accompanying RCVS Undertakings as published on 22 September 2026, one day inside the statutory deadline, and the case closed the same day. Being made is not the same as being in force everywhere at once. Once those Orders are made, the CMA says, “nearly all remedies will be in place in the following three to 12 months”.
The CMA’s figures say why owners bother: “over 70% of pet owners purchase long-term medication from their vet practice even though many could save £200 a year or more if they bought online”.
| Where | What is settled about the fee | In force at publication |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | A vet “may choose to charge a fee”; the CVO names no amount | Yes |
| United States | Set practice by practice | Varies by state |
| United Kingdom | CMA cap of £21 for the first medicine, £12.50 for any additional medicines | The Order was made on 22 September 2026; the CMA phases the remedies in over the following 3 to 12 months |
Why does the vet have to have seen your pet?
Because writing the prescription is itself the clinical decision. The RCVS supporting guidance on veterinary medicines states that POM-V medicines “must be prescribed by a veterinary surgeon, who must first carry out a clinical assessment of the animal under their care”, and names the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 as the main legislation here. The paper is the record of that decision.
A repeat request sometimes comes back as an appointment for the same reason: the CVO tells vets that when a client asks them to authorize a refill on a prescription that has run out, “they must consider whether the drug is still appropriate, and whether the patient’s condition is stable enough to warrant the prescription refill without further assessment”. The paper decides where the medicine is bought; whether there should be more stays a clinical call, so bring what your vet will ask for.
What has to be on the prescription?
Regulation 1093 fixes ten items and a signature. Check the paper at the counter for the ones that matter:
- The name, strength and quantity of the drug
- The identity of the animal, and your name as the client
- The prescribed directions for use
- The date it is issued, including the day, month and year
- The number of refills permitted, if any; the CVO’s practice standard allows the prescription’s own expiry date or the total amount of drug prescribed in its place
- The vet’s name in legible form, their address, and licence number
Withholding times, the seventh item, apply only to food-producing animals. The two lines that govern your next month are the issue date and whichever limit the vet wrote.
What changes at home once you hold the paper?
The countdown crosses the counter with it: while the clinic dispensed, the clinic tracked the repeat and called when it ran low. Once the prescription is yours, the issue date and the refill number are household facts, and in a two-caregiver house they need a name against them.
Name who reorders. Count the renewal date from the issue date and put it where both of you can see it. The failure here is two people each assuming the other saw the bottle, so whoever orders says so.
Our piece on sharing a medication schedule without double-dosing covers the other half, whether today’s dose was given. Refills are the slower question underneath: whether the medicine will still be in the cupboard on Sunday. Both belong with the vaccine dates in the record you keep yourself, which the guide to pet health records sets out in full.
Where Dana fits
Dana holds the health record a prescription belongs to: the medication list, the vaccine dates, the weight series and your vet’s details, in one place every caregiver you have invited can open from their own phone. Records Vault, part of Dana Pro, keeps the photographed prescription and shares it through a code-gated link that expires, so a pharmacy or a second clinic can read it without your whole file going by email. Shared care signs each entry with the name of whoever made it, so the record answers who ordered the refill last.
Questions people ask
What if the vet says my pet needs a check-up before a repeat?
That is the vet doing their job. The College of Veterinarians of Ontario tells vets that when a client asks them to authorize a refill on a prescription that has run out, they must consider whether the drug is still appropriate and whether the patient is stable enough for a refill without further assessment.
Does a written prescription expire?
It carries its own limit. The CVO says a written prescription must state the number of refills permitted if any, or the expiry date of the prescription itself, or the total amount of drug prescribed. Read which one you were given before you rely on it.
Can I fill it in another province or another state?
Sometimes. The CVO says the dispenser decides whether a veterinary prescription is valid, and that some pharmacies accept prescriptions from vets who are not licensed where the pharmacy sits while others refuse. The AVMA says writing one that a pharmacy in another state can fill is generally acceptable. Ask the pharmacy first.
Can the vet phone it through instead of writing it?
In Ontario, yes, if that is what you ask for. Regulation 1093 allows an oral prescription given to another Ontario vet, to a pharmacist, or to a vet practising outside Ontario, provided you have chosen or approved whoever receives it.