Vet questions

Questions to bring to your vet

It can be hard to think clearly in an exam room, especially with a worried animal on the table. This page gathers the questions ahead of time, so you can read from a list instead of searching for words. First, a short look at why the vet is the right person to ask.

An exam by your vet, compared with a form or a photo

What a real vet relationship gives your pet, set beside what photos or an online form alone cannot do under federal rules.
Question Your own vet, after an exam Photos, videos or a form alone
Knows the animal Has recently examined your pet, or visited where it lives. Cannot create the federal vet relationship on its own.
Takes responsibility Takes charge of the medical decisions and stays available if something goes wrong. No one has examined the animal or agreed to follow up.
Off-label use Can prescribe an approved medicine off-label when the law's conditions are met. Off-label use by an owner alone is not permitted under the federal rule.

What the vet relationship means

The law calls it a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, or VCPR for short. In plain words, the vet has taken on your pet's care and knows the animal well enough to make at least a first diagnosis. The vet can also be reached if a treatment goes badly.

Under the federal rule, that bond needs a recent exam in person or a visit to where the animal is kept. Photos, videos or a questionnaire alone do not create it. Once it exists, video calls can help keep it going.

States add their own rules on top, and they differ, mostly about whether a video call can start this relationship. Your vet will know how it works where you live.

Off-label use, and why it stops at approved drugs

Off-label means a vet prescribes an FDA-approved medicine outside what its label covers: another species, perhaps, or another illness. That includes FDA-approved human medicines. Only a licensed vet may make that call.

The rule is meant for times when an animal's health is threatened, or it may suffer or die without treatment. If an approved animal drug with the same active ingredient would work, the vet is expected to reach for that first.

Because this route only covers approved drugs, it cannot reach BPC-157 or TB-500. Neither appears in any FDA-approved medicine for people or pets.

If your vet mentions a compounded medicine

Compounding means a pharmacist or vet mixes or changes ingredients to make a medicine for one animal. One example is a flavored liquid for a cat that refuses pills. Even a compounded medicine made from an approved drug is not itself FDA-approved.

The law allows a compounded medicine made from a finished, approved drug. Making one from a raw powdered ingredient is not allowed by the law. Even so, FDA wrote advice in 2022 saying it will usually not take action in some cases where no approved medicine would work, if a long list of conditions is met. So the short answer is: not allowed on paper, sometimes tolerated, and only with a vet's prescription.

You may read online about FDA lists that say which peptides pharmacies may use in medicines for people. Those lists cover human medicines only. They say nothing about a dog or cat.

Under that guidance, the label should name the patient, the pharmacy and the vet, and give a use-by date. It should also carry the words "This is a compounded drug. Not an FDA approved or indexed drug."

The questions

A blank lined notebook, a pen and a neatly coiled red leash resting on a plain wooden bench
Written questions travel well. A page is easier to read from than a memory is to search when you are anxious.
  1. Is this medicine FDA-approved for my pet's species? If so, what is the NADA or ANADA number on the label?
  2. Is it a brand-name drug, a generic, or a compounded medicine that FDA has not approved?
  3. For a compounded medicine: is there an approved product, for pets or for people, with the same active ingredient that could do the job instead?
  4. Who will make it, and will the label show my pet's name and a use-by date?
  5. Why this medicine, for how long, and what other options are there?
  6. Could it clash with anything my pet already takes, or make an existing kidney or liver problem worse?
  7. Which tests come before starting, which come later, and which signs mean I should call you straight away?
  8. Was this product ever tested in healthy animals of my pet's species before it was sold?
  9. When would you like to see my pet again for a recheck?
  10. If we are meeting by video, does this visit create a proper vet relationship under our state's law? Can this medicine be prescribed without an exam in person?

Several of these come from FDA's own list of questions for pet owners, published on its questions for your vet page.

When the question is about a peptide you saw online

It is fine to say it plainly. "I saw this sold for dogs, and I wanted to ask you before doing anything." Asking early gives your vet the most room to help.

One answer is already known. BPC-157 and TB-500 have no approved twin, for pets or for people, that shares their ingredient. So the usual question about an approved alternative has a short answer.

The cost worksheet adds money questions to take into the same visit.