Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Buying Frontline, Vitality and Glucosamine in Cebu

Updated: April 2016

When I first got a puppy around 5 years ago, my knowledge about pet stores and veterinary clinics were close to zilch. I knew very little about what it took to keep a puppy healthy; and even less about maintaining a puppy who had some minor aches and pains.

Ever since my first Labrador Retriever, my heart was forever captured by the breed. They are the sweetest, smartest and most-angel-faced sweetypoos I've ever had the pleasure to befriend. And they're well-built and vivacious too, which is a plus.

My first lab, Laszlo Lambchop, was very healthy and sturdy. He once cut his bottom eyelid on the chicken wire that surrounded our perimeter fence while trying to wiggle his big butt out the hole he made there. This was mating season and there was a female dog outside the fence so his brain was quite fried. He looked like an Orc for three days but his body healed itself quick and perfect. Lambie, as I also called him, ate a mix of dog-food and human food. His Frontline schedule was erratic as well. In the end, he died of a severe tick infestation that caused a version of doggy dengue. To this day, I feel guilty about that. I should have Frontlined him monthly. I was worried that Frontline harmed his liver. But now I realize that the ticks really are the bigger problem between the two. And I have learned this in the most painful way.

My current black lab, Bacon, is better cared for because of my experience with Lambie. He gets monthly Frontline treatments and eats mostly dog food -- Vitality for beautiful fur. He eats "mostly" dog food because he's a picky eater. We mix in a few teaspoons of boiled lean ground pork meat with lots of water and zero seasoning to make him eat. Works like magic! And while Bacon is barely two years old, he also has a congenital hip problem, so he takes glucosamine everyday for the pain as well.

Wait...This post is supposed to be about where to buy Frontline, Vitality, and Glocosamine in Cebu. I see three paragraphs about doggy care already, sorry about that haha! Anyway, these food and treatments add up, so I'll offer some suggestions about where to buy these three things at the best prices.

1. Frontline
    * For individual treatments, buy at Veterinary Clinic in BTC for P375/each for Large Breeds.
    * If you buy the whole box, it comes out cheaper. It was less than a thousand pesos.
    * If desperate, buy at Caminade stores or your usual vet. But know in advance that they extort you
        or the individual pieces at P420/each for large breeds.
    * For the boxes of three, buy at Caminade sells at approximately P1,100 for large breeds.
    * Shambala Vet Clinic cost approx P435+ for the treatment. And my dog was just a puppy then, so
       he was taking a smaller dose (not large breed) vial.
     * So, as much as possible buy outside of the vet.

2. Vitality Dog Food
    * Caminade delivers for free at P1,630 per sack.
    * Pet Science prices theirs approximately the same.

3. Glucosamine
    *Shambala sells a brand at P1,200 good for 60 days.
    *Veterinary Clinic sells various brands at P600-P700 good for 30 days.