-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

From: "Paul M. Cook" <pmcook@gte.net>

That sounds a lot more reasonable, but higher than I'm used to.
I've had two cats on Tapazole and they both stabilized on 1/2 pill (2.5mg)
twice daily. One of my cats spent 8 years taking that dose.
I've also had an "incident" with a vet where I got a vial of Tapazole and
the pills looked different, similar...but different. I checked the markings
in my PDR (if you don't have one, I strongly suggest buying one) and
could not find the markings listed for Tapazole or any other drug, for that
matter. I called the vet's office and was told "yes", it was the "tapazole"
but from a different manufacturer. I still wasn't comfortable with that so
I took the pills to the vet's and told them I wanted to see the lot that they
came from. Long story short the response was "Oops, those aren't the right
pills". When I asked what they were (several times) the only answer I could
get was "something different". As a result of that, I made 2 changes in
medicating my cats.

1) I took the "girls" to a different vet.
2) I would only buy the branded Tapazole from a pharmacy and only in
sealed manufacturers bottles.

So be REAL careful about unknown "generics". Screwups can occur.
BTW... Costco pharmacies sold the Tapazole at half the price of
all the other pharmacies in my area and less expensive than getting
it from the vet.

I'll never know what medication I almost gave to one of my cats, but
I'm sure glad that I pushed enough to find out that it was NOT
Tapazole.

Best of luck

15 mg/day is a little higher than "usual".  If the dose had to be increased
after the switch -- my guess is the generic brand isn't as potent.  I don't
believe generic brands are always identical to name brands.  Some brand
manufacturers also distribute their name brand under the generic name to get
a piece of the generic market, too. So, sometimes, you get lucky.

Sometimes its necessary to buy generic brands, but Tapazole is cheap enough
to go for the real thing.  I'd switch back to Tapazole then recheck his T4
levels in two weeks.

Good luck.

Phil

AFAIK, if "DAW" is checked on the prescription, the name brand *has* to be
given; if not, the generic has to be dispensed - or at the minimum at least
offered.  IOW, I don't think the pharmacists have much say in the matter.
Otoh, this may well be a state-by-state deal - the laws pertaining to how
prescriptions are dispensed.

Then again, we were mostly talking about a medication that I assume was
dispensed at the vets' office - hyperthyroidism being common in cats
(dogs??), not at the (human) pharmacy.  Although I realize that some meds
for pets need to be obtained there when the vet doesn't carry them; BTDT.

Cathy