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It's not just humans who get the "opportunity" to take questionable drugs bought online. There are many sites out there selling medications for pets, and if you deal with one of them you'll have to be cautious. Some have been known to sell expired medicine or stuff that's not medicine at all.
The Food and Drug Administration has some advice for would-be buyers at online pet pharmacies. Among other things, it lists the following red flags:
Selling prescription drugs without seeing a prescription. This is illegal -- and filling out a questionnaire online can't take the place of a vet visit.
No licensed pharmacist on board.
No "real world" contact information, like a phone number or street address. (It's hard enough to get your money back from a post office box, let alone a URL.)
Not based in the U.S. It's not that you can't trust anyone out here (I'm not "based in the U.S." myself), but if they do turn out to be scammers, the U.S. government won't be able to help much.
For U.S. sites -- not licensed by the State Board of Pharmacy. You can check this out with your Board; contact information for all of them is
here.
Not a secure site. Watch out for identity thieves -- look for that little padlock.
Prices are too good to be true. See if your vet is willing to match them.
Sends you the wrong stuff, or something that just doesn't look like your pet's usual medicine. Don't give your pet anything you're not sure about.
You can read the rest of the FDA's advice
here.
