The first thing to consider when looking at medication alternatives is that purchasing drugs over the internet from overseas vendors is not recommended.

After that, you have one alternative that will prove safer and less expensive than internet purchases and is as effective as if your doc prescribed it to you.

The Answer Lies Within Veterinarian Drugs.

It’s not a big secret that veterinary antibiotics and drugs do not require a prescription. Drugs such as Fish-MOX clearly state on their label, “For Aquarium and Fish Use Only.” But are they truly only for fish? Are these antibiotics any different than what my pharmacist gives me?

USP-approved animal pharmaceuticals are often made in the same manufacturing plants as human pharmaceuticals and will contain the same ingredients. They are the same color, shape, and bare the same markings as human drugs. This likely boils down to cost-effectiveness for Big Pharma, but for once, is also in your interest and favor.

Allow me to explain. Every “drug” manufactured, sold, or brought into the United States must pass FDA regulations (don’t get me started on the FDA), and is listed within the United States Pharmacopeia, or USP. This is a compendium recognized officially by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that contains descriptions, uses, strengths, and standards of purity for selected drugs and for all of their forms of dosage.

Use of the USP Verified Pharmaceutical Ingredient Mark helps ingredient manufacturers assure their customers that the quality of the ingredients they are supplying has been rigorously tested and verified by an independent authority.

When the mark appears on an ingredient container or carton, it represents that USP has evaluated the ingredient and found that:

1. The participant’s quality system helps to ensure that the ingredient meets its label or certificate of analysis claims for identity, strength, purity, and quality.

2. The ingredient has been prepared under accepted good manufacturing practices (GMP) that ensure consistency in the quality of ingredients from batch to batch.

3. The ingredient meets its specifications’ acceptance criteria.

So what does all of this FDA jargon mean? Overall, it translates to assuring you that if you see an animal drug that is labeled, “UPS Pharmaceutical grade Amoxicillin,” it is the exact same pharmaceutical grade Amoxicillin that your doctor would prescribe you for various infections.

As for the identification or verification process, should you still feel uneasy, we can look to the FDA (yet again, ugh).

Per the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, each capsule, tablet, or pill must be uniquely marked. Two tablets with identical colors, shapes, and markings cannot, by law, have different ingredients. This is for a variety of reasons, but not limited to assisting Poison Control hotlines, hospitals, doctors, etc., in determining what someone might have ingested, overdosed on, or is causing side effects.

These markings, colors, tablet shape and other identifying information can be found in medical reference texts, but now, we can use resources such as WebMD, Drugs.com, RxList.com, and many verified smartphone applications such as iPharmacy that can quickly and easily identify drugs should you need to. As a former police officer, I carried a pocket-sized guide to pill identification in my gear bag and it proved invaluable.

Where Do I Find Veterinary Drugs?

So this brings us to the question, “What sort of veterinary drugs do I need and where can I find them?”

Well, this mostly boils down to what you are comfortable with and prepared to use in whatever future, post-SHTF scenario you are prepping for. Some of the more common, everyday antibiotics have already been mentioned, such as Doxycycline, Amoxicillin, Cephalexin, Penicillin, and Ciprofloxacin – commonly referred to as Cipro.

Personally, I’ve taken every single one of the above mentioned medications under proper “medical supervision” at some point in my life and I know that I am not allergic, therefore I stock them. I have also taken several veterinary versions of these same medications for various infections, including a severe tooth abscess. It would be wise for whoever is in charge of your medical preps to have a list of everyone’s medical allergies and any contra-indications.

There are a variety of sources for these antibiotics, but a few of them really stand out as quality, mainstream suppliers.

What Do I Need?

Amoxicillin

A penicillin antibiotic. It fights bacteria in your body.

Amoxicillin is used to treat many different types of infections caused by bacteria, such as ear infections, bladder infections, pneumonia, gonorrhea, and E. coli or salmonella infection.

Veterinarian Equivalent: 250mg Fish Mox (for children) and 500mg Fish Mox Forte (for adults).

Ciprofloxacin, or Cipro

Ciprofloxacin is an antibiotic in a group of drugs called fluoroquinolones. It is used as a potent, broad-spectrum antibiotic to fight bacteria in the body.

It may also be used to prevent or slow anthrax after exposure.

Veterinarian Equivalent: 500mg Fish Flox Forte

Cephalexin, or Keflex

Cephalexin is in a group of drugs called cephalosporin antibiotics. Keflex fights bacteria in the body.

Keflex is used to treat infections caused by bacteria, including upper respiratory infections, ear infections, skin infections, urinary tract infections, tooth and mouth infections.

Veterinarian Equivalent: 250mg Fish Flex and 500mg Fish Flex Forte

Doxycycline

Doxycycline is a tetracycline antibiotic. It fights bacteria in the body. It may be substituted in place of penicillin to treat common infections in those people who are allergic to that particular drug.

Doxycycline is used to treat many different bacterial infections, such as urinary tract infections, acne, gonorrhea, and chlamydia, Lyme disease or tick bite infections, anthrax infections, cholera, periodontitis (gum disease), and others.

Exercise caution with expired Doxycycline / tetracycline and -cycline medications.

There has been some documentation of liver damage and some have even labeled it toxic if used past the expiration date. However, Doxycycline provides a great alternative to penicillin medications for those who are allergic.

Dosages and Notes Regarding Veterinary Drugs

Joseph Alton, MD, is a medical doctor and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is also a prepper, and writes:

“These antibiotics are used at specific doses for specific illnesses; the exact dosage of each and every medication is beyond the scope of this [article]. Suffice it to say that most penicillin and cephalosporin (Keflex and other cephalexin) medications are taken at 500mg dosages, 3-4 times a day for adults, and 250mg dosages for children, whereas Metronidazole (250mg) and Doxycycline (100mg) are taken twice a day.

Maintaining a healthy stock of common first aid items and pharmaceuticals, including medications is critical to ensuring you are prepared for a long-term survival situation.

While you may not be able to convince your personal doc to write you a script for survival storage, you do have an option including looking at using veterinary drugs.

For more information on this topic, please visit Truth is Treason.