Feed Stores for Medical Supplies

Most people would say that I shop like a man. At least the stereotype is that when men go to a store, unless it's perhaps Home Depot, they go in and get whatever it is they went for, buy it, and leave. They do not waste any time slowly strolling up and down the aisles looking for anything of interest. When I go into a store, whatever kind of store it is, I go in to get what I have to get, buy it, and leave. Browsing around is torture.

Even if it's the feed store. Because my daughters have had various kinds of barnyard livestock for the past eleven years, I've been shopping in feed stores for the past eleven years. Go in, get the feed, look at the toys if we absolutely have to (because Lydia just really needed to look at them), and leave.

So a few years back, when I heard that feed stores carry all kinds of useful medical supplies, my first reaction was, "You've gotta be kidding. I've never seen anything like that in my feed stores."

And yet, when I decided to change things up and take a look at what wonders the feed stores held, I was in shock. They had all kinds of fabulous supplies at really reasonable prices--better than Amazon! Of course, the selection does vary by store. The closest feed store, the little one in our valley that does a pretty poor job of keeping critical items in stock, only had a couple of things. But the much better stocked and managed feed store another ten miles down the road--Wow!

What treasures can you expect to find there to fill your medical shelves?

Antibiotics. While they will definitely stock the usual antibiotics for your livestock, many stores, even our tiny one in the valley, also carry fish antibiotics. And these fish antibiotics are quite often the same formulations and dosages as for people. They are probably the most expensive way to get antibiotics, but you can buy them without creating any kind of paper trail, which is worth a few extra dollars to some people.

Insecticides. They carry permethrin. That's reason enough to love them. Permethrin kills all those creepy-crawlie nasties. Ticks, lice, bed bugs, fleas, mosquitoes--gone! 

Skin washes and salves. Yep, they've got all kinds. Povidone-iodine (Betadine), rubbing alcohol, DMSO, Bag Balm, chlorhexidine, the list goes on. Veterinarians and honest physicians will tell you there is no difference between the stuff packaged for animals and that packaged for people. And because these are being used with livestock, all these items come in larger bottles and are usually more cost-effective.

Wound dressings. When animals get injured, they require dressing changes just like people do. Fortunately, livestock owners tend to be a little more reasonable and have no desire to pay inflated prices when they don't have to. So feed stores carry all kinds of dressings that drugstores carry, at a fraction of the price. It would still be cheaper to buy in bulk online, but for some things, you don't need large quantities. The feed stores make these items available in smaller amounts. So you can purchase Coban at the drug store for stabilizing joints and pay a lot, or you can buy Vet-Wrap or the knock-off at the feed store for a lot less. You can even get pretty colors. There's quite a variety of sterile and non-sterile gauze.

What you find in the way of medical supplies at your local feed store may be a complete fail, or it may be phenomenal. The only way of knowing is to check it out for yourself. Whether the prices will work for you probably depends on how much you have to purchase of any given item. However, as I compared prices for the minimal selection of antibiotics that my store carried, I was shocked to find that they were actually more cost-effective than the overseas pharmacy that I regularly use.

So give your local feed store a look. You may be pleasantly surprised, too.

Links to related posts:
Acquiring Antibiotics  
Betadine   
Permethrin
Skin Preps and Washes
Tapes and Wraps
Wound Dressings