title: Extemporaneous compounding in veterinary practice: a New Zealand perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to explore the extent of extemporaneous compounding in veterinary centres throughout New Zealand and to determine whether pharmacists could collaborate with veterinarians to improve this service in New Zealand.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaires were sent to 200 randomly selected veterinarians in New Zealand. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with selected participants from four animal facilities (zoos, research facilities and animal shelters) and two compounding pharmacies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 200 veterinarian questionnaire recipients, 99 responded. Ten replies were withdrawn from the study giving a response rate of 44.5%. Of these 89, 33 (37%) compounded in their practice. Of the 33 compounding professionals, 3 (9%) compounded daily for animals under their care; 11 (34%) weekly, 18 (54%) monthly and 1 (3%) compounded yearly. Compounding was done by 29/33 (88%) veterinarians, 16/33 (48%) veterinary nurses or 6/33 (18%) others. It was carried out due to the unavailability of commercial products, or the need for dose adjustment to ease administration or improve compliance. The animals most commonly requiring veterinary compounding were dogs (21/33; 64%), cats (19/33; 58%) or cattle (15/33; 46%). Products which were commonly compounded included cyclosporin eye drops, methimazole gels and potassium bromide solutions. Issues commonly faced when compounding included unavailability of dosage forms (18/33; 55%) or appropriate ingredients (14/33; 42%), stability (12/33; 36%), time constraints (10/33; 30%) or unavailability of equipment (9/33; 27%). Reasons given for not compounding included medicines being commercially available (38/56; 68%), pharmacy compounding for those particular practices (24/56; 43%), lack of training (21/56; 38%), ingredients (16/56; 29%) or equipment (15/56; 11%). All participants who worked with a pharmacist (11/33; 33%) described this relationship as beneficial and indicated they would continue to do so in the future.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Veterinary extemporaneous compounding exists in New Zealand. As pharmacists have extensive knowledge in formulating medications and compounding they could be of greater value to veterinarians and their patients. Educating both professions on the opportunities available to them from this collaboration could be an important step forward.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides new information regarding extemporaneous compounding for veterinary patients in New Zealand.
authors.affiliation: a School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences , University of Auckland , Private Bag 92019 , Auckland , New Zealand.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Gargiulo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chemal
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Joda
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pilkington
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haywood
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003625:Data Collection; D004304:Dosage Forms; D004339:Drug Compounding / Q000662:veterinary*; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D009520:New Zealand; D056687:Off-Label Use / Q000662:veterinary; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018634:Veterinarians; D019155:Veterinary Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: D004304:Dosage Forms; D019155:Veterinary Drugs