ALERT! Don’t Buy Your Dog’s Cosequin And Dasuquin At This Online Retailer

I love Amazon and the majority of my holiday purchases have come from there this year. 

These purchases include anything from dog toys to clothing and out of the hundreds of things that I’ve purchased from Amazon, I’ve rarely ever had an issue. 

Every product except for one dog toy has never gotten lost and has always arrived on time or pretty close to it. 

There are, however, a few things that I’ve never bought from Amazon before and that includes any type of supplements or food. (except last week I did order a joint supplement off of a rescue’s Amazon Wishlist and now I feel horrible)

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve searched for dog supplements on Amazon but I’ve never made the leap to purchase them from there no matter how cheap it was. 

It seems kind of like the black market in regards to certain things. 

The other day I was talking with a friend about joint supplements and I asked her where she purchased from. 

Somehow we got on the subject of Amazon and that’s when she told me about an issue that was going on last year with Nutramax products. 

Apparently, last year a lot of counterfeit joint supplements for pets were being sold on Amazon and some dogs were getting sick.

I have no idea how I missed this so I wanted to make sure I shared it with all of you in case you missed it too. 

I know we have a lot of friends that give their Newfies Cosequin or Dasuquin joint supplements!

 

 

 

Nutramax Laboratories issued a statement in August 2018 urging consumers to return counterfeit pet dietary supplements sold by unauthorized resellers on Amazon:

“Nutramax Laboratories Veterinary Sciences, Inc. has determined that counterfeit versions of three leading veterinary Nutramax products – Cosequin® DS+MSM 132 and 250 counts chewable tablet bottle, Dasuquin® with MSM 150 count chewable tablet bottle for small to medium and for large dogs, and Proviable® DC 80 count capsules carton – have been sold by unauthorized third-party resellers on Amazon.

To date, we are not aware of any other product sizes, formulations, or forms that are affected.

However, we want to alert pet parents to what we know, the steps that have been taken, and additional steps they can take to protect their beloved pets from unscrupulous online resellers.”

Identifying counterfeit Cosequin and Dasuquin: 

It’s not easy to identify fake products just by looking at them but some red flags are misspellings on the label, slight differences in logos or other graphics, and differences in the appearance of tablets or capsules, sometimes even within the same package

The counterfeit products examined to date were essentially made of a starchy filler compound that is often used in pills, capsules, and other ingestible products, but it is important to note the composition may vary from package to package.

The active ingredients were also not present in them; therefore, pets are not receiving any of the needed health benefits of authentic Nutramax products.

For these reasons, we are treating these counterfeit products as a threat to pets’ safety and well-being.

All of the sellers identified below were unauthorized resellers of Nutramax products and appear to be based in China.

• Jiaxin doing business as Pegato Big Save LLC
• Kaptan LLC doing business as Pets Care Center
• Yuhua Yuan doing business as Pet Health Shop
• Teng Rongting doing business as HUCrety
• Liao Liangfa doing business as MNishanfk
• Keke Ding doing business as Valentine-Goods
• Kang Du doing business as Pet-healthline
• HongJian Zhou

Another good thing to do to try and protect you and your pet from counterfeit products on Amazon is to read the reviews, the good and the bad.  

One of the Cosequin products on Amazon that I recently read the reviews on had over 6,000 reviews, some of which claimed a fake product and sick dogs. 

Compare prices. If a price seems too good to be true on Amazon it probably is. Cheaper isn’t always better.

Call the manufacturer and verify that they sell their products on Amazon. 

If you have any questions about a product you may have purchased on Amazon recently from Nutramax the company encourages you to call them at (888) 886-6442 or visit NutramaxLabs.com.

Even though this alert broke awhile ago, many reviewers on Amazon are still reporting counterfeit products to this date

About Nutramax Laboratories Veterinary Sciences, Inc.:

Nutramax Laboratories Veterinary Sciences, Inc. develops supplements for pets to help support their quality of life.

Products include joint supplements- Dasuquin and Cosequin, digestive support -Proviable, live support-Denosil, and Denamarin, and skin and coat support-Welactin. 

Nutramax states that they do not sell their products on Amazon and urges consumers to purchase from trusted retailers or from veterinarians. 

Trusted retailers that Nutramax sells their products to include: (check here for a complete list for Cosequin: https://www.cosequin.com/where-to-buy-pet/)

Online Trusted Retailers

• Chewy.com,
• Pet Supplies 4 Less. 

Nationwide Trusted Retailers

• Walmart,
• Sam’s Club,
• BJ’s,
• Target,
• Petco
• Tractor Supply

In-Store Only Trusted Retailers

• Pet Supplies Plus
• Pet Sense
• Pet Valu
• Pet People
• Publix
• Kroger
• Meijers
• Wegmans

How Amazon works.

When purchasing from Amazon things can get a little confusing.

You have Ships from and sold by (3rd party seller), Sold by (3rd party seller) fulfilled by Amazon, Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

All of these mean different things. 

Ships from and sold by Amazon instead of from a third party seller is how I try to buy 

However, after I researched this a little more, this isn’t always foolproof.

Forbes recently did a great write-up on this. 

It basically goes like this:

“Just because a Prime logo is present doesn’t mean it’s sold by Amazon.

In actuality, any of Amazon’s 3 million marketplace sellers can use the Amazon warehouse to house and ship their items and get the so-called “coveted” mark on its products,” Fred Dimyan, the co-founder of Potoo Marketing, told AOL.com.

Chris Hoffman from howtogeek.com concurred:

“Products that are “fulfilled by Amazon” may have the “Prime” logo that makes them look like they’re sold by Amazon–but they aren’t.

You’re still buying a product from a third-party seller.

The third-party seller ships that product to Amazon’s warehouses and Amazon ships it to you.

However, Amazon doesn’t necessarily confirm that the product is legitimate before shipping it to you

Ships from and sold by (Name of 3rd Party Seller)

When you purchase this product, Amazon gets a cut–but Amazon isn’t actually involved in the transaction.

The product is sold by the third-party seller and is shipped from them directly to you, not unlike eBay and other online marketplaces.

Most counterfeit and pirated products will probably be shipped directly from a third-party seller BUT not all third party sellers are bad.

Sold by (Name of 3rd Party Seller) and Fulfilled by Amazon

Products that are “fulfilled by Amazon” may have the “Prime” logo that makes them look like they’re sold by Amazon–but they are not.

You’re still buying a product from a third-party seller.

The third-party seller ships that product to Amazon’s warehouses and Amazon ships it to you.

But, Amazon doesn’t necessarily confirm that the product is legitimate before shipping it to you.

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

“This means that the product is shipped and sold by Amazon Retail (via Vendor Central or Vendor Express) directly.

Basically, the manufacturer sends the product to Amazon.com at a set price through a traditional PO process.

However, even “ships from and sold by Amazon.com” products are not immune to counterfeits, as these items to are often commingled into the general FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) stock:

All those products often get pooled together by bar code, regardless of whether they come from the brands themselves or other distributors.

That way, Amazon can grab whichever product that’s ordered at the nearest warehouse to the customer.

That means even if you buy something that is technically sold by Amazon under the brand’s name, you might end up with a product supplied by a third-party merchant, which may or may not be the real thing.”

Since the alert that went out in 2018 from Nutramax, it appears that many of the counterfeit sellers have been removed from Amazon but that doesn’t mean counterfeit products are not still there. 

I absolutely love Amazon but I always want to make sure that what I and you buy for our dogs is safe. 

Because of that, I have removed all joint supplement products from our Amazon store. 

I would also caution any rescue organizations that have Cosequin or Dasuquin on their Amazon wishlists to be cautious. 

Edited 12/13/19: I reached out to Cosequin and received this response back:  : “Although Nutramax does not have a direct relationship with Amazon, we do have a direct distribution partner that supplies Amazon with product. If your product was fulfilled and shipped by Amazon then it should be ok. The only caution you should use when purchasing through Amazon, is when dealing with third party sellers on the Amazon marketplace. Thanks!”

 

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