Penn Veterinary Supply, Inc. - Since 1981

The Quest for Hidden Savings is an original series here on the Penn Vet Blog where we serve as your guide for seeking out all of the ways that your practice could be saving money. We’ve talked about generating your own oxygen supply and distilled water, and in this edition, we’re going to be talking about all of the small things: suture and needles/syringes/catheters.

Sewing Up the Savings

Take a look at the suture you’re using. If you’re still using Ethicon suture you might be interested in knowing that:

• VPL Suture was the first veterinary-labeled suture with over 20 years in the veterinary market.
• VPL Suture is the primary suture used in Europe
• VPL Suture is more cost-effective than Ethicon, without compromising on quality.

Switching is easy!

Using a distributor’s private label? Many of the sutures you see with a specific distributor’s name on them are made by the same manufacturer; Same suture with a different name on the box! Our Vedco branded suture is comparable in quality to any of these sutures and, in many cases, can save you substantial money over the long haul.

Consider this: If your practice does 10 surgeries per week and you use 3 packets of suture per surgery, if you were to change to Vedco from another private label, on average you would see nearly $2,000 savings in a year. This is based upon our boxes of 12 packets of ‘racetrack’ suture. If you choose to use our boxes of 36 or our ‘figure-8’ style sutures, you’ll save even more. If you are considering switching from Ethicon suture, you would be looking at savings of approximately $100 per box of 36 packets, which means savings of about $5,000 in one year! What piece of equipment have you been wanting to replace that you could buy for $5,000?

Changing your suture brand can seem intimidating. Sutures have different names and needle types aren’t always consistent across brands, so it can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re already pressed for time. We’ve created an online Suture Converter that is easy to use - just pop in what you’re using and we’ll give you the comparison product for Vedco and/or VPL. You can also always give one of our knowledgeable Sales Representatives a call at 800-233-0210 to get some assistance!

Needles, Syringes, and Catheters - It All Adds Up!

Let’s talk about Sol-Millenium. We brought on this brand over 2 years ago with their insulin syringes and got such great feedback from our customers that we decided to expand. Penn Vet now carries Sol-Millenium needles, syringes, and catheters!

Sol-M Needles	Sol-M Syringes	Sol-M Catheters

This is a quality brand at a lower cost. By making the switch, you could save anywhere from $0.40/item to upwards of $11 per box. Keep in mind that these are items that you use daily - those savings will add up! Take IV catheters, for example, our Sol-M catheters cost approximately $1 less than most brands out there. That’s $50 saved for every box of IV catheters you buy. While it doesn’t sound like a ton of money in the short-term, this is an area where it really adds up. These are quality IV catheters that many of our customers have discovered they actually like better than their more expensive previous brand!

There are so many ways that your practice can rake up the savings and we can’t wait to continue to share those with you! Be sure to check back for the next installment and follow us on social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) to keep up to date on all of the latest Penn Vet Blog posts.