“Katuwang:” Reflections on animal health, caregiving, and shared responsibility
A pet owner and animal welfare advocate reflects on caregiving, trust, and why veterinary pharmacy matters more than most of us realize.
OP-ED
PJ Valenciano
6/9/20266 min read
“Pharmacists are guardians of drugs.”
It was a simple statement shared with me during a visit to The Animal Drugstore's main office in Marikina. For some reason, I found myself thinking about it long after our conversation had moved on. There was something about it that felt larger than pharmacy itself. It slowly shifted the conversation away from prescriptions and transactions and toward something more human: responsibility, trust, and the people helping animals completely dependent on others for their well-being.
I initially visited The Animal Drugstore in connection with animal welfare donations and community initiatives tied to the Pawsion Program of New Creation Animal Clinic in La Union and the SMPet LU community of pet lovers and animal caregivers. During that visit, I met Miguel Dominic D. Alidio, DVM, Pharmacist Ayessa Joie B. Dimagiba, RPh, and the rest of the team behind The Animal Drugstore, including their awesome marketing team, who welcomed us while introducing the larger vision behind their work.
We also toured the Marikina Veterinary Hospital, which, I have to admit, immediately excited me as a pet owner. Seeing the upgraded facilities was so impressive, and somewhere in the middle of the visit, I even met a beautiful Alaskan Malamute.
As both a pet owner and someone deeply involved in animal welfare work, the experience felt strangely familiar in ways that were difficult to explain at first. After years of carrying animals into clinics, waiting through medical emergencies, searching for medications across different pharmacies, and hoping treatments would finally work, hearing people speak about veterinary pharmacy with that level of care and sincerity felt emotional to me, almost like hearing a part of the caregiving experience finally being understood out loud.
The realities of animal healthcare
Pharmacist Ayessa Joie B. Dimagiba, RPh, and Miguel Dominic D. Alidio, DVM of The Animal Drugstore, with a customer, reflecting the collaborative approach behind veterinary pharmacy and animal healthcare.
The visit reminded me that animal healthcare is built upon responsibility far beyond affection alone.
I have spent years inside veterinary clinics during some of the most emotionally exhausting moments of animal care. And I know, every pet guardian has been in those shoes. There were sleepless nights monitoring cats struggling through respiratory infections. Nights of crying beside confined animals while waiting for medications to take effect. Moments of rushing back to clinics after sudden relapses while trying to remain calm during medical emergencies.
There were also experiences many animal caregivers know too well, like sitting anxiously inside clinics while mentally computing treatment costs and wondering how to stretch whatever money remained, making one phone call after another in search of medications that seemed impossible to find, walking into human pharmacies carrying prescriptions and asking whether alternatives existed.
Over time, I found myself memorizing medications, dosages, antibiotics, nebulization routines, and follow-up schedules simply because caring for sick animals demanded it. Somewhere along the way, names of medicines and treatment plans slowly became part of daily life, not out of expertise but out of love, necessity, and the responsibility caregiving eventually asks of you.
Anyone who has cared for animals long enough eventually understands how heavy that responsibility can become. Yes, care begins with affection. But over time, care also becomes endurance and carrying the weight of decisions for lives that cannot speak for themselves.
The pharmacy and the philosophy behind It
After spending years on the caregiver side of animal healthcare, I found myself listening differently during that visit.
I have spent years navigating veterinary clinics, treatment plans, medication schedules, and the uncertainty that comes with caring for animals. That is a reality no one can deny. So hearing conversations surrounding veterinary pharmacy through both a veterinarian’s and a pharmacist’s perspective immediately caught my attention.
Behind every institution are people working across different roles and disciplines. Members of The Animal Drugstore team, together with Marketing Associate Raphael Nadayao.
After spending years on the caregiver side of animal healthcare, I found myself listening differently during that visit.
I have spent years navigating veterinary clinics, treatment plans, medication schedules, and the uncertainty that comes with caring for animals. That is a reality no one can deny. So hearing conversations surrounding veterinary pharmacy through both a veterinarian’s and a pharmacist’s perspective immediately caught my attention.
The visit gradually made me understand The Animal Drugstore beyond its role as a veterinary pharmacy. While it is recognized as the first online pharmacy in the Philippines dedicated exclusively to pet dogs and cats, managed by both a licensed pharmacist and a licensed veterinarian, I found myself paying closer attention to the people behind the work and the ideas shaping it.
Throughout the visit, Doc Mico and Ayessa spoke about animal healthcare with an enthusiasm that felt easy to recognize. Conversations naturally moved between caregiving realities, treatment continuity, medication accessibility, and the growing complexities surrounding animal care today.
One thing I never want to worry about during an already stressful situation is whether the medication I am buying is authentic. Along the way, many also encounter concerns surrounding counterfeit or questionable products in the market. Hearing discussions surrounding proper pharmaceutical oversight made me realize how much reassurance and trust matter.
Somewhere in those discussions, I began to realize that veterinary medicine and pharmaceutical care were not being treated as separate spaces. Instead, they seemed to work alongside one another, not as replacements, but as “katuwang,” partners within a shared culture of care.
The continuity of responsibility
The discussion surrounding how veterinary pharmacy has become more established abroad also felt familiar in many ways, particularly how pharmacists work more closely within interdisciplinary healthcare systems connected to animal care. It brought me back to something larger, a reminder that health itself is deeply interconnected.
This aligns with the World Health Organization’s One Health framework, which recognizes the relationship between human, animal, and environmental health. In many ways, it also echoed something many animal caregivers eventually realize through experience: caring for animals does not exist in isolation. It inevitably becomes connected to families, communities, and the broader realities surrounding everyday life.
As the visit continued, it became clearer that behind the institutions and healthcare systems was the continuing work of a family whose values and commitment to animal healthcare had been carried across generations, now finding expression through people like Doc Mico and Ayessa.
By then, veterinary pharmacy no longer felt like an abstract or highly specialized concept. It felt connected to something many caregivers already understand firsthand: caring for animals has become increasingly complex, and no one should have to carry that responsibility alone.
Miguel Dominic D. Alidio, DVM and Pharmacist Ayessa Joie B. Dimagiba, RPh of The Animal Drugstore, embody the spirit of “katuwang” through collaboration and shared commitment in animal healthcare.
Beyond the prescription
As I reflected on the visit afterward, I found myself returning to the statement that opened the day: “Pharmacists are guardians of drugs.”
At first, it sounded like a description of a profession. However, by the end of the visit, it felt connected to something much larger than pharmacy itself.
This felt like the space beyond the prescription. The idea extended beyond medications and treatment plans, which included people helping carry difficult moments, communities continuing to show up, and the different ways individuals choose to become part of something larger than themselves.
Years of experiencing animal healthcare from the caregiver side have shown me that behind every recovery are veterinarians, pharmacists, advocates, volunteers, pet owners, and people who continue contributing in different ways throughout an animal’s journey toward healing and well-being.
As The Animal Drugstore celebrates another year, the work continues through people and communities. Those interested in following their initiatives and learning more about their work in veterinary pharmaceutical care may visit https://theanimaldrugstore.com/ or connect with Miguel Dominic D. Alidio, DVM, and Pharmacist Ayessa Joie B. Dimagiba, RPh.
Pharmacist Ayessa Joie B. Dimagiba, RPh of The Animal Drugstore, reflects the growing role of pharmacists within animal healthcare and patient support.