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Apoquel

3K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Sheri 
#1 ·
Our 11 month old, Cubby, had been scratching at his face and ears. He has also been somewhat lethargic. It has been very hot here in California. Feared ear infection so I took him to the vet. Good news because there is not infection or illness. Vet suspects allergies because his skin is pinker, especially right around the rim of the eye (not in the eye and not cherry eye) So, he prescribed Aloquel for 10 days. Anybody ever see the same symptoms? Anyone ever given Aloquel?
 
#2 ·
I believe it has a pretty high adverse side effect profile. I know my vet considered it sort of a last resort drug for allergies that can't be controlled any other way.

Kodi has both environmental and food allergies. He takes Zyrtec daily, and we had him tested by Nutriscan to find out what which foods he is sensitive food. Based on that, we found a diet that works for him. I keep him out of wet grass, which is definitely a problem for him. It has taken some work, but we can keep in comfortable most of the time and have never had to resort to Apoquel. (at least not yet! :) )
 
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#5 ·
It depnds. He's never had noticably red eyes, but his face is black. Sometims he gets very itchy...ears, feet and under the base of his tail. (Which he has licked raw a couple of times). When his allergies were less under control, he also got ear infections way too often. He also had problems with repeated clostridium overgrowth and tummy aches.
 
#6 ·
it's not appropriate for us to recommend drugs for your dog.
 
#7 ·
If I were you, before I resorted to drugs, I would try a change in diet. I know I sound like a broken record, but I truly believe that processed dog foods do not benefit animals as much as a pure raw balanced diet (what nature intended). It is so easy now to purchase food that is nutritious with less or no adverse effects. I use Primal and Tux loves it. I do too because there is no prep. All the meats and veggies and bone meal are included in one simple little brick. He gets four a day along with raw goat milk (for dessert).
 
#8 ·
Apoquel should not be given to dogs less than a year old I am surprised your vet would prescribe it.
Apoquel has helped a lot of dogs but although it probably doesn't cause it, it can exasperate an existing cancer. I had asked Sophie's internist about it because I was anxious for her to turn a year old (she has had allergies since a pup) so we could use it but he said he is seeing more and more cases of scary cancers in dogs coming in that are on apoquel.

There are some better things out there now (at least until or if they find something wrong with those too. Sigh)

One is Cytopoint. It's an injection and I've heard of many great success stories. It is new and was in dermatology clinics for a year. They found no adverse side effects so they released it to the general vets. Our vet has two patients on it and are doing great. We were going to start Sophie on it but because it's new we decided to wait a while to make sure they don't discover something bad it does.

https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/cytopoint/index.aspx

The other thing is Dermoscent Essential 6 which I'm super excited about. I just heard about it when we took Aunt Edna to the vet a couple of days ago. It is topical, you apply it to the base of the neck from a little pipet like the flea treatments. (which I never use...I know of two dogs personally who ended up at specialist after getting a dose one was temporarily paralyzed and both almost died. Full recovery though). They had two different brands. But back to the point :) it is all natural and safe. And it sounds even better. Our vet said 100% of her clients using it have had significant to full relief and are off other meds. No side effects. You apply it something like every week I believe. Our vet went to a dermatology conference recently and said (and I have not researched this so am this is just what she said she learned there) that they used to think inhalant allergies...were from inhaling the allergens. But they have found that not to be true. The allergens are actually getting thru the skin into the body, which reacts against it and causes itching on the outside. The dogs skin barrier is broken down (especially in allergy dogs) letting the allergens through. So by supporting and strengthening the skin barrier, (which is what dermoscent does) they are seeing great results. And since it's all essential oils etc and natural and applied topically I can't imagine them finding something down the road to be afraid of. So I have some here for both Aunt Edna and Sophie (aunt Edna is on apoquel but she still bites and scratches and licks a LOT). I am very anxious to see what it does.

Essential 6 spot-on - Skin and coat care - Dog Cat | Dermoscent

Of course it won't help with food allergies so if Cubby has food allergies as well (or only although that would be fairly rare) that would have to be addressed separately. For Sophie we do NAET testing frequently (as the allergies can change) and Nutriscan.

Here is the info on the Dermoscent.

Essential 6 spot-on - Skin and coat care - Dog Cat | Dermoscent

I would be careful with the apoquel at his age though, I imagine since it's only for 10 days the vet is thinking that won't be harmful.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I am late to this conversation, but if you were still considering Apoquel, I thought I'd share our experience. Oreo was itching constantly from the day we brought him home at 11 weeks. He had repeated skin infections from all his scratching, resulting in several rounds of antibiotics. I have spent hundreds of dollars on anti-itch medicated shampoos and topical products, including Dermoscent. We did a 16 week prescription anti-allergy food trial, which also did nothing. They treated him for scabies, even though the skin scraping showed nothing...that made no difference either. After he turned a year old, in addition to the near constant scratching he started chewing his feet and whimpering, our vet finally moved to Apoquel as a last resort. She said that he was the second most itchy dog she had ever treated. I was reluctant to use it after having read everything about the potential side effects. I finally decided that his comfort and quality of life made it worth the try. So far, after about 10 weeks of treatment, there have been no adverse side effects, and his scratching has been reduced by probably 80+%. I certainly hope there are no long term negative consequences, but I am glad to have a much more comfortable pup.
I just noticed that our Pita Pata is not showing the right age. Oreo is 16 months old.
 
#10 ·
Yes, as a friend once commented, you have to make a choice in these really hard cases. For me, a good quality of life is more much more important that longevity. Try everything else first, then proceed through the less optimal choices, in order to find relief.

I'm glad you have found something that greatly helps little Oreo!
 
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