Apoquel

[PeaceLilyPatty]

Has anyone used this?
Our Lab, aged 3 has always had allergies every summer (in the winter months no problems) He itches, his belly can get very red from scratching and has watery eyes.
The first year, the vet gave him steroids and antibiotics which worked but obviously can't be a long term thing.
So this year they said to try Apoquel.
Well, it's been a miracle, (& cost me a fortune😳) itching stopped immediately and fur has grown back.
BUT, its week 6 now and he's started to poo overnight, always 2 or 3 piles. He's also got less energy, but that could be the weather.
I suddenly wondered if the apoquel could be causing the pooing?

I had my terrier on it a few years ago and I didn't find it great. His stomach was always a bit sick after it. We switched to the monthly cytopoint injections instead and he is perfect! Bit more expensive but it's worth it just for the summer months.

@romdowa that's interesting, thankyou, the vet hasn't mentioned that. She just said piriton but that did absolutely nothing.

We had my retriever on Apoquel for years. Piriton did nothing. I bought it online as it was half the price of the vet.
I have mixed feelings. It did stop the itching but he died very suddenly last year after complete kidney collapse. The vet said it was nothing to do with heavy apoquel use but I can't help but wonder. The breeder was convinced it was from that.

I actually came across it myself and brought it to my vets attention. Our dog was absolutely wrecking his back by biting it, which was then getting infected. He also was a nightmare to get tablets into. So I was pretty desperate at the time.

What over the counter treatments have you already tried? I’d be adverse to being on strong medication if something more gentle worked. Proflax skin & coat for example. Or Dorwest have lots of options.

@Orangesarenottheonlyfruit I'm so sorry to read that, how devastating.
@YelloYelloYello we use Yuderm oil in his food, and I tried piriton, which did nothing, although I only have him 2 tablets every 24 hours, the vet said he can have 2 tablets every 8 hours.
I'm starting to go off apoquel the more I read about it.

We use Cytopoint injections instead of Apoquel as we had to keep going back up to the loading dose. About £100 every month or so for a golden retriever, although we can get away with one every few months at the moment.

We used Apoquel for a while but it didn't stop our springer scratching.

So we switched to a Cytopoint injection every couple of months and it works much better.

Our sprocker had a bad reaction to it after being prescibed it for a nasty ear infection that she wouldn't leave alone. She was wobbly when walking, staring into space and had a horrible gurgly tummy. She had two doses and I took her off it again when I read about it online.

The more I read about Apoquel the more I don't want doggo to have it.
I might try the 8 hourly piriton and see what happens. Give him a break from the Apoquel.

It was a life changer for my fox terrier. He ended up needing higher than the normal maintenance dose and was on 8mg a day. He had previously been on steroids and was a very fat and unhappy dog.

After 5 yrs we have just changed the dose and started the cytopoint injection. I havent seen any nasty side effects at all from either of the drugs. He has regular blood tests and all has been fine.

We suspected Ddog had allergies. The vet prescribed 2 weeks of apoquel and said if it stopped the paw chewing then it was definitely allergies. It stopped like magic. Ddog then had a blood test to identify the specific allergies and they were able to offer immunotherapy (sort of manufacture a personalised allergy vaccine) for the environmental ones. We obviously switched his food to things he wasn't allergic. He's almost at the end of the course for his vaccines and it's been an absolute game changer. Best £600 I ever spent. TBF the insurance paid for it but ykwim.

I'm going to try the proflax oil, thanks to @YelloYelloYello for mentioning this.
And try piriton alongside🤞

Got one of mine on Apoquel and Nutrimega supplement. No apparent issues with either. Vet said to self assess and reduce Apoquel dosage as I see fit. He gave me a prescription so I can buy cheaper online. Game changer for us. Good luck.

Our dog had been on apoquel for a couple of years but it recently became less effective. She's just started cytopoint injections and so far so good. No problems with apoquel otherwise.

@PeaceLilyPatty

I'm going to try the proflax oil, thanks to *@YelloYelloYello* for mentioning this. And try piriton alongside🤞

Good luck with it. It could take a while to see the affects so stick with it. (You could always always introduce Dorwest’s garlic&fenugreek and green relief together too if you want to hit it really hard, but you’d just need to double check that all of them are ok to take together.) Fingers crossed for you that the Proflax is enough.

Thankyou all

My pug has been on it for 4/5 years now due to skin allergies and has no issues

We do often need to get antibiotics for flare ups a few times throughout the year, last year he had a really bad flare up and his chest was 90% bald and we took him back to the skin specialist who gave him steroids and he was back to normal within a month

Thank god for my insurance or we would be about bankrupt!

Our rescue German Shepherd had a lot if bald patches when we got her last year. Steroids made her very sick, so we were prescribed Apoquel, and it’s been amazing. Her skin and fur are perfect. She was on 2 per day, we tried reducing it to one but she was tearing itchy. She’s on 1 and a 1/2 per day now.
I asked our old vet about the Cytopoint injection, but he said she’d have to be off Apoquel for a month beforehand, and she’d be in bits by then. I might ask our new vet about it.

Also, because we’re in Ireland it’s prescription only, and I can’t get it online, so pay €140 per month. It’s not covered by insurance so pretty costly.

Well, I stopped appoquel for 2 days and hi poor skin😔 he started scratching straight away and his tummy was starting to get sore.
So today I gave him 1 tablet instead of 1.5 and no itching.
I just feel sorry for him being uncomfortable.