Itchy dog - apoquel

[dizzyupthegirl86]

Hi all,
My dog (6, beagle/bulldog mix) likes to roll on her back and itch on the carpet. She’s done it for a while, it seems to ramp up in the summer a bit. I’ve mentioned it to the vet and she’s been on apoquel for 3-4 months now but it doesn’t actually seem to be stopping it. In the beginning I thought it was reducing it but I’m not so sure these days!

The vet firstly suggested I wash her every other day for two weeks with a medicated shampoo, that didn’t really have any effect so they then put her on the apoquel.
If it worked I wouldn’t have an issue with it but it’s £100 every month for something that she’s still doing!
She’s got a stumpy little tail which can get a bit grimy so I make sure I clean that as she obviously can’t. She likes to roll around in gravel and on concrete when we’re out as well!
The vets want to see her before her next batch so I want to go in a bit prepared really, is there anything anyone else can suggest? Initially they asked me to score the itching out of 10, and I said 7-8. After a few weeks of apoquel, I told them it was more like a 5, so they were quite happy to keep her on it.

She does it on different carpets, some new, some that were here when i moved in that I’ve cleaned with a carpet cleaner, some that I haven’t… so I don’t get the impression it’s anything to do with the carpets. She does seem to do it more in the summer and warmer months, but she sheds more hair at that point too.

My dog (lab 8) has been on this for about 5 years. It’s so expensive but seems to be the only thing that helps with itchy skin and ears. I get a prescription from the vet and buy online, which makes the cost slightly lower.

My only advice would be to check her ears for infection. My cockapoo used to lick and lick her paws but it turned out the itch was in her ears. We were on apoquel for ages. It worked a bit. Specific ear drops have worked better. If you keep on apoquel get your vet to give you a prescription and then use an online supplier. Much much cheaper.

My dog has been on appoquel for 2 years now as he has so many allergies.
As @LucyLatimer said - ask your vet to give you a prescription. Then buy them from petdrugsonline.com it will be around £25 per month.

The only other thing I can suggest is if you ask your vet to give you a short course of steroids (my vet has done this in the past when he's had a bout of itchiness. A week course costs about £10 from vet) then I carry on as normal with the apoquel and this seems to do the trick.

Hope this helps

I did a pet allergy test (ordered it from Amazon) £100ish - vet wanted £400
I found out he has 22 allergies some of them being chicken, and linseed oil which are used in most dog foods. So I also have to use a hypoallergenic dog food. It could be that if your dog has an allergy like this and you don't know, the dog food may still be interfering and causing the itchiness to persist

Ah these are interesting, thank you.
She’s been on Harrington’s for a while, since well before the itching started, but when she was on a different food, I don’t really remember her itching very much at all.

There’s an allergy test for 35 quid but I think I’ve found the one you mentioned @StickyStickyStickStickSong - affinity DNA?

The only thing is that it says they can’t have been on apoquel for ten days before testing, so maybe I’ll need to speak to the vets about taking her off it before I order it.

You can take your pet off applequel, it doesn't have to be teetered off, unlike some tablets. I find when my dog has had applequel, the difference in itching is huge and obvious. We use two week batches when seasons change in spring and autumn as that's when his allergies ramp up (unsure what they are, assume tree or grass).

If it's persistent and applequel isn't helping, nor the shampoos. I'd wonder if it was food and not environment. There's lots of food out there which remove the common allergens. Maybe try that for a few weeks and see if there's an improvement?

Thank you - the vets had given me the impression it had to be tapered off, but now I think of it, the wording (I don’t know why I remember so vividly) was ‘you can’t just take a dog off apoquel’ could be taken more as a ‘it’s a long term treatment’ type thing which makes more sense given everything I’ve read.
I’m inclined to get the allergy test - it’s not cheap but it’s only the same as the next month of apoqel would cost me!

@dizzyupthegirl86 yes it was the affinity one I did. And yes he was completely off appoquel when I did the test can't remember how long he'd been off it in total but you have to take them off it so it doesn't interfere with the results.
My dog had 22 allergies (3 were major intolerances, the rest were medium and low)
🙄

My bischon used to be on a Apoquel. The dog groomer suggested giving him grain free food. Did this and the itching stopped, unbelievable

Definitely look at her foods and treats
We did the bath everyday with vets prescription stuff and poor dog had to wait 10mins to be rinsed off
That was fun !!
Various vets treatments skin scrapings etc
Changed dog food and no issues from then on

So many vets jump straight to apoquel without trying an elimination diet first, it’s shocking.

If the answer is as simple as choosing a dog food without a specific ingredient (eg chicken or grain) in it then it’s obviously much better to do that than give your dog unnecessary medication.

I would do an elimination diet. Start by switching them on to fish as most dogs can tolerate that well, then slowly introduce more ingredients. Lots of itchy dogs tend to have a dramatically improved skin and coat when switched on to raw feeding too - it’s not necessary but could be worth considering.

Thank you - I’ve stopped the apoquel ( last dose was Sunday) and I’ll get an allergy test ordered. I’d try the elimination diet but I’d rather have the test to give me a starting point.

Im sure at one point she was on grain free food, but I usually order it online and I can’t find any records of it!

Im going to have another look to see if I can find it on my online shopping emails and if I can, I’ll pick up some grain free and start slowly changing her food over to see if that helps!

@YellowPlant you’ve got a good point - vets has never suggested elimination diet. Went straight from the constant baths to apoquel.