[Update] Apoquel: Dog Miracle Drug With a Dark Side
Part One: A New Wonder Drug for Itchy Dogs?
When you have a crazily itchy dog or cat, everybody suffers. Patients in this state often keep you up at night and drive you crazy during the day dealing with the mad itch.
Scratching, biting, losing hair, skin red and inflamed, these guys often stink, ooze sticky moisture from their skin, and many can’t get comfortable long enough to take a decent nap, let alone sleep the night through.
Talk about a pain for you and your loved ones!
At the base of wildly itchy animals is the immune system, which is working overtime, but malfunctioning.
“Dysregulated” is a term used in the scientific papers.
(We have to insert a wink here because immune system dysregulation is entirely a manmade disease. More on that later.)
Interestingly, most look right past that important manmade point and seek to “fix” the itchy beast with powerful drugs.
Enter the latest anti-inflammatory drug to make a splash in the veterinary market: Apoquel (oclacitinib).
And lest you think I’m recommending it, you’ll want to read on for the details about why an abundance of caution is recommended before you plunk down your hard-earned money and start your dog down a potentially dangerous path.
Apoquel is not for puppies. Or cats or people. It’s Apoquel for dogs that we’re talking about.
Born from the loins of the world’s largest drugmaker Pfizer, their former division Zoetis is now the “animal health” giant that brought this much-touted wonder drug to market in 2014.
How big is Zoetis?
$4.34 billion in revenue in 2012, before Apoquel had even hit the market.
But, let's get more recent: as of September 2023, that figure doubled to $8.6 billion!
So: BIG.
Stops Itch FAST!
The claims and even the actual results in itchy dogs are amazing.
Provides onset of relief within 4 hours. Effectively controls itch within 24 hours.”
Irresistible, right?
After you’ve lost sleep for weeks on end and tried everything offered you by Dr. WhiteCoat and Dr. Google without success, wouldn’t this sound like heaven in a pill?
Apoquel: How Does it Work?
Ah, now you’re asking a smart question. I love it when you do this.
How Apoquel works is the key to why you need to be smart.
Smarter than the marketers, smarter than Zoetis, and smarter than Dr. WhiteCoat, who’d be tickled to sell this to you.
(He, like me in the old days of conventional medicine, hasn’t likely read the research on safety or efficacy. He’s just taking his Zoetis rep’s word for it: it works! But guess who did the research… and for how long? A: Zoetis! 30 days!)
Can you say “conflict of interest?”
Pull up a little closer to the campfire for this part, because here’s where the story gets good.
Why is my Dog so
Damned Itchy?
To know how the drug works, you should know first how The Itch works.
Here’s what a board-certified veterinary dermatologist says causes The Itch:
- Flea allergy dermatitis
- Atopic dermatitis
- Food allergy dermatitis
- Contact dermatitis
- Sarcoptic mange
- Demodectic mange
I really, really wish I was making this up. (He’s merely listed itchy diseases, nothing about their causes).
But, while that explanation is seriously lacking in the “why?”, the part he does get right is this:
That’s been true for well over 20 years now. Hard insurance data tell no lies.
Remember that wild and crazy immune system, spoken of earlier? The one that’s off the rails, acting all whacky and dysregulated?
That’s what Apoquel is acting on. It’s being called an “immune modulator” by the experts.
That’s an enticing way of calling out its action.
Sounds suspiciously benign.
Keep reading though, and you’ll see that it’s anything but.
In Part Two, I go into how that dermatologist really missed the larger point of what causes itch. And how to work to truly prevent this maddening disease from wreaking havoc on your own animals.
As you might guess, prevention in a real sense will trump giving a drug to try to control this painful disease.
For now, here’s a brief description of how this “wonder drug” called Apoquel works.
Immunology 101
First, an important understanding. While it might seem like we know a lot about the immune response, there are still large swaths of mystery we don’t yet comprehend.
By its very nature, this is one complex system! If we didn’t have it, we’d have been lost as a species a very long time ago, right along with our pets and our livestock.
That said, we know there are lots of messenger molecules involved.
And sweeping events called cascades, where the right trigger (a virus, say) causes a series of chemical messages and events that, when all is working well keeps you and your animals out of harm’s way.
“Yo. We Need to Talk”
One group of immune messengers are called cytokines.
These small molecules are produced by a wide variety of cells, and they signal other cells to do something like come to the scene of infection, let loose their chemicals, take part in signaling others, dump antibodies, etc.
You’ve likely heard of some cytokines before.
- Interferon
- Interleukins
- Tumor necrosis factors
When inflammation is triggered, these chemical messengers call in the troops. It’s time to heal!
(More on inflammation in context here. It’s not the enemy, by the way.)
Enter Apoquel (Oclacitinib)
A couple of words hidden in those names. A whole class of inhibitory compounds man has invented have “inib” at their end. Short for inhibit.
And “quel?” You get that one.
Chill out this hot mess of inflammation!
So, this drug seeks to stop a piece of the inflammatory chemical cascade by interfering with certain enzymes called kinases, or JAK in the literature, which stops some cytokines from doing their thing.
And it works!
But like all things that “work,” we need to look a bit deeper if we want to raise truly Vital Animals. “Work” can mean cure but it more often means palliation:
Palliation means, while the medicine is being given, the symptoms are relatively controlled. The animal is no better overall and once the drug stops, the symptoms return. In the meantime, the disease is slowly growing and getting less likely to be able to be cured.
Usually, there’s a price to pay in long term health when we interfere with Mother Nature, and this drug is no exception.
Apoquel and Long Term Safety? Not So Much.
My Texas colleague Dr. Ron Hines has done a brilliant job of cataloging feedback from animal owners actually using this drug.
You, dear readers, have also contributed many, many of your own experiences in the comments on this article.
When you read past the glowing reports of “Hallelujah! Peace at last!” you start to pick up a theme.
Those who’ve been using this drug for a while are seeing two common problems. Variations of these occur in most all drugs, in fact, not just this one:
- Side effects
- No longer helping as much as it did at first.
Here are a few real people, real dog problems I highlighted. You’ll see more if you dig further.
8 months on the drug, Bishon
The drug has given my dog (four years old) a quality of life I never thought was possible. He also receives an allergy serum injection every ten days. However, for the past several weeks his nose has been running constantly and as of late he has been gurgling rather than breathing. Two days ago, his nose was bleeding. I stopped the Apoquel immediately and will see the allergist this week. Most importantly, two days after I stopped the Apoquel, his nose dried up, no more running and no more blood. I cannot help but assume that the Apoquel was the cause of his misery.”
6 mo. on the drug, Mini Dachshund
She has gained almost 3 pounds, and has become very yeasty and smelly. She also has pain going down stairs and playing. In reading about Xeljanz (a human variation of Apoquel) in an advertisement in a magazine, I noted that this drug is an immunosuppressant. Yes it works for the itching, but I am concerned about the changes in her health since taking this drug.”
1 year on the drug, Mini Schnauzer
Curly has just been discharged after 4 days in the hospital. He was hospitalized due to a mysterious 105ºF fever, lack of appetite, huge papilloma lesions in his mouth, vomit,and abdominal pain… It worked only in the beginning, and now it barely provides some mild relief to his itch; he chews his paws raw and now his face and legs and tummy itch a lot, too…
So here is our challenge: It seems that Apoquel has greatly contributed to weaken Curly’s immune system to the point that his platelets and also his red blood cell count is considerably low. At the same time, he is experiencing very little relief by taking it. The internist believes that continuing the Apoquel any further (would) wreak havoc in his immune system, that we can only expect more papilloma lesions, further inflammation of his lymph nodes, lower platelet cell cell count and so on.”
Also of note, this drug is not labeled for cats. Or pups under 12 months old.
Hmmm. What are they telling us in between the lines here?
Can Apoquel Cause Cancer in Dogs?
Before I share some real dog, real people experiences on that, let’s make sure you are aware of something.
Did you know that, for decades now at least, immunologists have known that you and I and every animal on the beautiful blue planet are making “mistakes” in our cells every day?
They are called mutations.
Mutations happen during cell division, which is pretty much a non-stop process in a living being. When you’ve worn out a liver cell or you’ve got to knit a cut back to normal closed skin, it’s cell division that makes this possible.
But, like all biological systems, cell division isn’t a perfect process.
Some “oopsies” happen, and the copy comes out wrong.
Some mutations are harmless, some, when certain genes are involved, cause runaway cell division way past what’s necessary.
The result? Tumors.
Tumor cells are in me and you and your dog right now
The understanding of those steeped in immunology is that it’s our immune system that is the sole reason every mutation that starts running wild in cell division doesn’t create cancer.
We likely have regular battles waged on cancer cells that never become tumors.
Why?
Our immune system correctly “saw” these cells as foreigners.
And called in the guard, like white blood cells, complement, interferon, natural killer cells, etc.
And summoned those kinases, known to be great communicators that help coordinate the attack on the wayward cells leaning towards becoming cancerous.
What’s Apoquel good at?
Taking out some of those kinases, remember?
Is an immune communication breakdown possible, when we mess with the kinases?
I’d bet on it.
And, it’s as if Zoetis never got the memo about how important our immune system is to prevent cancer:
APOQUEL may increase the chances of developing serious infections, and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or **pre-existing cancers** (emphasis mine) to get worse. — company literature
Pre-existing cancers?
Isn’t that what we’ve known about for all these decades?
They are ALL pre-existing until they get a green light to grow, aren’t they?
Let the Apoquel Dogs Speak
Here’s a handful of the many comments that say that’s likely far better than I could:
Linda, young German Shepherd
My 4 year old gsd was on it for itching. She died 2 months later with lymphoma
Carley, 7 year old Aussie Shepherd
Do either of your dogs have hard lumps in their lymph nodes? Unfortunately my dog was diagnosed with lymphoma after using apoquel. I’m in the process of collecting more data if there is a connection because my vet brought it to my attention (not the vet that prescribed the apoquel) my dog is a 7 year Australian shepherd lab mix and has been completely healthy and happy minus his allergies. In comes the apoquel and then the lymphoma it’s hard to not think it is related
Bruce M, Boxer
My sweet boxer Daisy turns 5 in 10 days. She has had allergies for virtually her entire life, and we have tried a variety of diet changes and treatments. She got a prednisone shot in May, and it lasted about 3 weeks. A clerk at the vets office said they could give us “something” in a pill form, and it would last longer and has proven to be very effective. It’s a very good vet practice, so we trusted them completely.
On June 23, I began to give her the “pill”. It was apoquel. Within a week, the lymph nodes under her jaw began to swell. Took her to the vet the next week, and the needle aspiration was inconclusive. It turns out her lymph nodes were swollen behind her legs as well. They did a biopsy, and we were informed today that she has lymphoma. She also defecated pure blood today.
I asked the vet, “did apoquel expedite the cancer that was in her body”? He said “yes”, because it compromised her immune system and allowed the cancer to take over.
Dan, Bedlington Terrier
Our dog (Bedlington) had horrible grass allergies. He would scratch himself bloody. We put him on Apoquel because he could not sleep from all his scratching. It was a wonder drug and his itching stopped after 24 hours. His coat came back, and he was a new dog. 2 months later he had a benign cancerous skin lesion on his nose that had to be removed. Wish we had connected the drug to that problem. 4 months after that he developed squamous cell carcinoma in his lower jaw and died 3 months later.
Too Good to Be True? I’d Put Money On It.
So, a big caution here, as with all “miracle” drugs.
If it’s interfering with your dog’s immune system, and running out of gas after a certain period of use, is there any hope that it will cure your dog’s itch?
Of course not.
As you’ve learned, if you’ve followed along for any length of time, drugs never cure chronic disease.
They cannot.
Want more? I’ve got a Free Report for you outlining alternatives to Apoquel that work without negative side effects.
Click the button and grab yours now:
Apoquel Alternatives Report
Part Two: Apoquel Side Effects
In Part Two of this series, we look at the real causes of The Itch, and immune dysregulation.
Neither of these fell from the sky and happened to land on your poor innocent dog, as you likely have guessed.
Tell us in the comments below if you’ve had any experiences with this “wonder drug” called Apoquel.
our 9 year old labradoodle Ellie has had allergies her whole life starting after her vaccine requirements. Throughout the years it has gotten worse. She was prescribed Apoquel for her allergies. They talked that it was safe and less invasive so we decided to give it a try. Fast forward a year later and she was playing in the park when she started seizing. After loads of hours at the emergency vet and thousand of dollars later Ellie was told she had a tumor in her brain. The seizures were very stressful and violent. Now we are looking into radiation therapy for this poor sweet girl that has done nothing wrong and has given joy to Sssoooooo many people. THIS drug should be taken off the MARKET period! It should not be even a product! If there is a class action lawsuit I want to be a part of taking down the company that created this. Its not a miracle drug its a nightmare drug! Pure NIGHTMARE and years have been stolen from our sweet ellie. Shame on you drug owners!
We recently got a terminal cancer diagnosis on my 12 yo yorkie/pekingese mix. Of course I know that he is a senior and cancer happens more frequently in older males. However, he was on Apoquel for about a year until the diagnosis 6 months ago. The vet put him on steroids to give him a little extra time and said he didn’t need to take the Apoquel any longer. I never made the connection until a neighbor told me her dog was on it. It got me thinking and so I googled to see if there was a connection and after coming across your website I am almost certain Apoquel is taking our baby from us. I’d be enraged if I wasn’t so devastated. Please don’t let this happen to you.
It would be nice for you to cite evidenced based study instead of antidotal stories to support what you’re saying. I am reading up on this drug and have spoken to two trusted veterinarians. One who really likes this drug for my dogs situation and the other not so much. Can you provide some scientific data?
Becky, I understand the necessity for more scientific evidence on this subject. However, as someone who spent astronomical amounts of money on only the most healthy food and treats, gave our dog only bottled water and never tap, and made sure he kept up his vet visits scrupulously, I wish I had a vet who had told me that they didn’t trust this drug. Just one vet’s educated opinion on this matter would have been all it took for me and maybe my baby wouldn’t be dying. Please consider another option and research that option as well.
I mean just read the comments. What evidence is needed. Dog gets apoquel and a year later it has a tumor . Loads of people saying this.
My beautiful Barney was the best dog I’ve ever owned. He was only 4 when we realized Apoquel was killing him. Rather than treating his allergies, he was on Apoquel for 2.5 years and died from devastating cancer that is completely associated with JAK inhibition, long term. I hate myself everyday and mourn the days and years we lost. Zoetis does not care, they are greedy and know that there is an infinite supply of new dogs for their drug. It has been over a year and I am still beside myself. Dr. Micheal Barnett, PhD, Biochemistry, expert in Kinase Biochemistry.
Dr. William, always incredibly well done 👏 I absolutely love your content. Encountering you was like striking gold, one I’ve long been seeking for others who are likeminded and leading edge within the DVM field after many years of butting heads with outdated or super rigid practitioners who believe in pharmaceutical religion. I left the decision of a DVM pursuit in favor of a PHd in Ethology. I’ve had to deal with many idiots (sorry, not sorry, when you choose to not know or be open to knowing any better) within the profession that sometimes it can be quite the patience teacher. I’m always incredibly humbled and humored by your content, as a behavior scientist and animal naturopath by science major I truly appreciate those who are helping merge the necessary overhaul we need within an industry gone mad over cognitive dissonance with nature, hyper vigilant regulation, profiteering on isolated or synthetic constituents for patent control and causing madness or suffering to brew within those who are completely clueless about natural health and well being. Thank you for being incredible. Love -DFW: (Dr.) Rachelle D. Reed
Thanks for your kind words, Rachelle. Ethology rang some very buried bell for me… Who would I have read re: animals and ethology so, so long ago?
We took on a 10year old Minature Poodle that was on apoquel for 6 years for foot biting, & never assessed by a vet. It was not having any effect. I ceased giving it to her. Put her on probiotics for gut health. She began to cry with leg pain when chasing a ball. The Vet said, ‘inflammation in joints’ plus, when told I’d ceased apoquel, she agreed it wasn’t effective. This little dog had a skin problem & foot biting was all because of her distress Vet put her on half macrolone medication, caused loss of hair on her shoulders, but she left her feet alone at last. I also found circupet-k9 for dogs at a health shop. We enjoyed her for a few months then she broke down, resisted walking, stopped eating & is no longer with us. Sadly missed. Almost 12 years old.
my dog just started Apoquel about 2 weeks ago and goes back for a vet in a week. I noticed a poplitiel left note today so these articles alarm me. He has horrible allergies and is 13 years old. He has always had tumors, but everyone of them is biopsied. Has always come back benign so far. I have every faith in my veterinarian.
A friend and I were talking about my dogs, current itchy, skin, biting feet situation. I told her that I had just received this drug from the vet called Apoquel. She told me that her dog died after being on it for two months of cancer. She referred me here and I am desperate to find a natural way to at least make him comfortable. I am shocked with the amount that I have read not just here, but in other places how this drug is killing dogs. How is it allowed to stay on the market?
I have found that Colostrum (FourLeafRover.com) controls any itch in my 9 yo pup. He is on daily maintenance for years – absolutely worth a try!!!
Check to see if the biting paw is fungal related. My vet prescribed a foot powder for my dog and it’s helped tremendously! Also, I used a medicated shampoo from the vet that helped heal his skin from ringworm. He was a mess after we had a lot of spring rains. he is also on apoquel because his allergies are so bad between march to august. Last winter I tried a homeopathic from the healthfood store here called allergena for pets allergena dot com/for-pets/ It helped so much until we got into March. After reading this, I want to take him off apoquel until at least February. The vet also put my dog on an allergy diet from Just Food for Dogs. He’s on the cod fish/sweet potato diet. I cook it for him by batches and use the vitamin pack from JFD. It can also be bought from Petco. It has helped tremendously too. Hopefully, with the diet and homeopathic, I can control his allergies without apoquel.
My beautiful 9 year old poodle terrier mix died on 24 August. He was taking Apoquel for months due to itch. The vet never informed me of the risks. My baby pup had a large cancer mass on his liver and pleural effusion and tumors in his lungs. He started to show signs of being ill on Thursday and he was sleeping by Saturday. I had him from the time he was 10 weeks old and he was never sick, never ill. Just had the bout of allergic itch, which seemed to clear up when he took this poison, and then came back. I need to know if there is anyone with a lawsuit going, because I want this off the market so no other dogs or cats meet this fate.
My 8 year old Westie has been on Apoquel off and on for at least a couple of years. Since then she has had major skin break outs. We are dealing with one right now. She gets cytopoint injections every month. Before taking Apoquel on a continual basis, she didn’t have this awful skin condition. Only recently did I become aware that Apoquel can cause this. I am taking her off this pill. She has extremely itchy front paws but the Apoquel hasn’t helped that situation at all. I’m still looking for the cause and remedy. Thank you for sharing your knowledge about Apoquel.
I have found that Colostrum (FourLeafRover.com) controls any itch in my 9 yo pup. He is on daily maintenance for years – absolutely worth a try!!!
My female got sick and was throwing up and diarrhea. Took her to vet and she was diabetes butshe had a large mass in her . So was to sick to save her and was caused bu apaquel . That’s all she took . We miss our baby girl. My wife is still very upset would love them pay for what they did to our baby girl . It’s not fair
My 10 year old Shia tzu had allergies. He had been on and off Apoquel a couple times and developed a few bumps on his body. I’m just realizing after reading all these testimonies that my Sullys bumps were probably from this horrible drug. He woke up dead one morning. I don’t know what exactly took him but he was on Apoquel when he died. And he still was itchy.
My dog 11 yr old was on it for 3 1/2 months until he had a seizure, first in his life. His liver and gallbladder functions are off the charts, I read online this is common with apaquel…although the doctor said not possible , right!
Our Dog just started her second bottle of Apoquel when I noticed a bump near her left arm pit, watched it for a few weeks before taking her in thinking it was a fat deposit. This bump would shrink and then come back. She has been diagnosed with a mast cell tumor that needed to be removed and now we are waiting for our appointment with an oncologist specialist to learn next steps.
I can’t believe this drug is still on the market!
I have looked for a class action lawsuit but can’t find one, if you know of one please let me know.
Thank you for this article, hoping we are not too late.
My schnauzer has been on apoquel for quite some time. Seems to not be working as well anymore. Still chews paws a lot. I’m very concerned after reading these comments. I don’t want to harm my baby.
My dog 2 year old , perfectly healthy lab 100lbs, was having either yeast or allergy issues. Biting her paws all the time. I tried Benadryl, Epson salt soaks, itch creams, etc… Nothing helped. Went to the vet n vet put her on Apaquel n then tried cytopoint shot. Her torso became full of hives n she lost all the fur on both her entire thighs!! She looked like she had chicken legs all plucked!! It was horrible for months.
I’m in shock. All of the information I read on line said what a great medication it was for dogs itching. No side effects, which I also did find difficult to believe and that they could be on it all their lives. A friend just told me that her dog died after two months of taking it and now all of these testimonials. I’ve tried holistic alternatives and nothing worked. I will read on and hopefully find some kind of solution. other than this drug.
My doxie Griffin took apoquel for one year. Died 2 months ago from lymphoma. I’m heartbroken
My vet recommended apoquel for my CAT. 8 months into this the itching has returned and he has painful bowel movements that have blood in them. I have stopped the drug and am trying salt baths and plan to try oatmeal baths plus a prescription spray on spots as needed. Hoping my cat will heal naturally.
My 3 year old Rottweiler Luka was put on this drug in February this year as recommended by the Vet. Not knowing side effects from the drug as there was no info inside or outside the packet supplied by the vet. We noticed he had bloody diarrhoea and then bloody nose , lethargic, vomiting., We booked to see vets
On the 17th of April the vets carried out a blood test. He was prescribed course of antibiotics. I went to collect his pills from the vets On the 18th and was called to her office I was informed that his platelets were Low which was a shock to me as Luka was so strong and vibrant, I was told that he needed to go to the hospital asap, where an appointment was made the following day. On the day of the 19th took Luka to the hospital and had a discussion with the consultant . My wife had told the consultant most of his history which was not much as he very rarely need to see the vets apart from his annual booster. My wife also stated that he was on apoquel because he was chewing his paw, we told the consultant all we now know was side affects of this drug and Looking at the notes from the vets and unknown to ourselves they called apoquel obviously concerned and unsure. Back to the hospital now it took 3 people to hold Luka as they took him away that’s how strong he was . He did not have a harmful bone in his body such a sweet boy within 3 days the hospital killed him.
The following day I googled aproquel and could not believe what I was reading. I made an appointment with the consultant at the hospital and gave her all the evidence I found from different sites including this one.
I look at the consultant in the eyes and told her between the vets and yourselves you killed my dog, her eyes was watery trying to say she done all she could. Trying to cure a problem that we now know was a side effect from this drug.
They put doses of steroid into him and god knows what else the gave him a chemo drug and a blood transfusion
We went to see Luka and he was in his kennel on the floor I knelt down to his face and called his name, he look at me and bearly lift his tail to wag it I kissed him All over and he was lying there panting exactly with no rhythmic pattern my wife and daughter also knelt down and kissed him all over he also had eye contact. My wife said he should be put to sleep but we did not get any professional advice from the consultant. They left him there for another 8-10 hrs where we had a phone call at 4.15 in the morning saying Luka had deteriorated they also knew that we lived more than 30 minutes away they said the time it would take to get down he would be gone. Got there at 4.50am obviously too late. We feel so much guilt it’s unbearable my wife gave him the pill and I drove him to his death totally distraught that we lost our sweet boy. We now have to get our cockapoo tested as she took the same drug.
My dog was put onto Apoquel and then not long after started having Seizures
I put my dog Buddy on Apoquel a year before I had lost my Abby a shih tzu to congestive heart failure & was hanging on to Buddy so tight ! I had him to the vet for every thing to keep him healthy. He was a shih tzu 13.5 years old & the sweetest little thing. He was having skin problems itching even after taking him off grains & chicken products. The vet suggested Apoquel I started him out slowing & with in three weeks he was having seizures I took him to the vet again we stopped giving him the Apoquel & tried seizure medicine but it didn’t work he just kept getting worse wouldn’t take the medicine. It got to where he couldn’t stand without having a seizure he was having to many to count. Buddy had never had a seizure before! I had to let him go he was suffering, he didn’t deserve to go out like that! I wish I would have known about this before. I try to warn people about this some listen other look at me like I’m crazy.
My dog got lymphoma cancer because of apoquel.
My dog right now has been diagnosed with large cell lymphoma. Large lymph nodes growing in her small intestine. She’s been in hospital for 4 days and started chemo which is not working. She just stop eating a week ago and now is so weak. I am afraid of loosing her but is also loosing hope..
She been on apoquel for almost 2 years now. So heartbreaking to see her in this condition.
My 6 year chocolate Labrador recently died. She had explosive diarrhea for about 2 weeks. Our vet prescribed antibiotics etc and nothing helped. Week 3 I took her into urgent care because she stopped eating. Turns out she had an aggressive stomach cancer that perforated with leaky gut making her septic. I always fed her premium food and even filtered water, she got the highest quality everything. She had been on apoquel most of her life because of skin itching allergies. My vet never explained the risks ever. Over the last year I’d been seeing negative info re apoquel and cancer and figured it had to be false if my vet trusted it. I do now believe, even though hard to prove that apoquel did kill my sweet Briar Rose. I will never give any of my dogs anything but natural supplements for allergies ever again, and will never give apoquel ever again knowing what I know now. I have even convinced family members giving their pets apoquel to stop. Heartbreaking to lose my soulmate dog at only 6.
Im so sorry for your loss 🫂❤️🐾❤️
Oh gosh me too. My dog a lab cross is 10 years old and has had seasonal allergies at first each year it has become more involved needing the medication longe.
She got the shot 🙄 ?
It worked the next year ( last year) started her on nightly Claritin it worked great until recently. We took hr to the vet and she pushed the apoquel m. We did 3 week treatment 80 plus dollars. Worked great until she was finished. I got 16 more 16mg for 80.00 it works but not as well as at first.
After reading these terribly heartbreaking stories of unnecessary pet harm and death that’s it. Going to try to find a natural supplement.. anyone know about canine Cbd ?
Thanks for your stories. 😶
I had to put my 8-year-old dog to sleep this past Sunday, March 3rd, 2024. He had an abdominal mass that exploded and his stomach was full of blood. It happened very fast within a 2-hour time frame. My husband & I are heart broken & torn apart,….He was on apoquel for a little over a year. He had horrible skin allergies and his allergies also affected his eyes, always watering & red he rubbed them on us and the carpet. Our vet suggested apoquel, it worked we were so happy for him. I asked about side effects and they told me it was rare. I trusted them as I had tried several natural supplements that offered hardly any relief. I will NEVER put another dog on this drug EVER.
This should be off the market! Why would a veterinarian prescribe this drug that destroys your pet rather than help heal them. My fourteen year old lab had to be euthanized not even a week after having taken this drug for itching. Caused bleeding on a sore behind front leg. Could have been a lymphnoid not sure. This happened not quite five months ago and after reading about this I’m even more heart broken. Can’t trust anyone not even a vet.
Hi Dr Will Falconer,
I reached out to you about a year and half ago, about my Bryn. She was on Apoquel for close to two years because of allergies.
Long story short Bryn was later diagnosed with Lymphoma.
Although you responded with the best advice you could give at that time. We realize it was to late.
Eventually Bryn lost her 18 month, two remissions struggle with chemo to try and prolong her life.
I want to thank you for everything you are doing to get the word out on this horrible drug named Apoquel.
Thanks, Tom
My 5 year old shepherd/husky Pebbles developed allergies this summer. We went into the vet to update her shots and give her a good checkup. She was healthy as ever, and the vet prescribed Apoquel to help her itchiness from summer pollen. 2.5 months after using this drug, Pebbles collapsed on a walk to my horror. I quickly snatched her up and ran to my car, horrified knowing something was wrong. I decided to google “Apoquel side effects” and found several that matched… lethargy, lack of appetite, diarrhea… So I booked an appointment with the vet and immediately took her off Apoquel. She’s now been diagnosed with Lymphocytic Leukemia, and is slowly dying in front of me. This dog has been the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my life. She has been a therapy dog when I was down, and a best friend. I knew in my bones it was the Apoquel, and after finding HUNDREDS of other people saying the same thing, I’m convinced this “wonder drug” is poison. DO NOT give this to your beloved pet, it will likely kill them. I wish there were something else I could do, the helpless feeling I have watching this part of my family quickly die in front of me is the absolute worst thing.
I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine
I am so glad that pet owners are finally understanding what a horrible existence their dogs suffer due to this drug. I see it most everyday with my customers dogs that truly believe it’s NOT the right thing to give their dogs, but continue on it……until they no longer can. It is such a shame.
My 6 yr old Pug Grover gets crazy itchy every Aug-Oct. When Allegra didn’t help Apoquel was prescribed (my ignorance). Grover was on Apoquel twice a day from 8/25 – 9/1 and got one dose on 9/2 then started with bloody urine, so I didn’t give any more. Urine started clearing up on 9/3. 9/4 he developed diarrhea and vomiting. Vomiting didn’t last long. He stopped diarrhea after cleaning out his bowel to the point of watery little bits of diarrhea. He seems to be getting better. Keeping in fluids. More energy. Resting most of the day.
How is Grover doing? I pray everything cleared up. Mine has been on this med for about the same amount of time, and I won’t be giving it again after everything I have read today.
Apoquel has been fine with my dog she is happy and healthy been on it for a while I think it’s better than seeing her itch all the time I think it’s amazing .
That’s what I thought. I had my dog on apoquel for 4 years… A chihuahua, until about yesterday he was beside me at dinner asking me for bits of chicken, and ate them. I heard him squeal at 6 am and took him out he peed and did number two. But the thing is for the past 3 weeks he was down, he didn’t want to walk, he would normally show me his belly so I would scratch him most of his life except for the last 3 weeks. We took him to the vet, and she, the same vet that prescribed apoquel because he was very itchy and would scratch himself raw and would draw blood and nothing we tried helped. All his legs were scarred and no hair would grow in those areas. She never explained the risks of this drug, and when she saw him about a week and a half ago and claim his swollen belly was some random symptom but that he would be fine, this afternoon he died. We tried to revive him for half an hour. His belly was hard. Thankfully we had been giving him benadril and it kept him without feeling most of the pain. it was benadril, and I am 100% sure the veterinarian knew that apoquel kills dogs, and she didn’t say anything about it to make a buck. They LOVED to call me to make tests on my dogs and “never found anything” and would cost me an arm and a leg… I am taking my other dog off that veterinarian and might even sue them or at least will make sure everyone that goes there knows what kind of veterinarian she is.
Made a mistake, meant to write “it was apoquel, I am 100% sure.
I thought the same way. One injection is all my rescued boy got. At first, I was thrilled to see him get relief so fast. Then shortly after, issues of aggression popped up out of nowhere that he didn’t have before he got that poison injection. If my regular vet was available, I’m pretty positive he would have warned me against it, knowing full well my holistic views. I was desperate and made the mistake of not investigating first and now these aggression issues have led to a red line situation that I need to try to reverse. A serious bite with a certain breed of dog will surely lead to being euthanized. I should have known better than to trust any pharmaceutical remedy and if I were given the information that Ivermectin would have fixed the itching, perhaps at a slower rate, I would have never allowed them to give him that injection. I can only pray at this point that this can be fixed, and my sweet boy will not suffer a tragic fate through no fault of his own. If you love your pet, stay away from this poison!
You say injection but isnt Apoquel only in pill form?
We have a 12 1/2 year old Shitzu. At the age of four she started having skin lesions but I was always able to treat her with natural remedies. In August of 2022 she started to smell, coat became dull, loss of hair, oily and scratching constantly. Kept us up at night due to her scratching. On May 3, 2023 I took her to our Vet (I avoid them as much as possible) and he prescribed prednisone for 14 days, Cefaseptin 300mg Tablets for 14 days. This was a MIRACLE drug – that very first night she slept through the night and the bald spots were already showing signs of recovery. Then at a follow up visit on May 24, 2023 he gave her a Cytopoint shot and put her on Apoquel. For the first two weeks she continued to improve, no more scratching but I was told to keep her on the Apoquel and give it to her as needed. She gained weight even when I cut back on her food and became very demanding and aggressive during the day. So now she was good at night but a tare by day. She had always been a quite, patient dog but not anymore. We couldn’t take her in the car anymore because she barked incessantly. In August of 2023 I was told by a clerk at a pet food store that the cause of her allergy could be her food so at her advice we changed her food and she has calmed down and we can take her in the car again. I had just filled a prescription for 50 tablets of the Apoquel when we switched her food and I am only giving her a 1/2 tablet every 3 days. I am wondering if I should just cut it out altogether.
I do hope you stopped the Apoquel.
Please anyone who is thinking of using this product, do your homework!
Especially anyone owning a German Shepherd!
My 7yr old German Shepherd was only on the drug for a few months and she went from a happy healthy (other than allergies/stratching) to crashing on me.
Hemangioscarcoma (sp) killed her. Masses on her spleen, liver and one on her lung. by the time we found this out it was too late.
2 weeks before her demise she went through hell with bacterial infections, fungal infections, It had progressed to 90% of her body!
I had taken her off the drug because I actually found out the horror of this drug, but unfortunately it had already done its damage!
Yes maybe the cancer was already there, but this drug suppressed her immune system and allowed the cancer to take over quickly!
I’ve had discussions with my Vet and still I’m told that it does not suppress their immune system!
This drug is not safe as far as I’m concerned and will continue to tell myself putting my dog on this drug shortened her life!
PLEASE EVERYONE DO YOUR HOMEWORK IT IS NOT A MIRACLE DRUG LIKE THEY CLAIM!
The article mentions Apoquel, the latest anti-inflammatory drug for itchy dogs. While it may seem like an easy solution, I’m glad the writer is urging caution before jumping to use it. It’s important to be well-informed before making any decisions about our pets’ health. Thank you for sharing this insightful article!
On Sunday 25th June 2023 our 14 month old Springer Spaniel woke up very lethargic, eyes rolling to the back of his head and could barely stand up. Just a day before, he was his silly self running around with other dogs, presenting no signs of any illness, he could play all day without being tired. He was taken into ICU with suspected lungworm. After they had done a blood cell count they found his white blood cell count to be practically non-existent. After some further tests they then concluded that he had pneumonia, from this pneumonia he developed a collapsed lung and a pneumothorax. Because of this, his chest was constantly filling up with liquid and air, so he was put on a ventilator as a last resort. He lost his fight on 30th June 2023. Prior to this our boy had developed skin allergies for the past 4 months. We tried a course of steroids to begin with, we had him on hypoallergenic food, nothing seemed to be helping so the vet suggested apoquel. The vet said he would need to be on it for life but only told us that the side effects would be a slim chance on cancer, not that it would completely destroy his immune system. After being on it for a week we were amazed at how it cleared his skin up and stopped his itching however we now know this has come at a cost. He had only just turned 12 months when he started taking Apoquel. Does anyone have any advice on how to take this further? We have sent a report but I don’t know how this drug is still allowed to be prescribed.
We rescued a one year old staffy in 2016 who had terrible allergies. She would break out in these giant hives and always had itchy feet and would scratch and chew herself raw. Her first vet prescribed Apoquel and basically called it a miracle drug. And it was at first. It was the only thing that stopped her itching (we had also tried limiting her diet and medicated baths etc). We kept her on it on and off for a year.
On her second birthday, we found a lump on her chest right over her mammary gland. We took her into the vet and when they aspirated it, the results were inconclusive. However, because the lump was located over her memory gland, the vet suggested immediate surgery just to be safe. Thankfully, we took his recommendation because after biopsy, we found that it was a mast cell tumor. She had to have a second surgery because they hadn’t gotten it all in the first round.
I had this gut feeling that apoquel was the cause of her cancer. She was only two years old!! And it’s the only thing I could think of that would cause something like this. We took her off it and asked the vet about the connection. He basically said that there’s no way they could prove the connection, but because she was a bully breed she was predisposed to these types of cancer. The only thing he would admit was that since she was predisposed there was a possibility that the drug could have sped up the process. Regardless, I trusted my gut instinct, and we kept her off the apoquel and I started doing some research. This was five years ago and the drug was still fairly new so there wasn’t a lot out there, but I did find other people who experienced the same thing I had with their otherwise young and healthy dogs.
I also went to the actual brochure they give you with the medication and in a little semi hidden pocket in the middle of the brochure, there was a print out detailing all the testing they had done on the drug. The print out said that in their testing, dogs under the age of six months had died of pneumonia and several of the dogs in the test group had developed mast cell tumors just like my dog. They also listed side effects, such as ear infections, which up until that point I hadn’t connected with the drug for my dog. She always had so many allergies, I assumed her ear infections were related to those.
But since we have stopped the use of Apoquel, she has not had ear infections, and she also has not had any recurring mast cell tumors. At the time of her surgeries, we were told that as a bully breed, she is predisposed to these types of cancers, and that most likely she was going to have recurring tumors over her life. Fast forward to now when she’s seven years old we have not had any more tumors (even though any bump or lump we have aspirated right away because we’re terrified of losing our pup.)
I am a dog walker, and one of my clients is a seven year old Rhodesian Ridgeback who was just diagnosed with a heart murmur and found that he has the early stages of an enlarged heart. He has been on apoquel for the last few years and he has the same recurring ear infections my dog had and now this with his heart. Back in 2017 when my dog was diagnosed, I felt like a crazy conspiracy theorist over the apoquel but now all these years later, seeing how many people have had similar experiences with their dogs breaks my heart. I believe this is an evil drug and that it’s killing our animals and I’m so glad I listened to my gut versus my vet about taking her off the drug all those years ago
Haha! Welcome to the “crazy conspiracy theorists” club. Until people realize in time, you weren’t crazy at all!
My 7 yr old ShihTzu, for the last 4 yrs has had skin issues bad, ear infections all the time. They gave her a shot of Apoquil . She’s really no Better. It’s constant. Losing hair and gaining weight. Is prednisone a better one? My daughter is going to take her to a Holistic doctor in 3 wks. Thank you!
This is, by definition, chronic disease and no drug will ever cure. Never has, never will. To reach cure, it takes professional help in the form of a qualified homeopathic vet. Here’s how I sort them.
p.s. may have to work long distance. That clearly works, in the right hands.
Where can I find a solution for extensive itching and allergies, my dog has been on this drug for about a year. I believe he has an autoimmune response to flu shot and other shots before I took him from rescue. Can I detox him? Thanks so much.
Scroll through the article again, and download the Apoquel Alternatives Report. It takes more than detox to cure your dog, but you can detox if you wish with Venzeo, from my sister company Venjenz.
Hi Marie,
Did your dog start itching again after stopped apoquel?
My vet suggested this medication and I’m very worried.
But my dog is licking his paw till raw.
Did you change her food?
What do you feed her now?
Apoquel isn’t ALL doom and gloom.
We have a 7 yo GR who has been on apoquel since he was 1.5 years old.
We tried food allergy testing, went to an all raw diet for three months, removed items from our home . . . he was chewing up his feet and legs and they were getting infected. He also had a nasty ear infection.
Final conclusion was an allergy to fleas, dust mites and chicken.
Our GR now eats Fromm duck variety food and takes three 16-oz Apoquel pills per day. (That’’s nearly $300 per month for (one of) our 4-legged children), plus annual vet visits).
Do I wish there was an alternative? Absolutely! But i also wish there was world peace.
There was/is no way for our dog to live a quality life without apoquel.
No regrets.
I hope you’re right but my poor sweet little Westie took it for 6 yrs w/no problem then started throwing up and not being able to eat. Now she is starving and can’t eat anymore. There are alternatives that are not drugs. I felt like you do,
now. . .all I have is regrets and anger at big pharma.
I agree entirely with you Hrlrnah – I too feel unalloyed fury at what big (p)harm(a), in cahoots with our veterinary practice here in the UK, has done to our beloved Labrador. She came to us in 2018, aged just 5 years, already having been for some years, on a daily dose of Apoquel for an alleged ‘otherwise unmanageable’ skin allergy. I took her in the fortnight after she’d come to us to our (then) trusted vet, who had looked after all our furry family members for the previous 20 years with thoughtfulness, kindness and a high standard of care (two Labradors and one cat had lived long, healthy and happy lives – 14, 15 and 20 years respectively, hence our trust in the veterinary practice) for some advice about whether to keep going with the Apoquel. He just asked me how many pills I’d like to take home – no suggestion of discussing the mechanism of action of this horrible, toxic drug, so I assumed that it was an antihistamine, although I did reduce her intake dramatically straight away, only giving her a half dose when she had a particularly itchy day in the spring/summer. I changed her food completely, cooked for her myself and gave her plenty of fresh fruit and veg (from our garden, so no chemicals), along with taking her sea swimming, exercising her in grassy pastures and woods – we live in the South Downs in England, so there’s lots of open space and interconnecting footpaths (away from crops and glyphosate nasties) and making sure that her bedding (and our sofa covers) were washed regularly, using only non-bio, chemical-free products. Her itching went away completely and over the next year, I was able to take her off the Apoquel altogether.
Fast forward to autumn last year (2022) when our shiny, exuberant and perfectly healthy and super-fit 9 y.o girl suddenly fell over one morning, having lost all strength and tone in her left foreleg. We took her straight to the vet, who (of course) just prescribed an anti-inflam (Loxicom) and said it was probably an idiopathic something-or-other and to just wait and see. She was fine the next day and back to her energetic self, so we heaved a sigh of relief. She then developed a sudden limp on her back leg a month later, but didn’t seem distressed or in pain from it, so we took her back to the vet after a week of no change or improvement in her gait/limp, who examined her (extremely roughly, which did make her sore) and said he though it was ‘probably her anterior cruciate, which would necessitate a TPLO’ to fix it. We were horrified at the idea of putting her through such a major surgery on such a flimsy basis, but having trusted this practice for 25 years, we booked her in for an x-ray in 10 days’ time. The x-ray itself was inconclusive, but they obviously did something terrible to her during the procedure as she never ‘came back’ from that, but 2 days later went into shock with haemorrhagic diarrhoea and had to go back to the vet for 24 hour ‘care’ and IV fluids. We brought her home 3 days later (they were STILL planning to do a TPLO op on her, despite no further follow-up or tests to find out why she should have gone into shock, and were very blase about my frantic worries about the state she was in and the fact that she could barely move and barely eat). I phoned them daily, telling them about her lack of progress and fretting about her affected hind leg wasting away before our eyes. There was a strange smell coming from her leg by now – but they dismissed this and just prescribed more painkillers….. I knew intuitively by now that it wasn’t her cruciate ligament that was the problem, but I couldn’t get anybody at the veterinary practice to take my concerns seriously, so in despair and desperation, we took her in to see the independent osteo surgeon to see what he thought. She was shipped straight off to the operating room without being examined and 15 minutes later, he called us to say that her leg was ‘red hot’ and she had a raging temperature. They x-rayed her leg again and said it was an osteosarcoma and that she probably wouldn’t survive amputation and chemo, which they said would only give her another ‘6 months at best’, so the kindest thing for her would be for us to agree not to have her brought round from her anaesthetic, but have her euthanised there and then. We asked if we could be with her (we only live 10 mins away), but he said no, they needed to do it right away, so we lost our beautiful, beloved friend without even being able to comfort her at the end. I am in tears as I type this and can’t read what I’m typing – even 8 months later, we are in such pain and I feel so desperately sad and guilty about trusting these venal, profit-driven shills for the pharmaceutical industry. I have failed my dearest friend utterly and I have nothing but regret about the path I took her down. The take-away lesson from this miserable tale is that even though she’d been off the Apoquel for more than 3 years and I had learned about its mechanism of harm – (thanks to the wicked shenanigans of the ‘vaccine’ barons with their inadequately-tested, dangerous mRNA gunk they were busily injecting into humans, I started hitting the books and doing my own homework), it was too late to rebuild her immune system and the annihilation of her cancer surveillance system let in a turbo-charged, deadly killer. Please don’t imagine for a moment that the danger is past once you stop giving this dreadful drug to your dog; as they age, they become immunosenescent anyway, so to have already compromised her immune system to such a catastrophic degree by effectively downregulating it to the point of almost switching it off entirely whilst on Apoquel, is a crazily hazardous way to go. Our beloved dogs rely on our good judgement and wisdom for their wellbeing now that we can’t rely on allopathic vets anymore (I do think they weren’t as bad as they are now, before they lost their integrity via the profits-over-pets paradigm), so I would urge anybody reading this to follow Dr Falconer’s advice and find an alternative/holistic vet and STOP the Apoquel (and most other allopathic prescriptions) immediately. At no point was our darling girl seen as anything other than ‘a leg’ or ‘a gastroenteritis’ case by any of the vets and no dots were ever joined or a more holistic approach taken. I should add that coincidentally, our old veterinary practice had been bought out by a private equity partnership in 2018, but that none of us (i.e. the clients/patients) had been told that the practice had changed hands, so had no idea that their approach might have changed. They mysteriously upped their vet numbers from 4 practising vets in 2018, to 24 by 2022, so that by the time our lovely girl was in their (extremely indifferent, unkind and careless ‘care’) last autumn, she was seen by no fewer than 11 different vets over the 10 days she had left to live. We are very very sad, bitter and traumatised – telling this tragic story won’t bring her back, but it might just raise awareness and help a few other beloved dogs avoid a similar fate; I can only hope and pray. Our dogs deserve much much better.
I am in tears reading this. Im so sorry you and your dog endured this. My heart aches with you. ❤️🐾🫂🐾❤️
I’m so sorry for your loss 🐾🐾❤️
I’m also really worried as I started my dog on this drug he’s had 9 tablets and I have just thrown the rest down the toilet.
I’m scared I have caused something nasty. Do you think after 9 tablets he can become poorly In the future.
I never give him drugs always holistic,
the paw biting and arm scratching became so bad that the vet said try one tablet a day .
I raised concern about cancer and she said there’s side affects from paracetamol but we still take them
And I’ve known dogs on this drug for years and they are fine.
I should have gone with my gut feeling
Never before have I used drugs hate big pharmaceutical companies.😡
I hope after 9 tablets I have not damaged my dog in any way .
No more drugs for my fur baby.🐾🐾
The corporate vet practices (also human medical practices) are awful. No dr knows what the last one did-if they even have time to read the notes. I get that it’s lest costly than have a 1 or 2 person practice, but the care aspect is drastically diminished when medicine becomes assembly line (the industrial revulsion in medicine). We tend to trust our practitioners when the prescribe or inject us. Now, I ALWAYS ask what drug/injection and why/ for what and if there are any known side effects BEFORE accepting whatever from a dr.
Same here in The Netherlands with our American Bully Named King ( almost 7 years)
Allergic for many things.
Different foods, pollen, Even grass.
From eight months till now almost 7 years he gets apoquel daily. In winter he gets 1,5 a day…at summertime max. 3 a day.
His quality of live improved a lot … So maybe the conclusion is…Better live shorter without itch and infections then live longer with it.
We do not regret it at all to use apoquel and made his last 6 years a better live. And even If he dies of cancer next year….
We love our King, and will not let him suffer.
I don’t think it’s as simple a choice as either 1. Live with the horrible itch or 2. shorten life (and cause more serious disease) with Apoquel.
It pays to look deeper and seek out a qualified homeopathic vet if your animal is already in the throes of allergic disease (the #1 reason dogs see vets, for the past couple decades).
Homeopathy, in the hands of a serious practitioner who uses little else, can cure the allergic state. Then, you’re not only not doing the harm that the Apoquel causes but you’re also not left playing Whack A Mole, trying to find non-allergic foods and avoiding the environment.
I explain how to sort out the qualified homeopathic vets on this video: https://youtu.be/XyEklB8W6M0
What is your position in regards to Cytopoint? Safe or harmful? Adverse reactions seem commonplace as this biologic affects the immune system. Zoetis claims are certainly different from that of many dog owners. The placebo group wasn’t that much different than that of the primary drug, Lokivetmab.
Veterinarians receive “Reward Points” for signing up clients/dog owners. Do Vets have a Code of Conduct or is this rather common in your profession?
I appreciate your objective inout.
I have a rescue dog that was fed adult kibble, vaccinated for EVERYTHING, microchipped and spayed at the shelter at 3 months of age.
It took years to heal her gut and control most allergies but in the fall she was miserable. A couple of apoquel tabs to test and the vet then put her on Cytopoint as it was safer, he said.
But in my estimation, cytopoint cannot be stopped as quickly as apoquel, its IN THEIR SYTSTEM. I have her now on raw food, but she still has seasonal allergies. She will chew and lick obessively once the irritants fire up.
I now give her 1/2 of an apoquel as needed. It works for a minimum of 1 week. SOmetimes, depending on the weather, it will work for a month or more, quieting her irritation and allowing her skin to heal. Sometimes I can control her irritaiton with Zyrtec. Bathing helps for about 20 minutes.
Its a heartbreaking thing to see a farm dog not able to lay in the grass, so the apoquel, I feel, in extreme moderation, is less of a danger to her system than the “safer” Cytopoint.
My vet seems to agree.
I’ve blogged about Cytopoint and share your concerns.
Vets have a code, similar to MD’s, but they are both in bed with Big Pharma for the most part. Pharma is at every meeting, sponsoring free luncheons, breakfasts, and all manner of gatherings, plying vets with food and/or booze, while looking for more sales.
And yeah, I trust the comments that come in on both these drugs way more than the “research” that was done in house by Zoetis, Merck, etc.
I have a nine-year-old American bulldog, part boxer, and he was itching himself to death. It was driving me crazy as well. so I got my cousins veterinary to come to my house and he didn’t even look at the dog look at his feet. He said in the chair from a far and said he had podo dermitis and would have to be on apple quill the rest of his life 16 mg a day because he weighed 80 pounds ! yes, they cost me $250 for 16mg pills. So I was wondering why you have to give your dog three of them a day of the same that my dog took? how big is your dog? anyway, it’s been like four years that he’s been on it and now he has domectic podo dermitis which is cause by immune system not working and I feel like he got the Demodex really bad from the weakens immune system from APOQUEL. I also feel little like cysts or bumps around his leg and in his chest which really freaked me out ! after hearing and reading, so many articles about the auto immune, not working after taking up a quote I totally blame it on that !! I started him on it, because his feet were itching and looked terrible and I felt so bad that he had to feel this way but it was a relief in the beginning because the itching was driving him crazy and driving me crazy at the same time because I hate to see my animal hurting and uncomfortable !! it’s been four days since I took them off Apoquel and he was itching like crazy again ! not even any kind of ice gel pack or neosporin or aquaphor would help on his stomach! no, he never ever had anything that bothered his stomach and recently he’s been scratching like crazy !! I’m taking him to the vet this week as I’m retired and I don’t have that much money and all my money so far so far that I have had extra has gone for any kind of cream any kind of benadryl to help soothe him.
since he has Demadex now, and never had it before I feel like the immune situation has made it out of control as I have read in many articles. did Demadex has multiplied because of no immune system. i’m really pretty mad that the vet recommended this for my dog.
now, another thing is that somebody told me that chewable Bravecto cures demodex the best. He also has an abundance of yeast which is another immune problem. right now I’m only going to shampoo him until I see the vet. I washed him today when I got home with some Shampoo for mites and ( i wish i could add pictures ) this was not a benzyl peroxide shampoo. It was a different medicated shampoo, but it worked for today. I’m getting the benzyl peroxide shampoo until I see the veterinarian. after the shampoo, he did not lick his feet, but he was still scratching his stomach, but so far stopped. He’s 9 years old now and I don’t intend on losing him !! after Frankie started getting the demodex mites really bad on his paws where he even his toes are swollen, red and partial hair loss on them !! 😢😡I have seen some hotspots on the body, but I’ve taken care of those. This drug Apoquel for me has turned out to be SO BAD ! The hotspots was really had me checking out everything about Apoquel because he’s never had that before and he got some on different parts of his body and it worried me ! they were a little tough hair and if you remove the hair, there’s a circle like a quarter that’s bright red ! I had never ever seen that before, so I cleaned it off with povidone iodine on it to clean and then put neosporin and kept checking it!! when he got a few of these I really started to wonder. now the backs of his front legs have some thing on it and I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s eczema. I don’t know if it’s psoriasis I don’t know what it is. I kind of understand your use of it for your dog because it’s so annoying rattling. Disturbing to have your dog be itching but you don’t know what it’s doing to your dog internally.
I don’t know about anybody else in this world but if you yourself had an itch or had a problem you would take care of it there’s so many people out there that just say oh he’s OK but they don’t have that itch and it’s very annoying and painful !! thank you for letting me speak out. Damn these drug companies that put out drugs that can do this horrible immune problem to humans & dogs for $$$ !! (Thank you for this article!)
Ms. Maria D.H.
Best shampoo has been dawn dishwashing liquid. No fleas since using it on my pets. Skin and fur are fine.
My boyfriend and I lost our pitbull Lilly only a few months ago from lymphoma developed within a month of taking apoquel. She was about 10 and healthy other than severe allergies, testing revealed allergies to grass and human dander. We thought apoquel was really helping her until the lymph nodes behind her legs enlarged, then her neck and groin followed. We stopped it immediately. We tried everything to keep her with us and after 6 months of chemotherapy and getting her cancer into remission it came right back. It makes us angry this terrible drug is still out there and we were not given a single warning of possibly side effects especially death by cancer. We said goodbye to sweet Lilly girl who is finally at peace and not itchy but we can’t help but feel robbed of our time with her from this terrible drug. We warn anyone who ever mentions it.
My 14 yr Chihuahua Tolly was put on Apoquel Jun 22. Sept 22 diagnosed anal gland cancer. I stopped Apoquel. My Tolly is suffering Rhinititis. Tolly is suffocating, struggling to breath because of Apoquel. Apoquel is killing my Tolly. Drug should be illegal and banned. I hope to be apart of a class action lawsuit against them. Patntolly@gmail.com
Hi – My dog Buddy (staffy cross breed) was only on Apoquel for 1 or 2 weeks to relieve some severe itching. He was 14 at the time and is now nearly 16.. however i do believe that the drug caused him to go deaf, it was too sudden to be just down to his age in my opinion. My vet did warn me there were some side effects to the drug but did not really go into what they were, she was convinced that the pros would outway the cons due to his age at the time. He was in a bad way for a couple of months around the same time as the itching.
He suffered horrendous toilet issues and was constantly licking at his paws which she advised was probably arthritis in his joints – I really thought he was not going to survive much longer. I changed his diet to Royal Canin Gastrointenstinal after a couple of months on boiled chicken and rice. He still takes a daily CBD capsule (my own research for his arthritis) and a B12 vitamin which she said he was lacking in. I think i have been very lucky after reading all of this. I’m so sorry to hear about all the other poor animals that have been affected or died after taking this drug.
My healthy 12 yr old chorkie had an itch allergy and was given apoquel, as soon as he was on the medicine he was thirsty, up in the night needing water and the toilet, he was then diagnosed with kidney disease, then pneumonia and he died… all within months. I hate this medicine! I truly believe apoquel killed him.
What are your thoughts on Cytopoint as an alternative to Apoquel ?
Cytopoint: High Tech Answer to Your Itchy Dog?
My shitzu was diagnosed with lymphoma after taking appoquel* and my vet informed me of a drug called fenbendazol (panacure C) and it took 3 months but the lymphoma is gone. This also works on people please research it.
Stay away from cytopoint.
My dog got fatty tumors within a month.
Beware af ANY meds you give your dog.
Try human grade diet and different protein.
Honestly I wouldn’t give and vaccinations I don’t have to, even rabies.
Nothing that’s put in your pets body is properly tested.
Beware. I lost 2 dogs after getting stuck in a hundreds of dollars a month battle, for years with apoquel, cytopoint among other “symptom” treating medications.
My sweet 4 year old GSD was put on apoquel and died 3 weeks later – she made this deep guttural noise and I had to drive over an hour to the only after hours clinic that would see her. By then she was passing melanic stool so I knew she had an upper GI bleed…she succumbed to hypovolemic shock because the vet wouldn’t give IV fluid in her vein…as an ICU RN I have been so guilt ridden for failing her – I miss her so much
I wish I would have done my research. I trusted the vet who was trying to help my miserable, itchy, pulling get hair out 8-year-old German Shepherd. She started it in October 2021. It’s not May 2022 and she’s had so many uncontrollable seizures that she has brain damage and is a shell of the dog she once was. It’s possible there is a tumor in her brain but a CAT scan for a dog in rural Arkansas is over $3,000. I am trying to make her last days as comfortable and loving as possible, but I know she won’t be here for more than a couple weeks more. Two different vets have told me there is absolutely no way that apoquel had anything to do with it. I don’t want to ever have another dog companion again, how could I ever trust another veterinarian again after watching my dog decline so quickly. From being the sweetest and cutest fluff butt, to legs so we can wobbly she can barely stand, she can’t see and she can’t hear. I’m devastated.
My little chihuahua mix Bella developed Pemphigus in January. Misdiagnosed as atopic derm she was given cytopoint and multiple courses of antibiotics…to no avail. Not the right diagnosis. A steroid shot helped immensely when we saw the on call vet but our regular vet would not give her steroids as he felt this was pyoderma. More antibiotic shots and hydroxyzine.. All frustrating as I practice human dermatology myself and initially I felt she had a blistering disease, like pemphigus. Fast forward to a Dermatologist Vet who biopsied and confirmed pemphigus. High doses of steroids rapidly cleared the active lesions and crusts. Now on steroid taper and apoquel BID for two weeks, just started the 3rd week. She was like a miracle dog last week, happy again running around. Her hair is starting to grow back. Overnight this little dog is completely lethargic, won’t get up for her food, and when she does get up she is limping terribly. We are stopping this drug today. Thanks for the wake up call….I know how the JAK inhibitors work in humans but they may not work for our pets. I hope I have stopped this soon enough.
Dear Dr. Falconer,
Thank you for this article and thank you for being a breath of fresh air in an otherwise horrible money-making industry that is our modern-day veterinary medicine. It infuriates me to see what has become of this industry, especially here in NY state (down state, LI).
I two have been down the apoquel train. Luckily my dog did not have cancer as a side effect however she did get diarrhea, ear infections and vomited. After doing research I didn’t like the apoquel and took her to a certified dog dermatologist. All vets said it was food allergies but the dermatologist did a test and found out she is allergic to human skin cells, every grass and pollen imaginable. The dermatologist put her on immunotherapy which take two three months to start working. That was 7 years ago now and I have an old dog now that is still loving life. Go see a certified dermatologist for dogs to stop the itch and scratch.
Our dog was on this medication for a couple months, we couldn’t figure out what was causing his itching and fur loss. We brought him to a dermatologist for dogs and they prescribed him this. However this didn’t not help us because he was still losing his fur and itching. So they upped his dosage. We finally figured out he was allergic to our birds. So we got the birds rehomed and he started to get better. We stopped his meds and all his fur started coming back. About 2 months later we found our dog freezing cold in his own vomit and feces. We rushed him to the vet and found out that a tumor on his kidney erupted. When they xrayed him they found that he had multiple tumors. We had to put him down that day.
Thank you for writing this article. My cattle dog mix Maxwell went on Apoquel in January 2020. He immediately developed a very rough wheeze/cough, and i took him off.
Unsure if the wheeze was caused by the Apoquel, we restarted it a couple weeks later when his itching resurfaced. The wheezing started *immediately* after he digested the pill. I took him off, and didn’t think any of it for a couple months.
Then, Max got a bump on his leg in March 2020. It was a malignant mast cell tumor. He had two surgeries to remove it, and was thought to be doing well for almost a year.
Maxwell then started limping in June 2021. Bone cancer. He was gone within two months.
He is the most amazing dog I’ve ever known. There will never be any better. I am sure that Apoquel caused his first cancer, and probably his second. Gone far, far too soon. He was only seven.
Been reading about the connection between Apoquel and cancer since he was diagnosed in 2020. I told my vet what happened, and was pretty much brushed aside because I’m not a veterinary professional.
But the evidence is obvious. Thank you for writing this article, I will be sending it to my friends so their pets’ lives aren’t cut short like Maxwell’s was. A total, complete shame on the vets prescribing this and the manufacturer for continuing to make it under the guise of their biased study.
My 7 year old German shepherd was prescribed Apoquel for skin allergies. I am usually very wary of all pharmaceutical drugs, but stupidly gave this drug to him because my Veterinarian said it was “safer than Prednisone.” 5 months later he had to have a splenectomy. Two months after that, he died of hemangioma sarcoma. Before Apoquel, he was healthy and his bloodwork was perfect. Aside from allergy, he was an active, happy dog. I didn’t know this until recently, but he was misdiagnosed by the Vet as having contact dermatitis and suspected allergy to chicken. Turns out he had Malassezia.
I’m 100% convinced Apoquel killed my dog. I am riddled with guilt for recklessly giving him that drug. I’ll go to my grave regretting that. 😥
My 10-year-old beagle started at the quill in October 2021. She would lick her paws constantly and the vet thought she had some type of allergy to something in the yard. I didn’t think anything of it and put her on this expensive medication but it immediately stopped the itching. By the beginning of January she had developed a large tumor on her leg and started limping. Pathology on it indicated it was benign. The vet removed it with an extensive surgery that included skin grafts and over 100 sutures along with three times weekly surgical wrapping at the vet. That also removed for tiny tumors right below the benign one that same day. That came back from pathology as sarcoma. Within two weeks she was covered and two weeks later she died. She was perfectly healthy even at Christmas. I have videos of her running and chasing my Doberman and opening Christmas presents. She went downhill very fast. I am now convinced it was the Apoquel.
Apoquel killed my beautiful Belgian x border collie.
From healthy to liver cancer within months.
I’ll never forgive myself for giving her this poison and if I hadn’t become disabled I Would have given her the salt baths that cleared her skin within 24 hours.
I’ll go to my grave riddled with guilt , hating the vet who misdiagnosed her and for giving my precious girl Apoquel. Please try salt baths !
I am so sorry for your loss
I too just lost my German shepherd who turned 7 on June 23rd 2023 and died July 1 2023
I am devastated same cancer same drug.
Apoquell should not have been used I thought her itching was bad enough but all the secondary infections she suffered through before her final demise was pure hell for her and myself. She was only on apoquell a few months when I noticed changes in her and actually did my own research on the drug. Yeah my vet said works great no mention of side effects cancers etc. I took her off it told the vet suppresses the immune system? Told oh no I’m wrong . So did the cytopoint shot and all he’ll broke loose fungal infection, bacterial infection. She was only off the apoquell for about 4 days before the shot and they still insisted I should be using both. The itching was from all the infections at that point not allgeries!
2 weeks of antibiotics baths and 5 days later she crashed! Emergency vet clinic , then sent to university vet hospital to find out one or more of the cancer masses had ruptured she had blood in her abdomen. There was no hope that hemangoscarcoma is fast growing it was on her spleen, liver and one lung.
Told common in breeds like german shepherds, golden retrievers, and pitbulls!
Maybe the cancer was there but using apoquell let the cancer run rampant!
Wish a professional t9ld me this but no still insist it does not suppress the immune sytstem!
My girl was still a trooper and lifted her head and her eyes told me she was ready to go, mamma had to make the call.
From a healthy high energy dog to this bad outcome 7yrs is not old!
Every vet should make clients well informed of this drug and possible outcomes, cancers etc!
Hi
Your story really touched my heart and I too have a dog(rescue) labrador, who came to me with £300 months vet bills mainly apoquel 16mg
I’ve had him 5 months and he’s had a period of 5 weeks prior to his 1st vet visit without any meds and I wouldn’t have taken him to a vet for the conditions he’s listed to have!
Is apoquel really that bad? I’m only learning this today
Please feel free to email me
Kind regards
Andrea
Cottrella249 at gmail dot com
We have owned Airedales since 1989 and our latest (4th) developed itching, licking and scratching when she was about 18 months old. She ended up with a backside like a Baboon and licked a strip from her back which looked liked raw steak. It was utterly heart breaking. Apoquel was prescribed and she has been on it since, 2 x 16 mg per day to begin with, but we have titrated that two half a tablet just before bed and half in the morning and her coat is now thick and glossy – zero licking or scratching. She is now a happy, inquisitive, loving, naughty and highly intelligent princess. Her diet is cooked veg, sardines and chicken, with potatoes, rice and pasta for bulk, she weighs in at 28kgs. She has no, repeat no doggy treats. I strongly believe dry food whatever the “quality, hypoallergenic etc” was the root cause of her problems with its’ super concentrated “stuff” in it. Having said that her aunt (our other older Airedale) eats dry food. The Princess gets no doggy treats at all however “natural” they claim to be. Will she ever be off Apoquel, maybe but if not I would never, ever, allow any dogs to go through what she went through. I am not aware of any scientific, clinical trials that have documented, demonstrable, credible links between Apoquel and cancer or any other life threatening conditions. If your dog is itching and scratching and simply won’t stop look at diet and environment for sure but do not dismiss Apoquel like some numpties still dismiss CVOID-19 vaccines !!
Ah, Airedales. I had one at home during my high school, college days, and what an amazing dog Jake was. Of course, in those days, he was barely vaccinated. It wasn’t the crazy “norm” we have now, where vaccines are often pushed yearly. He ate Purina Dog Chow (we didn’t know any better) and was never sick.
I blame the vaccines far more than the food, as the food can be changed to balanced raw food and a certain percent of allergic dogs still will suffer. I call allergies “immune confusion,” and there’s nothing like injecting foreign viruses (or mRNA for that matter) right into the body, bypassing all the natural defenses Mother Nature has provided for millennia, to confuse the immune system.
So, let’s hope the “other shoe” never drops for you and your buddy.
And, if you don’t think anything is real under there are double blind studies, you’ll wait a long time to find any like you suggest. I think it’s wiser to look at the mechanism of action of this drug and listen to the hue and cry from so many who’ve seen nastier diseases than the itch emerge after the drug started further messing with an already disturbed immune system.
Sorry, just because your dogs have been lucky enough to be unaffected by Apoquel doesn’t mean ours haven’t suffered from it.
I just had to put my dog down, it killing me,and to find out that it was probably the apoquel that did it, makes me feel like I did it
Oh, Wendi, I hear your pain. I just want to assure you that this isn’t about a decision you made for your dog. The vet you put your trust in made that decision for you. And why wouldn’t you trust your vet, right?
You did the best you knew to do and followed that seemingly hopeful veterinary advice to get your dog out of the downward spiral of chronic itchy allergies.
It turns out the vet was not telling you the risks inherent with Apoquel (which is wrong, but also all too common in vet medicine). And now you’ve lost a dear family member.
Bottom line, take time to heal from this horrible grief (see my free Bach Flowers for Animals course for some natural helpers, made for humans — it’s yours when you join the VA Pack, also free). And please, please: Don’t blame yourself. This was not your fault. Know this from the depths of your heart.
All my best, and may this loss spur you on to a more natural path. That’s the greatest tribute anyone can make to a loss like this. WF
My dog is on day two of apoquel and he’s getting so much relief. How do we get to the bottom of what is bothering him? He eats Answers raw food, drinks filtered water. We don’t give flea & tick meds and have decided no more vaccines. How can we figure out if it’s food, environment, etc?
Take him a certified dermatologist for pets. It’s literally their main field and they can help you figure out exactly what your dog is allergic to.
Hi Dr, can apoquel cause heart enzymes to go higher than normal, my dog has a heart murmur, and his heart enzymes were very high
Thanks Will. This will save me from the pain of unessasary loss
Wendi,
Please do not blame yourself for the loss of your family member. That blame falls on the veterinarian that you used. I was a veterinary technician for over 25 years and retired because I did not like seeing where the industry was heading. I am of old school thought process if it isn’t broke don’t fix it! Too many vets, like doctors, do zero research into the meds they prescribe. They get many incentives to prescribe those medications, fact! Like how I treat myself, I now treat my animals the same way, as holistic as possible. Research is now our best friend because we cannot rely on doctors and vets to look out for what is in our or our pets’ best interest. Just like you having to be your best health advocate, you must be your pet’s best health advocate as well. I got into veterinary medicine back in the 80’s and it has changed and not for the better sad to say. Sorry for ranting but I hate to see folks beat themselves up over something because they trusted someone that was supposed to do the right thing. Sometimes the hardest lessons are the best teachers. Hang in there and know that this was NOT your fault.
God bless.
Hello Wendi, I just had to do the same thing to my 3 year old boxer I got for my 50th bday. She was the heart of our life even though we have grandkids. She too was on opoquel for about a 1 1/2 year. I miss her terribly. I know the pain you are feeling right now and how I feel like I did it. That is something I feel like the vet should know as well b/c they recommend this medication and the fact that boxers are prone to cancer she should have know better then myself and it is probably the same for you too Wendi. Try not to blame yourself to much even though that is easier said than done. Bless both of our loveable pets.
I am so sorry you lost your dear Maxwell. Thank you for sharing your experience and thereby allowing him to save other dogs’ lives (possibly mine).
My dog is suffering from itchiness. You recommend that anti-inflammatory like Apoquel could be a remedy. Are there any side effects of using this drug?
Shaun, no, I clearly do NOT recommend Apoquel. Read the article thoroughly and read the many, many comments, the majority of which speak of cancer after use of Apoquel.
That “side effect” is worse than The Itch, don’t you think?
So what exactly should we do for our dogs then, sir?
Download the Apoquel Alternatives Report from this article.
I have a Yorkie that will be 16 in December. She is on Apoquel. I’d like that report. I have had similar experiences to those listed here. The most concerning is weight loss She is a tiny one to begin with. She has lost 1 pound (normal weight for her is 4 lb. She doesn’t eat much and has had bloody stools and vomits if she doesn’t eat. I believe she has a chronic stomach ache from the medication and the reason she doesn’t want to eat. Her labs are really good which surprises me. She is also deaf and nearly blind. It’s hard to know if that is age related or something else.
Go to a pet certified dermatologist discover your dog’s allergies and specify you don’t want any immunosupressant drugs as part of the treatment plan. Regular vets are cool, but you want heart surgeon not a brain surgeon to do heart surgery. Same applies to skin allergies.
We started our American Bully on Apoquel on Tuesday December 7, 2021. Exactly 1 week later he started vomiting. We got some antiemetic medication from his vet and got the vomiting stopped. He refused to eat but he was drinking some water. We were frequently giving him 10 ml’s of pedialyte and Gatorade as well. He seemed to start coming around. Wednesday night/Thursday morning he died in his sleep. After researching Apoquel, I blame it on them 100%. My family is devastated!
I wish I had seen this article before I started my 10 year old Golden Doodle on Apoquel. He was only on it for 3 weeks and started acting lethargic and wouldn’t eat. Then he would act fine and eat and then return to not eating. Blood tests revealed anemia and an ultrasound. found tumors in his spleen, bladder and possibly liver. Could Apoquel cause this cancer to form that quickly or was the cancer there and Apoquel caused it to spread? He was only on it for about 3 weeks. We are heartbroken. We couldn’t take the risk of a tumor rupturing and having him have a horrible death. Please let me know what you think. I would never give this drug to any dog!
Hi Donna, I’m so sorry to hear of your senior with cancer. This, like all cancers, began well before 3 weeks ago. You, your dog, and every mammal on the planet has cancer cells arising on a daily basis. That’s decades old understanding. Why aren’t we all filled with tumors and dying of cancer then?
A: we have immune systems whose job it is to ferret out “foreigners,” and that includes cancer cells.
Any drug or intervention that interferes with that well tuned, natural system that’s evolved over millennia is a risk. Apoquel is clearly aimed at stopping part of that system.
Thank you for. your quick reply. I am torturing myself thinking I gave him a drug that caused his cancer. If I understand correctly, he had this cancer already and this drug possibly caused it to spread more quickly. Is this correct? I was hesitant about giving it to him but he vet assured me it was safe. Now I feel I gave him something that caused this aggressive cancer.
Our boxer Tyson had allergies starting very early on, maybe around 1 year old. For a while, Benadryl was working well enough. After a year or two though, his allergies got worse. Apoquel seemed like a new miracle drug when the vet told us about it. At the time, we didn’t know any better, so we went along with it. Tyson ended up taking Apoquel for most of his life. About a year ago, the Apoquel seemed like it wasn’t working well anymore, and he was incredibly itchy all of the time, so we took him in to see the vet in December. That’s when the first mast cell tumor was discovered. I started researching Apoquel and immune suppression. I was in nursing school at the time, so the light bulb in my brain finally came on telling me that it was a bad idea for him to take this immune suppressant drug for so long. I immediately stopped giving him the Apoquel, and I was terrified, because I just knew that it was too late and the damage had probably already been done. He started receiving monthly Cytopoint injections right away to help with the itching. Tyson had surgery in January to have the mast cell tumor removed, and when biopsied, it turned out to be high-grade and very aggressive. He was still very itchy, even with the Cytopoint, and he had just been prescribed steroids as well, but I knew that steroids should not be used long-term either. So then I did what I wish I would have done years ago… what I WOULD have done if I had known any better… and I took him to see a dermatology vet for allergy testing. The dermatology vet gave him Temaril-P, a combo steroid and antihistamine, which did help the itching a bit. I had been on high alert for any lumps after the mast cell tumor was discovered, and I started to notice lumps all over his body. I knew it was his lymph nodes, and I began to worry about lymphoma. On the next visit to the dermatology vet, he checked the lumps that I had found… and I was right. Tyson had cutaneous lymphoma. We decided to continue the Cytopoint injections and continue giving him steroids to keep him as comfortable as possible, because we knew that he would only have a few weeks left at that point. Tyson ended up with lumps all over from the lymphoma, but what got him in the end were painful tumors on his front paws that opened up and began to drain and get infected. The last week that Tyson was alive, we had to change wound dressings twice a day and give him pain medicine regularly. But we also got to do everything that he loved. We took him for ice cream, for dinner at our favorite local bar that has a doggie menu, multiple trips to Petco. We fed him all of the cheeseburgers and fries that he wanted. And then we scheduled an appointment for at-home euthanasia. He passed away in my lap, in his favorite spot next to the window overlooking the backyard, with our cats and other dog and his favorite toys all around. I will never give another dog of mine Apoquel for as long as I live, and I will always tell my story and discourage as many people as I can from giving it to their dogs. I know that boxers are prone to cancer to begin with. But I just KNOW that Apoquel killed my dog. He was filled with tumors from not one, but two different types of cancer. He also had chronic ear infections and skin infections in his paws. He had constant GI issues. We also weren’t able to board him at all in the last 3 years that he was alive, because the last 2 times that we ever boarded him, he got so sick that I thought he might not make it. Looking back on it, I can’t believe that I didn’t put 2 and 2 together, that this drug was making him susceptible to infections, and that it was probably the reason for so many of his problems in the end. Tyson was 8 years old when he died.
Sending you love. We lost our 7 year old shepherd mix in a similar way (mast cell and lymphoma) last month. He had been on apoquel almost 3 years and we had no idea of the side effects until the tumors were visible, we immediately took him in and they immediately took him off apoquel. He lived for 4 months after that visit with Multiple interventions.
I’d put tumors way out in front of “infections” as the far more worrisome side effect of Apoquel’s suppression of dogs’ immune systems.
I bought my mom a French bulldog. She put her on Apoquel when she was about 8 years old. I was really against it. After this her dog started getting UTIs. I kept saying it was related to the Apoquel. My mom got mad at me and argued and insisted the dog needed it as it prevented skin allergies. I told her that’s not even what it’s for, it’s an anti itch pill. I told her they it suppresses the immune system. I asked her vet about it and he said he never heard of dogs getting more UTIs from Apoquel. Fast forward 2 years and her dog (whom I took over care for) now has TCC which is a form of bladder cancer. I’m very devastated. I should have trusted my instincts and pushed even harder for her to stop using it but she was so adamant about it. She still won’t believe me. So I’m now taking excellent care of the dog but she is dying of cancer and needs to be diapered as she lost complete control of her bladder and has blood in her urine every time she pees.
My dog was on this medication and became I’ll. Fever and now eating. It turned out her gall bladder had burst. Is it possible that Apoquel had any role?
I don’t know, Stacy, but it sure is unusual for a gall bladder to burst. Have you asked why it burst? Was a tumor involved? I’d want more information than this before you accept “burst” as the reason your dog is sick.
Anything that affects the immune system is going to affect animals differently. Trouble is we don’t know what is just waiting for a weakness in the immune system to attack the body. My 8 year old Beagle has been on Apoquel for about two months now. I see changes that are concerning from upset stomach to shedding on hair. Her moods are definitely affected as well. Sounds like the company did limited testing and now we as pet owners our pets have become the long term test subjects. I do praise the drug for doing what its suppose to do. My dog got so bad she practically chewed her paw off requiring a month with a cone. But if the risks are significant I don’t think this is a good long term drug.
6 yo cattle dog Lucy went on apoquel 2 weeks ago. She started acting weird. Today she attacked our senior boarder collie for no reason. Both have lived together for years with no incident.
My pit bull had severe allergies since he was a puppy. We tried everything them eventually his dermatologist put him on Apoquel. He said there was no data on any side effects at the time as it was fairly new on the market. It worked really well at first and then his itch slowly started to come back but we kept him on it as the Dermatologist said he would be worse off of it. We had tried everything else including immunotherapy.
In April 2019 my dog was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in his hind leg. He halos has 2 masses in his abdomen. We removed the leg right away and did the 6 sessions of chemo to help kill the remaining cells.
He did well for 2 1/2 years until last month. The abdomen masses which we were told not to touch had grown a lot and were invading other organs and his rib cage. Within 6 days of our last Oncologist visit his health declined very quickly. We said goodbye to him last Monday. The hardest thing in the world. I believe it was the Apoquel that did it.
I started giving my American Bulldog…Duke …Apoquel on Friday, August 13, 2021. He weighed 134 pounds. Gave him 2 tabs a day for approx. 2 weeks. I tablet on Friday, August 27, 2021. Saturday, August 28th he woke up dragging and threw up about 4 times until he collapsed. We rushed him to the Emergency Vet in Greenville, SC. Got him there about 3:00 p.m. they immediately took him in, set him up on IV fluids, did bloodwork, X-rays of stomach, hooked him up to EKG machine. Heart rate at 200, blood pressure low. Finally stabilized him but kept him there overnight. He died at 12:50 am. Prior to this day, Duke was a healthy Bulldog with skin allergies but not sickly. We ALSO CANNOT HELP BUT BELIEVE THAT APOQUEL HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS. We have contacted the manufacturer. Now finding alot of information on line as well.
My Border Terrier was on 8mg of Apoquel per day for about 7 years since she was about 16 months. It controlled her itching pretty well. She had her upper ear canal removed when she was 3 due to constant infections, She had a terrible eye infection about 2 years ago. The vet said she had a low immune system. then last April she started taking seizures. The vet just couldn’t get them under control she was on about 8 epilepsy tablets a day and was like a zombie it broke my heart. I had to let her go in December as they were happening every couple of days no matter the dose, the vet suspected it was a brain tumor.
Not sure if it was the Apoquel or if she was just unlucky with her health.
Hey Keith, I’ll submit that health or disease, in any species, is never a matter of luck. It’s a matter of decisions we make. Always.
You don’t seriously believe this statement, do you?
It would imply that in a terminal cancer-stricken child, either the kid or their parents made a decision that resulted in said cancer?
What decision would that be; the parents choosing to conceive?
Agree. This Dr just lost any credibility I’d allowed him with that statement.
Amen Dr. Falconer!! I agree 100%. What we put in our and our pets bodies is vitally important. If you mess with your body, rest assured your body will pay you back. And chance are it won’t be good. I had a dog on Apoquel maybe 10 yr.s ago. As soon as I found out about that stuff I took him off of it. I have to add that the vets office was surprised when I said no more of that garbage for my dog. So much of what people consume today is worse than unhealthy, it’s almost murder or suicide. Sorry for the drama…. Some things that are supposed to be food, are not. The same for our pets. And when it comes to medicine, I hope people will research and learn more about what they use. It could be a matter of your pets life or death. I am not saying to not trust the vets and doctors, I am saying do your homework and learn as much as you can before you decide to take or give a medicine. Better to have wisdom than to cry later. Thank you so very much Dr. Falconer for all of your input and sharing your wisdom. Sure wish you were where in our area. I also hope that more vets will see the difference you make in the world.My dog Wilson thanks you too!!
He is not blaming the personal decisions of any kids or parents. He made it very clear already that dog owners are not to blame either. It’s the fact that we place our trust in professionals who assure us of safety, whether it’s a drug, lawn care chemicals, gmo foods, etc. When he says “decisions we make” I believe he is referring to decisions of humanity in general. That is my take on it. I really think that those offended by his statement have misinterpreted it. That being said, with the rise of the internet, it is now easier to share stories and dig deeper into some of the misinformation we are told. So how long can we keep denying any personal responsibility?
I think most of us trust our vets to prescribe medications in good faith. Instead most of them seem to blindly believe any salesperson, from food to prescriptions, with deadly consequences.
I can attest to this from my early days in conventional medicine. We depended on our sales reps to tell us what was working, and in our busy multi-person practice, that was all we had time for. Of course, that was pre-internet, so info was not exactly at our fingertips as it is now.
Knowing what now know about Big Pharma/Big Pet Food, it pays to do your due diligence before allowing products or procedures to be part of your health care choices.
Our 11 year old dog was on Apoquel for a little over a year and a half before she ended up dying from lung cancer back in 2017. Quite a while before the cancer was diagnosed we took her to the same veterinary clinic that prescribed the Apoquel because she had a visible lump in her chest area. We were told it was “just a lipoma” and that she had several others around her neck. They never put two and two together that she was on Apoquel. Most normal veterinary practices also do not know according to the manufacturer’s package insert, animals should be monitored for things like tumor growth of any kind while on the product! I have learned the hard way there is no such thing as a magic pill and caution everyone to think twice before considering this for your beloved pet.
My dog was on it for a few years. Died at 8 years old from lung cancer as well. I can only speculate, but I think it was the apoquel. Dogs don’t just get lung cancer for no reason.
My 7 year old bulldog was on it for five months and then died of lymphoma. Horrible, I know better than to trust Big Pharma. I’m so sorry Scarlett.
I too believe apoquel caused my 8 year old yellow lab to get lymphoma. We need to get this drug off the market .
Totally agree needs to be removed
I have a dog that struggles with impulsive/compulsive behaviors that appear as aggression. I have done behavior modification on him for over two years and his major backslides appear after he’s gone on apoquel for his severe allergies. A friend mentioned that there was a link between the drug and aggression and it dawned on me that a recent increase in behavior coincides with a recent three week course of apoquel. The last time he was on it, he developed a large lump in his face, and prior to that he grew a large lump that had to be excised from his arm. I’ve been researching because I’m convinced there’s a correlation between excessive adrenaline outbursts and histamines as there seems to be a connection in the behavior related to it.
Really interesting, H. I wonder if, in addition to its known effects on suppressing immunity, Apoquel also creates gut dysbiosis. As you likely know, the gut-brain axis is well established, so behaviors can change when the flora gets disrupted. You’re one of a handful who’ve brought behavioral changes after using this drug to my attention. Likely more need to watch for this and report in, especially if they are periodic, on/off users of Apoquel.
Hi,
I also think that apoquel has affected my dogs behaviour. He is a sprocker, only 2.5 years old, was always very playful and submissive with all dogs and humans, but after being on apoquel for a month now, he has become aggressive to most dogs and some humans, and has become very territorial. I have an appointment with his vet next week so I’ll be asking for more information. I’ll also be taking him off apoquel as I’m sure there are more natural ways to stop a grass allergy. If it was ever that at all.
My pug/Boston mix is 13 and has been on apoquel for about 2 years. No physical abnormalities yet but she is a different dog. Extremely hungry all the time, aggressive and paces all
The time. She’s just not the same mellow girl I had. Apoquel turned my dog into a zombie. I’m done!! Thanks for posting everyone.
Thank you for posting— we’ve observed those very same behavioral changes in our 13 year-old mini dachshund. She’s so determined to find things to get into/ingest, we’ve found it necessary to ‘baby-proof’ our house.
My 12 year old Westie also became extremely aggressive after two months on Apoquel. Four days off the drug, he is returning to his normal self. We will deal with the skin issues another way.
Wow, interesting but unexpected. It appears this aggression is a more common side effect than we originally heard about. Thanks, Alan, and the best cure for skin issues is professional homeopathic prescribing.
Thank you for all you do. My 11.5 year old cattle dog mix has been on Apoquel for a couple years now and just this week had to be admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery to remove his spleen which was full of masses and misshapen as such. During surgery they also found his liver to be covered in masses, 60% of them being on the left outer lobe, which they also removed. Biopsy results this week- praying it’s benign but I’m not feeling good about it. He’s super resilient. We adopted him at 4 months; at his 1 year checkup we found that he had heartworm that he likely came up from Georgia with but hadn’t shown on his initial evaluation since it can take 6 months to show up. The heartworm treatment triggered myasthenia gravis and he spent a week in the hospital. He refused to eat when we got home so I had to force feed him wet cat food so he could take his meds. He was on immunosuppressants for maybe 4 years after that until I insisted we wean him off. He did well for a bit and then developed horrible allergies to the point of licking his paws raw. We tried a few different things before he went on Apoquel 2 years ago. I am always skeptical of miracle drugs… but also at 9 years old, we figured if it gave him a few good years, that would be worth it. Well. Here we are a couple years later and I shouldn’t be surprised, yet I was in complete shock this week when his hind leg weakness and malaise on Tuesday turned out to be tumors on his organs rather than a myasthenia flare. His dermatologist upped his Apoquel dose two months ago. I didn’t think he had gained weight, but she said he had moved into a high dose class, and that that was likely why he was recently red and yeasty in his groin area. He’s on Heska allergy drops as well. I’m committed to never giving him the Apoquel again and am about to go look at your other page detailing what to do. He has many environmental allergies (including human dander 😳) so I’m not sure how well we’ll do, but I’m willing to try anything. Thank you so much for all your info provided here. Hoping for good news this week. Losing my best friend is no way to start 2021 (not that it’s ever a good time).
This is indeed a sad story, J, and perfectly illustrates the cost of conventional medicine: things get more serious the longer they are used. Your hopes for good news are likely to be dashed, I’m afraid. You’ll want to prepare yourself for the reality ahead, which is not going to be pleasant. With your permission, I’d like to excerpt some of your story to help others avoid a similar fate. As these stories of conventional failures are more widely known, perhaps we can save more animals from suffering like your guy did. I wish you both all the best with what’s ahead.
I wish had I found this website before my Sarge (German Shepherd, 8 years old) died suddenly and traumatically from hemangiosarcoma. He was insanely healthy (maybe a tad overweight) up until January 2020. He had his yearly vaccinations November 2019, including his 3 year rabies vaccination. All bloodwork came back w/shining stars. I thought I was being a responsible owner, doing the best thing for him. He was also on simparica & interceptor plus.
January 2020, he suddenly could not walk. After multiple tests a large mass was found under his groin area. It turned out be an abscess. When I say large, I mean, the size of a grapefruit. But you couldn’t see a thing from the outside of his body due to the location of it under his hind legs/up close to his spine. The specialists even thought he was originally suffering from degenerative myopathy – that’s how hidden this huge mass was. Thankfully, it turned out to be an abscess. Unfortunately, while the ER vet was draining it, it ruptured. He went septic and got pneumonia. He recovered – after $15k, oxygen for a week and 3 weeks at the ER! The weird part is, they tested the bacteria in the abscess (located INSIDE his body) and the results were skin infection. I can’t remember the exact name.
For about 2 months post-recovery, his nose, fur, etc all looked healthier than it had in years. My puppy was back…then a month later he was itching like crazy, crusty nose, hot spots galore, ear infections etc. Cytopoint shot didn’t help. I switched him to dry prescription food. Didn’t help. My vet referred me to a dermatologist who put Sarge on prednisone, Apoquel and an antibiotic. I WISH I had researched Apoquel. I spent thousands on Sarge; he was the other half of my heart. How could I not research it? I would NEVER have given him Apoquel if the dermatologist had said to me “this will wipe out his immune system”. It’s my fault for not researching, I know. But I trusted these people….
Sarge was on Apoquel for just over a month when he went from seemingly normal with tons of energy to unable to get up, heavy breathing, white gums. The ER vet said he had internal bleeding and hemangiosarcoma was the diagnosis. His heart stopped before he could undergo surgery to stop the bleeding.
I called his dermatologist on the way to the ER vet – never suspecting cancer, thinking it was an adverse reaction to the meds – and they said oh no, his meds wouldn’t do anything like that to him. The dermatologist called me after she got news that Sarge had passed to provide her condolences and she said “cancer, it all makes sense now”…insinuating that his skin issues were from pre-existing cancer. After reading up on Apoquel, and stumbling upon your website, I am so disgusted with myself and his dermatologist. I feel like I failed Sarge – I feel like I put him into the grave myself. Almost 2 months since his passing and the guilt is so overwhelming.
Thank you for your work – I have no doubt that you are saving the lives of countless animals….Animals who cannot advocate for themselves….Members of the family that are at the mercy of their owners. Thank you.
Dear dear Rachael, I am so sorry for your loss. And I understand why you are feeling so bad. Please don’t be so hard on yourself. Darling, you are beating up the wrong person. You were trying to help Sarge!! He had some issues that would be difficult for anyone to manage. You would have done anything to see him not suffer. What you have done, is learn a valuable lesson about medicine and some doctors. And you are helping others by giving your testimony. The responsibility lies with big pharma not alone but also with the doctors, vets in my opinion. You cannot tell me that the vets don’t know what is going on with this drug. There istoo much evidence of deathly sick dogs after using this medicine. So where do you go from here. I don’t have that answer for you. Not yet anyhow. I think these vets are taking advantage of people at the heart ache and expense of the life of their pet. Rachael if I may go one step further, please research medicine for yourself as well if you have been prescribed something. Especially if it is something you aren’t familiar with and even if you are, you can never have too much wisdom. I don’t care if it is an aspirin. You should know what it can do to you. Then you can have an educated conversation with the doctor about is the best for you. Also, the more you know about the medicine, the better you may be able to tell if it is working or something else. My heart goes out to you and Sarge knew you loved him. It will take time to heal the loss of Sarge. I pray you will have a chance to enjoy another love deserving pup one day. A Friend, Peace
Please don’t blame yourself. It was not your fault. You loved him with all you had.
I’m finding that conventional vets, as a rule, can not be trusted. Either bc they don’t care or they don’t want to do the research that they should, before prescribing meds. Especially medications that have not been on the market for at least 10 years.
I lost my English bulldog Lily on Oct 28th of this year to liver cancer..she was a week away from being 5 years old..she went from perfect at her Aug checkup, with normal blood work to sick in mid Oct..she had been on Apoquel on and off for 2 years due to allergies..even though the vet said it had nothing to do with the medication I have to wonder and will forever be cautious of that medication with any future furbaby!! ☹️
Oh, Tanya, I’m so sorry. No 5 year old should be dying of cancer in my reckoning. Not unless there’s been some immune system disfunction and that’s how Apoquel works, the Zoetis people admit that openly. They still, amid hundreds of reports of cancer after the drug’s use, aren’t interested. Likely too busy making profits to keep their shareholders happy.
Please remember Rescue Remedy can help with the stress and grief you may still be experiencing. I wish you all clarity when you decide to be a dog mom once again.
I too have a pet (14 year old Shih Tzu) who was started on Apoquel “for allergies”. He was having trouble breathing – no itching. Within 8 days he was found to have a “strange lump” under his left front leg during grooming. I took him to the vet and was told the lump was a lipoma and “nothing to worry about”. They told me at that time they needed to do a series of xrays to determine if his breathing issues were being caused by his heart and not allergies, so we scheduled them ASAP the next week. Upon taking the X-rays they noticed that he had “severe swelling in lymph nodes all over his body” in addition to cardiomegaly which had not been diagnosed prior. The prognosis is that it is most probably lymphoma and they give him 6-8 weeks to live. I took him to my prior vet whom I trust implicitly with my animals and was told at his age the process of diagnosis (aspirations/removals of lymph nodes all over his body) and the chemo treatments would be very hard on him and that it could likely cause a heart attack or stroke due to age and the condition of his heart. The swelling in his lymph nodes happened within a week of being on Apoquel! It had shut down his immune system allowing the cancer to run rampant in his body. Heartbreakingly, we have opted for palliative care so we could spend the remainder of his life loving on him as we are dealing with the sudden and certain loss of our beloved pet due to this drug. DON’T GIVE IT TO YOUR DOG IF YOU CARE ABOUT THEM!!!!
Oh, Tanya, this is indeed so sad and unfortunately, so common. I was immediately suspicious of the swelling’s location: there are lymph nodes in the armpits, and I’ve never found a lipoma there in 40 years of practice. Also, I don’t know anyone “removing lymph nodes” as a treatment for this disease (??!!). Might be time to explore a better vet practice…
Let me suggest adding powerful immune support to your palliative care: Canine Immune Complete. I had a Lymphoma dog who used a similar product (earlier, less powerful than our current one) whose nodes shrunk and had a nice 8 months of unexpected life, so worth a try. this is cancer of the immune system, so strengthening its ability to recognize foreign cells like cancer cells makes sense.
Your warning is sound, however: lymphoma appears to be the #1 “side effect” of this expensive, over used, poorly safety tested drug. And the company won’t be admitting that any time soon, as it’s likely their #1 profit generator. Happy stock holders, heartbroken pet owners. Spread the word, as every dog owner will benefit from knowing this.
My 8 year old chihuahua just died yesterday. We have to put her to sleep due to anemia and over enlarged spleen.
She had been in Apoquel for about 7 months, because she had severe itchiness in and around her ears, to the point of hair started to fall down in some places making her look like she had mange.
It was until last month when she went for her annual shots that she suddenly stop wanting to go out for walks and she went from an active and happy dog 🐶 to a bloating unable to move dog, who didn’t want to eat. doctor prescribed doxycycline and prednisone . After an ultrasound that by the way we didn’t see, he said that she had an enlarge spleen and some enlarged lymph nodes in her stomach. Vet told us that she needed a blood transfusion which will cost thousands and then a spleen removal surgery which I’m sure it cost thousands, too. Because the pandemic, we were not able to go inside the office with our dog which left me a bad feeling about the whole situation. I didn’t want her to die along so I arranged for her to be euthanized at home, also because I wanted our other dog to be there, they were very good friends. My ❤️ heart is broken and I missed my baby but if I learned something from this is that from now on I’m going to ask for all the literature that comes with all these prescriptions it is crazy that the vet just give you these prescriptions without any paper about second effects, overdose, etc.
Rest In Peace my sweet Angel, you will always live in our hearths.
Our 6 yr old GSD was put on apoquel for itching… she developed a tumor on her paw that was Benin. Her Vet increased the dosage which made me curious so I started doing research. We lived in India for years and believe in a more holistic ayurvedic approach. I took her off apoquel once I realised it was an autoimmune suppressor. She went through all the stages, incessant itching, yeasty ears with brown ooze, skin fungal infection (it has taken a year to clear that out with Ketoconozole and Apple Cider Vinegar & Olive core leaf) and tumors. The itching came back with a vengence after stopping Apoquel. Her first vet adamantly defended Apoquel, when I asked him if he would give it to his own dogs he replied that he would. My guess is his pets are not vaccinated every year and do not have these problems. We went to a new vet who started her on Cytopoint. She’s had 5 rounds of Cytopoint each one spacing further out. It’s been 24 weeks since her last shot. Progress considering at first they were 8 weeks apart. I’m hoping we are done with that for good. Currently she is taking pollen, ACV, Quercitin w/ Bromelien, Olive Core Leaf… Zyrtec and probiotics. This is almost a full time job. I think we have it under control finally. Thanks for your wise words and kindness towards our fur babies. If I am doing anything that you feel is anti productive please let me know. We did recently find more lumps near her mammary glands. I’ve started vibrational therapy and added chlorophyll to her water. She is too sweet to have gone through all of this.
It makes me sad that all of this was created by big Pharma to make more money and fuelled by Dr. Whitecoat to create more expensive procedures and pharmaceutical sales. What has our world come too? Is it all just for power and profit???
Noelle, you’ll want to read the Cytopoint article I’ve written (use the search box in the right column to locate it). Unfortunately, it’s another immune suppressive drug, so your hopes of cure are unfortunately misplaced. If you haven’t already moved off kibble (carbs feed cancer) to a raw diet, I’d do that ASAP. See both this page and listen to the podcast for help in that.
Equally important, I’d suggest powerful immune support teamed with a daily detox. All the best,
WF
Our 7-year-old Red Golden died two weeks ago. She had a sarcoma tumor in her neck. She has taken Apoquel off and on consistently for the past few years. We didn’t know the side effects of this drug. I saw this article after she got sick. I wanted to post because I do not want this to happen to anyone else. We are so upset that we may have contributed to her getting sick by giving her this medicine. We know that Goldens are prone to get cancer, but we were shocked because she was still so young. We had another Golden that lived to be 13. So heartbroken and missing our beloved Sally!!
I believe most if not all itching is caused by the toxin overload in animals due to over vaccination and crummy diets-resulting in the immune system being overwhelmed. I used and am currently using advanced TRS zeolite spray topically and orally, and the itch is disappearing! Raw oozy wounds have disappeared. It truly is a miracle.
Thanks for this feedback, Karol. Sounds pretty amazing, and as my recent podcast episode revealed, we’ve used purified Zeolite as the basis of our latest all natural Vital Animal Detox, formulated by our own Dr. Scott Treadway. I suspect it’ll far exceed the TRS you mention, as it’s got a great synergistic component of well chosen herbs to assist in clearing toxins from the body. I look forward to hearing more feedback from our “skin cases” as more use our VAD product on a daily basis to “clean the machinery” of detoxification.
I lost my 4 year old healthy full pedigree Boxer after giving him Apoquel. He fought for his life for 2 months. We are heartbroken. Quickly developed autoimmune thrombocytopenia. Ended up on a cocktail of meds to try & combat multiple issues. To no avail in the end. Seek alternatives please!
Oh, Alison, I’m so sorry to hear this. How many doses had your boy taken before this developed? By any chance, had he had a vaccination or a HW “med” before he broke with the autoimmune illness that ended up taking his life? If Apoquel is associated with autoimmune disease, we need to catalog more cases. It makes sense that it could: it’s targeting the immune system to suppress it, that’s a given.
I applaud you for sharing this with us, as we need to hear more of these stories to better understand our risks out there.
Hi Will. Sorry I’m not sure what HW means. I’m happy to give you all the details if it’ll help anyone. He was in Apoquel for around 7 days. Went down hill rapid 1 day and I got him to emergency vet. He gave him IV antibiotics for a couple of days but his blood cell count was at dangerous levels. Eventually developed liver and kidney disease amongst other issues. A very distressing rime for our poor boy. Let me know if you need that info and I can share my email. Thanks for your response. I appreciate it. We are awaiting an autopsy too.
Oh, I’m sorry for the jargon, HW = heartworm “medicine,” also known to trigger autoimmune disease. If we can eliminate a recent dose of that and no vaccinations in the prior weeks, I think it’s fair to lay the blame at Apoquel’s feet. Or, more to the point, Zoetis’.
May 18 2020 I took my lab Mix, Roxy age 6 in because she was yelping when scratching her ears, or had been when I made the appointment the week before. By appointment time she wasn’t and they looked normal but she hadn’t had a checkup in a while so I figured why not. She’s always been a paw licker. She bites her nails. Never bled because Of this though. At her appointment the vet said she looked good. Noticed the lick stains on her pads and asked about allergies. He asked if I wanted to try something to improve her quality of life, so I said sure. He gave us Apoquel. She was to take it twice a day for one week then Once a day after that. We just got through the twice a day this past Monday. That night she started reverse sneezing. While I understand it’s normal for dogs, mine, and I have 4 dogs, very rarely do this, and never 15 times in a 12 hour period like Roxy has done. Took her back to the vet and they said that it couldn’t be a side effect from the meds because it’s not listed on the website. 🙄 So now we’re home. She’s still reverse sneezing though not as much. She’s still not acting like herself. He mentioned she had lost some weight since her last visit. 1.3 lbs in a little over a week. She almost sounds congested when she sleeps, but she’s always been one to snore. Have you ever heard of this as a side effect before? They actually suggested I increase her dose or add another allergy med on top of Apoquel when allergies weren’t even something I took her in for to begin with?! When I turned down another expensive drug and said Benadryl would be cheaper for me, they copped an attitude. Guess it’s time for a new vet. Her bloodwork was normal last week before she started on the meds. I’m just hoping and praying this isn’t something permanent.
My gsd age 4 was prescribed apoquel aged four for severe skin allergy August 15…. miracle skin allergy clear up… December 15 we discovered facial swellings and jan 16 Confirmed lymphoma… all lymph nodes swollen …. had to let her go before her 5th birthday May 2016 age 5….. will never ever endorse support nor allow this drug to be used on my dogs again which came highly recommended and with no forewarning of potential risks from our local vet
My 7 year old Jack Russell mix was at the vet all the time for skin allergies and infections from scratching so much. He was on prednisone as a puppy and it made him really sick so I wanted to stay away from that. So we tried Apoquel. He’s taken it on and off for the last few years, never really for more than a week or two at a time. Last week his lymph nodes swelled up and I was just informed today he has Lymphoma. I wish I had read more about this drug. He’s such a happy, fun, wonderful dog and now his life is being cut short but this drug and a very uninformed decision on my part. I was never made aware of any of the side effects but should have done more research myself on this awful drug!
My 7 year old bulldog has been on apoquel for a few years. I was told no side effects and have not seen any …until what seems like overnight. His lymph nodes under his jaw and on his hind legs became very swollen. The vet now says he has lymphoma and a short time to live. He is still eating, still getting around, somewhat playful at times. Do you think a holistic vet could do anything to give him longer?
Our Beagle was on Apoquil for 2 months now has interdigital cyst that will not go away in all four paws. Have tried heavy diesel of prednisone and 5 different antibiotics.
They need a lawsuit against them. My dog is suffering because of this drug
I just lost my best friend of 8 years. Bruno had severe allergies and had been prescribed Apoquel to help relieve him of his severe environmental allergies. Although the drug worked wonders and stopped him from itching, it caused him to develop large cell lymphoma. RIP Bruno! 🙁
I adopted my 12 pound Papillon, Jasper in the spring 2.5 years ago. I noticed right away that he was constantly licking his paws and he had goopy, watery eyes. I had him put on apoquel every spring into summer every year since to help relieve this. Four weeks ago, he was diagnosed with one of the rarest and aggressive forms of cancer in male dogs, prostate cancer. Less than 1% of male dogs get this type of cancer. I have been constantly asking …why him!? He is the sweetest dog I have ever owned, he’s earned his Canine Good Citizen Certificate and is a comfort dog to the elderly, he loves all people and pets. He is amazing!! He now has only weeks to live and he is only 9.5 years old. Papillon’s are suppose to live 15 – 16 years on average!! Now, I may have found my answer.
My story is not unique to many others on here. My little Yorkipoo suffered from horrible environmental allergies to the point of chewing his feet raw. After trying everything from steroids, OTC Benadryl, grain free food, prescription shampoo, fish oil and supplements to no avail, I too was prescribed Apolquel as an allergy medication and miracle drug. My boy was on a maintenance dose for about a year. Within that time he ran a high fever that the vet dismissed as a bug, he began gaining weight and the vet said I was over feeding him. Then he started getting warts and skin lesions and fatty lumps on his back near his hips. The vet said this was just an age thing. I didn’t buy it and started doing my own research only to find out that Apolquel isn’t an allergy medication at all, but an immune suppressant drug. I immediately took him off the drug, but the damage was already done. Within a year, he suffered from torn ACL’s that they determined were caused from Cushing’s disease, secondary hyperparathyroid disease, and renal failure. Yesterday I had to make the soul crushing decision to put him down. My heart is shattered and I feel like I poisoned my own dog. It is important to note that prior to apolquel the only thing my happy, healthy little dude suffered from was seasonal allergies. He would have turned 10 next month. This is a dog that had I not put on an immune suppressing drug could and should have lived to be 14 or 15 years old. I don’t believe in coincidences and all of these horror stories I’m reading have convinced me, although you won’t get a vet to acknowledge it, that Apolquel compromised my dog’s immune system and that is what let to him not being able to combat multiple irreversible diseases that left me no recourse but to put him to sleep and relieve his misery.
Now I’m the one suffering from the loss of my little companion and the guilt of putting him on Apolquel. If you are reading this and are considering putting your dog on apoquel, please, please I beg you to heed my warning, read, do research, ask questions and make the right decision, your pet’s life depends on it.
My dogs were siblings, beautiful, loving pitbulls..both started apoquel at the same time. Within two years, they died a month an a half apart. One from lymphoma, one from hermangio sarcomas on his heart. His heart. ( none of the other dogs from their litter have passed, and their mother is doing well )
I lost both of my babies just like that, it nearly destroyed me. I work in a clinic and was told “there are no side effects!” I hear this repeated to clients often.
Then I saw an ad on tv for Apoquel and the disclaimer about causing cancer made me sick to my stomach. My dogs would still be here if I hadn’t given them this medication, I have to live with that. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.
On Tue, Jan 7, 2020 at 11:14 PM UTC, Keith wrote:
No help needed. In nov 19 we took our corgi mix to vet for itching and were prescribed Apoquel. After 3 weeks she was feeling lethargic with mild pain trembles. Told we were giving her too much fatty food. A week later her liver was bad and gall bladder problems. Week later her gall bladder removed. Week after that it’s autoimmune disease. Apoquel isn’t worth it. She was much better with just an itch.
Our lab was trained to be a service dog. She is fantastic however, due to allergies the yeast on her skin and ear infections there are times she cannot accompany me, which is traumatic for her and for me. She was allergy tested, positive for an abundance of environmental allergens, dust, grass, trees etc. Failed attempt with allergy serum. Some success w/apple cider vinegar, nizoral shampoo baths, ovc allergy meds, and washing her feet after she had been outdoors etc.. Eventually had to resort to Apoquel. She has been on appoquel for 2 years w/breakthrough periodic yeast. We did this w/heavy hearts due to side effects however, a decision had to be made.
Put the blame where it belongs, not on the pharmaceutical companies that are attempting to help provide a better quality of life for our best buddies. Put the blame on the BREEDERS and the AKC for not monitoring, fining and shutting down the breeders who continue to breed knowing they will produce puppies who will be comdemed to an awful life. These breeders are only in it for the$$$$$. They do not care about the breed or the puppy.
Apoquel was a last resort. We continue using apple cider vinegar, nizoral baths and otc miconazole cream as needed. So far her quality of life has been dramatically improved. I know this will not last. We are attempting to provide the best quality we can for her while we have the pleasure of her company. I also found using a good quality baby wipe and wiping her down after we get home does help.
Hi there, I am not sure if its related but my 6 year old maltese/shi tzu x poodle was on apoquel for approximately one year before she was diagnosed with Endocarditis. She was misdiagnosed tho and was being treated for Immune Mediated Poly Arthritis. The dear little girl died in horrific pain as the lining of her bowels came away. This cost us $13,000 as the Advanced Vet Care struggled to bring her condition under control. I often wonder if it was the Apoquel that was responsible for her condition.
Oh, Nola, that’s horrible! The lining of the bowel acting like that suggests autoimmune disease was probably right after all.
I’m so sorry you had to experience this. Losing a 6 year old like this (who was likely only dealing with The Itch before this drug was prescribed) is so unacceptable! And I’ll bet you weren’t warned of Apoquel’s risk at all.
I wish you all the best in what has to be a horribly painful heartache about now. Thanks for sharing this sad take with us.
Our dog has been on Apoquel for several months now…once I found out how expensive the medication was I started doing research for cheaper alternatives or generic brands. Turns out, at least right now, there are no generic alternatives for the medication. I explained to my husband that the articles I DID find, were upsetting ( I found at least 3 articles) with revelations and warnings regarding this drug. We decided that our pup is 12-13yrs old and we just wanted him to be comfortable…the itching was getting worse and we were both losing patience with each other and our fur baby. So far…the drug has done everything that the article said it might…We’ve had to up his dosage and it does not seem to be working as well as it did. I am currently trying more holistic methods in an attempt to ween him off of the medication. Hope this helpful, best of luck to other pet parents…Don’t use this medication.
I was specifically told by my vet that Apoquel had “no side effects,” and I was desperate enough after trying everything else out there to believe it. My dog was on those damn pills for about 4 years and died in April of liver cancer. She was a 16-year-old Lab mix. I didn’t find out about the cancer risk until after she was diagnosed. I tried then to get her off Apoquel, but she wouldn’t go along with the herbal regimen I had found, and it was probably much too late anyway. I am angry at myself, angry at my vets, and angriest at Zoetis. I paid a lot of money to those greedy bastards to give my dog cancer. She did have several other issues, but there’s no question in my mind that cancer shortened her life. I should have known better than to have believed the snake oil.
I have a new dog now. She’d already had her shots when I got her from an animal rescue and she will never have another one. Or a heartworm pill. The only way I can even try to make up for my mistakes with my last dog is to do better with this one, and I intend to do just that.
They’ve been running Apoquel commercials on TV lately. No mention of the cancer risk. Shocker.
Still not sure what to make of all of this. First off, everyone’s guard should go up when seeing unequivocals and universal statements and generalizations bandied about. Homeopathy obviously has some good alternatives, but my gosh I’ve never seen so much science is bad sentiment (maybe I’ve seen it in the human anti vaxers but measles should thin out their ranks soon enough). Derogatory labels like ‘Dr Whitecoat’ and universal generalizations such as ‘vaccines cause immune problems’ should make anyone double check the information being provided. A good alternative is just that, an alternate path. My 4yr old Mini Schnauzer has been on Apoquel for 3 months. It has generally helped, but the underlying cause is still there and that is what I’m trying to resolve. My concern, as well as my Vet’s, is for the well being of my dog.
However one stop on this site and it’s not Apoquel ‘may’ not work for every dog, but instead it’s APOQUEL CAUSES LYMPHOMA!! Not surprising then that with my guard raised when I try and ‘square’ the advice being given on this page, my first search pulls up this very DVM being described as giving ‘egregiously dangerous advice’. So my search goes on. There may be some very good advice here, but now I have to process it through several ‘filters’ in order to verify I’m getting sound advice.
PS. If this site is purely a shill I’ll know by seeing this post being removed. But at least I can feel good that my common sense is well honed.
My boxer developed “allergies” shortly after her first rabies shot, at a year. We have run the gamut on dog foods, bathing aides, etc. After her 3 year rabies shot in 2018 she had simply an explosion in her symptoms. Finally in desperation we went to a new vet, she put Bella on Apoquel. We saw nearly instant results, itching stopped. 3 months after starting her on the Apoquel, she began to have neoplasms appear, 7 within just over a week. She began to display polydipsia, and polyuria. To the extreme. We immediately stopped the Apoquel. Her adrenal system is all screwed up, she is in renal failure. She is 7 1/2. She is such a happy girl, loves nothing better than being with my husband and I. Now we are looking at the loss of her. I am so angry that I didn’t ask more questions, and I am so angry that the vet didn’t offer any precautions about this drug. And I am incredibly sad to be losing my best friend.
I so hear your heartbreak, Lorna. It’s indeed a tragedy to lose a middle-aged dog like Bella, all from believing what you were advised to do by your vet. Your anger is entirely justified and hopefully, it’ll be the fire that sets you onto a new natural path so that Bella’s loss won’t be for nothing.
As I look at her history, the key point others can learn from this is that Bella suffered from her very first rabies vaccine with the commonest chronic disease in dogs: itchy allergic skin disease. It’s been the #1 reason dogs visit vets for well over a decade as I write this. To then battle that and hear that the vet recommended another vaccine while that sickness persisted is simply malpractice. ALL vaccines, rabies included, have a label in force saying the vaccine must be given “only to healthy” animals. She should have had a note added to her record: “Waived on all vaccines while ill.” Instead, her system went wild after the 3 year vaccination and the rest is history, all too often repeated in conventional medicine.
All my best to you and your family.
My 6 year old toy poodle cross has had terrible constant itch and sticky, waxy yeast smelling skin since I purchased her at 8 weeks due to bad breeding imo. She suffered with continual hot spots, hair loss and ear infections. She itched 24/7. We have had to regularly shampoo our carpets as she would caterpillar crawl on her tummy spreading her waxy stink. Was recommended Apoquel by vet around 8 months ago. It worked immediately and amazed us all. Her skin and coat returned to normal like a miracle and she and us could finally sleep through the night. Unfortunately her itching has returned along with her sticky yeasty skin, the poor love. I always wondered about this drug as it seemed too good to be true. After reading your article I’ll be taking her back to the vet and stopping this deadly drug as it’s not working anymore anyway. It all makes sense now. Just not sure where to go from here…
Bravo, Rebecca. I’m so glad you’re aware of the risk with this drug. Your best next steps are spelled out in my free Apoquel Alternatives Report (you can download it from this article, scroll up to find it). If this 6 year old has had this since 8 weeks old, I’d suggest seeing a bona fide homeopathic vet to get a true cure. I outline how to find one in the Report.
All the best to you and your dog.
My son’s GSD was healthy except for allergies. Got put on Apoquel for several months, which seemed to help for awhile. Then symptoms came back and took her to an allergy specialist. They do not like Apoquel and took her off of it and started her on allergy shots developed from her own blood. That seemed to really be working. Unfortunately, I think the Apoquel had already done its damage. She had to be put to sleep in October of 2018 at 7 years old. Was fine one day and the next she was super lethargic. My son took her to the vet and they determined that she was bleeding internally from cancer on her liver or pancreas. They did ultrasound to see if surgery would work, but said it was already spread and she would bleed out that night. So they made her comfortable so we could say our goodbyes and we gathered around her for a couple hours and loved on her and then they gave her a shot to put her to sleep. It was absolutely devastating. I truly believe that the Apoquel allowed her to get cancer that she wouldn’t have otherwise got.
Pat
November 12
My 5 year old mini schnauzer had been chewing his feet relentlessly for the past year and a half or so. We gave him benadryl once in awhile and sprayed his feet with vinegar, used a couple of ointments we saw on internet. We basically tried a lot of things without going to any kind of drug. Our vet had suggested if all failed that we try apoquel. Finally about 1 month ago he started taking apoquel. It seemed ok as he actually did stop going after his feet and did not seem to have any side effects from the drug. Last week he developed several lesions under the fur on his snout and I immediately took him to doctor. I questioned about auto immune and was told this drug would not effect his immune system. He has an ointment to put on his nose now and if it does not clear up a biopsy will be next. I have stopped giving him apoquel as of yesterday and now that I am reading this, my fears are pretty much confirmed. My prayer is that he has not been on this drug long enough for it to have caused irreparable damage. Is there anything we can do to help restore his immune system now? I am so sorry we ever put him on this drug. I am so glad I found this website today and so sorry for all the stories I am reading.
I have a six year old Pit mix, who suffered from uncontrollable skin allergies. I went crazy trying to keep it under control, switching food, paying for the tests, etc. My vet suggested trying Apoquel after a couple years of really bad atopic dermatitis. I had him on it for around a year. The Apoquel worked great, or so I believed. At first, it was like a miracle drug. No more skin or persistent ear infections. Last April he was diagnosed with Lymphoma, and I firmly believe that the Apoquel was the cause. Sure, his quality of life was much better than with the constant skin and ear problems, but I do wish I had never put him on it.
My 10 year old rough collie has taken APOQUEL on an off for about a year
On and off means a few days at a time and then I will stop as her itching (licking her feet continually) appears to quiet down.
She has also been having mini-strokes. I just last week connected the mini strokes to the APOQUEL. Each time she is on the Apoquel for more than 3 days, on the 4th day she has a TIA
At first I thought it was a coincidence and mentioned to my doc and the response was no . . . not a side effect. I STRONGLY disagree.
It appears Apoquel is effective if given once but given for a few days produces a TIA
What’s that look like, Suzanne? Sounds like you’re on to something.
My 9 yo Jack Russell has been itching her belly practically non stop for a week so I decided to get her to the vet. Previous to this itching, a few months back her belly pigmentation changed to black from pink. It’s now pink with slight darker areas. Anyhow I googled (as you do) and I read it could be a thyroid issue.
Mentioned this to the vet he said problems not and prescribed APOQUEL to relieve the itching.
While at the vet I also asked him to check over a lump on my girls chest, about the size of a sprout. That’s started small but has been growing, feels fatty when checked by a another vet a few months back and still feels fatty. But we don’t know for sure if it’s fatty or cancer.
So I booked her in to have it removed. By this point now she has been on APOQUEL for 3 weeks.
I took her in for her op app and they ran bloods beforehand and her bloods show a urea reading of 10.6 which the vet said indicate a kidney issue, Which can be made a whole lot worse by putting her under anaesthesia.
She’s had operations previously (around 4 years ago) and was put under anaesthesia and was fine, but bloods weren’t checked back then.
Now we have instead done a fine needle aspiration from the lump to see if it’s fatty or cancer.
I now worry that due to the vet prescribing APOQUEL, that if it is cancer it may have made it a whole lot worse for her. I also wonder if the APOQUEL could be responsible for the kidney urea reading.
My dog Sophie, an 11 year old West Highland Terrier was on Apoquel and it worked well on her itching when she first started taking the pill. However all of a sudden she had a seizure and then a few days later another one. I took her to her vet and they could not figure out why she had seizures after going through tests. I immediately stopped giving her Apoquel because I had a suspicion it could be the cause. The seizures stopped. Then about 6 months later on a routine checkup the vet discovered she had hard swollen lymph nodes. The vet drew a fluid sample from the swollen node in her neck and said she had Lymphoma. She was a fighter and lived 5 months after her diagnosis.
Now that I have read the comments of other dog owners that experienced similar results, I am sure that Apoquel caused my dogs cancer.
I found your article on Apoquel late one night while my dog was having seizure after seizure. He is 10 years old and has been on Apoquel for 8! He started having seizures almost 4 years ago and everytime he has seizures they increase his meds. He was on 5 phenabarbitals per day and I don’t have the second drug handy. When the worst bout of seizures happened 4 months ago (all night, 2 nights in a row) I did some reading and immediately stopped giving him Apoquel. I was told he would take it forever, had no idea it was supposed to be a short term solution. He was given Apoquel for serious hives and itching. Well within a few days I realized he wasn’t itching! I started weaning him slowly off his medications. He is down to 2 phenabarbital a day and still doing well (no seiaures). I am sure this has shortened his life. 6 months ago when he was at the Vet for seizures they xrayed his abdomen and said his liver is double the size it should be and his heart is enlarged. He has also put on 10 lbs in the last year. There was no reason for that I can think of except the added medications. I am currently looking for a Naturopathic Vet in my area. Your articles are so helpful! Thank you!
Wow, Sheryl, an amazing story of illness from drugging. And how adding more drugs often makes things worse. I’m so glad you’ve taken responsibility to stop the harm, and suggest your next step may be finding a qualified homeopathic vet, as the original itch will return, sooner or later. See my Resources page for the AVH list, and choose a vet who does 75% or more homeopathy and, if no one is near you, choose the variable of “telephone consulting.” That works very well with homeopathy. I did it for years successfully.f
Our Golden had terrible allergies. We tried a variety of options, but none got rid of all the itching. We finally found Apoquel and it was a miracle-no side effects! We had to keep her on it because every time we went off the itching came back. She was having a great life, until at age 6 she was diagnosed with lymphoma. We had insurance and were able to keep her going 17 months before it took her life last month. I will always believe Apoquel was a contributor to her cancer. I wish we would have tried harder to find another solution. We miss her everyday.
Can you just stop the apoquel or must the doses be slowly withdrawn?
AFAIK, it can just be stopped. It’s not like a steroid in that sense, but, like any drug that was just controlling symptoms, you need to be ready with a plan B when the symptoms return.
Our 2 year old Cane Corso developed a severe contact grass allergy at one year . We tried everything recommended by our vet who was very thorough but nothing worked . Prada cried and itched so bad she developed staph and her paws were swollen and she had blisters between her toes and ear infections , she also lost a lot of weight . We were extremely worried . Our prada was in big trouble over a contact allergy . We took precautions when letting her outside she had shoes to wear , she was bathed and rinsed thoroughly when coming back inside . We were so upset and just at a loss for what to do when our vet said we are going to try Apoquel . I had never heard of this medication and we had tried countless other allergy meds and many popular home remedies that work really well for a great deal of people, tea tree oil , coconut oil , apple cider vinegar , with no positive results we were extremely worried and had to try this option . I have to say within 2 days of taking the meds there was no itching !!! the vet also provided antibiotic for ears and staph . One week later she was running around the back yard like nothing had ever happened. Her ears cleared up her scabs healed her paws are completely back to normal and Just three months later she still does not itch and has had no side effects !! Absolutely No side effects !! and she is living a life I didn’t think would ever be possible for her , she gained her healthy weight back wants to play all the time and has endless energy . I’m am so sorry this medication has not worked for everyone but it has literally saved our dogs life !!! Best of luck to everyone . I hope this comment helps someone that is experiencing similar problems this is just our 4th month now taking med but it is working !!!!!
Scott, keep monitoring your dog. You will need to.
Our 8 year old Portuguese Water Dog has been itchy since she was 6 months old. She has limited vaccines since we don’t ever board her and she had a terrible reaction to the rabies vaccine in the past. We have done the grain free, poultry free, limited ingredient diet for years. Added fish oil and kids complained of her “smell”. After years of itchiness and prednisone every January we tried apoquel starting in January 2018. What a difference to have a dog that we could pet her head and relax vs insist we always scratch her bottom or see her scratching and chewing (no it’s not anxiety). 6 weeks ago, I scheduled a wellness exam and asked for a blood draw to check her overall labs since we hadn’t checked them since medication was started. She seemed fine – I just wanted to treat her like a human wellness check up. Abnormal labs were Calcium level elevated at 14.2 and liver value elevated at 563. Following the calcium abnormality vet asked for urine specimen to check kidney health. It was okay so recheck in 6 weeks. Labs on 5/8/2019 calcium 14.4 and liver value 921. After the labs 6 weeks ago I changed her diet to make sure it wasn’t linked to brand of food (figured some recalls take a while with dog food if diet was the problem). I did stop apoquel for maybe 3 total days mid way but didn’t want to change too many things to alter what was causing the abnormal labs and she was super itchy again. Vet called with lab results today and left message to do possible ultrasound or monitor labs.. I’m planning to stop apoquel and re check labs – after reading on this site . I’m not sure if apoquel is causing abnormal liver tests how soon they may decrease with discontinuing the med. Also, new in past year is a fatty mass on the side of her rib cage and warts (I was chalking up to aging but read this in others’ comments) Anyway, it seems we might be beginning the possible side effects of the apoquel journey and wanted to share in case others had tips to offer. Sad to see some have lost their dogs so soon after starting treatment.
Don’t ever put him back on Apoquel.
My dog has a mast cell tumor on his tummy after taking Apoquel for 3 weeks. I don’t think its a coincidence. I want the drug maker to take this stuff off the market. He’s never had anything wrong with him. I wonder if he’ll recover after we remove the tumor or are his cells damaged forever? I want to take the drug maker to small claims court, but after ready the one woman’s reply that they were threatening her, it sounds scary.
My dog just died of cancer after being on Apoquel for about 3 years. I had no idea. It worked for the itch great at first. Then became less and less effective. People are not able to make informed decissions because Zoetis is really good at deceotive marketing. My poor girl had to pay the price for their greed. I can only hope for karma.
Huge negligence, dogs with a history of tumors, lipomas, cysts, should not be on Apoquel. No dog should be on Apoquel.
My English Bulldog has been on Apoquel twice for what my vet calls “allergies.” It’s not itching, but rather he gets irritated ears from time to time. This second time my dog immediately starting showing strange side effects like licking the air, drooling, vomiting and panting. He even started licking bed sheets, and his own feet, (a lot of bulldogs lick their feet but mine never has). After witnessing this, I remembered why I took him off it the first time it was prescribed. He also has been diagnosed with very early stages of kidney disease (his kidney enzymes were elevated in his blood test, so we’ve put him on prescription food). So I wonder if it’s even safe given his kidney condition? My vet blames everything on allergies and it seems that the cure usually worse then the affliction. I would like to hear your thoughts… thank you.
I have a 16 year old miniature dachshund/beagle mix. He (actually, we) have been battling a sudden skin affliction that began 2 years ago. He had blood work done first to check for the possibility of Cushing’s Disease or a possible Thyroid issue. Fortunately, he didn’t have either issue. So, my vet felt that he had a yeast (full body by the way) infection possibly caused by his diet. We were feeding our 3 dogs Rachel Rae Nutrish for approx 3 years. We switched to a grain free dog food called Authority. We noticed that all 3 of our dogs had less of a bad breath issue after getting off of Rachel Rae as well as an indescribably strange odor my husband was certain he was starting to smell on our 2 younger dogs (both 5 years old). This whole issue with our older dog’s skin affliction came on fast & severe. He literally had patches all over his entire body that hair was coming off in large areas with the skin attached. The poor dear seemed to get relief when we would help him get the scaly patches of hair & skin off of him. In all my years of having dogs, I had never seen anything like this. He’s an indoor dog, so we even changed our laundry detergent to something for more sensitive skin to wash their bedding in. We bought some very expensive shampoo/conditioner from Pet Smart for dogs with yeast issues. That did help him improve quite a big but we haven’t been able to completely rid him of the problem this entire time. Two days ago, the yeasty issue spread to his penis & it seemed to have a bit of puss oozing from it. Took him to the vet yesterday & our dog was put on Apoquel for a 1 month trial. Our vet is very puzzled just as we are as to why we can’t completely clear our poor elderly dogs skin up. Right now it’s only on his ENTIRE left leg. He has no hair at all on that leg. Then suddenly his penis started flaring up with a rash all around it & a wee bit of puss I mentioned, not very much at all. But it was enough that I noticed it looked a bit like puss before I turned him over for a closer look. We trust our vet completely…..he has taken care of our dogs for 24 years now. Just like when humans have strange issues, it takes trial & error with different things to try to figure out the remedy. I trust that our vet has given us solid advice through this situation to attempt to figure out what we can do to fix it. He said that Dachshunds are prone to suffering from allergy issues as they get older. So, he’s thinking this is some kind of allergy that we need to try to treat from the inside/out instead of just trying to fix it on the outside. Because that hasn’t been 100% effective at all. I just went on line to look up info on this Apoquel pill. We’re at our wits end trying to figure this out. So, as I always have, I’m putting my trust in my vet of 24 years. At this point, taking into consideration that our elderly dog is 16 now, it’s a roll of the dice I’m willing to take. The vet just wants to try it out for 1 month & see if there is any improvement at all. With the negative things I’ve read about this drug, if it were my 6 year old Chihuahua having this issue, I’d be reluctant to try it…..but if she were in as bad of shape as the 16 year old dog, I still might give it a try but keep a very careful watch for the side effects I’ve been reading in the comments. At 16, he doesn’t have a whole lot of life left anyway. So, if this drug causes some insane illness that ends up being the demise of his life…..I don’t think I’ll feel like it’s all my fault that his life was cut short. He’s so old & I’m so tired of seeing him have this issue. I’m not tired of trying to help him, just tired of nothing seeming to fix this weird problem. He starts his first dose today, so all I can do is hope & pray for good results. Sorry if I seemed to ramble on, it just gave me a bit of comfort to spill my guts about my frustration that I can’t fix this as well as my concerns about possible side effects. Maybe he’ll be one of the success stories & I’ll be able to leave another reply later with all positive results. I can only pray!!
My dog just started Apoquel and it’s been a bit effective. My 50lb 14 year old dog was on 2.5mg of pred for 3 years with no side effects until he had a random case of pancreatitis. He couldn’t take it for a few weeks and we were contemplating putting him back on pred or trying Apoquel for the itch. Curious to hear which you think is worse 2.5mg of pred everyday or Apoquel. He needs be on one or the other and am now inclined on giving him 2.5mg of pred a shot again. He never had an itch ever until he had a rabbies vaccine at 11. We tried homeopath with a few vets. The best one recommended just keeping him on 2.5mg bc at his age, healing would be really slim. He’s on a homemade diet with a lot of free radical fighters. Curious on your thoughts of which you think is worse. Btw, the itch is unbearable for him and us so we have to try either.
Help me plz!! My beagle has a number of allergies and i hv just been advised for Apoquel..she gets puz filled like bubbles n she is itchy alwys..though this is not permenanent but keeps coming n gets wounds all her body with hair patches missing. The earlier drug was nt effective and we have been suggested Apoquel
Nagen, if your dog is on chewable flea pills or pesticide based drugs, that is what is causing the itch.
I have two dogs, a boxer and a French bulldog, both rescues, both came with terrible allergies, and the boxer was a walking, stinking, yeasty mess. We’ve had them for about 5 years, and they were both 4-5 year old adults when we got them. They were fully allergy tested at a world-class, university-based derm/allergy vet clinic, and the boxer, in particular, had over 30 allergy triggers. Her scratch array lit up like a Christmas tree. We tried diets , shampoos, washes, natural stuff, cyclosporine, a terrible trial of steroids, custom allergy serum, and Zyrtec. We finally tried Apoquel – 3 1/2 years later, they’re still on it, and down to a dose every other day. My boxer no longer stinks, my Frenchie no longer gets hives, and life is peaceful. They were both absolutely miserable, and so were we. FWIW – my boxer had a small mast cell tumor 4 years ago, and no repeat tumors. We are diligent in checking her skin, and she loves those all-over rubdowns. We have no plans to stop Apoquel.
Bonnie, LOL. LOL. LOL. LOL. LOL. YES, Veterinarian, pharmaceutical sales rep. LOL LOL LOL
My wonderful shih Tzu has problems, small fatty tumors here and there. Our vet said they should not be a problem unless they grow. She also had been itching, licking, and scratching a lot and would not stop . I tried Benadryl, hydroxyzine, amitriptyline, etc..nothing worked(they put her to sleep, of course so does rubbing and scratching her when she starts her thing..lucky I do not sleep much so I stop her at night) Started her on apoquel and within 2-4 weeks she changed..started staring into space and laying down and not moving but looking only in one direction..I stopped the apoquel and she seems to be mostly normal again. The vets I took her to would not give triamcinolone shots which worked on my other puppy and she passed away at 16+years. Now what do I do to convince a vet to give her vetalog shots? Tried a lot of natural remidies and they do not help. Help!
I tried the shot (cydopoint?) we have been taking the Apoquel now for 4 months and it doesn’t seem to be working anymore.
The vet did blood tests gave me a long list of food allergies so I went to a special diet and still no relief. The vet says now to do the oral drops that will help him build a resistance to his allergies.
If this works why did they have me spends almost 1,000 on the other medications?
I’m at my wits end with a 140 pound itchy German Shepherd.
Help!
Hey Janet, It’s important to understand that conventional medicine cannot (never could, never will) cure chronic disease. And that’s what you’re dealing with. Grab the Apoquel Alternatives Report and get a homeopathic vet hired. Stop the needless spending on hopeless drugs with side effects and start investing in CURE instead.
All the best.
our 7 years old GSD had Apoquel for 2 weeks for her itchy skin. Her fur fell out and went thin and 3 weeks after the end of treatment (I refused another course because of the cost) she had a massive stroke and I had her put down. I don’t know what to think, but I wish the Vet had informed me properly about these pills so I could have made an informed decision
Go to drugs.com and type Apoquel 16 mg. Please read all the clinical trials data, read all of it, My dog developed a mass , splenic mass near his heart after being on Apoquel for only 10 days.
Started Lucy on Apoquel last night. Woke up at 3am to a seizing dog who was almost lifeless. Took her to the Purdue ER vet, blood work revealed slightly high liver enzymes. I will definitely not be giving this anymore! She is a healthy 5 yo English Setter that I adopted 2 years ago.
Appreciate the discussion here. Althought mostly anecdotal, there is enough here for me to err on the side of caution. Got an RX from the vet, but had second thoughts before dosing. Thanks to all who have shared.
Our 10 yr old Chihuahua is in the ICU right now with Diabetic Keto Acidosis. We never knew he had Diabetes. He was on Apoquel for about 2 years taking it every day. We took him off of it about 4 months ago after we saw him no longer itching and biting. Now this…
He’s not out of the woods yet. All of his electrolytes are extremely low, glucose is high, and he’s having continuous (expensive) care or he’ll die.
I wish…oh how I wish I had never put him on Apoquel!!!
Kristy,
That is one of the lethal side effects that my dog had. He got diabetes and so much more. After Apoquel.
Your Canine Transfer Factor product that you are suggesting has the very ingredients that my dog is highly sensitive to. My dog cannot have soybeans or any of its by products or flax or any of it’s byproducts yet you advertise these as a benefit. If products would be made without cross-contamination of the allergens, it would be easier for us pet parents to choose products to help our babies. Instead we are being judged when seeking help for our babies. Try finding products without beef, peas, flax, soy, chicken, oatmeal, etc… So preparing foods is our only option. And the control of the environment? Is it possible to control all potential contact from trees, grasses, pollens, etc.? Not unless we keep them in a bubble. And what kind of life is that for our pups? It must be respected that all dogs are not created equal, thus these very same remedies you speak of can actually be the very sources of outbreaks and misery for them. I understand that you are trying to do a service for many. But unless you have walked in our shoes/paws , please do not advise us to give up something that is working to be replaced with ingredients/allergens that I know would hurt my baby. I wish they wouldn’t, but they do. We bathe daily, fed only approved foods, gave various supplements, rubbed with coconut oil, sprayed vinegars, provided holistic remedies, and nothing worked. I spent many times over on the natural homeopathic remedies that did nothing. The money is not the issue. My baby’s well being and quality of life is. Hopefully, she’ll grow out of it. We have weaned her off as much as we can from the Apoquel and I pray for my babies protection from all these ailments and diseases. But please do not say we do not care, are too lazy to investigate or follow through, etc. It is sad to see people being taken advantage of with snake oil when there are some potential relief from what is being referred to as Dr. Whitecoat. It reminds me of the people who go on baking soda remedies to cure cancer, etc. just because we are so leery of Big Pharm. Yes, I know the $ is their main motive but not every Dr. or person who takes a medication or treatment is in bed with the devil. I pray for all your little four legged loved ones and their health. They are our family. Stop judging each other. If something worked, then share openly about it without trying to gain a profit. Understand that certain things just won’t work for some and that not all will experience the dreadful effects being so threatened here.
Yvonne, I am the one who states that a lot of people do not research on the drugs they give to their dogs because I WAS ONE OF THEM, if I would have done thorough research my dog would still be alive, instead I took the poison prescribed from veterinarian and gave it to my beloved dog. So do us all a favor, come back and let us know the diseases or disease your dog developed after being on Apoquel, be honest.
You must be kidding. Shame on you for trying to make veterinarians and pet owners feel guilty about treating miserable pets and making them feel better. Shame on you for acting like cancer never occurred in the pet population before Apoquel was introduced 4 years ago. Shame on you for saying that a drug company would label it for dogs, but not for cats because they are aware of safety concerns. It is disgraceful to try to discredit the rest of your profession.
It is disgraceful to have Zoetis on this earth making poisonous lethal drugs like Apoquel, Convenia, Cytopoint, all of the poisons that Zoetis makes are poison, poison, poison, Shame on you whoever you are, pharmaceutical sales rep, veterinarian, shame on you forever, you and your colleagues killed my dog , shame on you, money hungry beasts.
My 9 yo female English Springer suffered with allergies for 6 years. When Apoquel was introduced to the world as the “cure” for itching my traditional vet quickly put her on it. She was also under the care of a dermatologist and receiving weekly allergy shots. She had constant itchy skin, ear, paw and yeast/bacterial infections which meant she was on and off antibiotics for much of the time. In 2017 I was fortunate to find an holistic vet that was working with us to wean her off all of these things before we started to wean her off Apoquel. In October 2017 she started to quickly develop dermal masses around her shoulders and upper body. Multiple ER visits for ruptured cysts/masses ended up in surgery. Three months post surgery more masses appeared and 10 additional dermal masses were removed in Jan. 2018. Post surgery she developed a MRSP infection that required 8 weeks of a strong antibiotic. I stopped her allergy shots and Apoquel in Jan. 2018 and post surgery no additional masses have appeared. The holistic vet has tweaked her diet and added herbal/Chinese herbs to give her the best year to date. I opened a case with Zoetis but they denied it since she “was on the drug for so long”. They didn’t care to hear that the cause of her dermal masses were from over production of the B-catenin in her immune system. The JAK signaling was tricking her system to think it wasn’t producing enough protein for her hair follicles so her body was actually overproducing the protein and causing the dermal masses. If anyone has had a similar problem and had success with opening a case with Zoetis I would be glad to hear about it. Thanks!
Just found this page and decided to share what has happened to our 9 yr old German Shepherd over the past few days.
We decided on trying Apoquel after seeing a commercial for it on TV, well over a year ago. Having a dog with allergies, as anyone knows, the incessant itching drove us crazy, as I’m sure it did our dog. Our vet put him on it (16 mg daily) and we saw a drastic change within 24 hrs! A miracle for sure! We watched for side effects of some sort to rear it’s head, but there never was ANY. Two days ago we took him in to get his hips, back, and knees checked because he couldn’t make it up the stairs lately. The vet felt a large lump (which we never felt with tummy rubs, baths etc.) and decided he did need x-rays for that mass at least. The next day, emergency surgery, Splenectomy, to remove an almost 5 lb. tumor! …. that the vet believes was benign, due to the bloodwork and other factors. I do not know if this was due to the use of Apoquel, but Travis will be weaned from it in a few weeks. I found something called Bovine Colostrum which I’m willing to try, instead of Apoquel. I do prefer natural remedies and pharmaceuticals scare me….
Tumors have perhaps been the commonest side effect, Karen, some coming sooner, some later.
You may want to try transfer factors rather than crude colostrum, most of which is too large to be absorbed (antibodies, useful to the calf in the first 24 hours of life, worthless to other species except as expensive protein). Transfer factors are the immune boosting fraction that counts, and this product I use in my cancer patients has those concentrated 80:1: TF Canine Complete. In my cancer patients, I’ll also add the human version, called TF Plus Tri-Factor Formula.
My dosing protocols are in my free ebook called Insider Immune Protocols, available to my Pack members as a download (no cost to sign up for the Vital Animal Pack, either) All the best with your GSD. As you might be aware, surgery, while life saving in a case like this, doesn’t deeply address the cancerous state. Minimally, I’d be charging up his immune system most efficiently from now on, to prevent recurrence.
I wish I had seen this sooner. My always healthy just turned 10 shih tzu, Leo, started itching like crazy several months ago and the vet couldn’t figure out why. Multiple scrapings showed nothing. Prednisone did nothing. He said let’s try Apoquel, so I looked it up (obviously now I know I didn’t do enough research though I did a lot). Apoquel stopped it all; the itching stopped, the redness went away, his hair grew back, he wasn’t miserable anymore, and he was doing fine. Then, at the end of August he was diagnosed with Lymphoma and I lost my boy 9/17/18. I now believe it was due to the Apoquel and I’m devastated that I did this to my boy.
Hello i don’t speak very good english (i am from Belgium) but i had also a problem with my dog bichon 4 years old who received apoquel 8 months. She had also 2 surgery for masses (mastocytome!!!) on legs and on her back. She has many lypomes n her body since apoquel. I have directly stopped apoquel before the first surgery !!
This product must be supprimed !!!!!! My dog has suffering because this product!!!
Can you give Apoquel to a dog that’s just had puppies to help her stop itching ….?
NO. You are going to kill the puppies, this drug is poisonous and it stays in the system of the dog, it will carry it through to her puppies in the milk. You have to find natural ways to stop the itching, first of all if she is on chewable flea pills they cause skin itching and you would have to stop any other drugs she is on. One way to help naturally is Bromelain quercetin, Epsom salt baths in the bathtub to help alleviate inflammation. Do your research.
I see all this stuff touted as being ‘free’ yet on the next page it says if I am not satisfied with my purchase I have 30 days to change my mind. My dog has been on Apoquel for a couple years and I would love to find a way to get him off of it. He is allergic to grasses and possibly trees which I can’t eliminate from his life. I agree with the fact that it doesn’t help as much as when he first started taking it but it is better than nothing. I have comprehensive blood tests done every year and so far his results are normal. It seems everyone has something to sell.
The only way that you will find a cure for his allergies takes work, no magic wand, no pill, no quickie. You have to clean him off after a walk, his paws, his fur, he brings allergens from outside, you have to keep him flea and tick free with natural homeopathic methods, you have to research and look for natural ways to treat your house and around your house free of fleas, to dehydrate fleas and stop the vicious cycle of reproduction, you have to feed him a healthy diet, you have to do homework. Your dog depends on you. Sorry, you have to do your work.
My 11 year old rescued Labrador Retriever had horrible seasonal allergies. She was hairlessunder her neck and had horribly scarred ears from the constant torment. She was on special food, it it was definitely every spring into summer that she would suffer. She would develop scabs and itch uncontrollably.. constantly whining and crying from the irritation. We decided to give her Apoquel. It was the BEST decision we ever made for her! We kept her on it 365 until she passed away at 15 years old. We saw no side effects with this medication. It actually turned her into a completely different dog. She was able to enjoy life and stop being tormented!
OMG, you said it. She died from taking this poison and you are in denial.
After reading comment after comment about some of the affects of using Apoquel, I want to just sit here and cry… for the last few months I have been listening to a LOT of documentaries. TTAC (The Truth About Cancer) TTAC and Your Pet, The Auto Immune Secrets, and the latest one The Sacred Plant, of which Dr. Falconer recommended also to watch. I have learned sooooo much about how to treat ourselves and our pets naturally. God put plants on this earth to heal us, not to destroy us. But with that being said, sorry I kind of got away with what I was going to talk about.
I have a Miniature Schnauzer who is going to be 13 yrs old on Sept 11, 2018. I had her on Apoquel about a yr ago. True, her itching was gone within a few hrs.
So after her 30 day supply I figured that was it. Apparently not!!! January of this yr, she was back to the vet. I was informed that it is a “prescription drug”, and that she would have to stay on it. I thought, oh great…. $78 a month for how long??? The money wasn’t the issue, the itching was the issue. After 3 months of this, and the itching had not stopped, enough was enough. Well, since February, my poor baby is now almost blind and is pretty well deaf. It could be age, but not really sure about that. Why all of a sudden one day she can’t hear me call her? I am heart broken with what has happened to her in just the past few months. Her itching is still there, she’s losing hair by the day, I give her baths, and she still smells. I just downloaded the Vital Animal Courses and I am going to try to find a fix for my poor baby. If anyone else, has a possible fix, I sure would appreciate a comment. I also have my dogs on the raw diet, but it might not be the best one. It’s called FRESH PET. It has all the veggies and things in it that I would give them, but I may need to change that also. Anyone else out there that has your dog on APOQUEL….get them off of it immediately. Your killing your pet!!!
Can I take my dog off of it immediately?? Do I have to wein her off ?? Im struggling and very upset right now. She’s been on this medication for over a year. Within the last 18 months she’s has aged tremendously, was diagnosed with cushions decease , walnut size shell on her chest and now her liver enzymes have tripled since November. Liver enzymes were at 1300 , now 3700. The vet tells me none of the above related to aboquel. I want her off immediately. Not sure if I can do that ? Please someone let me know. I have an appointment with a holistic vet 1 week from today. How is the cushions regulated but liver enzymes 10x what they should be. Please help me.
No weaning necessary, Gina, stop cold turkey. The rest you need to discuss with a good homeopathic vet as you get proper treatment underway.
It will help to detox his system with milk thistle and the guidance of a good homeopathic veterinarian.
I would be most interested to hear how my comments have been received.
Hello I’m a Westie owner of over 10 years I have 2 females living together (contrary to wide held beliefs that 2 females can’t live together) .
They are from different parents and Lucy is the one that developed Atopic Dermatitis at about 4-5 years old. I tried the food exclusion diet (potato & fish only) and after about 5 months hair started to grow, the smelly skin stopped, and, it carried on getting better and better but, the itching and the paw licking did not. By now we had carefully introduced all home cooked food chicken chicken liver, kidneys, rice, and many mixed vegetable types.
We had tried all the other drugs/treatments via our vet but could not stop Lucy’s frantic itching. 9 months ago our vet suggested we try her on Apoquel under strict supervision with him. She has had her regular blood tests and thorough checks and has continued with Apoquel 5.4 split in 2 per day.
I have read many, many, reviews of bad experience so I’m please to give you a good experience.
Also I’m a volunteer Foster for Westhighland White Terrier Rehoming UK.
In the last 3 years I have fostered and helped rehome many Westies and very few of them have had the itchy problems or, skin problems which I’m sure, will scotch some of the wide held beliefs about Westies.
I can’t feed mine on raw food even if I believed in it. Because my Westies are Pets as Therapy dogs and, are not allowed in hospitals here in the UK if the dogs have been fed on raw food. I hope my comments help.
Have you read the full report on Apoquel, on drugs.com? Apoquel is a very dangerous drug that causes tumors, cancer, major gastrointestinal damage.
Hi, my 8 year old Maltese x, had really severe allergies, but otherwise in good health. We moved to a new area, went to new doctors, who instantly put her on prednisone, that only helped short term, did everything they asked us to do, then they said there was a new drug called appoquel, so they put her on a low dose, gradually increased other a couple of months, as they could not get the lower dose so we had to buy the higher dose. It seemed to help for a while. Then around December last year, the lympe nodes in her neck swelled up, as well as all the other nodes. So he took her off appoqual, he didnt mention side effects or we would not have put her on it. He showed us as he suspected thecappoqual may have caused the lymphoma as it said that that was a side effect of taking the higher dose. She was diagnosed with lymphoma, when we got confirmation she had it, we were in shock. He suggested that the appoqual may have contributed to the lymphoma, then he backtracked said it didn’t. Now I’m not so sure, seems a bit coincidental that other than her allergies she was a very healthy dog. She unfortunately had to be put down a fortnight ago, she was OK on the Friday then dead Saturday. Its a bit suspicious that all this occurred whilst she had been on appoqual high dose. How do we start a class action? As I think it caused her lymphoma.
Thankyou for this forum something needs to be done about taking this drug off the system, its killing too many loved dogs. Why is there a spait of lymphoma, is the appoqual the link.
Please go to drugs.com and type Apoquel, you will read all the clinical trials results and lymphoma was one of the side effects. Unfortunately the maker of this drug: Zoetis, is protected by the FDA and no one can sue them.
My 15 year old lhasa apso/poodle mix died yesterday from a lung tumor. Lung cancer in dogs is rare and is found in only 1% of canine cancers. The lung tumor was identified by x-ray when the vet was trying to find out why he was in a stupor with a temperature of 105.5 F, normal WBC, but heavily panting and having labored breathing. Needle aspiration ruled out infection and inflammation as causes of the mass. He had none of the usual risk factors I’ve seen identified. He was never exposed to cigarette smoke, my house doesn’t have asbestos nor do I use chemicals in my home or on my acreage, and I live in the rural countryside so no urban pollution. Maybe some exposure to chemicals at highway rest areas and when he was groomed. However, he did take Apoquel for 4 months in 2014. Would that length of exposure be enough to trigger a lung tumor to develop?
Absolutely, Apoquel causes cancer. Please go to drugs.com and type Apoquel.
After being advised by my vet that it was time to switch my blue nose from prednisone to this new drug called apoquel because she is getting older and it was a wonder drug, i quickly jumped at the opopportunity. Within two days of the switch to apoquel, Lettys severe symptoms began. Watering eyes, tongue and mouth control, “post stroke” like balance, falling down stairs, no appetite or thirst, eye flickering, disorientation, vomiting, diarrhea, etc etc. I stopped all medications for 2 weeks and her progression back to normal motor function was slow. She is now back on prednisone and has made almost a full recovery despite being almost completely bald, some eye flickering, and impeded stair descent balance. Although the vet will not confirm nor deny apoquel causing the symptoms, I do not doubt that this “wonder” drug responsible.
Wow, George, sounds pretty scary. But pred long term is neither curative nor safe, so it’s best to seek out a homeopathic vet to work with. They can cure this, given time, and they’ll be no damage done while the process takes place. The Apoquel Alternatives Report on this page will help you find one.
All the best.
Prednisone, steroid, cause cancer. Please take her off any steroid.
I’m so glad I found this forum. Ever since we’ve moved down to the deep south from the upper mid-west, my dog has been plagued with itchy skin during the spring & summer months. I’ve battled through the hotspots using Listerine, Gold Bond powder, coconut oil over the past couple of years. This year I finally decided to take him to my local vet as the itchiness has slowly started to appear.
The vet prescribed us Apoquel and I was so excited and hopeful from the way she presented it, as being a “miracle drug”. But after reading some of the sad and horrific stories in here, I’ve decided not to give this to my dog. I just booked an appointment with a holistic vet in the area for a second opinion. Hopefully there is a more natural and successful approach.
My dog Piglet is dying from bone cancer just a couple months after taking Apoquel. She was a healthy loving energetic 5 year old dog with allergies. She was on it for about 3 months before showing any signs. I brought this concern up to my vet and she said she never heard of Apoquel and cancer. Our house is hurt beyond words. Please done give this to your pet.
Do you know why your veterinarian never heard of cancer related to apoquel? It is because veterinarians are not in the business of researching the drugs they give to your dog, none of them, they only prescribe them, it is the pharmaceutical companies who do the so called clinical trials for maybe a month only, Hello???? a drug can show its side effects after 30 days, it can take up to a year or two to show up its side effects, so, pharmaceutical companies send their sales reps to entice veterinarians with commissions and freebies in order to increase the sales of their poisonous drugs and veterinarians do not bother to read the clinical trials information data, that by the way has already been manipulated by pharmaceutical companies to show that no contraindications were observed. It is amazing how people trust veterinarians with their eyes closed. If someone has a dog, you owe it to that dog to be more intelligent and investigate what kind of drugs you are giving him through a vet. A dog is depending on us to protect him, just like a child or an elderly person, we need to be more proactive and research before giving a drug to any living being.
My dog & I have been dealing w/the seasonal allergy misery for 6 seasons now. Over these 6 seasons of struggling to find a degree of comfort for her we have tried a varied approach with a combination of elements that help dramatically if done consistently but nothing being a magic fix. She has taken transfer factor for a couple of years and during the worst of the pollens I make the effort to rinse her thoroughly w/cool water anytime she has been outside in the woods, vacuum daily, cover her beds w/clean towels that get washed, she eats raw foods, and when things really ramp up she gets 8mg of Apoquel. That is 1/4 the prescribed daily dose for a dog her size but it works to knock down the itching and she can go 2 days to a week between doses. Even then, I don’t like giving it to her.
I recently found some info on a product called Respit. It is a regionally specific, premixed immunotherapy for seasonal allergies. My vet got me the oromucosal spray and we are currently giving it a go. I am hopeful that it will be another piece of the frustrating puzzle of treating the misery of seasonal allergies for her. My thinking being that an immunotherapy is preferable to an immunosuppressant. Pollen hasn’t ramped up here yet so time will tell.
I started my 10 yr. old Shih Tzu on Apoquel when it first came out. After being on it for a while she began having seizures about once a month and then they slowly started to happen more often until she was having them daily. She developed swollen lymph nodes on her neck and other places also. About a year or ago she started breathing funny and you could literally see her heart beating in her chest and she was developing a cough. She was diagnosed with a heart stage 4 heart murmur after a trip to the vet. Fast forward to now, heart murmur is stage 6. The left chamber of her heart is enlarged severly to almost double its normal size. Yesterday she was started on vetmedin to help her heart and phenobarbital to control the seizures. Although the doc can’t say for sure what will happen, the average life expectancy is about 9 months at this stage. I had a healthy happy baby girl that itched sometimes and now she is going to die which I honestly believe is from the long term use of Apoquel. The advice that I have for anyone who is considering giving your pup this drug? DON’T! It does stop the itching but but only in exchange for irreversible damage to your pup.
I am amazed at the number of ignorant comments about how vaccinations have prevented deaths from disease and protected people. There is NO excuse for not knowing the facts in this day and age. The information is widely available. To still be clueless and brainwashed is just irresponsible and foolish. Start learning and thinking! And additionally, if that is the way you think, why on earth are you reading any of Dr. Falconer’s articles? This is a great place to start learning and there are many others, but it seems pretty clear that these posters are not here to learn at all but to continue the deceit and fraud concerning vaccinations. Start studying, people! And if you cannot open your mind to the possibility that you’ve been lied to then the system has worked it magic on you the way it was intended.
A study on Apoquel admistered to dogs with bartonella should be done. I have two dogs that got bartonella from fleas. One dog was on apoquel and died due to fever of unknown origin and vet listed bartonella as likely cause. $20k in vet bills trying to keep her with us and we have lots of testing and data. The other dog is showing zero symptoms but has had bartonella for 6 months now (four IFA titers done).
That is the ponzi scheme-fraud that pharmaceutical Zoetis maker and the rest of pharmaceutical poisonous drugs makers are doing to us consumers and our dogs. They create these drugs that have lethal side effects, they sicken our dogs and when they do you take them back to the veterinarian, the vet has not studied the results of the clinical trials on these drugs, they tell you what the pharmaceutical sales rep has told him to say: “it is a wonder drug”, therefore, when your dog gets deathly ill from these poisons they prescribed, they come up with non-sense prognosis like: your dog got Cushings disease, your dog went into renal failure, your dog has a neurological disease, your dog has an enlarged heart, your dog is paralyzed, your dog has cancer =Out of nowhere. Your dog is dying a painful death right before your eyes and your unethical veterinarian prescribes more poisonous drugs to treat the side effects of the poisons they gave your dog, and even dare to ask you that if you do not have money to apply for a Care credit account , and keep ringing up the bill, getting away with murder and with fraud.
My German Shepherd is on Apoquel for 14 months with no side effects at all, and hasn’t scratched either.
Wait and see Andrea, do your homework, do your research.
My Mini American Shepherd was on Apoquel about 4-5 months. Within a couple of weeks she began attacking our other dogs. Sometimes it was an argument over food, others there was no discernible reason. It happened at least once a week, but there were several times it happened multiple times in one day – and these were vicious attacks. She was not easily directed, and when I picked her up to remove her from the situation she was snapping and bit me. We were afraid for the other dogs’ (and kid’s) safety, and if the behaviors hadn’t abated we would have had to rehome her or put her down. It was that bad.
I titrated her off of Apoquel and her behaviors decreased immediately; her last episode was a week after she was taken off the medication. She is back to her sweet self. The potential side effect of aggression was buried in the teeny, wordy insert. I would NEVER recommend this medication.
Amazing, Sharon! Never knew this was possible with Apoquel. Sorry you had to learn that the hard way. Thanks for sharing this.
My dog has been in Apoquel for about a month now for excessive itching. The vet glamorized this med and recommended it. My dog was okay up until this passed week where he has developed excessive itching all over again, and now has diarrhea. Upon further research into the medication I learned this med was for dogs 12 months and older. My dog is a 6 and a half month old English bulldog who has a history of pneumonia. Now my research has revealed this med is known to lower white, and red blood cell counts, putting the dogs at risk for cancer as well as bacterial pneumonia. I have stopped the medication but now what can I do? How could the vet prescribe this medication for my dog knowing it’s for dogs that are at least 12 months old?
Please help me!
Time to hire someone who can actually cure your dog, not just manipulate and suppress his immune system. Download the Apoquel Alternatives Report from this same post and do some real good. Nothing in conventional medicine can cure chronic disease, by the way. And that’s what The Itch is.
What should I do for the diarrhea?
Short term: try adding pumpkin to his diet, Jackie. But, if diarrhea is part of his chronic disease, your appointments with a qualified homeopathic vet will take care of this as the “whole dog” is cured.
What you have to do is sue the veterinarian that has been negligent in not doing his research of a poisonous drug that can kill your dog.
Hi Jackie – You can consider a completely raw diet. This has helped our itchy animals. Often the itch comes from yeast which is more likely in a kibble fed dog due to the glucose/sugars. I now feed my dogs a Prey Model Raw Diet (5 different proteins, 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver, 5% other secreting organs and with fish making up 15% of their overall diet) and they could not be more healthy than they currently are. Two dogs were tagged with kidney disease while on kibble which has now completely disappeared.
Just adding my voice to those whose dogs have been diagnosed with lymphoma after being on Apoquel.
My dog started taking Apoquel more than a year ago. The vet told me it was completely safe, that dogs could take it for their whole life with no issue. I was even told that if needed, I could increase the dosage. My dog did not experience any side effect and the ichiness really wend down. After a while, it stopped being as efficient so I increased the dosage.
My dog recently started losing weight. We did some testings, and it turns out it’s lymphoma. I can’t help wondering if the drug messed up his immune system and allowed cancer to develop.
I stupidly gave my mature Lab/German Shepherd/Malamute mix Apoquel for a few days in October, 2016. His appetite waned so I discontinued the drug and went on maintaining his recurrent ear problems with my veterinarian’s help.
In September 2017, I noticed he was losing enthusiasm and crabbier than usual with a young foster dog. Then one weekend I noticed that he wasn’t able to move his bowels. The vet came over right away. She discovered that he was retaining urine, and felt a mass somewhere in his abdomen. She took him for an ultrasound and brought him back with bad news. There was no point trying to treat the advanced prostate cancer and anything other than instant relief of symptoms wasn’t going to cut it, so I asked the vet to end his life.
There was no biopsy so I don’t know anything other than that it was cancer of the prostate gland. I wonder if Apoquel is associated with particular kinds of cancer or particular sites, like the prostate gland.
I did read the prescribing information. I missed the part about a study of 239 dogs administered Apoquel for up to a year. 12 of them developed cancer of various types, which is 5%. Apoquel offers a 5% chance of cancer in a year’s time? The information should be easier to find. The word cancer is not used in the prescribing information leaflet, by the way. Malignant neoplasia, tumor, carcinoma, lymphoma and sarcoma, but not cancer. I missed it because I read the section called “animal safety.” It contained no mention of malignant neoplasia, tumor, carcinoma, lymphoma or sarcoma. Those were reported in a section called Continuation Field Trial.
Pfizer, you say? The company that keeps up a pretense that Chantix a) works and b) does not cause psychosis? That got a hair more than half of the FDA committee to believe it was a good idea to remove the box warning about suicide last year, during the short run of the mercenary physician Obama installed. That Zoetis was once a branch of Pfizer that was spun off is oinly natural. Now it is an independent company, so successful and important that it’s listed in the S&P 500.
I have no way of knowing if Apoquel was necessary for the success of a lethal tumor in my dog Bayou’s body. Just this: A dog was given Apoquel. Eleven months later, he has prostate cancer so advanced when diagnosed that euthanasia was the only reasonable treatment. Who knows when the first abnormal cell became two abnormal cells, and they became four, and so on? At that time, Bayou’s cellular mechanisms were not working well enough to annihilate the scourge.
https://www.apoqueldogs.com/apoquel_pi.pdf
Apoquel has been a lifesaver for my senior beagle. When we moved South his allergies went crazy. We did some allergy testing and he is allergic to grass. We can’t just “not feed him that”, so we looked at our options and Apoquel was what we chose. He has been on it for about 2 years and doing great!! Still works well, but we can not take him off since his allergies go crazy when we try. He is 15 now and I just want him to live out his life in peace. If he needs Apoquel to do that, fine with me!!
Are you a veterinarian or a Zoetis sales person?
Seriously Cristina Raymond? LOL DVM at the end of his name stands for, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. This guy is amazing, and I suggest you read and take notes on what he has to say.
After trying everything possible we finally put one of our dogs on apoquel. We have been fighting her severe itching for years. I had a hard choice to make since she was so miserable and had chewed both hip areas to the point both her hips were a bloody mess. No hair, bleeding. We were at the vets office every week sometimes two or three times a week for 6 years. I went to multiple vets and contacted the breeder for advice as well. We ruled out fleas and food. But she was alergic to everything else in the environment at certain times of the year. We charted for years exactly when the itchy problem would occur. I was at the point of knowing I was going to have to put my girl down because she was miserable and had no quality of life. She is on apoquel now and has finally found some relief! If the drug does create other problems then as I told my vet..at least she had a chance to live a good life for a while. If her life is shortened them so be it! I rather she had a shorter life than a miserable one. I fought hard not to put her on this drug until I tried everything else first. I have 4 other dogs of the same breed and none of them have this problem.
Hey Alice,
If anything encapsulates what I’m trying to accomplish in all the teaching I do, it’s to help people get over this very idea: “It’s either dangerous (and often expensive, and often toxic) conventional medicine or suffering!”
If those were really the only two choices, we and our animals would be far worse off as species than we are at present, and the world would be immeasurably worse overall.
Fortunately, there’s a whole other world open to you: natural rearing and natural treatment that can actually cure chronic disease like the one you face. If you haven’t already, download the free Apoquel Alternatives Report on this very page. You’ll see options beyond dangerous drugs or suffering.
I fear for my life. Zoetis and VCA Brentwood, VCA West Los Angeles is threatening me because I filed a small claims against them as they prescribed my dog Apoquel Oclacitinib and my dog died from a mass that this drug caused inside his body. If anything happens to me , Please report it to the Los Angeles police.
New to your site, felt compelled to comment about Apoquel, even though I’m a little late.
I’ve always favored more natural treatments. Couldn’t find a holistic vet nearby, but found a vet who practices traditional medicine along with acupuncture and Chinese herbs.
My cocker spaniel was very itchy. My vet suggested Apoquel but I resisted. After doing a Nutriscan test I changed his diet which made a big difference. His itching slowed down tremendously, but come pollen season, he started itching again. I tried CYTOPOINT which helped.
My husband took his dog to the vet for a check up. Husband mentioned how his dog licked his paws a lot. Vet gave his dog Apoquel. My husband didn’t question it. Well, after about 3-4 weeks, his dog developed a big red bump on his lip. I started doing research and was horrified. We took him back to the vet and they tested it – I think they called it a histiocytoma. When my husband questioned if it was caused by the Apoquel, the vet said “well, I’ve never heard that it could do that, but it does suppress the immune system…”. What? Why don’t they tell us these risks beforehand. Especially when he didn’t have any major itching, just licked his paws. Should’ve just soaked them in vinegar.
We took him off the Apoquel and started giving him astaxanthin. Within a week, the bump started getting smaller and was less red. Within three weeks it was gone.
Scary stuff. My husband is now understanding why I question drugs. It’s hard to make right choices when I’m relying on info from he internet. Takes a lot of research to try and get informed, but it’s very overwhelming. Wish I had a great holistic vet nearby, but at least I’ve found your site. Hope to learn a lot.
Thanks for sharing that, Melissa! Great story. I’d be wary of Cytopoint as well. Search that term, as I’ve written here about it as well.
Max my 11 1/2 yr old pug chow mix is allergic to himself. He scratched and bit at himself
constantly. He was bloody and bald and had a ruptured eye just from scratching. He was so bad I thought I would have to put him down a couple times untill I went to the Vet to get this Apoquel . I was hoping he could live to 13. He didnt. He is living now at 14 and is a totally new dog. He’s happy and playful no health issues. It has been a wonder drug. He suffered for 11 yrs. And he has not had any bout of itching. Sure there are side effects in every drug but I havent seen any. Now I am shooting for 15.
My dog had the flu vaccine and apoquel and is now really lethargic, won’t get up, googly eyes, shallow breathing should I be concerned is this normal. Any comments to reassure me would be great thanks.
I’m guessing you’ve answered your own question, right Nick? Any part of that sound normal to you?
I’d get him right back to the vet who did this to him and hope they’ve got a fix.
My corgi just had his 6 month blood work(July) and his liver levels went from 67 to 589 compared to his January blood work. We took him of his Carprofen for his hips, but they wanted to leave him on the Apaquel. When I asked if the apoquel could have contributed to his liver problems, they said that it wasn’t possible. Yet I noticed that all the drugs in this category of drugs for human use do list liver problems as a severe side effect. After careful consideration I took Doc off all medicine except Heartgaurd and Denamarin for his liver and also changed his diet away from kibble. He now eats diet with lean protein and fresh fruits and vegetables. As I write this I am waiting for the results of the blood. Doc’s liver values have come down a 100 points in just under a month! Did the Apoquel cause his liver problems, I don’t know. I will not be putting him back on it that’s for sure.
Bruce, this drug is not to be given not even for a few days, my dog took it for 5 days and died because of this poison. Apoquel exacerbates any existing infection and causes new cutaneous and subcutaneous tumors, lipomas, bladder cancer, lymphoma, papilloma, kidney and liver damage, etc. So, No. This drug will be banned when people wake up and stand up for the right of their dog’s life and the rip off that Zoetis is committing, if they are afraid to lose money and go bankrupt is their problem, but do not put dogs and cats lives in danger for your greed. If you need to make money, concentrate on healthy ways and healthy, honest products to offer to animals and humans , because you are hurting people’s emotions and wallets and do not care about it.
(Please read til the end. The absolute lesson is there.)
My service dog, Lady, an all-black German Shepherd Dog, has had ear infections since I adopted her at two years old in 2012. a year or so later, she developed skin irritation due to parasites. So, the combination was making her miserable. Our vet tried a lot of things trying to keep the toxicity down to minimum but wasn’t working well.
In 2016, we then got sent to a dermatologist who recommended Apoquel. Yeah, WOW! Within 30 minutes all itching stopped and the healing of the skin begins.
But, within 5 months of moderate use, Lady developed lymphoma. Sudden kinda onset. Glands the size of walnuts, weakness, pain…The works. Immediately got her into oncology. Started VELCAP-L (5-drug combination chemotherapy regimen (vincristine, L-asparaginase [l-spars], cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, prednisone)).
Complete diet change. She had been on raw, BARF/formula combo, since two years old.
BE CAREFUL! In the first two weeks with the predisone, it increased her appetite in voracity. She ate four polyester knee socks and half a pajama bottoms. Vomited all but one sock. Back into the hospital, no food, only IV fluids and encouragement and lotsa walking to pass it. After three days, it finally did. Lucky girl, no surgery. BE CAREFUL!!!!
Took three months to stabilize her gut. Took her for acupuncture and Chinese herbs. Helped a whole lot and with reducing toxicity of the chemotherapy. I am a firm believer in this.
Six months later, first week of 2017, oncologists gave her “remission” status and in March 2017 “full remission” status.
If I didn’t take out pet insurance, I would’ve only be able to afford just the predisone and L-spars which would have reduced all the symptoms and possible remission but life expectancy would have been 9-12 months. The insurance paid for 80% without any question. No issues. It’s all reimbursement but doing it with a credit card really works in this case. I highly suggest it.
Read up on pet insurance with Dr Doug Kenny petinsuranceguideus.com/
Overall, if you must use Apoquel, only use for a couple of weeks and no more than a month. Our experience was to adjust to raw diet with expert nutritionist, cleaning house and bedding regularly, regular Kelco Bubble Neem flea shampoo, acupuncture and herbal remedies. It can be some work but better than poisoning and harming your family members.
My sweet boxer Daisy turns 5 in 10 days. She has had allergies for virtually her entire life, and we have tried a variety of diet changes and treatments. She got a prednisone shot in May, and it lasted about 3 weeks. A clerk at the vets office said they could give us “something” in a pill form, and it would last longer and has proven to be very effective. It’s a very good vet practice, so we trusted them completely.
On June 23, I began to give her the “pill”. It was apoquel. Within a week, the lymph nodes under her jaw began to swell. Took her to the vet the next week, and the needle aspiration was inconclusive. It turns out her lymph nodes were swollen behind her legs as well. They did a biopsy, and we were informed today that she has lymphoma. She also defecated pure blood today.
I asked the vet, “did apoquel expedite the cancer that was in her body”? He said “yes”, because it compromised her immune system and allowed the cancer to take over.
Who knows how long it would have been before the cancer took over her body? The apoquel robbed us from time with her, and robbed her from a longer life. I do not recommend this medication to anyone.
We’re so sad.
Horrible and heartbreaking Bruce. I am so sad for you and your sweet Daisy. There is a special place in hell for people who make lousy drugs and money from the misinformation about those drugs. Take comfort in at least knowing that some other sweet animals, like mine, may be saved the pain and illness that Daisy has. We thank Daisy and keep her in our hearts.
You can sue Zoetis (the maker of the drug)or at least take them to small claims, you just have to go to your city hall and get their legal name they use to do business in your city , they are a corporation, therefore you need the correct information to file the claim.
Dr.,
About 3 and a half years ago, when Apoquel was first released, our vet prescribed this for our 12 year old Yorkie Poodle and our 10 year old Beagle.
A year and a half later, our Yorkie Poo had clustered skin lesions everywhere and our Beagle had developed a tumor on her spleen that metastized to her spinal cord. We decided then to put her down.
A year after that, we finally stopped Apoquel for the YP and his lesions cleared up quickly.
Our new male beagle gained 15 pounds while on Apoquel.
Today we are preparing to put our YP down due to a large abdominal tumor and after six months off Apoquel and on a weight loss diet, our male Beagle has lost no weight. We fear that an x-ray next week may reveal a third dog with an internal tumor.
Three dogs on Apoquel. Two tumors, maybe three.
This drug should be pulled from the market or include a short term usage only warning.
Zoetis Pfizer are evil, they do not care and there is not enough people that speak up against them.
My boy Nicko has SEVERE ALLERGIES and his Dr recommend Apoquel. After some persuasion I caved and agreed to try it. After one month being on it clumps of his hair was falling out. More than what he should. I phoned the vet and they were like oh it is not from the Apoquel. I was yeah it is. I took him off and he stopped immediately
Thank you for this article! My Lab was just prescribed a week’s worth of this for a spot on his muzzle (I think it’s a spider bite, but the only photo online that looks like it was -supposedly- of an MCT). I haven’t heard of this drug, so researched it before deciding whether to administer it. Whether it’s a bite or an MCT, I don’t really want his immune system messed with! Itching isn’t really the primary concern. She also prescribed a week of antibiotics. Still on the fence about those. It has been less than a week, though. I’ll be perusing your site for the next several days. Thanks again!
my brussels griffon has been on apoquel since the first month it was out in the U.S.. i believe it was january, 2014. he was 12 at the time, he will be turning 16 this august. he had spent 10 of those 12 years scratching. i tried otc/prescription/herbal/etc on him and nothing helped. he would be worse march thru october but with warmer winters it was pretty much year round. he is on a raw diet, has been since he was 6 months old. i did elimination diets with him to make sure it was not his food causing the issues. it was not. was he over vaccinated? it’s possible but he has not had a vaccination since he was 7 yrs old. he would scratch himself raw, get staph infections on his skin, lick his paws for hours. he was miserable. from the first dose of apoquel he stopped scratching. he has been on it since and has had no side effects that i can see/tell. there is an injectable allergy medication now that lasts 4 – 12 weeks, depending on the dog/case. it is from the same company as apoquel. i might try that but apoquel has always worked for buddy. so, if others have issues with it, i’m sorry, but mine doesn’t and he will get it or the new injectable until the day he dies. and frankly, i think 16 or whenever is a damn good life span for a dog. none of us are going to live forever and i sure the hell don’t want to spend my life scratching holes into myself, why would my dog want to live like that either. no one lives forever as i said, i want my time here spent feeling good, not feeling like crap.
If you put more time into cleaning your dog’s fur and paws after a walk , you would not have to put him on poisonous drugs like Apoquel, have you read the studies done on dogs, drugs.com will tell you all the lethal side effects.
Cadi injections by Zoetis is also an experimental drug, please do your dog and the world a favor, when your dog dies from all these poisons you are giving him, do an autopsy (Necropsy on a dog) and please let us know what they found in his system, you are killing him a slow death because you want a fast acting something not spend time to treat the root of the problem, if you don’t have time to dedicate to take care of your dog, don’t have one.
I put my dogs on Apoquel only for about 6 months out of theyear and I live in Florida, their allergies are worse in the summer with all the itching and scratching. My dog has allergies to begin with and all the research I have done points to what you feed them. If you feed them crap as in corn based foods they have problems. At least mine do. I feed them holistic food and make them food also. (One of my dogs is diabetic) Look for a recipe called Ruby Stewbie, it is awesome and dogs love it.
I have no issues with using Apoquel and I have been giving it to them for 4 years, but like I said only for about 6 months out of the year.
People don’t believe everything you read on the internet, do your own due diligence for your dog.
You are lying, Apoquel is poison.
really? because this person has had a decent experience with it, she is lying? get a grip. i have had a dog on it daily the whole time it has been in the u.s.. he’s alive and well.
Kriz, go tell that to Zoetis and veterinarians, they graduate from university as a medical doctor, they probe and investigate as part of their training and all of a sudden they stop doing it when they are so busy being doctors, they charge $90.00 for 10 minutes and do not take the time to read the history of the dog to see if he has any infections, this drug exacerbates infections. And he or she does not know this drug suppresses their immune system, creates masses inside their body, new subcutaneous and cutaneous tumors, lipomas, cysts, bladder cancer,etc. Who are you fooling?
I gave my Schipperke Apoquel for 45 days. Now I am currently in the process of getting blood work and test down to figure out what is wrong with him. His platelets are very low, close to danger. The vet is very sure that it is an autoimmune disease. Had that test done and it came back negative, but he still insist that is what it is, says that these tests are not conclusive. Wants to do a series of high dose steroids, which I am completely against. After reading this article I see that it is an immunosuppressant and that a side effect is suppression of bone marrow. Well that would cause the RBC and platelets to be low. So what do I do to get him back to normal levels.
Thanks, Denise
Hi Denise,
Immune side effects, even potentially fatal ones like you describe, are not uncommon with Apoquel. Why? As you point out, it’s like a brake on the immune system. That always comes with a cost, some more immediate, some after some prolonged use.
What to restore your guy to normal? Best I know is to hire a homeopathic vet. Nothing DIY in something chronic like this, especially something risky like autoimmune blood disease. The free report that’s mentioned in this article will tell you how to find a good one. All the best to you both.
I just started my 2 y/o golden retriever on Apoquel and stopped giving it to him after the second day when he began having diarrhea and vomiting. He experienced the vomiting occasionally over a 3 day period, however, were on day 5 of diarrhea, minimal drinking and no eating. I thought at first he got into something he shouldn’t have, but after reading more into this drug, I’m convinced it’s the culprit.
I have a shepherd/husky who is on Apoquel for his seasonal allergies. He starts late Spring and stops when we get the first snow fall. It is amazing. He had blood test done 2 weeks after he first started to check his white blood count, and all was good. He experiences no side effects, and all his issues have cleared up. He no longer gets hot spots, his anal glands don’t get infected, and he no longer scratches. I’m sure dogs who have underlying conditions causing these problems might experience side effects, but for plain allergies with yearly vet checks I don’t see why people should steer clear of this. I have some friends who have had their dogs on this for longer than mine and year round and they’ve not had problems either. Must be luck of the draw, like with heartworm/flea/tick preventatives. Some dogs get sick and some die, while others are on them for a lifetime and never have an issue.
The issues come sooner or later. Check on drugs.com and type Apoquel
I adopted Bear at age 9 from the shelter, almost two years ago. He is a wonderful Black Lab-Mix? 🙂 He had MANY ear yeast infections when he first came to live with me 🙁 He also seemed to SCRATCH a lot 🙁 He didn’t cause INJURIES to himself but it seemed a bit excessive to me, compared to my previous dogs. Our vet recommended APOQUEL. HE has been taking it for app. a year. We haven’t had any problems with it. I am uncomfortable with potential long-term side effects though 🙁 I took him off of it about a month ago. His ears have been clear but he has started to scratch, ALOT. I gave him a pill today because he is NOT comfortable. I am investigating alternatives. He is eating a HIGH-QUALITY, grain-free, limited ingredient food. He RARELY receives treats. He is a HEALTHY, slender 65 lbs and runs around like a young dog when we play in the yard 🙂 Otherwise, he is very content to supervise me at my work at home, sleeping or resting. Our home and acreage is chemical free and I have a well, NO city water. He doesn’t have fleas, ticks or any other ‘bugs’ 🙂 I am going to try a few things plus bathe him more often. THAT will be the most difficult part 🙁 HE HATES BATHS 🙁 I am so sorry for the dogs who haven’t handled APOQUEL well 🙁 I think, as with so many drugs, there is always a percentage of patients, humans and animals, that are going to become ill or die from side effects 🙁 I want to keep him healthy and happy as long as he is with me 🙂 When you adopt a senior you know your time together might be short 🙂
The side effects from Apoquel as with any other drug varies, dogs get deathly ill or die all of a sudden and people don’t put the dots together and just blame it to old age or destiny when in reality the synthetic drug ingredients are lethal.
It is drama and fear-inducing ridiculous sites like this that create the false and misleading world of “Dr.Google” for pet parents and is truly a travesty. You play a terrible role in misleading people without medical background to take out-of-context excerpts of stories and explanations that prevent pets from getting the help they need. I could list 3 TIMES as many testimonials about pets that have terrible side effects from other allergy treatments then found Apoquel and are safe and life changing. 3 TIMES as many!!. This is the same theme of every other Dr.Google scare where a pet dies but got Frontline 8 months ago so that must be a “dog killer”, and other internet posts that scare people out of things that actually do help pets. Just disregard the fact that pets could get sick and die or get cancer from something concurrent and unrelated and blame it on big pharma. Every drug has benefits and potential risks. Compare this drug’s safety studies to others and its MUCH safer than steroids?!! Why don’t you post a blog about steroids killing pets then? You are a shame to responsible pet care and should be kicked off the internet or at least give an unbiased whole story type of assessment of medications.
My dog died from taking Apoquel and I will do everything to have this poison removed from this earth. Look it up on drugs.com , this drug is poison. Apoquel Oclacitinib is a synthetic drug that increases susceptibility to infections, demodicosis, exacerbates neoplastic conditions, dogs should be monitored for the development of all these diseases, therefore it is a VERY DANGEROUS DRUG. It decreases leukocytes, serum globulin, cholesterol and lipase. Causes cancer in the bladder, tumors, cystitis, lipomas, dermatitis, etc. Look it up on drugs.com , If you are going to put your dog through this hell will be your choice, do not say you were not warned. My dog died because the vet did not let me know not even one side effect, he made the choice for me, I trusted that vet, I reported him to the board of veterinarians and he will pay for his unethical procedures.
Yes! My dog is on Apoquel from late Spring to late Fall for seasonal allergies that cause hot spots, itching and anal gland infections. Apoquel is a saviour. He has never had issues on it. Out vet did warn us about long term use but as he is not on it year round he should be fine. He gets blood work done on his yearly vet visits to make sure his white blood count doesn’t drop. I think it is due to vets not properly monitoring and communicating to clients that cause issues.
I’m with ya! My pug mix Brutus developed absolutely HORRIBLE allergies when we moved to Dallas in October 2015. He was suffering from secondary skin infections every month, and the costs began to add up. That was until we put him on apoquel. It has literally saved his life! No more itching, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, or watery eyes. He’s like a new dog. We’ve since moved, and his allergies have all but disappeared, but I still give him half a dose every once in awhile if I see him chewing on his paws. Just because a drug doesn’t work for one dog doesn’t mean it won’t work for another. I also get his blood work done at least yearly to make sure everything is balanced. I definitely think that should be mandatory while on ANY drug for a long time.
BS
It seems to me that if you are feeding a good, raw, fresh, healthy diet, with natural supplements, not vaccinating but getting titers instead and not using chemical pest control that working on healing the immune system in dogs who have had a rough life, as many of our rescue dogs have, makes the most sense for curing many diseases. I go to a homeopathic doc and I know that can work, but I also get lots of advice about keeping my immune system healthy with good food, exercise, fresh air – everything our dogs need, too. My vets have some alternative modalities, but when ever they suggest the typical western medicine drugs or treatment, I always look for a safer, more effective cure. I applaud your work Dr. Falconer, and your willingness to share your knowledge. Thank you!
Brought my 14 years old dog Godot to the vet for treatment of mild contact allergic dermatitis on his back paws : he been chewing them constantly.
Last year the shot of cortisone did the trick without any side-effects.
This year vet was suggesting Apoquel aas a wonder-no-side-effects-ever drug.
I feel so angry for myself that I did not insist on the last year remedy and agreed to that!
After I gave just 1 tablet to my old Godot in 4 hour he developed belly pain and gas, diarrhea- he never ever had before.
I called vet’s office to inform them what is going on and they even didn’t tell me to bring my dog for exam!
They didn’t care! They even didn’t propose to take my dog to ER that day!
I boiled 1 cap of white rice with 3 caps of water as it was always helping him on the rare case of diarrhea: it didn’t help.
Puppy was still extremely uncomfortable, in pain, lot of gas, constantly asking to get outside.
In the next 36 hours it was all the same and I called the vet’s office once again and only than they told me to take dog to ER ” or he may not survive”!
I took Godot to ER and he was treated about few hours with IV solution, antibiotic against infections, painkiller, anti-gas, anti-diarrhea and vomiting, etc, etc.
The bill was $ 800.
My dog is home for now but I am not sure that I would not need to come to ER once again as he does not look like he totally recovered.
I hope for better though.
But I would write a latter of complaint about the vet who promotes dangerous drug and his office which does not care of their customer of 14 years.
You need to report to the FDA and you need to ask for reimbursement of all the money you spent, the poison Apoquel and the ER expense because veterinarians are getting away with murder, they killed my dog with Apoquel and I asked for reimbursement, they gave me some of it and if they don’t give me the ER expense back I will file a small claims suit. Enough with the fraud they are running.
Dr. Falconer, how can we make legislation pass something to the effect that veterinarians have to tell you the side effects of the drugs they give to our dogs and that they provide printed information about the drug . Aside from poisonous Apoquel I have found horror stories about flea pills , like when you type Nexgard reviews on Google, veterinarians are telling us flea pills are safe and they are killing dogs and cats this way too.
I found this page because my dog is on apoquel. He is 9.5 years old, and has had severe allergies for the entire 4.5 years I’ve had him. Sometimes his reactions require bringing him to the ER, but most of the time it’s his skin, eyes, ears, licking, and scratching.
I’ve managed his allergies for years by switching foods and finding one that works. Everything clears up but then eventually it comes back. I never wanted to put him on meds for the rest of his life. This last time so much hair fell out and his eyes by the tear stains kept bleeding. He is an American bulldog. So I gave in and asked the vet for help and they prescribed apoquel. They said it has basically no side effects and will clear everything up!
After 2 weeks he looked amazing. All of his hair was growing back, bloody tear stains were now soft new fur. I went back to buy a 30 day supply.
Now after almost 30 more days, I’m noticing him eating more. He’s never been overweight, and in fact it’s very hard to get him to eat enough sometimes to keep weight on him. He’s still not overweight, he looks good, but he’s heavier than he’s ever been and is eating 8 cups of food a day plus a whole can of wet food. I think he will be overweight if he keeps eating like this, which isn’t normal for him. At first I was happy because after an intestinal blockage surgery 2 years ago, he never fully regained his weight. But this is so sudden it doesn’t seem right. Now his nose is dried out, but he’s still drinking a lot of water as he always has. So I see things changing and decided to check up on the side effects myself. On top of that, his tear stains and raw skin by his eyes has returned. Not as bad, but I see the drug isn’t helping as much as it was in the beginning.
After reading several sites talking about the dangers of this drug, I’m going to take him off of it. This is the dog of a lifetime for me, he is so important to me, and I can’t risk hurting his immune system. I hope I can help his allergies naturally.
My dog is currently on apoquel for about 7 months, and about 3 weeks ago had what our vet called a yeast infection on her stomach. She had sores with puss. Vet put her on oral ketoconazole and a clotrimazole/chlorhexadine shampoo. Fixed the symptoms but now I think I know what caused the ailment after reading here. She also has had black crusty spots on her belly. Time for her to stop the apoquel and go on a raw diet and get off the prescription grain diet that is not working. Nearest holistic vet is about and hour away and it may be time for my 7 year old Lab to go there. Her major problem is her right eye waters constantly and she does scratch some when not taking the apoquel.
Great information here. Thanks Dr. Falconer glad I found this site.
Sure it’s a harsh drug, but I’m not sure everybody here is really grasping the magnitude of some dogs’ allergies. Some of us have literally tried everything else and when your dog has been in absolute hell for months or years – think: cannot walk, eat or pee without pain – then it’s time to try something more drastic. Food allergies are not the issue here – they’re easy to avoid. But if your dog is allergic to just about every damn plant, dust, dander, and a dozen other environmental allergens, there’s honestly not much that you can do. Apoquel should be used with caution as a last resort, but it works for some dogs.
Only an evil person veterinarian would put a dog on this poison. Knowing that you will kill him. Look up on drugs.com the magnitude of the side effects !!!!!!
Then I guess I am an evil person. I don’t like new meds as a rule and prevacox nearly killed my other dog last year. I am all for safer herbal cures if at all possible. BUT when it came to a choice of having my 12 yr old mixed breed put to sleep as the only way to stop his 24 hr suffering, or give him a couple of happy years on apoquel. It was no contest. He has been comfortable, happy, health and with no adverse symptoms for 2 years. perhaps at some future date I will have to have him put down for a side effect but I would not be cruel enough to deny him those few happy, healthy years just because I don’t like some products. I’m sorry but if you would rather kill your pet or watch him suffer that is your business. Don’t tell me mine.
Let me suggest, Glanda and JF, that this isn’t a black or white proposition, as you seem to state it.
It’s not
1. Untold suffering with allergies or
2. Apoquel
If you haven’t yet downloaded it, that free Apoquel Alternatives Report that I mention in this post tells you how you can cure this condition. Without harming your dog along the way.
Nothing in conventional medicine can cure allergies, and that’s true of all chronic disease in fact. Homeopathy offers that possibility, when done in the hands of a trained prescriber who can manage chronic disease. I describe how to hire one in that report.
If you’re interested.
My English bulldog has been on this med for a couple months. The skin and yeast allergies have now been under control. However, she has been in “heat” shortly after we started. A nasty smelling, bloody discharge for weeks. Talked to the vet about this causing the problem. She said no. And I could get meds to make the “heat” stop. Told me to call back in a few days if it didn’t get better. She stopped. Now about 2 weeks later we are at it again. Had discussed spaying to see if that would help. At this point she seem hesitate to spay her due to her breed and age. Still wondering if this med is to blame as we had no problems before?
Hey Melissa,
Any diagnosis as to the cause of this foul smelling discharge? Certainly not a normal heat, is it, to smell bad?
What we know is the immune system is being thwarted by Apoquel. That’s how it “turns off” the allergic itch. So, can it specifically just turn off this one piece of the complex immune system and not effect the rest of it? That’s the key question, and, with the number of reports of tumors popping up on dogs on this drugs, I think we have a good idea of the answer.
Infections could just as easily be a side effect of immune system impairment. And a stinky discharge sure sounds like something infectious is at play.
p.s. I not recommend spaying this dog, unless you are unwilling/able to work with a veterinary homeopath to cure the underlying disorder. Throwing a diseased organ in the waist basket is suppression at its worst.
If you look up Apoquel (oclacitinib) on drugs.com you will find everything there is to know about this poison. My sweet angel was killed by a veterinarian at VCA Brentwood animal hospital, she prescribed Apoquel 5.4 mg, 1 pill every 12 hours for 10 days and 1 pill every day thereafter, I just trusted her, never in million years was I going to think that she gave him poison. I usually look up medicines on internet for any side effects and this time I did not do it right away. I did later and I only read the first page that by the way was an ad from Zoetis , and they only list vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal problems, I did not dig deeper like I did when it was too late. He finished the pills and as soon as he did he started to become sick, he vomited once and no more, that is why I did not get alarmed, then he lost appetite, but he would get out of it, he would not eat one day, the following he did. I noticed his stomach trembling but then it would stop, so again, I did not get alarmed, days went by he would not cry, so I did not get the signal that anything was wrong. He always wanted to go for his walk, but the last two days of his life he was walking very slowly (I had already called the two vets that saw him about it and they did not tell me to bring him for a check up) These vets are just telling you to look for vomiting or diarrhea, and the side effects are so much more, like the one he developed, which is a mass near his heart coming from the spleen, his stomach got enlarged and he was bleeding from that mass because it erupted and blood was all over his lungs, I am so mad at myself that I could not stop this tragedy by not looking up this drug on the first day, to really researched the side effects, I am so mad that I could not protect him, I could not save him, I trusted this unethical veterinarian with the life of my precious sweet angel. I am devastated, I think Im going next, this pain is so terrible, he did not deserve all that pain they put him through, he did not deserve to die that way. Stay away from Apoquel, from CADI injections, yes , that vet had the nerve to still try to sell cadi injection when I called her to tell her he was not improving and I asked for something more natural. I have reported it to ASPCA, Zoetis, and FDA, But the FDA is just a mafia, I do not even think they will take it off the market unless there is a huge lawsuit against them. Apoquel is poison, pure poison, shame on Zoetis, shame on the FDA, shame on Dr. Kim Carvalho and Dr. Martin at VCA Brentwood animal hospital, shame on any veterinarian killing dogs for pure profit.
My 10.5 yo lab/dalmation mix has had skin allergies and severe hotspots for the last several years. We’ve changed her food to eliminate grains/gluten and that helped a little, but putting her on Apoquel for the last month has been a game changer. She has never had vaccinations and at her age and now that her hot spots are healed, we will continue with a daily 1/2 dose of Apoquel so she can be a happy and energetic dog with a good quality of life with the years she has left.
I have four dogs three GSD’s and one Staffy. I am aware of everything that I put in to both mine and my dogs bodies. I am budget to make sure that I am able to afford the best quality raw meat for my pets it is always free ranging animals and organic if possible no commercial dog food. The Staffy and my 13 year old German Shepherd have had vaccinations in the last 18 months but only because they are both rescue and it is required whilst in refuge. The Staffy is fine but in the time I have had the old Shep there has never been a day he has not scratched and every step he will lift a rear leg and scratch his stomach as he has dislocated hips he then stumbles. I did try apoquel on him but after two weeks there was no difference so I ceased its use. I also have a 6 year old rescue GSD who at the moment is covered , literally, in oozing sores or infected scabs. His ears are infected and he can not be touched and he is scratching at his eyes. I have been to our natropathic vet and tried vinegar, manuka honey and a score of other things to ease his discomfort as well as changing his food around to see if one meat base was better than another. Today I have given in and am about to order apoquel. I have no chemicals in my house no flyspray no carpets and all my clothes are washed in a laundry wash that is organic. He had tried apoquel briefly when he finished of the older dogs script after first being checked at the vets. I refuse to use any chemicals for ticks or fleas on his body and instead do a nightly check.. This dogs joy in life is sheepherding and after stopping over the heat of summer his skin has not improved and he is miserable and moans a lot. So tomorrow I will collect his apoquel and I will use it just to give him some relief. I have tried all that has been recommended holistically. I am worried about using it but he can not continue the way he is. We will also be researching a different environment for him where climate may make a difference and sell up and move if need be.
My dog has sensitivity and its been an on and off problem. this past year has been awful however, and EVERY vet I went to prescribed him so much sh** to take I know his immune system is super off now. Turns out, if the first vet had just given him dewormer, he would have cleared up instantly, along with some good shampoo for the skin. She wanted me to pay around $4-600 for all this and that. I’m at a loss what to do now, I looked up other medicines such as this Apoquel, and I’m outraged at this whole Western ideal of “creating patients”. Seems this drug, and many high priced vets only want patients to keep returning rather than actually helping. Mr. Will Falconer, do you have any sensible recommendations?? I rub my boy down with coconut oil to help but his inflamed red belly flares up all too often.
I’m so confused by all the diet fads, and whats actually is good what isn’t. Is the diet a good place to start? like this hypoallergenic food: http://www.wysong.net/anergen
That’s a fine place to start, but even better is balanced raw food, Shannon, leaning away from common allergens as I mentioned in the report. Nothing about a kibble matches what a dog is “genetically expecting,” to paraphrase Dr. Wysong. They’ve evolved from prey eating wolves. Imitate that diet and you could well see a significant improvement in itch.
Hey Shannon,
Yes: download that Apoquel Alternatives Report, linked in the article. You’ll get to cure by hiring a homeopathic vet, and I spell out how to find the best ones, either near or far (as far away as your phone? that’s not far at all).
Nothing Dr. WhiteCoat offers you can cure chronic disease, and that’s what you’re deep into now with this guy. Homeopathy can get him back out of that ditch with time, patience, and attention to details on your part.
All the best to you and your guy.
My pitbull/mix at 6 months old when getting spayed, I was told she had a skin infection and she was put on antibiotics and prednisone this continued till she was 4, the vet changed her meds from prednisone to aproquel which he told me it could affect her auto immune system but not likely, sure it worked within hours but 2 months later she went paralized we rushed her to vet after vet by now she was completely mobile and the doc said she would need to see a nuerologist, we headed off to Buffalo specialty vet clinic and after an MRI she was diagnoises with an auto immune disease. I told them about the aproquel and they had her on predisone this was on a Saturday and Monday we picked her up and she was walking on all four. She had a very long recovery and next month will be one year and she is doing well, but still has many skin issues. Please do not put your babies on this terrible medicing
My dog was on it for 18 weeks. She went off just before Valentine’s Day and has a problem walking ever since. She hunches over and kinda tip toes. BUT then she will run and play like normal. Do you think it could be from the Apoquel? The vet thought spurs on her spine, another is looking into UTI. I am at a loss!
Hard to know, Chris. Well worth some diagnostic effort to see why she’s in this state.
I have a 2 year old Shih Tzu named “Chewie”, he had been licking and biting his underarm n paws till they bleed, we took him to the vet so often he is now afraid to get into a car. We tried EVERYTHING to get this Nader control, with no relief. We then tried the med prednisolone, along with antibiotics for the infection, as you know this is only temporary . After doing all the tests and research we then started him on Apolquel, yes as in an medication long term use isn’t a good thing, but his quality of life is a top priority. That being said, he a total different animal ! He’s not itching or biting and is a charming lil guy now. Can it be harmful long term ? Only time will tell, but to have hm suffer day n night until we can figure out what to do is not the right thing to do either. So, we have to weigh the risk vs reward for each animal , then , make a well educated decision on what path to take. He has had a tough road so far with having 3 major operations in his first year of life ( he had undergone a liver shunt operation as well as 2 other major operations that cost my family well over $15,000 that we had to scrap up by selling my car, and other things) but, this lil guy means so much to me, I did what I could for him. Are we suffering for his health? Yes, so, for as long as we have him, I don’t want him to suffer day n night , Apoquel has saved him from the agony of unnecessary itching…. hope this ma help one way or another for someone that puts their pets health a top priority if you are going to have them in the first place……….thank you for your time…. Michael….
Thank you for this information. I have a 4 year old West Highland Terrier and she just developed an itch where she has chewed the hair off her rump in three places. This itching is new just in the last couple of weeks. Other Westie owners have recommended this drug. Im not a big believer in giving my dogs lots of vaccinations and medications as the breeder told me that it shortens their life by several years in his experience. I only give her rabies shots as required by law after her intitial puppy vaccines. I don’t allow her to go to dog parks or be around other dogs except my other dog. In fact the groomer doesn’t crate dogs in the shop and you have to bring your dogs in right at the appointment time and pick them up right on time so they don’t interact with the other dogs. I have a vet appointment for her next week but I have been trying to make some enviornmental changes which seem to be helping. I told the groomer to ONLY use hypoallergenic shampoo on her and I have changed the shampoo at home, she eats turkey, peas and sweet potatoes. In this past week the hair has started to grow back slowly. Any other suggestions?
I agree with what most have said about vaccinating your dogs but you can’t board them or take them to daycare without them so that leaves me a prisoner to vaccinating my dogs. I honestly don’t believe my dogs will EVER get rabies or distemper since I don’t live out in the country and the only thing I believe they need is heartworm testing each year ( I keep them on Heart guard)
I posted my story here on 10/19/16. Since then I’ve been torn about what to do. Ramona’s “spot” was always about the size if a quarter in the past. It came back with a vengeance and now covers a good 3 square inches on her flank. I am SO tempted to just buy the damn drug that cleared it up so beautifully.
It was put to me as the best thing since steroids, without the life-shortening and physical side effects. Our Lab had steroid injections for the last half of his life, 2-3 times a year, and lived to be just shy of 15 (really old for a Lab) even though we were always warned of the dangers.
Ramona has never been given steroids – should I go to them as the lesser evil? She’s 9 yrs old and still behaves like a puppy – playful, full of spunk and energy, no signs of, age whatsoever (perfect vision and hearing, etc.). I’m just torn.
And by the way, she doesn’t gnaw at the area, she seems to barely know it’s there. But it’s spreading fast …
Hi Deb,
It’s important to know that you are really wanting to cure the underlying disease that’s manifesting in this very external spot on the flank. Drugs cannot effect cure, this one, steroids, antibiotics, anti- anything. Not within their reach.
And every time they are used, the external symptom disappears for a spell (usually a shorter and shorter spell with each use), while the deeper disease slowly advances.
See my Apoquel Alternatives Report, linked to in this article. Answers are there.
All the best in this. You’re not alone in experiencing this, but you can step out of this dangerous medical paradigm and expect a completely different and decidedly better outcome than the average person experiences on a regular basis.
I am a professional dog groomer of 20+ yrs experience. My business is now located next to my house. So, my 3 dogs ( a yellow lab, a boxer, and a King Charles) are all with me in my shop all day, every day. Since they are all exposed to other dogs on a daily basis, you would think that they could be subjected to any number of dog-transmitted problems. However, the only problem I have encountered was last year when they were exposed to kennel cough. My King Charles’ did not get it because his treatment must have been more current than the other 2 dogs. But, both my boxer and yellow lab got it. So, I am more careful now to make sure that they are current on their kennel cough treatments. But, I do think that the annual injections for rabies, parvo, etc. have caused the immune deficiency in my yellow lab. My last yellow lab never had a skin problem when she was in America, where I lived. She didn’t develop a skin problem until she came here and was made to have yearly injections. Back then the only treatment was steroids. That’s what ended her life. Her liver shut down after months of treatment and she bloated up to the point she nearly exploded. Since she was already very overweight, it was not as noticeable as it should have been. When I finally contacted the vet, it was too late — they couldn’t drain all the fluid out of her before she died. Anyhow, I was adamant that I would never again subject any of my animals to steroid treatment. Apoquel was the non-steroid treatment that my vet suggested for our Maggie. Since she has been on the Apoquel, all of her hair has grown back and the smell of her is gone. However, lately I have found that the cost of it is not within what we can maintain, therefore, I have had her off the medication for the past week. But, since she has been off the Apoquel, the itching is restarting. So, I have had to search out other suppliers of this drug for her.
My chocolate Labrador is allergic to 3 different types of grass, oats and house mites. She was chewing her feet to the point she made her pads bleed and could barely walk they were so sore. She’s been on apoquel since 2014 with no problem. Itching/chewing is still under control, weight remains the same and she hasn’t displayed any of the side affects that others describe. She isn’t immunised, hasn’t been since she was a pup and she’s 7 now so the apoquel is the only thing in her system, not sure if that’s why she seems to be okay on it.
Two year old black Lab female spent her first summer with bumps on her face, neck, itching, staph, bacterial infections and drugs. Spectrum allergy test showed grasses/trees in mid 100s. Spent the winter doing acupuncture. Did phosphorus homeopathy. Second spring brought more itching, shedding. Started Apoquel. Dog no longer seems to get relief. Itching and shedding all summer, but no bumps, no antibiotics. Puppy vax x3, booster of parvo/distemper only, rabies at 9 months. Titers are all high. On a raw diet since 7 weeks. I don’t want to do allergy shots. Any other suggestions? Thank you!
I just had to chime in here, and this is worth the read!!
My 14 yr old healer had flair up after flair up of skin problems when I lived on the East Coast for 3 years. I attributed it to allergies and/or the fact that I had to give her heart worm and Advantix II while I lived there. My vet would give her antibiotics and it would clear up, only to come back again.
I moved back to the SW and she was fine for about a month. Then she flared up again. Once again, she was prescribed antibiotics and also an anti fungal shampoo. No improvement.
Today, I took her to a different vet who prescribed Apoquel. I asked about the side effects, etc.. He told me how this drug “turns off” the itch receptor in the brain. Of course I was concerned about masking the underlying problem by giving my dog drugs. HOWEVER, previously, my dog would lick and chew until I put the cone of shame on her. Once I put the cone on, she wouldn’t even bother trying to lick. as soon as I would take the cone off, she would gnaw again.
My dog hasn’t licked or gnawed at all tonight, and I have only given her one dosage. So, long story short: My dog NEEDS to have her lick/chew receptor turned off. It is a habit for her. I will keep you updated. 🙂
I will also add: PLEASE make sure your vet gets a correct weight on your dog for dosage. Do not let it be guesstimated!!
Hello all,
I hope everyone that is thinking about using Apoquel for their pup reads my story in hopes of getting this horrendous drug off the market. (Like that will ever happen, right big pharma?)
Shortly after picking up my baby German shepherd Blaze for the very first time in 2010 from the breeder we noticed every allergy symptom known to man. As each year passed it got worse and worse, spending thousands of dollars (yes, I said thousands) trying to cure it or even put it at bay so he wasn’t entirely miserable. We settled with him on a maintenance, low dose of Prednisone. (Another nasty, nasty medicine) This made him gain a lot of weight, but hey he wasn’t scratching till he bled anymore right?
In 2015 we finally ended our 6 month wait to get him on Apoquel, this “amazing, wonder drug”! I picked up his prescription with happy tears a flowing, thinking this is the end of his pain from allergies. I gave him his very first dose of Apoquel on July 17th, 2015. That night he was in EXTREME pain. Couldn’t lay down without screaming! Would not eat or drink a single thing. He was no longer my baby Blaze. This drug took everything from him, and me. We spent the night in the E.R and spent 2,800 on testing, and were sent home with no answers. 4 hours later, my 5 year old baby boy passed away in my arms at home. We had a necropsy done on him and that too, came back inconclusive. My perfectly healthy 5 year old German Shepherd was taken from me from a stupid 5$ pill.
Blaze wouldn’t want any other fur babies to be taken from this beautiful life, like he did.
Our 9 yr old pit bull Ramona has a long history of skin issues; from my understanding, pitties are susceptible to skin problems. Recently she developed – almost overnight – a scaley, raw, red, oozing patch on her flank about the size of a quarter. It quickly grew and we took her to the vet, who gave her an injection with a high dose antibiotic and sent us home with Apoquel 16mg. As instructed we gave her 1/2 tablet twice daily for 10 days. The infection cleared beautifully, her fur grew back in, and again as instructed we put her on a “maintenance” dose of 1/2 tablet per day. The vet said she may need it for the rest of her life, which we’d hoped wouldn’t be true as we paid $80 for 25 tablets.
This clinic is probably the most expensive one in our area, and on my way out I asked the vet assistant if this was one of those drugs we could get at our own pharmacy at a cheaper price. She said she’d check but I never heard back.
We’re now a little over a month out since her visit to the vet. The itching is starting again, and the infected patch is back in the same spot. I found your article when I searched to see if this is something we can get OTC or at Walgreens {it appears we can) but now I’m worried about this miracle cure. It worked so well and so quickly, I really hoped we’d found the answer at last. I’m just so disappointed, and frustrated.
I’ve found Apoquel to be a miracle for halting hives due to allergies in my Basenji. However, I am wondering if there is any connection to an exacerbation of IBS type symptoms after stopping Apoquel (possibly due to immunological issues). Twice now within about 6 – 8 days after stopping Apoquel, my dog had a severe bout of diarrhea, vomiting, loss of apetite requiring iv treatment for dehydration and antibiotics. Could be coincidence or not????? He was only on the Apoquel for a couple of weeks – just long enough to get allergy symptoms under control. He has always had a “sensitive” digestive tract, so we could be looking at other issues – IPSID or EPI or IBS or IBD. (Or he’s a sensitive boy…?) And how would apoquel play in to any of these? The tests for some of these are more expensive than I am able to handle right now, so doing the best we can with management and process of elimination.
This is all so disturbing. My Maltese has Addison’s disease so he is on percortin and can not take additional steroid for his chronic itching. Apoquel has been the only thing that has brought him comfort. I have had the same vet for 30 years and he loves my dogs and I have a hard time believing he would give me something that would harm my baby Elvis.
I must DISAGREE about the (-) comments that APOQUEL is generating here. “Loki” my 11 y/o Miniture Pinscher has developed severe allergies since moving to Florida 6 years ago from NJ. Loki NEVER had any problems in NJ i.e., no itching, scratching like crazy, biting his feet, etc. When we moved to Florida, his troubles began. He would chew his feet until they bled…he would scratch and scratch and more scratching until his hair started to fall out. It was recommended to us about an Allergy Vet 90 miles away from where were live. We made an appointment. The Vet did all the tests and it came back with a report showing that Loki was highly allergic to the grasses here in Florida. Well…can’t tear up the lawn, so we decided to go the route of injections. Fine…That worked for about three months and then..WHAM ! his breakouts came out worse. Now what to do. About a year ago our Vet told us about APOQUEL and the results…But…there was such high demand at the time for APOQUEL that the meds were being “rationed” i.e., so many pills according to how bad the allergies were. Loki was in the top three so he got a little extra. Finally, the meds became available and Loki is like a new Min Pin. NO ADVERSE REACTIONS AT ALL. His feet went back to “normal”…The occasional itch behind the ears…no chewing…his coat is back to normal and nice and shiny black. Say what you want but Loki, if he could “talk” would say that he is a “new Loki”…he’s more active, even walks on the grass now. Before he would only walk on the concrete pavers we had. He went out of his way to walk on the pavers. Now, he even ROLLS in the grass !!! For Loki it was a game changer. And “knock on dog bones” he continues to be one happy Min Pin….THANKS to APOQUEL…
Hey Linda,
There’s nothing to “disagree” about here: what you’ve read are also people’s real experiences after using the drug. They aren’t opinions. They happened.
The fact you aren’t seeing similar side effects is all you can say. So far. Let us know in a year if that’s still your experience, eh?
Chris,
I have a similar situation w/my lab. She had seasonal allergies that make her miserable during pollen season but once we get a hard frost, it’s done for the winter. After doing everything else I could think of and would allow the vet to do I finally got the apoquel last summer. I followed the recommended 16mgx2 daily for a couple of days. Like you I had researched and found that it is not a good drug and can certainly create many other issues. So, I began breaking the 16mg pills in half and tried that dose. It kept her itch free so than I tried 8mgx1 daily and when that worked I went to as needed. I also give her 4life transfer factor and have used anti itch shampoos, vinegar, coconut oil, krill oil, she eats raw food and we try to stick to “cool” foods. When her itching began to ramp up this summer I started her on 8mg as needed but try to be sure she goes @ least 24 hours between doses. For the most part she can go 36-48 hours and sometimes even more between doses. We have learned to live w/some itching and found ways to help her to refocus and calm down when she begins to obsess w/the itching. We are nearing the end of the season now and although it is a process and sometimes very time consuming, she is able to enjoy her active self and continue her most loved activities outdoors regardless of the pollen load. I know the apoquel is problematic & honestly I do hate giving it to her but so far with the way we are administering it, we have not seen any issues. I do keep close check on her physical well being. We all have to live with the choices we make and do our best as guardians of our pets. I work all winter to build her immune system before the next pollen flies. Best of luck to you and your shepherd. I know how trying the situation can be!
My German Shepherd has been suffering from itching for almost a year now. He got so bad I had to take him to the vet because his hair was so greasy and he stunk so bad and his skin was all red and inflamed, and he started losing his hair in clumps. She put him on an antibiotic and an anti-fungal shampoo. He cleared up very quickly, but then slowly but surely it started to come back. I used to take him to be professionally groomed once a month, but he would become so greasy and stinky, he started needing to be bathed once a week. I started doing it myself. I put him on probiotics, enzymes, fish oil…none of it has helped. Finally, last week, his skin was so red again and the itching had become almost non-stop, I took him to a different vet. She put him on Apoquel and an anti-biotic. He started the Apoquel last Saturday night and almost immediately he had relief from the itching. I kept him on the recommended dose for 4 days (every 12 hours), but in the meantime, had researched and learned about how it compromises the immune system over time, and knew I wanted him off of it as soon as possible. As of Thursday, he was not itching at all, so I decreased the dose down to 1x a day at night, same thing Friday, and then Saturday did not give it at all. Today, Sunday, he’s been doing great. He had very little itching both yesterday and today. Obviously, I still don’t know the cause, and I will be seeking out some testing and possibly a dermatologist to determine that. But, I have to saw, I’m glad for the Apoquel, because it did give him immediate relief at least until his skin infection could start to clear up. One other thing I did find was something called Immune Strengthener by Only Natural Pet. It contains Rishi, Shitake and some other herbs and antioxidants. He started that last Saturday also. I don’t know if that has been why he is not continually itching now that I’ve taken him off the Apoquel, but I do have to wonder if the mushrooms have helped him. I also changed the brand of enzyme and probiotic. Am now giving him MiracleZyme, which is a combination of both enzymes and probiotics and also Brewer’s yeast.
My Chihuahua had her first (and only) injection of Apoquel in July and within the last 15 days has developed what appears to be Lymphoma (her nodes are really swollen… and we just had the biopsy sample taken today).
Has anyone else seen similar problems with this drug and lymph node issues? As one could imagine, I’m INSANELY worried right now.
I am very sorry to hear your dog has swollen lymph nodes. My dog was on Apoquel for only 10 months and it stopped the itching BUT he developed tumours, swollen lymph nodes and was diagnosed with Lymphoma. He was given 21 days to live. The vet put him on steroids which helped and he was on a raw diet for the last year of his life. I had him euthanized 3 months later as he was in pain. He was only 2 weeks shy of his 10th birthday. I hate the vet for not advising me of the side effects of an immune suppressing drug. I researched the drug trial papers online and couldn’t believe my eyes. Vets should not be prescribing this drug at all.
Less is more. tl;dr
My pit and bull dog mix is 8 months old. The vet prescribed BOTH the 16mg and a 5.4mg. My dog is extremely ill. He is losing his hair, vomits, has red bumps all over him now. The original 1 inch spot, that was irritated, which is why he went to the vet, has become a huge ring all the way around his neck. I believe it is from the Apoquel. And, now I do not trust the vet.
Kay, I am so sorry to hear what your young dog is going through. Definitely get him off the Apoquel and be sure to sign in and get this download report from Dr. Falconer. Wishing your pup a fast recovery.
https://vitalanimal.com/thanks-apoquel-alternatives/
Oh, I don’t even know where to start setting Jeanie the vet tech straight. And maybe it is not for me to do so. But rather have her do better research and investigation rather than regurgitate info from drug and prescription food companies whose stake in animal wellbeing and health is limited to bottom line benefit.
So, for starters Jeanie, read the well written comments from Joyce above. Very good information with lots of good tidbits for you to then follow up and do some more research. If you are a scientist as implied by your comment of being a vet tech, you surely know that forming a hypothesis and then proving that doesn’t always take the path you think it will.
You know Jeanie, you could be an extremely valuable asset to your vet clinic and the clients you serve if you would take the time to follow up finding out really good information to share with your veterinarians to pass along rather than just being one to repeat what you have been told. Yes, it takes time. And, no, you probably won’t agree with all that you find that is contrary to what you have been taught, choose to believe, or have embraced for maybe years or a life time. But open minds, questioning minds are the most brilliant and most helpful to others.
Most of us who have taken the time to investigate, test, trial, and learn differently don’t mind a rousing debate as it make us all better informed. But please don’t insist that only conventional medicine has the wrap on animal health and wellness. I would have to say quite the contrary. Conventional medicine might well serve us better as the “medicine of last resort” rather than the place to start. Look to nature for health and wellness.
1.) As a vet tech, I will say that I have seen many clients satisfied with the results of Apoquel. Since it is an immunomodulator, its only common sense that it should be used in caution in geriatric pets, or pets with any previously diagnosed chronic conditions, and proper preventive diagnostics should be ran before placing even a healthy dog on such a medication. As with ANY medication there are some patients who are not good candidates for certain medications for variable reasons, and it is a decision to be made between you and your DVM. Ask questions, explore your options.
2.) Grain free diets are the pet food industries way of making money off of consumers. Most dogs with food allergies are actually allergic to the proteins commonly used in commercial dog food (chicken, beef, salmon). Prescription hypoallergenic foods (diets backed by years of clinical trials and scientific research) contain “select” or hyrolyzed proteins, usually from venison, duck, rabbit, etc. While there are dogs who are sensitive to grains, it is quite uncommon. A true food allergy has to be determined by food trials of eating certain diets EXCLUSIVELY for a minimum of 8 weeks each, or testing by a dermatologist.
3.) In otherwise healthy animals, routine vaccinations don’t tend to cause long term skin issues. Local swelling/tenderness is not uncommon, and older vaccinations could at times cause localized hairloss at the injection site, but have since been replaced by better vaccines. DAPP can be given every 3 years (or more) in adults. Rabies protocol depends on the county in which you live. Bordetella (kennel cough), depends on your dogs exposure to other dogs in high volume situations, as kennel cough is much like the flu — you may get vaccinated for the year, but can contract a strain that the vaccine didn’t cover. Prevention of things like parvo and distemper in puppies can save you hundreds of dollars in medical bills when comparing the money needed to treat those illnesses. Plus even with hospitalization, your puppy may end up dying anyways. The cost of mandatory quarantine of a non rabies vaccinted pet, will certainly cost you more than the vaccine (owner of pet is responsible for cost of quarantine). Not to mention the fun process that follows quarantine period if a pet displays suspicious behavior: euthanasia, have his head cut off, and send his brain to be tested for rabies. THEN! if the brain tissue test positive for rabies, anyone exposed has to go for a series of post exposure rabies vaccinations that are quite expensive (about $1300 before insurance, good luck if your provider will cover it!). Oh! And if leptospirosis vaccines (depending on your area) conflict with your holistic, anti-vax views, I have one word for you: zoonosis! Thats right, if Fido contracts lepto, it can be easily transmitted to humans — resulting in renal failure, liver failure, meningitis, or even death. As much as we would all LOVE to be holistic and all natural in the things we do for ourselves and our pets, sometimes modern science overcomes and serves a better purpose.
Oh Jeanie, I am not sure where to begin. While Apoquel may start out seemingly like a magic pill, that takes away the problems of itching, I’m afraid it’s turning off the immune system, which over time is a a real problem.
There are a couple of ways you can look at the problem.
The first way, merely covers up, masking the symptoms, all the while putting a damper on the immune system.
Look at it this way, if a fire breaks out in a school, if you go turn off the alarm, will that stop the fire from burning?
Of course not. I’m afraid giving
Apoquel for a terribly itchy dog, is a lot like turning off the alarm.
So what is itchy skin really a sign of? It’s a sign of an immune system that has gone haywire, alarm bells are sounding, something is not right here.
So the second way of dealing with our problem is to see what might be setting these alarms off in the first place.
We know that vaccines confer immunity, from one single vaccine. Giving repeated vaccines to an already unwell dog, is like pouring gasoline on that fire. First step is stop vaccinating. As a vet tech, I’m sure you’ve read the fine print on the vaccine manufacturers label. Vaccines are only to be given to healthy animals.
As for the diet, those prescription diets with hydrolized proteins are micronized so small, the body doesn’t recognize them as allergen. But again, we know that highly processed foods offer no legitamate nutrition.
High heat denatures the proteins, and all those sprayed on synthetic vitamins are likely toxic over time as well.
Grains? Well, again carnivores simply weren’t meant to consume them.
You’ll never see a wolf or coyote snacking on a cob of corn.
If you really want to help these animals to true wellness, no need to look any further than this website.
It’s loaded with all the answers. You really should consider taking some of Dr. Falconer’s online courses when they become available.
I’d suggest starting with the one, Avoiding Vaccine Damage first.
Just remember always keep an open mind when learning new information. Just because it is different than what you were taught in vet tech school, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. Quite the contrary.
First off Joyce, dogs are omnivores not carnivores. And if hydrolyzed diets are devoid of all nutrition, as you state, how then do you explain dogs that thrive when on this diet for many years? If they weren’t getting any nutrition, then they would all die as your theory claims, right? Lastly, compare the life span of a wild dog or wolf with that of a domestic dog on a hydrolyzed diet and vaccines every 3 years. Yeah, you guessed it, the domestic dog lives on average 2 times as long. Explain that, Joyce.
I totally disagree with your comment. Please do not EVER give your dog this drug. I just had to put my Labrador Retriever down with lymphoma, just 2 weeks short of his 10th birthday. My dog developed allergies when he was 3 yrs old. He had many expensive tests done including blood work, allergy block testing done at 3 different vets (2 of which were skin specialists). One of the specialist vets tried him for 10 months on Immunotherapy injections with no success. The 2nd specialist vet, who also offered homepathic treatments, told me that I should stop giving booster vaccinations. He explained that puppy vaccinations last for 20 yrs and that annual booster shots are totally unnecessary and that they can actually trigger allergies. We moved location 2 yrs ago and our new vet offered Apoquel saying it was an excellent drug. She said the only thing we would have to do is get blood work done every 6 months to monitor his liver function. 6 months into using Apoquel, he developed a small tumor on his neck which they surgically removed and said it was benign. He developed a 5 inch hard round tumour on the inside of his hind leg. He developed another small tumour on his side (the same as the one on the neck). At this point he had been on Apoquel for 10 months. I looked up Apoquel on the internet and I told my vet that I was absolutely horrified when I read that the drug was only trialed for 30 days and that MANY dogs had died from cancer and other breakdowns of their internal organs due to their immune system being suppressed. She was angry that I had researched it online, so I changed my vets practice. This drug shuts down the auto immune system which can cause cancer! Our new vet tried Cytopoint but that made him red and itchy. I switched him to raw diet 1 year before he died and it helped a lot. At age 9-1/2 yrs old he developed swollen lymph nodes and I was told he had Lymphoma with around 21 days to live. My vet prescribed Prednidale Steroids which gave him another 3 months. We loved our dog dearly and spent more than £15,000 on his treatment over the years. Please don’t give this drug to ANY dog as it has killed too many dogs.
I have a Hairless Chinese Crested who’s turning 9 next month. He’s been on apoquel for almost 6 months now, 1/2 of a 5.whatever tablet 2x/day. Initially the results were incredible. We’ve been battling issues that he developed almost 3 years ago now. Until the apoquel, he was on prednisone, several antihistamines, 3 different kinds of medicated shampoos, moisturizing shampoos, probiotic powders, SEVERAL food diet changes that cost a fortune….you name it, I tried it. My poor guy would literally bite chunks out of his skin, destroy his skin itching and scratching, constantly covered in scabs or hives…..it was absolutely horrendous. He was miserable, we were miserable, and I was broke trying to figure out what was going on. We would cry each other to sleep.
Fast forward to today: apoquel for ~6 months, only med. Been on a raw food diet for 6 months, which I make myself. I use only pasture-fed ground beef/no antibiotics/etc etc, and buy the vitamin/mineral mix from knowbetterpetfood.com. He gets non-fat plain yougurt/or keifer daily with an assortment of fresh fruits for his dose of probiotics and antioxidants. I make his own treats, either dehydrated sweet potato chips or I make little cookies using almond or coconut flour (OATMEAL IS A GRAIN PEOPLE). ———- He is starting to show signs that the apoquel is no longer working like it used to. Started scratching and broke skin about 3 weeks ago. Also noticed that he’s developed these tiny little round bumps randomly around his body, about the size of a dime, perfectly round. The vet seems to think they’re just cysts. My reaction – hell no, he didn’t have these prior to the meds, I want him off of it. I know that it’s an immune inhibitor and I’ve been researching to find holistic approaches to address the underlying issue. Consulting with a holistic vet, who recommended bovine colostrum, which he’ll be starting today.
The greatest thing I’ve learned throughout this journey so far is DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE. It’s absolutely daunting when you see how much information is out there to learn, but if you’re anything like me, there’s just not enough to learn that can save my four-legged kid and lead him on the right path to living a healthier and happier life!! If I can make these strides of change in just as little as 6 months, I believe everyone else can too. Get out there and ask those hard questions!
A couple months ago, I took my dog to the vet to take care of a hot spot on her tail (from an injury we missed). My regular vet was not available and so I had a different vet. My dog, only 2.5 years old, already has a history of sensitivity to drugs – vaccines, flea meds, anaethesia, pain meds – and I made sure the clinic listed it on their records for all vets to see.
Did that stop the sub vet from pushing drugs? Nope! She prescribed not only antibiotics, but Apoquel as well, and even prednisone! I asked about the Apoquel, “Are there any side effects?” Nope, none, she said, only if they’re on it long term, then it can cause cancer (that should have been a red flag to me). I said about 3 times that my dog is sensitive to meds, and that the week before she had a vaccine for kennel cough, then Sentinel 5 days later which caused her to vomit. And the vet kept pushing the drugs anyway, even though we were already using 2 different topical for it. I relented, trusting the vet heard my concerns and took my dog’s history into consideration with this treatment plan.
24 hours later I finally read up on Apoquel. I was LIVID to learn not only does it have side effects but it also works by interfering with the immune system, AND is targeted for dogs with all over itching/allergies. I had already given my dog 2 pills of it, and she was showing signs of nausea – lethargic, panting, drooling. The Apoquel was completely unnecessary and over the top.
I wrote a very stern and upset email to the clinic, and demanded I get my money back for the pills since they should have never been prescribed in the first place. It took a while for me and my vet to finally speak, and she allowed me to return the meds.
I like my vet, especially the way she handles my pets, and we’ve had very blunt conversations about my view of drugs. But I am seeking a more holistic one. The clinic is a huge drug pusher, and it’s pretty much just drugs or nothing. No other alternative is offered.
I can understand how a med like Apoquel can be a relief for certain dogs, but my dog had A SINGLE HOT SPOT. Just one. Not all over. Not bleeding or scratching or staying up all night chewing her fur all over. One. Hot. Spot. What kind of veterinarian prescribes a drug like that for a hot spot??
But the sliver lining was the Apoquel that led me to this website, so thanks Dr Falconer for all this info! It’s given me some alternatives to my dog’s constant drugging, and I’m planning to stop my dog’s Sentinel after the summer is done, which hopefully means only one more pill, then never again!
Works well for my dog. My dog gets allergies late July/Early August every year. I put him on Apoquel for 1-2 months and it gets him through. The itching stops. No side effects that I have noticed!
I’ve been giving my dog Apoquel for about a month now, Yes, the crazy itching that kept us up both at night stop immediately. We live in a wooded area where there is a lot of poison Ivy and Oak. I thought that this was contributing to the itch, so when he came in from his walk I would wash his paws and under side. This helped for a bit but the itching got worst. So the Vet. started him on this wonder medication, however, I started to notice some odd behaviors, not right away but it’s getting worst.
First he cries out for no go reason, and then I notice that he refuses to walk outside. I take him for walks about 3 to 4 times a day to get his business done. He loves to walk; currently he just goes out to the front of the property and stops. Now he a big dog, he weighs about 80 lb. I have to drag him to walk down the road so he can do his business if he refused to walk I just bring him back. Then he starts that he has to go out again, and again when I take him out he refused to go this can go on all day. One day I took him out about 10 times within an hour and an half. Mind you he get excited when I pick up his leash like always but once we get to the end of the property he freezes.
The other night I forgot to give him his medication, and I notice that we went out for our usual walk the next morning and he was back to normal there was no coaching or dragging the whole day. Last night I resumed his medication and this morning we were back to the same coaching and dragging refusing to walk.
Wow, Julianna, couldn’t be much clearer that the drug is causing the problem, could it? He’s not making any of this up, right?
I’d get him off it and get a homeopathic vet hired to get him cured without risk. See my Apoquel Alternatives Report above for how to best find help.
All the best to you.
My dog has been on apoquel for about 3 months now. The improvement was astonishing… He had been basically bald & at times would tear himself up itching to the point of bleeding & infection. He’s now covered in fur (something we’ve never seen bc we adopted him as the bald, stinky, itchy dog) & no itching. But… To me it seems he’s aged years within the 3 months. And he’s more lethargic than usual (he’s always been low-key). And now he has a strange growth on his pawpad the size of kidney bean & what appears to be a wart on his toe. We are taking him to get these checked Friday. I’m wondering if it’s because of this “miracle drug” as our vet called it (&it has seemed to be). But honestly, we’re broke. We can’t afford a holistic vet. I’m already anxious about what the visit Friday is going to cost & what will ensue from the visit. It’s not a cost priority issue, it’s a “we ain’t got no money” issue (right now). I’m scared for my dog, he’s the best dog I’ve every known & i love him dearly… I don’t know what to do.
Hey Jennifer,
This sure sounds familiar, as you’ll see if you read other comments here. Tumors in general grow when the immune system is suppressed. Be they benign, like warts and oral papillomas (which I seem to be hearing a lot from Apoquel users), they are red flag.
As to your options, see the dietary guidelines I included in the free Apoquel Alternatives Report linked above. Needn’t be expensive, but could bear nice fruit for you.
Keep us posted. We’ve got our fingers crossed for you!
It appears that this drug has nearly cost my dog his life! He had an adverse reaction and his body started killing off his platelets. He became extremely lethargic and had MASSIVELY blood shot eyes (looked like red food dye was dropped in his eyes). After excessive testing, we found some fluid filled lesions around his kidneys.
While we can not 100% confirm, it happened at the exact time he took the medication. It is the only thing that was different for my dog. He is a HEALTHY 13 year old Cairn Terrier that has not had any previous health issues.
This drug does stop the itching yet, the side effects seem to be unknown. In the testing of the drug, many of the placebo dogs dropped out of the study so, the results appear to be skewed.
Investigating and vet is reporting this episode to the drug company.
Wow, Tony, I’m glad they were able to save his life. This was autoimmune disease (attacking one’s own cells), and the drug is a known immune suppressor. Perhaps “immune confuser” is a more apt label? Guessing itch would be far preferable to bleeding to death.
Thanks for sharing this with us. And be sure to download that free Apoquel Alternatives report above to get the real thing working for you. It’s called cure, and no drug on the planet can provide that.
I have an almost ten year old shiba that started having very bad allergies when he was around seven. It started with him chewing at his paws, and then scratching at his face, and within a few weeks he had no zero fur around his eyes, his sides, or his paws. After trying what felt like every elimination diet, every vet prescribed food, every swap of any sort of cleaning/detergent/product, every steroid, oatmeal bath, medicated shampoos, paw wipes – nothing helped. He lived in an e-collar for about a year and a half, until eventually I found a dermatologist, ran a test, and on a scale of 1-5 he popped up at a 4 for basically every plant and insect, as well as human dander and rabbits.
Apoquel has been the only thing that’s helped him – I guess we’re about two years into it. It started with a pill a day, and now we’re doing half a pill every other day. Bloodwork every 6 months, always within normal limits. His energy is up, his fur is the best I’ve ever seen it. I’ve seen zero negative side effects.
Julie,
I just want to add that I do the same dose w/my 8 yr old yellow lab as you are doing. She has bad seasonal allergies for which I have found no real solution. My vet gave us the apoquel last summer with the prescribed dose of 16 mg twice/day. I am such a minimalist w/meds that after the first day I felt we could use less so began breaking the tablets in half and that evolved into the 8mg dose and stretching it out as long as possible. At times she doesn’t get terribly itchy for a week but in the midst of summer I can stretch in only about 48 hours. I do this with trepidation but I also have to do something to keep her comfortable and functional. I also do every topical and dietary thing I can think of or find from others……she has eaten raw food since I got her @ 1 yr of age, gets coconut oil, raw coconut, krill oil, montmorilonite clay, takes transfer factor, along with topical oils, baths, etc……. The thing is, it’s not just topical, it’s systemic and nothing I have done has “fixed” her system. So, once the pollen flies here in the spring, the problems begin. As soon as there’s a hard freeze in the fall, it ceases to be an issue. For the time being I have had to weigh the options and risks and without other solutions I have chosen to give a minimal dose of apoquel on a minimal basis and with everything else we do, hope for the best. It’s a short period of time we dose her and it allows her to have a normal, active and fun life. Looking for a vet to do homeopathy for us has proven to be unsuccessful thusfar. So, for the time being I think we are all doing the best we can, with reservations.
Hey Laurie, that sentence encapsulates it well. It’s a systemic disorder, most often brought about by vaccination, even one, but more chances with multiple vaccinations, and the goal is to cure the state of being allergic.
As you learned from what was likely some fairly pricy testing, there are often far more things that show up as “reactive” than any animal could possible avoid.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had trouble finding a homeopathic vet to help you. They are definitely out there, and my Apoquel Alternatives report tells you how to find the best ones (which are usually working from a distance – just don’t let that stop you).
The sooner you can get moving towards cure with homeopathy, the better, because the state of disease is only growing now, and, as I don’t likely need to mention, every dose of any drug, Apoquel or any other, does nothing to turn that worsening around.
I know this is challenging, but time is unfortunately not on your side with chronic disease. Good luck getting on a better, truer path with cure at the end.
Our dog is a 4.5 pound Yorkie. We noticed that he developed an itch and determined from observing that his skin was dry and flaking for whatever reason. Not wanting to see him suffer, we paid a visit to the vet, who then prescribed Apoquel in a dosage for his size and weight. His response to the drug was rapid, but a lot happened that we hadn’t anticipated. Within 24 hours of ingesting the drug he became listless, appetite declined and had to be given water from a syringe just to stay hydrated at all. This prompted several calls to the vet who told us that it sounded as if he had contracted a 24 hour bug and that we should discontinue the drug, monitor him for a period while on a bland diet. Done. Resumed the drug, the symptoms reappeared overnight. Turns out that he cannot adapt to it at all and in the process developed diarrhea tinted with blood in addition to a poor appetite and a lethargic mood. To make a long story short, he won’t be receiving it ever again and we’ll stick with topical medications that offer some relief. For all the hoopla that we heard from the vet, it wasn’t worth watching our baby suffer as the result of this so called ‘wonder drug’.
Wow, Jimmie, it really couldn’t be clearer that the “24 hour bug” was in fact due to Apoquel, eh? Off it, he got better, back on it, he clearly got even sicker.
I wish you the best getting your little guy cured. Homeopathy offers this possibility, none of the drugs from conventional medicine do. Please see my free report, linked in the article above, to find a good homeopathic vet to help you get him cured.
I know this is an older post, but I just had Aqpoquel recommended for my dog. He’s suffered each spring/summer with itchy skin and paw licking. I spray Betagen on him but his coat is fairly thick, so it’s mainly sprayed on armpits, stomach and neck. He hates to have it sprayed on his front paws as he gets hot spots between his toes. He’s been prescribed an anti-inflammatory which we give him each day and gets Benadryl 1-2 times a day which makes him tired. I read the post about mange, but mange seems more severe. Could my dog have mange even though his skin is just really red and itchy though his hair is not falling out? If I treated him with the natural product recommended here and all he has is allergies, would that harm him? Thanks very much for this informative site!
My Trulee, age 4 years old, mixed terrier, has had a horrible time with allergies since I rescued her from the local shelter. Just this past month, she began scooting, so I took her to the vet to have her anal glands expressed, even though I expressed them just a few days before, and to leave a fecal sample. When we got home the scooting became non stop. I picked her up to take a look and she had an infected rash on her abdomen. The regular vet was closed so we rushed to the er vet, where they diagnosed her with moist atopic dermatitis. They drugged her so badly with steroids and benadryl, and pain medication, that she couldn’t walk the rest of the night and cried unless I was holding her. Finished the antibiotic and made an appointment for her to see her regular vet. She immediately suggested Apoquel, and because I didn’t know much about the drug at that time, I agreed to try this new miracle drug. The vet also wanted me to give Trulee Nextgard, and it took me an hour to get her to understand why I was refusing to give that medication to Trulee. Started Apoquel that night after dinner, and within 2 hours of giving it to her, she became a different dog, but not in a good way. She was batting her eyes constantly, had a blank stare on her face, like she didn’t recognize anyone in the house, and appeared agitated when any of the other dogs would even walk towards her. Trulee has never been aggressive , so I knew this was some sort of neurological effect from the Apoquel. I called the vet the next day and she agreed that Trulee couldn’t take that medication, but didn’t seem to have any other suggestions to help her with the allergies, except for allergy tsering and weekly shots. That’s when I started doing my own research and asking everyone I knew, what do you do for a dog with allergies. I have started cooking her food myself, and put her on natural supplements for allergies, skin, and coat. She is doing great! No licking her paws, no more scratching! All seems to be good, as I build on her diet weekly, one item at a time, to check for allergic reactions. No more gluten, and some raw foods. She is doing great!
This is a Homeopathic blog and all of you are sulking about some stupid drug instead to have an appointment with Dr Will.
There are very few animal homeopath in USA he is one of the very good ones.
Why do we not discus the homeopathic remedies here?
I am head shaking at this!
My studies of homeopathy get me to treat in emergency and some common mishaps. My mentor died last December and my ageing Afghan Hound will need more and Dr Will will be the one to consult.
Find a good holistic vet. They will work alongside the oncologist. I have used both for more than 20 years and it is the way to go. And listen to your gut. You know what is right.
My heart goes out to you but what to do? My Lhasa Apsos has recently started on Apoquel after 8 years of itching. She was on cortisone during this time and it didn’t work completely. The cortisone caused cushings disease and she has a huge swollen belly and I was told that could lead to diabetes. I decided to try the Apoquel in spite of it costing over $3 a day and in spite of some of the reviews. The reason is I would rather she had a shorter more comfortable life than one of misery with the itch. I get allergies myself so I have a bit of an idea of what she went through with continual itching. Her whole personality has changed since Apoquel. She is so happy and loving and now plays like a puppy with my other dog. I am aware of future problems with Apoquel but weighing things up I think this is the right way to go for us.
My black lab was started on apoquel at age 7, after years and years of allergy tests, diet testing, steroids, creams, anything and everything we could possibly try. Nothing was working. My vet had told me about apoquel and literally referred to it as “the miracle cure”and stated that he has a number of patients who have achieved fantastic results. Unfortunately there was a back order or shortage, so we had to wait 6 or 7 months before we could get the drug. Once we got it, it did seem to truly be a miracle cure. He was on it for a year and his symptoms had completely subsided, he wasn’t experiencing end dose failure and I thought we had finally found our fix. Right around that 12th month my pup had gotten what I thought was just a simple broken nail. Took him to the vet, they cleaned out the broken nail and wrapped him up. I’ll never forget, for as long as I live what the vet next said to me; he said “if it comes back (the infection) I want to see him again for an X-ray to see if there’s something inside causing the nail to break and push out”. I remember thinking to myself, “why would he need that? It’s just a broken nail, right!”. So off we went. 2 month later Toby developed a severe infection in the same toe. Much worse than the previous one, and the nail had never grown in. I remember trying to drain the toe and these semi-hard pieces of what I thought at the time was just pieces of his nail broken apart. I later learned that they were pieces of his bone. His toe had been completely obliterated by subungual squamous cell carcinoma. His toe needed to be amputated and due to some severely significant findings in the pathology report, I brought him to the best oncologist on the east coast. The oncologist was very concerned that the cancer had already spread based on the path report. So he ordered an ultrasound of his stomach and lo and behold, he had yet ANOTHER type of cancer in his stomach called a GIST. So a perfectly healthy dog with nothing other than a skin condition now has two different types of deadly cancer, all of which developed quickly and aggressively over the same 3 month period. My oncologist (who did not prescribe the apoquel) is rightfully concerned that it was the trigger. My general practitioner veterinarian says that nothing could be further from the truth and that apoquel is completely safe. I can tell you one thing for sure, neither of my dogs will ever touch another apoquel. There is absolutely not a shred of doubt in my mind that the apoquel caused my dog to have a very rare condition of two completely different cancers that both developed aggressively during the same exact time frame. I don’t want to be one of this looney anti-vaxxers, I’m all for modern medicine. Just not this one. I believe it in my bones that apoquel caused this. And now THE ONLY med thy can save him is yet ANOTHER Phizer drug….. Palladia. I can’t even begin to describe how terrified I am. This dog is my life, my child, my best friend, and they’re killing him
????????????????
Is it possible this drug could be better suited for larger breeds? It seems like the challenges (and I didn’t read all of the comments) were with smaller breeds > 20 lbs.
I just started my 3.5 y/o, 57 lb. Vizsla on Apoquel 4 days ago after trying everything to keep him from itching. I have been giving him 4 Benedryl a day for 2.5 years along with organic coconut oil and he only eats the Blue Salmon/ Potato to avoid Chicken and Gluten….. He has allergies like I do, and let’s just say, I have tried everything.
Our vet didn’t prescribe this for a spot, or a bite. His allergies have been an ongoing concern of ours for years and we’re hoping this medication will help him. It seems to be helping him already. It’s day 4 and he’s off Benedryl.
Of course we’ll monitor him closely, but I’d love to know if there have been any negative experiences with large breed dogs that have seasonal or skin allergies.
Hi Melissa,
I’d be surprised if certain sizes had more issues. Global view of it: it’s manipulating the immune system, and in such a way that it interferes with normal immune responses to things that should be paid attention to. Like the cancer cells that arise on a regular basis. It’s the immune system in the healthy ones that keeps that in check.
So glad I found this article plus all the comments! Yesterday the fill-in vet prescribed Apoquel for my dog’s hot spot on her tail. My dog DOESN’T have allergies, as the hot spot is from an older injury and she started taking off the scab. So why am I given Apoquel??
I told the vet repeatedly that my dog has medication sensitivities – to vaccination, to anesthesia (she vomited throughout the night after her spay surgery), to flea pills. I asked the fill-in vet repeatedly, “What are the side effects?” to which she answered “None.”
My dog has had 2 pills so far, one last night and one this morning. And now she’s lethargic, passed out on the couch, and wobbles around in a daze when she is awake. Quite out of character for the young labrador she is.
Don’t know why it took me 12 hours after the vet visit to actually check out this new drug. I was so mad when I discovered what it was and what it’s used for. I don’t need an immune suppressant for my dog’s hot spot, I need to support her immune system to heal it! And most common side effect of the drug? Vomiting and diarrhea. So why did my dog get Apoquel?
The vet even commented on how shiny and healthy my dog’s fur is, asking about what I feed her. As if she’s not used to seeing healthy dogs?
Sorry for the vent. But has anyone else heard of this, of Apoquel being prescribed for ailments other than skin allergies?
Like any Big Pharma drugs, Dr White Coat gets kick backs and incentives to prescribe drugs en masse. The intern might have won a trip to Hawai for prescribing at will.
I work in the hospitality business for 30 yrs and got to witness conferences for Big Pharma sales people. Every time I just want to grab the mic and scream at these pushers with degrees for all the wrongdoing they’re causing to make a buck.
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I’m a fan of Dr Karen Becker at mercola.com. They make excellent products to boost animals immune system.
I think I got my vet fired a few yrs back. She was awesome and willing to go the natural route with my problem Westie. She understood and said she’d learned a lot from me about nutrition and natural medicine. She wouldn’t pressure me to buy their traditional stuff to make a buck for the clinic. Then, one day she gone. Nobody wanted to tell me where she went but her vet tech told me that there was some argument with the main guy after my last visit. I’m just connecting the dots here but it seems that Main guy wasn’t happy that she’d let me buy what I needed, online or from Dr Becker and not from him.
I wrote a piece about what worked best for me with my 2 Westies if anybody’s interested see my link dogvacay.com/pro/furryangels
Good luck finding affordable holistic vets because I’m still searching.
My 18 months old golden retriever was put on apoquel 4 days ago due to itching, redness and excessive hair loss. It was so painful to watch him shedding and scratching all the time. Of course at this stage apoquel is working wonderfully on him, it stopped the scratching and looks like his coat is improving and the redness gone. By what I see and read it seems like he’s having atopic allergy and his skin problem started few weeks after we got him and my husband believes it’s because of the backyard in our current rental house which has allergy causing plants. We’ll be moving house at the end of the year and hopes that’ll help to improve his health. Currently we’re feeding him grain free food. After reading about apoquel I’m worried and and feeling helpless. Definitely I won’t put him on it for a long time but I need to find a manageable solution to treat his skin allergy.
Also, why does my vet want to do bloodwork on my dog every six months while on this medication? That is worrisome.
Great insight, Alison. He’s worried, and not saying so!
I’ve tried so many things with my dog. We saw another vet at our office he tols me about apoquel. My dog has issues taking prednisone, the frequent urination and other side effects are enough that we had to stop therapy last year. So this year when his allergies flared a few months back, we did a kenalog shot. Worked wonderful, he had no side effects, a small stint of vomiting. But this new doctor swore up and down about this great drug. I asked about side effects, he tells me there are none.
Now luckily I’m not niave, I work in pharmaceuticals. Everything, including tylenol has side effects. So I took home a 2 week supply today figuring I’ll give it a try, see how it works and do some research on this so called miracle drug. So far, I’m thoroughly afraid of the study outcomes. The short term side effects seem managable and mild. But 5 dogs from a 229 dog study died. The study I read was over a 2 years . [Removed Broken Link From Comment]
One thing this new vet specified was the safety of using this drug long term and continously. But these are not the results I am seeing. Also, 1/3 of dogs saw no relief. I’m going to try it for 2 weeks, but I will not be keeping my dog on it any longer than neccesary.
Yeah, I don’t think Apoquel is all that it is cracked up to be. So sorry to hear about the problems everyone’s dog is having. I noticed a change in my dog in the first couple of days of taking Apoquel – and not for the good. I hope I can find something that will help him without horrible side effects. He is miserable.
My Golden Retriever was a very, very healthy 12 years old. At his last check up our vet told of us me that their office was now recommending Apoquel to help with his itching problem (he was miserable – constant). My story mirrors many others – it did wonders for him to start – quite honestly the most at peace I had seen him in years and able to sleep all night with no scratching and itching sessions. But.. his stool’s became 50/50 firm/loose. At first I just thought that it was his body adjusting. Then our daily/weekend hikes became shorter and shorter. Again, I just thought his age was finally starting to show. We got to about 3 months into the prescription and sadly I had to put my Golden down last week. Something about bleeding internally/spleen issue.
I don’t fault my vet at all, but in hindsight I have ZERO doubt that Apoquel either caused directly his death or accelerated a problem that might have been not noticed yet.
I have been an emotional wreck since last Friday, As most pet lovers I’m sure will understand, I’m troubled that I may have contributed to my dogs suffering.
I’m so sorry for you loss. I have no doubt apoquel had some play in this and I urge you to bring this matter to the FDA. They really need insight at home many deaths this drug is causing or contributing to. Know that you cannot blame yourself. You were only doing what you thought was best.
Richard,
Please don’t blame yourself in any way for the loss of your dear pet. You can only be held accountable if you contributed “knowingly” or out of willful negligence, which clearly, you didn’t. You did what you trusted and believed would benefit him and you did so out of love and concern. We live and learn, but sometimes we learn after the fact. No fault of yours. Be comforted by all the wonderful memories you have of better times with him and be glad he didn’t suffer much longer without your knowing it. God Bless!
I have an English Bulldog. Best dog I have ever had! But poor ol’ Willis itches nonstop and especially during the warm season. So of course we got apoquel . It was amazing how it worked. A family of happiness with a high maintenance bulldog! Free at last free at last! Not so fast Mr! The first year was good. Suddenly it took him 5 minutes to pee. Then we noticed blood in his urine. Then he started losing weight. Willis looked as if he was using Jenny Craig, not apoquel.. Next, a film started coating his eyes. He looked terrible. So Dr Money Hungry said lets neuter him, take xrays and what not. Ok. So now Im poor. Anyway, none of that lottery win for him helped. I said thats it. So quit the apoquel. Dr was so sure it wasn’t the medicine, however, after we quit the meds, ol Willis started to gain a little swagger back. Eyes clearing up like the skies after a tornado just went thru. About a month after being off, his weight came back, and if you’ve ever seen a skinny bulldog, ya know its not pretty. Willis was back! Happy ending? I dont know. Warm weather has returned. He is going nuts like a top spinning around all over. Sleep is hard to come by again. I have some apoquel left and considering using again to gain relief. I dont know what to do. He’s 4. He’s miserable again. If there is anyone with a not so obvious suggestion that i may not have come across, fell free to email me at bradness1@hotmail.com.
Gee, Brad, you don’t get much clearer confirmation than that that the Apoquel was slowly ruining your Willis’ life!
Did you see the free report at the bottom of this post? You’ve got way better options than going back on the drug that damaged your boy.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. A real eye opener, in a dog who stood up to the drug for a year before giving in.
I had good luck with a kenalog. But it can be harsh for some dogs.
My 4-year old rescued GSD had an itching problem and Apoquel was prescribed about two months ago, along with some other meds. It looked like things were working out pretty well for about a month but the scratching never really stopped and in recent weeks his skin problem (scabs) returned in full force. Worse, he started to scratch his face two weeks ago, his appetite has dropped, and he has become somewhat lethargic. Thanks for posting this as I was not aware of this dark side.
Every time I read these stories about people blindly giving drugs to their animals it frustrates the daylights out of me. What ever happened to giving the animal proper nutrition and trusting the God given immune system that they have been endowed with? My feeling is that if you start drugging up your animal with vaccines and the like, right off the bat, you have essentially set your animal on a path of having their natural immune system destroyed all in favor of profits for the pharma industry who could care less about the health of your animal. It seems as if all of society is being brain washed into complying with drugs, drugs and more drugs as the solution which is no solution at all. It’s just making matters far worse.
Animals can’t talk. If they could they would be screaming at their guardians to stop this nonsense. People trust their own doctors the same way and look where it has got them. They are all sick and dying, loaded up on plenty of pills. Our bodies and theirs were not designed to live on chemicals. People need to wake up and take back their bodies and their pets bodies from these evil institutions. This just all the more reinforces to me the need for Holistic and Homeopathic medicines. God gave us the plants for our medicine, not pharmaceutical companies.
I completely agree with you!!
My redbone has been on Apoquel for almost two months. She has been taken off of it. Her appetite has dropped off to almost nothing. She has always been a very good eater, but shows little interest in anything but her treats now. I was wondering how long it takes the Apoquel to get out of her system. I love her very much – she’s my family and it is worrying me to death seeing her not eat!
I am starting to wonder. Our beagle had red inflamed skin and had been to the vet many times for treatment. Each time, different vets, said it was different things. We had found a vet we supposedly trusted and they sent Cooper home with three drugs. They seemed to work as his skin was noticeably less raw. Then he stopped eating and would throw up bile, It all happened very rapidly, running nose, lethargic in a matter of 2 days. Each day thinking he just has a bug, until we took him to the vet. Enlarged liver and enlarged spleen. He was in bad shape, blood work came out whacky, not sure exactly how as my wife was with him, but end result was he was put down. Now I am really starting to wonder what he was on. Being it all happened just a day ago we were all in shock. So we’ll delve a little deeper into what meds he was on. I am really upset in many ways, one of which that it may have been a drug like Apoquel that killed him. I am also upset that there were no side effect warnings on any of the drugs he was on.
Oh, dear, Scott. I feel your pain. This does sound suspicious, but three drugs? That’s a lot. Could have been another nasty in the mix, like Atopica (cyclosporine, a chemo drug widely used in itchy dogs).
Your records are available and you have every right to know what these drugs were. Do find out and see what you can do. I wouldn’t rule out a law suit here.
I raised my dog as a vegetarian eating only food that I ate which is always organic. He is 11 years old and as healthy as can be. He has never been to a vet for anything because he is one healthy little dog. I don’t vaccinate him either. He had all those shots when I got him at 4 months old and was probably over vaccinated. Never again would he see a needle in my care. People still say to me, where does he get his protein? The whole protein thing is a big myth in my opinion to further the profits of the meat and dairy industry. Spinach probably has more protein than a steak and my dog loves anything green. My dog does not eat anything that was fed GMO’s nor does he eat anything sprayed with Roundup. Look around at all the hugely fat and sick people and you can see why their animals are sick. Commercial dog food is slaughter house renderings, filled with chemicals, antibiotics, growth hormones, vaccines, you name it. You eat that every day with your meat unless it is organic. Unless people know how to eat themselves, how are they ever going to be able to feed their pets chemical free healthy foods? It takes a commitment on the part of the owner to change their life style as well. If you live in a chemically laden house full of chemical cleaning products, room deodorizers, bug killers, etc. you are literally poisoning yourself and your pet and that stuff makes its way into your food and theirs as well. Bottled drinking water alone has thousands of pharmaceuticals in it as does your tap water. Think about this, because these things are responsible for the decline in your health and your pets. Drinking water is not tested for pharmaceuticals. Whatever drugs everyone else is taking, it is ending up in you and your pet.
Growing up our dogs ate what we ate and never had cancer or any of the diseases animals have now days. We did not live on a diet of GMO’s either. Now days one has to be vigilant with their foods. You cannot trust commercial food suppliers to have your best interest or that of your pet in mind. Corporate profits are the only thing that matter to them. Big pharma only cares about the bottom line, not about the health of you or your pet. You and your pets are cash cows to them. We as a society have to go the holistic, organic route for ourselves and our pets. There is no other choice.
Our beloved Bernese Mountain Dog, Frieda (7 yrs.), is probably now in the last few days of her life thanks to the ravages on her immune system courtesy of Apoquel. I’m sure the billions those greedy bastards at Zoetis are making off this drug make it easy for them laugh as they look at themselves in the mirror.
Frieda contracted canine oral papilloma which, obviously, a lot of dogs do. But those w/healthy immune systems are able to fight it off quickly and it usually never returns. However Frieda’s damaged immune system can’t fight it off resulting in papilloma lesions throughout her mouth and throat. She’s refused to eat now for 3 weeks and is becoming weaker and weaker. We’ll likely have to put her to sleep very soon.
The best part of this story is that our vet’s Zoetis rep says the company is very interested in Frieda’s case and is, oh by the way, very “concerned about her well-being.” They may even be willing to help us pay for some our mounting vet bills (!). I’m really hoping to speak to this drug rep myself so I can tell her to take their “help with bills” and shove it as far up their asses as it will go. The day we have to put Frieda down I will start the longest and vilest social media rant about these criminals as Facebook, yelp, Instagram, and twitter will allow me.
If you’re a religious person, please just say a brief few words for Frieda and for us. Thank you, friends.
Jeff Tierney
@JTnOmaha
Hi Doc. love your site. I adopted a Shih Tzu around 3 years ago that was fed complete garbage of Kibble n Bits pure sugar. His skin, ears and eyes were so gross from all the yeast! His itching was horrible as you could imagine. He had dreadlocks of yeast growing out of his ears! I put him on a raw food diet with many different supplements, Ubiqunol, Bovine colostrum, good probiotics, Apple cider vinegar, MSM, With all that I got him 95% better. I then took him to a Homepathic vet near me and did Ozone therapy and the Microbiome therapy (fecal transplant) I can now say he’s 100% that worked wonders for my sick Chico. I would highly recommend it for other sick itchy dogs, but you need to feed the best diet you can of No Kibble it’s all junk!
Right on!
I have three dogs, a 3 yr old male, (fawn) Doberman, a 7 yr old female Yorkie, and our old dog (a rescue at 11.5 yrs old) Miniature Pincher, Duke. At about 14-15 years old he started to lose some fur, hot spots, if you will. It started in the heat of the summer. I tried changing his shampoo and it kind of went away as the cooler weather came around but the next year with the summer heat it came back and worse. He was losing alot of fur. If he didn’t have arthritis he would have scratched at it more… I don’t use flea and tick preventative in the winter months so the hair loss in summer could be attributed to that since his fur grew back in the each time for three years during winter months. All three dogs take year round Heartgard Plus then and now use Sentinel, just this last few months with no problem. Other dogs have no itchiness, or hair loss.
When it was more than just a hot spot or two I treated him myself, but finally I had to get him to the Vet. He had inflammation and a skin infection and for two years I let the Vet try and fail…thousand spent too! We had him on Atopica a steroid for a year,and I weaned him off it for 3 months, 4 months ago. It stopped doing anything anyways! Finally, we took him off food with grain in it and started him on Blue, (chicken) two weeks later he was on the mend, but not completely healed after 3 month. I added Dinovite to his diet, and his fur grew back completely, but in the summer it started falling out again. Now I knew his immune system was weak, so I decided to build it up through diet. I decided to take him to a simple diet and change the protein source. He eats Acana duck or lamb dry food. I rotate it every time I buy a new bag. We keep his wet food constant, its high quality $4.99 a can and is 95% meat. We had gotten many shampoos from the Vet over three years and we know when to use them. Mostly they exfoliate the dead skin cells and promote new hair growth or we use an enzymatic shampoo on him that help control yeast. Plus apple cider vinegar rinse and mineral salts to dry the moist dermatitis. That has all helped.
He has all his fur and a high gloss coat now, yay! May 2016
You’d never know it was the same dog. He’s 17 years old and 1/2 now… I expect since all his organs are good he’ll live alot longer than expected again. I’m just glad his immune system uptoit. He just got his Sentinel plus and now we might have to put the Frontline Plus on him if the fleas and ticks are in Lexington, Kentucky. We had moved 5 weeks ago from Woodbridge, Va, so I hope that a plus too. I have to read more about holistic treatments and that is why I’m here. I do believe the preventatives are a big problem is suppressing his immune system.
I wouldn’t recommend this product. My fur baby was in it for 5 months and started to get sick. By the 7th month her sickness got worse. We removed the apoquel and starred running test. In the 10th month we finally figured our she had a tumor in her belly. I had to put my dog to sleep because of this medicine.
I have been practicing for more than 40 years and have seen many different treatments for inflammation and allergies in dogs. Some medications work better in different dogs but an accurate diagnostic work up as to why the dog is itching is important before starting any medications. I have treated many dogs with apoquel and have seen very little side effects in my patients. I monitor closely and explain potential side effects. I have to say this drug has done more to improve the lives of hundreds of my patients than anything I have seen in all the years I have been in practice. There are risk-benefits in everything we do and as long as I am honest and open with our clients I feel the evidenced based medicine is the only way to practice.
I don’t agree with you. Most likely you were probably educated and trained by big pharma reps to believe that but the stories here indicate that what you say about seeing very little side effects is just not true. And how much incentive do you get to promote their drug? I know for a fact after working for an equestrian vet at one time that the kick backs and perks to promote these drugs is never ending. We constantly had reps giving us all sorts of stuff, picnics, trips, stuff and more stuff to buy our loyalty. Seminars you name it. The thing is looking to drugs is not the answer. Start by looking at what is causing it in the first place. Chances are drug treatments given in the past are the culprits along with poison GMO foods. We have to start waking vets like you up to the reality of what your actions have done to contribute to our pets sickness. You are probably a shill for big pharma invading this thread to promote their agenda. Sure sounds like it to me.
Wow, you are certainly welcome to your opinion, but to make so many assumptions about someone you have never met and know nothing about is, in my humble opinion, ignorant. Are you a vet? What is your education level? Do you always assume everyone who doesn’t agree with you is wrong?
Anxiously awaiting your reply.
I’ve got a 11 1/2 y/o border collie mix (female/spayed) who’s had eye and muzzle itching for the last 4 years. I tried almost everything I could think of. Good raw diet…did a Dr Dodd’s saliva food sensitivity test and eliminated the foods she was sensitive to (which was almost everything)…that didn’t help. Hired a nutritionist and tried a vegetarian diet….that didn’t help. Tried to ‘heal the gut’…with supplements…that didn’t work. Took her to a homeopathic vet…he tried several remedies (he’s out of Kokomo, Indiana)….nothing worked. Worked long distance with a homeopath and nothing helped. Tried working with a homeopathic acupuncturist and while she said my dog was ‘very hot’ (no kidding), nothing she did helped. My (regular) vet had been suggesting apoquel for the last 2 years. I resisted because of the studies I did on it, but it became quality of life vs quantity, because my dog was so miserable (just around the eyes and muzzle). So I gave in. Yes, it stopped the itch….but 2 years in on the smallest dose I can give (sometimes skipping a day), I don’t think it’s working and she’s now developed panting when she shouldn’t. We (the vet and myself) can’t find any reason for pain, and her heart sounds good….blood work is good. I’m a a stand still…..I sent you a an email Dr Falconer….she may be 11 1/2 but still acts (mostly) like a puppy, and I’d love to see her have many more years of good life. Of all the dogs I’ve had the pleasure to be owned by, she is the closest to me. My true heart dog. Please, can you help us?
Poor baby! Janice, have you considered dog grooming products, laundry products, household cleaning products including carpet cleaners, and carpet materials?
Dave says
May 16 2016 @ 6:20 PM CST
Add pesticides, in home bug spraying, also lawn fertilizers, and GMO foods.
I don’t mean to sound harsh, however, I’m always left confused by reports of animals with severe itching and the claims of their guardians “trying everything,” and, it appears, spending hundred, if not thousands, of dollars trying to medicate the symptoms without figuring out the cause.
Commercial pet foods are notorious for causing severe allergy itching. Yet one line of defense missing, in the attempts to find the *cause,* is to stop feeding commercial foods and put the patient on a whole human-grade elimination food diet. After learning the truth about commercial pet food eighteen years ago, I began cooking for all my animals. What a difference a healthy, quality diet makes! I don’t like cooking, period, but I’m more bothered by my family members suffering. Hippocrates’ “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” definitely relates to non-humans as well.
Recently, I augmented my homemade food with commercial dog food–Newman’s Organic can– because I was going to run out of food before I had time to cook. One of my five dogs sustained severe itching from the commercial food. He is the same little dog who came to me with black fungal skin due to a life-time on a poor quality commercial diet. I followed Hippocrates wisdom. In both cases, diet was the cause and the cure.
I also have a thirteen years old cat who has allergies to numerous foods–dairy, fish, turkey, and eggs. Because he is on a homemade diet, it was much easier for me to pinpoint and to eliminate the culprits.
Great work, Doris! Work, but worth it, as you’ve amply demonstrated.
I have a dog currently taking Apoquel. Our experience: He has completed an initial 2 week run of the 3.6mg pill, twice per day. Now moving him to half a 3.6mg pill, twice per day and will be continuing to taper him off. He is sitting next to me, not itching. I haven’t notice any issues thus far – he hasn’t suffered any of the listed side effects and we will continue to monitor this closely. This is not a recommendation; your results may differ.
Our dog has had increasingly bad environmental allergies every spring. He will be 5 this August. Benadryl hasn’t helped. Other prescriptions haven’t helped. Today we are picking up a one-week prescription of Apoquel, based on vet recommendation (he WAS cautious about long-term use) as well as another friend whose dog is on this. Now I am really hesitant to give it to him….? But he is miserable. Chewing, licking, panting, etc. He felt like he had a fever last night, so cold compress on his head helped a bit. Tonight he’ll get another bath. But we’re at a loss as to what we can do long-term. The allergic reactions subside in the summer, but come back again—to a lesser extent—in the fall.
Old bulldog has been on Apoquel. He now has been diagnosed with SLE. I am sure the Apoquel contributed to this. Any pet parents have the same issue. I was against giving him Apoquel. But listened to the vet. Now my vet thinks the Apoquel can help his SLE. I don’t think so. Any advice? I know prednisone is not a answer for long time effects but is it better than the Apoquel. Can his immunsystem be revitalized?
It certainly can, Kerry, but not with drugs. Get thee and he to a homeopathic vet. That may be by telephone. He’s got serious chronic disease now. Drugs don’t cure that. See my Resources page for the AVH listing.
Best of luck with a now much more seriously ill dog, thanks to Apoquel messing with his immune system.
My Vet in Australia recommended Apoquel for chronic itching and biting today. We have tried everything from elimination diets, creams, steroids etc. Nothing helps. After researching this drug today, I will not give it to my pet as the side effects are too serious. I would rather continue with cortisone tablets for relief not cure. Have also heard of Dr Zoo products (shampoo and oil for itchy dog skin) available on web sale only. Have heard through other dog owners in our local dog park some skin issues have been resolved.
“Cortisone tablets” are WAY more harmful for your dog than Apoquel. I suggest you do your research and look up all the harmful effects of long term steroids.
I am so glad I researched Apoquel today. Like many others above, I started my Mini Australian Shepherd, Gilly, on Apoquel mid-February at the urging of his vet and the first month I did consider it a ‘miracle’ cure for his constant scratching, itching and chewing. I let the medication lapse for about ten days and before long, he was back at it so I refilled it. This time, it has done nothing. I have found two hot spots on Gilly in the past couple of days. Should I just discontinue to medication and try a natural product that you suggest? The last thing, obviously, that I wanted to do was to make my dog’s immune system weak and I feel horrible that I did not look into the drug before giving it to Gilly.
Sick in Sacramento 🙁
My flat-coated retriever Max has the same itchy skin problems when he was 2. We adopted him at that time because his former owner surrendered him due to business travel and couldn’t take care of him.
We took him in to Dr. Whitecoat, and was told they can prescribe (just like Dr. Falconer said) immune suppression. I am not sure which kind because I did not give them a chance. Fortunately or unfortunately, I also suffered from itchy skin due to dry skin, especially in Winter and Spring because of wood heat. I am Chinese so I know enough about TCM. I am not sure if it is homeopathy or what, but I know enough about herbal remedy to take care of my own itch using natural herbs and I made my own tincture. When I heard Dr. Whitecoat told me they want to use a drug to suppress the immune system I said, “No way. You will just be opening the door for other diseases to come in and kill my dog.” I am just going to take matter into my own hand.
I gave him my anti-itch tincture, and start looking at different foods for him. I tried going through many different foods; I can recall trying Nature Variety, Solid Gold, Canidae, Kirkland…. I finally found Wysong. Combining Wysong with Whole Earth Farm plus homemade wet food with flax seeds took care of his problems. I also supplement fish oil also.
I work from home so I can do all this and observe his reactions. I know many would not have the time to do all that. If you need to start the research, I would recommend going to http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com. Of course, I think Dr. Falconer is correct, they shouldn’t be eating kibbles anyway. The heat from baking would have baked out all the nutrients, first of all. It is not genetically correct anyway. It’s almost like saying we love our horse so much we need to feed them beef jerky or lobster.
Most people who met him in the dog park or when we go out on the streets cannot even tell he is an old dog because his coat is shiny and smooth and he doesn’t even get gray around his muzzle or his hair. He never has any problems with itch again from that point on. I still remember Dr. Whitecoat’s reactions when I told them no way, I won’t take their advice. It was almost comical.
He lived to 11 and just passed away two months ago. That’s another big story about misdiagnoses and antibiotic. A story for another time.
Dr. Falconer, your site has great info. I didn’t know anything about vaccine or raw food until now. Wish I have known earlier.
Nice work, Karen! You did really well, it sounds like you stood up for Max and wouldn’t take suppression for an answer, but went further and found a way to cure his itch. The benefits showed up in the dog park!
I’m sorry you lost him, and recently, too. He brought you a good deal of confidence in natural methods, it sounds like. Quite a gift for each future dog who comes into your care. Thanks for sharing Max’s story here.
Thank you, Dr. Falconer.
I used to work for big pharma GlaxoSmithKline as a customer service agent. I have seen the side effects of big pharma.
Wish I have known about your site a lot sooner though. You are a god send.
I have a Lhaso Apso rescue – he is probably about 8 now. Always suffered with skin irritations, licking and scratching (until his skin was sore). He has been on Apoquel for about two years. It is indeed, for him, a wonder drug with no side effects.
My 11 1/2 year old Schnauzer was on Apoquel for 1 week. For two days she had seizures(about 10). Seizures are over however she is sleeping a lot and won’t go up the stairs. I wonder if her immune system has been compromised? Anything natural to give her? She eats Blue Buffalo with fish and sweet potatoes, and a couple of pieces of bananas and green beans. No table food.
please help us…….my 5 yr. old shitzu ‘buttons’ has been tearing out her fur on her paws….tummy and feet………..have her on apoquel…………….live in maui, hi………want to find a holistic vet who can help me with her……….PLEASE give me name of one – or telephone no. of a vet i can call to help us…….she is my baby….i am going out of my mind trying to figure out what to do…….thank you……misha
My Boxer has been tearing herself up for years. I did research and tried everything diet-wise, but even raw didn’t help her stop scratching. She finally ended up on steroids (TemarilP) which worked, even though I hated having her on drugs. 1 1/2 months ago, the vet INSISTED that I start her on apoquel, because of concerns with the steroids. With the 1st month’s perscription, she seemed to be fine. With this new batch, she’s starting to scratch more and more, and she looks puffy like she’s retaining water. Her neck is larger which makes me suspect swelling lymph nodes. Her vet now is the closest local thing to “Homeopathic” in my area but so far they’ve only pushed pills for both of our dogs. They sold my ex the heartworm meds (I never gave it to them) but I would love to have her healthy and happy and unmedicated! Thanks for the tips!
I found your information by doing a google search for my 1 year old male pup. He developed severe skin allergies at about 6 months of age and we’ve tried everything! That is everything that the vet wanted us to try. A few months ago we started on Apoquel. It worked great when we gave him the meds twice a day. You only do that for 14 days and then transition to once a day. Once that happened the itch started to get worse and now its to the point where he is losing hair and biting himself raw again. I’m totally at a loss as to what to do. I’m very interested in learning more from your site. I’m definitely at my wit’s end!
And I have to add that I feel like I’m killing him with medicine. He gets his heartworm preventative, also (as recommended by the vet) Bravecto for fleas and mites, his Apoquel and also Benedryl 3 times a day. I feel like he’s being poisoned!
I’m with you, JoKarol. That’s a load of toxic stuff! I’ve got a popular page called Non-toxic Flea (and Tick) Control and another on Drug Free Heartworm Prevention you may want to visit.
You’ll also want to visit my Resources page for the AVH list there, and get a veterinary homeopath hired to get your pup back to healthy.
All the best to you.
My daughter’s Pit Bull was just diagnosed with Addison’s Disease. Is it possible that the Apoquel was the cause or trigger? (She’s been on Apoquel for about 9 months). How do I find out if there are any reported cases of this?
Hi Roanna,
Definitely possible. Here’s what we know so far (maybe more links I’m not aware of, however):
1. Apoquel “works” by immune suppression
2. The immune system is behind Addison’s disease: it’s autoimmune. Self attacking self, in this case, the adrenal glands, critical to health
3. An even more likely factor are the vaccinations, which cause what I call “immune confusion” likely immediately post-vaccination, but which also lasts a very long time.
Remember the old butter commercials? “It’s not nice to mess with Mother Nature!”
Feb.19,2016
My baby (Maltese 16 years old) suffered terribly from itching, fungus hair loss, and just terrible discomfort. My vet tried everything but nothing worked until he started on
Apoquel. I haven’t read all the remarks but it really worked for me. Since he is of advanced age I would expect he will have other issues as he ages. I would try Apoquel because it worked.
My dog was given Apoquel for allergies.. I gave him one pill and he died two days later. He was only 5 years old and very healthy. I believe the pill killed him.
Oh my, Diane. I’m so sorry for your loss. This should be reported as an Adverse Event, so it goes on record. Here’s the page that tells you the steps to take to do this.
Please accept my sincere condolences. No one should die in good health from taking an FDA approved medicine.
There is no way that one tablet of Apoquel killed your dog. Did you have a necropsy performed? Of course not, because you’d rather just blame the medication since that’s the easy thing to do.
Did the FDA Or Zoetis pay you off?
I had never heard of Apoquel before my brother’s 2 chihuahuas (they were brothers) were prescribed Apoquel last week for chronic itching, but pronounced otherwise healthy by the vet. Both developed diarrhea within hours of receiving the first dose. He did not give them any more. One of them had to be euthanized the next day due to acute kidney failure. These dogs were healthy 7 year olds. Is it possible that this was caused by the Apoquel? Why else would the dog have kidney failure when nothing else changed? Are there any other reports of kidney failure following dosing with Apoquel?
Hi Stephanie, I’m so sorry your brother lost one of his dogs to kidney failure. And I think it’s doubtful the Apoquel gets the blame.
First, “acute” kidney failure means a sudden onset and by definition, a short lasting phenomenon. Animals are typically NOT euthanized for acute kidney failure. They are put on IV fluids and usually, the condition resolves.
If it doesn’t resolve, it’s then realized (after a week or two) that this is indeed not acute but rather “chronic” kidney failure. And for that to be the diagnosis, it had to have started long before. That’s the nature of chronic disease: it’s slow, smoldering illness that comes on gradually and gradually gets worse. So, if the ultimate diagnosis was (most likely) chronic renal failure, it was likely just below the detectable level for some time. Typical signs are increased thirst and frequent urination with often pale or clear urine and perhaps some intermittent vomiting.
So, not to say Apoquel “upset the apple cart” and brought this already sick dog into full blown obvious kidney failure, but it wouldn’t have caused chronic kidney failure in so short a time (and that’s what I’m guessing was the final diagnosis, as again, euthanasia is not the norm for acute kidney failure).
Suffice to say after 6 years of battling allergies we were giving Apoquel as an option for our dog Zach. We were like most pet owners “it was a miracle drug” . After almost 2 1/2 years on it were not so sure. The first symptom was about 2 months after he started Apoquel. He developed hives that come and go with no cause as to why. Some Vet’s say it is related to something systemic and others say it is anxiety related.
Recently and again like many Apoquel users have encountered, it doesn’t seem to be working as well. The Vet of course uped his dosage and and WOW it was like his anxiety had been magnified a thousand fold! Not to mention it didn’t help the itching. We immediately backed down to the original dosage. His anxiety improved some but he is still much more anxious and fearful than he ever was.
In addition to what clearly seems to be his anxiety being worsened by Apoquel. 2 weeks ago we had two different types of tumors surgically removed from Zach and thankfully both noncancerous. However we have just found a third mass which will have to be removed as well and are concerned the development of theses tumors from the Apoquel?
In my search for answers, I have read where a few people have had similar mental changes in their dogs while on Apoquel but no follow ups to if they improved if taken off Apoquel? And same with masses developing while on the drug but what about after discontinuing Apoquel?
Thanks for listening any help. Val
It sounds like you’re on a slippery slope here, Val. Tumors should be ferreted out by a healthy immune system, not a surgeon’s scalpel. Immune dysfunction is clearly at work here. And, what sounds like nervous system inflammation, a common aftermath of vaccination.
Actually: both tumors and behavior disorders as well as allergies are byproducts of vaccination. If you haven’t stopped doing that, you’ll want to dig in and read and understand why you’ll want to sooner than later. Start here.
All the best with Zach.
Look on drugs.com , dogs on Apoquel develop masses and tumors, cutaneous and subcutaneous.
I am struggling to save the left eye of my 8 year old bichon. He was diagnosed with a fungal infection that took hold in his ulcerated cornea. A fungal infection in the eye of a dog is extremely rare. We are so sad but he is under the care of a UC Davis animal opthalmologist. I was reflecting on how the heck we got here and it started several months ago with George itching like crazy – scratching at his eyes too and causing eye ulcers. Apoquel was presented to us as a solution in June 2015 and he started taking it. The eye ulcer did not heal well. In October, George was diagnosed with genetic cataracts and a “non healing ulcer in the left eye”. In Nov, the opthalmologist debrided the eye 3 times but with no success and finally tested him for a fungal infection. The doc asked me if George was immunosuppressed because normally dogs fight off fungal assaults. Wonder if Apoquel has contributed to his rare situation.
I would wonder the same thing, Joanie. But I’d also send you to a homeopath, as I outlined in Part Two of this series. The odds of UC Davis saving this eye by poisoning fungi is remote at best.
I have a shih-tzu that itches like crazy off and on in the year. I believe it’s a flea allergy and if I don’t keep on top of bathing, essential oils, and supplements she rubs her back raw from rubbing on a chair that’s just her back height. I have yet to find a cure, but turn to natural methods in my efforts.
What I wanted to chime in on was an experience I had was getting my dogs a three year rabies vaccination. We have a large number of skunks that come across our yard, and unfortunately our dogs have been sprayed 4 times this year. With that said I went to a low cost vet clinic offering low cost vaccinations and took all the dogs to get a 3 year rabies vaccinations. They have not had other vaccinations in several years now. I have a small Yorkie Jack Russell terrier mix and 2 days after receiving the rabies vaccination she became paralyzed in her back end. I took her to a holistic vet who did an allergy test on her and it came back that she was allergic to a number of very common, good for you, ingredients. It was found that she was allergic to chicken and sweet potato and flaxseed oil. We switched to a limited ingredient food along with therapy for her back and ultrasounds and spinal adjustments. I am happy to report that she is back to normal and is doing very well, however, we thought that she would be paralyzed for life. After that experience with the allergy testing of those, good for you, foods it made me wonder what else the dogs are allergic to that could possibly be causing all the itching of my other dog. So even switching out to a grain free or limited diet maybe is no good if that limited diet contains things that the dog is allergic to. After several treatments with the holistic vet for our little dog it was discovered that she was having a reaction to the coconut oil that I was giving her in her food so we switched that and the problems that we were having then went away. So with those of you that have reduce the diet or switch to a raw diet, perhaps getting some allergy testing to make sure that those foods that you are feeding are not causing a reaction might be something to explore. Thanks for all the information I have found it quite helpful.
Your story inspires me to write about this allergy chasing, Melody. All too common in conventional circles, and the list of supposed allergens grows as the years go by. No cure in sight with this approach.
Thanks for sharing this and keep an eye out for another way of thinking about all this “immune confusion” called allergies.
My frenchie (just turned 1 year old) developed intense itching and raw moist yeasty arm pits about a month after a rabies vaccination. I will NEVER do an vaccination on her again – ever ! She has been on a raw diet since day one, receives no carbs or grains whatsoever – I was referred to a site for Chinese herbals where I found a terrific supplement that we just started a week ago to help her immune system repair – the supplement is Total Immune Health and from what I have researched and spoken to them about works at the cellular development level. When I spoke to them on the phone to get the recommended dosage for a 16 lb frenchie, they had frenchie experience with a pup that had the same exact issues as my frenchie and made a complete recovery without any relapses in the last 5 years since being on it. I am hoping for as promising an outcome.
Dr Jean Dodds has recently developed a test for food sensitivities – I believe it is called Nutriscan – it is basically a chew rope toy that you interact with your dog and have your dog get some decent saliva on it – then you mail it back to them in a specially sealed tube and they will send you a report back on not specifically allergies to foods, but sensitivities – I think its pretty reasonable cost wise also.
Nutri-Scan is great. It solved a lot of my dog’s GI issues
We’ve had great results with transdermal applications of epsom salts, bicarb&apple cider vinegar a la http://drsircus.com/ Cheers
My 7 year old GSD has been on Apoquel for 8 months. It has been a wonder drug for him, in fact it is the only thing that has alleviated his itching. He has shown no side effects. I have heard the same from several other owners of itchy dogs. All drugs have side effects which affect certain individuals. I do wonder whether or not some of the side effects mentioned in this article can be attributed to Apoquel. I would like to see a scientific study documenting side effects of Apoquel.
Hi Judith. I have a dog on this as well. His results, so far, have been very positive. Question: 8 months in, have you tapered how often you give your dog a pill?
Our dog (Bedlington) had horrible grass allergies. He would scratch himself bloody. We put him on Apoquel because he could not sleep from all his scratching. It was a wonder drug and his itching stopped after 24 hours. His coat came back, and he was a new dog. 2 months later he had a benign cancerous skin lesion on his nose that had to be removed. Wish we had connected the drug to that problem. 4 months after that he developed squamous cell carcinoma in his lower jaw and died 3 months later. The vet would not say that the direct cause was Apoquel, but the drugs instructions specifically say to take the dog off the drug if they have cancer. There is no question in our mind that because our dog had a compromised immune system, and the potential for getting cancer, that Apoquel suppressed his immune system enough for him to develop cancer. I will never experiment with a new drug for dogs again. There is not enough testing when they are approved. I wish we had just continued giving him allergy medicine rather than risking his life on a quick fix that suppresses a dogs immune system. This drug is not worth the risk to your dogs health. I will never give a dog this drug again, no matter how itchy they are.
Oh, Dan, what a heartbreaker.
It makes me wonder: how many dogs are holding cancer at bay, but just barely? My guess would be many, especially those past middle age. A tweak to throw the immune system off, be that Apoquel or (worse) a vaccination, and the cancer is no longer in check.
We know stress in general can do this. I think your sad story says even more: the more the immune system is part of the target of a drug, the more risk we’re taking on for our animal.
Thanks for sharing this difficult but revealing story here.
I was totally on board with only pups getting minimal vaccines WAY back before it was popular, however, the laws makes us give the rabies. What protects you and your pet if a tragedy occurred and they mistakenly bit someone? If that happens in NYS we are required to have a 10 day quarantine hold at facility. Is there anything (a document or anything legal???) that we can abstain from giving the vaccine but also not jeopardize the dog being quarantined or worse yet forced to be euthanized if an accident happens????
Dr. Falconer is a blessing for us all-
I sought out his advice for wheaten terriers long years ago-
I now have a non vaccinated all raw fed wheaten terrier and an AKC champion & now approaching 17 years old in April of 2016!
I took the leap of faith- no more vaccines- drugs!
It’s such a loving place to be- no looking back!
Thank you Will Falconer!
Thank you so much Dr. Falconer for all that you do! Before I discovered your website I was a believer, but no more. I am so discouraged with all of the Dr. Whitecoats, I could just scream at them. I am getting a new puppy soon (German Short Hair Pointer) and will do the raw food/bone (BARF) diet exclusively with minimal puppy vaccines and no more after that point. I’m really apprehensive about the Rabies Vaccine as my last two dogs suffered mightily after that vaccine (and probably all the other “recommended” vacs as well) and do not want to go there with my new puppy. Plan on using Transfer Factor daily for the new girl. Just love your education as well as Dogs Naturally Magazine. You and DNM have changed my thought processes totally.
Looking forward to the next installment on this drug issue. I inform every dog owner of your website so they can learn as well.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours
Hi Elinor,
Thanks so much for spreading the word. I applaud your new direction with the pup and share your concerns.
I’m very glad my teaching resonates with you.
All the best with your new charge.
My now 10 year old English Bulldog has been on Apoquel since the week it came on the market. We had tried everything from the normally prescribed western medicines, chinese herbs, acupuncture, a four-month long goat’s milk fast, acv, medicated baths, coconut oil, grain-free, home cooked meals and raw diet (on raw for three years before the Apoquel), and most usual recommendations to relieve allergy-related issues. To date, the Apoquel is the only thing that gave my pup relief. We have experienced no ill effects from the Apoquel yet. With the reports now coming out on the effects of this drug we will most likely wean off of it to reduce the possibly eventual negative side effects. I guess we’ve just been real fortunate.
My English Bulldog has been on Apoquel for 5 months now, and he has been doing great on it! No side effects!! It was prescribed by our Dermatologist Vet, who is helping us with his Environmental Allergies.
..about to start my 10 yr old English Bulldog on it…fingers crossed I have your success.. I’m scared…going to closely monitor him…love my little guy, and I’d really like to make his final years his most comfortable…
I would suggest you read this first, JJ, and think twice before starting this drug. The side effects here are really concerning. As someone who also owns a dog with allergies, I wouldn’t give this drug either. The trade off is far too dangerous. Look into quercertin, as a supplement first.
dogsnaturallymagazine.com/wouldnt-give-dog-new-allergy-drug/
This is a great article and I am so glad Apoquel is NOT on the horse market! I cannot imagine…
Really my favorite part of your blog this time was the kefir making video you made. I have been making goat milk kefir for the last several months and have felt so much better than before. My dogs have also benefitted. I’ve even used it on the raw yeasty skin of my handsome Lab, Tristan. I even went through a phase of putting it into his ears.
Anyway, I switched from goat milk to cow milk and my grains did not do well. I was gifted new grains from a very small organic dairy that I consult for and will keep them in cow milk until my goats are lactating again. People are SO willing to share their grains. I love sharing mine.
Also, I’m not a fan of rinsing them and LOVE your milk jug method. How often do you clean that jug, though?
Interesting how little grain you really need to do say a quart or two of milk, isn’t it? I use about 1 tbsp.
Great work Dr. Falconer! Thank you again!
For those who may have missed it, coming here from somewhere besides the newsletter, you’re in luck (assuming you have some interest in making a simple healthy cultured milk product with a very simple method.
Here’s the link to the proper 4 minute version that failed to post to the newsletter: https://bit.ly/1m3BsWv
Lizzy, I’m sorry it wasn’t more clear. The beauty of the method is this: I don’t wash jars! Once I finish the kefir in one jug, I transfer the grains to a new jug and start all over. The used jug gets hosed out and sent off to recycling.
Probably about a tablespoon to that shy quart of milk. Lots of room for wiggle, however. One of the things I love about it.
One of our dogs has been chronically itchy for much of his short, 2 yr old life. He does not get vaccines, gets a raw (mostly organic) diet including fermented veggies, and good quality oils. We are very fortunate to be able to see a vet who practices homeopathy as well & she recommended a couple of different remedies that provided some short-term relief but the itchiness returned. I recently came across an article that indicated that olive oil can cause itchiness and as that was one of the oils he was receiving, I stopped giving it to him. The itchiness stopped almost immediately! I am so thankful to all of you who are willing to share your wisdom with those of us who are so eager for it. You make all of our lives better and I am eternally grateful!
Karen, how amazing you found this out and acted on it to great success.
I’d never heard of such a thing, and now we’re all the wiser for you sharing this with us.
It’s my turn to thank you.
I have a foster dog that has been on Apoquel for about a month. It has been working great and after being on it for a day. Now I am worried.
Brutus is a 5 yr Bulldog. He was a bloody mess and one of the most miserable dogs I have ever seen.
We have switched to all dye and perfume soaps, shampoos and cleaning products. Grain free limited ingredients and poultry free food. Medicated baths, coconut oil etc. He has been on benadryl, zyrtec and chlor tabs all with minimal relief. Tagalog shot worked about a month.
Brutus when he is not feeling well growls at some of his caregivers. He is a powerful dog and if I can’t feel safe in leaving him his options are not good. His attitude has been great and now hearing this I am not sure what to do for him. I love this dog and want to do what is best for him.
This really upsets me. I have trusted my Vet implicitly for over 30 years. My Brodie has had seasonal itchy skin for about 6 of his 9 years, getting a Kenalog injection every September, along with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds when he’s a hot mess. Vet was excited to offer Apoquel to us and I saw a big improvement, almost a “cure” since the first daily pill in April this year. At the same time, I changed his food from grain-free to FD Raw. I thought we had achieved something wonderful until he developed large black spots on his back, which are very obvious to see through his white hair, but also a pool of oily skin and hair that extends from his neck to just short of his tail. Now you write that Apoquel may have done this. I have spent a lot of time and money seeking to make him comfortable and non-itchy. By the way, he went to the Vet for his annual exam and Rabies injection and he already had the newly-oily skin. So, now what?
Hi Margaret,
I feel your pain. You should have been able to trust your vet to take care of your animals in the healthiest way possible. It’s a heartbreak when you see your trust and dollars wasted.
Start slowly, start by learning more and making decisions for your animals as you go. This page is a great place to begin, and in it, start with getting a deep understanding of vaccinations. When you stop that practice, things will stop getting worse. Food to nourish the wolf inside is next, followed by dropping the poisons in flea and heartworm control chemicals. When you feel like you’re ready to trust a vet again, try a homeopathically trained one. Linked on that page is another, Recommended Resources, in which there’s an organization called the AVH. They list homeopathic vets, many of whom work by telephone if no one is near you.
All the best. The blindfold is coming off, and the light can hurt at first, but you’ll get past that to see in a new, deeper way what truly vital animals look like and how to get them there.
We’d love to hear how you do.
Very good article. I am looking forward to part II next week. As you know, I have had a very itchy yellow lab, Jake. He was a rescue that came to me on horrible food and had been over vaccinated by the time we rescued him. I am so thankful to say that with the help of your homeopathic expertise, along with feeding him a raw diet and probiotics daily, he has turned into an absolutely beautiful dog. He is no longer suffering with constantly itching himself, red bumps, and a greasy smelly coat. Unfortunately, however as an owner of a pet store, we hear horror stories daily from our customers who have placed trust in Dr. Whitecoat and as a result have dogs that are suffering greatly. We have customers telling us everyday that they are giving their dogs a variation of apoquel, atopica and allergy shots. They are so focused on the “quick fix” that they have lost sight of the damage they are inflicting on this poor animals long term health. Although we work to show them an alternative by following the natural path (and many follow it, Thank Goodness), there are some that have so much trust in Dr. Whitecoat that they would rather risk the long term effects for a temporary relief. We know we have a lot of work to do to help more and more people see the benefits of following the natural path. We are so thankful that we can send our customers to your blog and website to help reiterate our message!
Thank you!
Oh, Tammy, you are so welcome. You are truly on the front lines where you are. I hope you can stay balanced with all coming in your doors. Some will “get it,” some won’t, and you can only put forth your best intentions and see who lights up when they hear what you have to offer.
Jackie, a two year Golden and, my good friend,was put on Apoquel after trying so many other drugs from the Vet and, It worked so well I couldn’t believe it. About two months in , it has stopped working and Jackie is chewing on himself again. I am hurting so bad for him but I am so stupid about what to do it’s making me crazy!! Where can I find this RAW DIET ? I am taking him off the Apoquel .
Hi Dave Barb (guessing that’s two of you…),
A great place to start is this page, which has links to the main pillars of this natural path approach to health, including raw diets:
https://vitalanimal.com/natural-animal-care-resources/
Take it slow, build your understanding steadily, and take baby steps with Jackie. He’ll thank you over and over again, and you’ll see the fruits of your new understanding ripen and nourish everybody.
Thanks for stopping by. And, hey: nobody’s stupid here. We all have “ah ha” moments at different times. It’s what we do after we have them that counts.
You’re going to make me wait until tomorrow to read the rest?!
Our GSD was diagnosed with Pancreatic Insufficiency around 5 years ago. The symptoms are well-controlled with enzymes in his food. We’ve had problems with itching for years. Allergy testing revealed a sensitivity to lobster (I’m not kidding) and nothing more. We put him on Apoquel out of desperation, but I’ve never been happy about it. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s post!
Do you think that Quinten’s Itching could be related to his PI?
Hi Tess,
I won’t have part two out till next week, but I can tell you this today: you are dealing with chronic disease. Chronic disease, the commonest type of illness on the planet now, will never be cured by a blog suggestion of a remedy or an herb or some diet.
It takes more than this. In my practice, the magic bullet has been homeopathic prescribing. That’s what cured Destiny’s dog above. That’s what I’m suggesting to Stacey above, and what I’d suggest to you. See those comments and start looking for a homeopathic vet to cure your whole dog, safely.
Thank you so much for your reply. We started feeding Quinten a raw diet when he was fully grown, but we veered from that when his PI was diagnosed. He eats a limited-ingredient grain-free food right now, but I just don’t think it’s a good enough solution. I’ve been searching for a naturopath near us for months. I will keep looking, as I know Quinten’s quality of life depends on it. Thanks again. I’ll be looking forward to the next post.
My 10 yr old dachshund suffers from food and grass allergies. Not only does he itch like mad he also gets interdigital cysts from being out in the grass and the chewing his paws. We keep him off the grass altogether now and have trained him to go on pee pads. We had him on the Apoquel on and off for 2 yrs, but have pulled him off it months ago when we noticed he was getting fatty tumors all over all of a sudden. I am looking forward to the second part of this article
My mother has a 10 year old Doxie who has suffered from Interdigital cysts for about 9 years. She’s had allergy testing and knows what foods to avoid. For the past 2 months she’s had constant cysts. She has several fatty tumors as well. She has been on Apoquel for 2 years but yesterday her Vet decided to take her off to see how she responds. How is your dog doing since its been off the med?
I had a young terrier, Ruff, who suffered from dreadful itches. After advice from a homeopathic vet I put him on natural food and he never had another vaccination.
Ruff lived to 18 and never had another itch.
Another tip to prevent cataracts forming. Give dogs raw or cooked carrot with their meals. If they’re not very keen, grate the carrot and mix it thoroughly with their meal. Whenever I’ve been able to feed carrots to a dog for most of its life, they have not had cataract problems in old age.
Cool Anne. Sometimes, diet alone will stop the itching, but you went the step further: stopping vaccinations. That combination is a potent preventative for all immune confusion diseases, allergies being #1.
How much carrot did you feed? Interesting.
My 10 year old Puggle has been on Apoquel since June. In the last 2 months it has lost some effectiveness, she has had a seizure, has red swollen lips, has some weakness on her left side and a small fluid filled cyst on her abdomen. We have her on a reduced dose of Apoquel and she is going in for a work up on Wednesday. She still spends most of her day chewing on her feet, but does sleep good.
Thanks for this, Stacey. It sounds like it’s high time to change course.
I wish you the best in that.
p.s. hiring a vet homeopath will get you to cure. My Resources page lists AVH vets who can help you.
Hi Stacy check out this video on you tube on Collodial silver for Pets.
It’s a short video and you will see the amazing benefits. The
Name is Holistic pet care Collodial silver if you wanna go directly to
their Website
Oh, Stacey, I would love to have some follow-up information on the Apoquel and you puggle. My Pitbull Bella just passed away over the weekend out of the blue and it happened very suddenly. She had been on Apoquel for about the same amount of time as your Pug. We don’t know for sure what happened. She only showed signs of something being “off” for not much more than 5 to 10 minutes before she was gone. She did walked from her food bowl with a limp (but she has had knee surgery and a part torn ACL on the other, so I thought it was that) She walked by me at the couch and laid on the floor. Unusual, she hated the floor. I decided to finish what I was eating and then check her over and see why she didn’t jump up on the couch. By the time I finished eating…5 minutes she was gone. It might have been a seizure, but I just dont’ know for sure. She didn’t make a peep. Did you have any more symptoms, did you stop the drug immediately. What did you find out if anything. Thank you for your time. I hope your pup is doing well.
The more I read on these chemical “cures”, the more I see how they hinder as opposed to help. It’s evident that if it’s (symptom) supressed one place, a new symptom surfaces elsewhere, until you’re on a rollercoaster of constant care. If such drugs cause undesirable side effects in animals, I’d be curious to read the pharmaceuticals’ QC (Quality Control) Test lab results… or they’re just marketing the drugs anyway?
A good observation, Juliana. But it’s much deeper than quality issues, I’m afraid. Drugs are made to do one thing: suppress symptoms.
Suppressing symptoms is polar opposite to curing disease. It will inevitably make animals sicker, the longer they are suppressed.
My dogs took the drug and got the dark spots all over too. They were very itchy and developed crusty oozing sores. After 3 months it has just about totally cleared up with homeopathic remedies purchased from elixirs.com
I had them on bio plasma, sulphur, staph/strep, silica, allergy combo and histamine. I also bathed them with Grandma’s lye soap and kept their skin extra moisturized with coconut oil. Itching and biting is gone and both are acting much better. Richard’s incredible skin spray also helped. I also gave them homeopathic candida alb. Their eyes were also crusted over midway thru. I thought we were going to lose both of our little dogs, a maltese and a bichon. No more vet meds for either of them.
i would love to hear more about the person who used the homeo remedies from elixirs. how did you use all at once or did you only use one or two within two week intervals or so? Many remedies when together can cancel out some can aggravate… would love to know how you matched all these… also with anyone that dealt with a dog with severe environmental allergies which can border auto immune issues… Food allergies much easier to treat.. My dog cannot do chinese herb mixes… too many grains, mushrooms he seems to get itchy or sick stomach on… many of the well known herbs, kelp, nettle, quercetin have no effect…. would love any input.
i guess no one was able to answer…
Hey Lise,
I’ll weigh in here. The method you read there is not homeopathy. It’s the use of homeopathically diluted remedies, but it’s not following the well verified foundations of prescribing.
I’d never do that in my practice, nor would I recommend anyone try treating chronic disease at home. Period. Making symptoms go away is a very different thing than curing a patient, and is vastly inferior and even risky.
That’s why, when ever anyone asks for a “how to” on chronic disease of any kind, I refer them to my Resources page and the AVH list there. Best to have a trained professional on board to get your animal cured.
Can you recommend someone you deem reputable that would do phone consults… I am here in AZ… do not drive so hard to just get to a good holistic vet, and most every mobile one I have contacted work with TCM which my boy has tried and many of the mixes he did not do well on.
My boy is a tough case, sensitive to much, have him on raw now…but has residual bacterial and yeast going on I am sure. Environmental issues to grass and weeds are huge.. Aside from his initial rescue shots, he was a hoarding case. I do not obviously vaccinate. Have had allergy tested. Trying to find a good holistic vet that works with homeopathic remedies, diluted is like pulling teeth. Thanks for response.
Sure, Lise, Marybeth Minter, DVM is in Sedona, does 100% homeopathy, and works by telephone. How do I know? I looked up the AVH list from this page, did an advanced search on your state, and found her.
All the best.
Thanks, I am familiar with the site, left her a voice mail. Have contacted several others to no avail or ones that only work TCM, hopefully she will get back and let me know)
Hi Marsha, my dog is in a bad shape and I read what you used (histamine, bioplasma …) so I got it too. My question is how you serve it to your dog? Do you put the pallets in peanut butter or something? It says they should melt in your mouth but no instruction if you use it for a dog. Please, advice. Thank you so much! Marie naplesmm@yahoo.com
This was reccomended to me to many times, and I see it being reccomended almost daily to at least one pet owner.
My dog had severe allergies (outdoor and 3 food ones) and would itch night and day until her ears and eyelids and mouth would bleed – but I refused to give this (or Benedryl). After switching to raw diet, a few supplements including Transfer Factor and 9 months working with a homeopath her itching GOOOOOONNNNNEEEEE !!!! 😀 I am beyond thrilled and I know that SHE is very happy too! 🙂
Nice, Destiny! The beauty of that homeopathic approach (she hired a professional homeopath, readers), is that, not only is the skin disease gone, but the whole dog is healthier and will likely stay that way for a long while.
No drug can offer this outcome. In homeopathy, we simply call it cure. It’s the only medical system I know that can get patients truly cured.
Bravo.
I have a 7-year old Golden. We have just come out of about a 1-year struggle with itchiness and hotspots. She, as of now, is completely healed. I had to really attack this problem from several different angles. Food, bathing, supplements, positive reinforcement. Food: she is on a raw diet and was fed only chicken for the first 6 years or so of her life (a mistake in hindsight). She runs hot and chicken is a ‘hot’ food so she now gets no chicken, ever. Only a variety of neutral or cooling raw meats. Bathing: she gets groomed once a month. I was lax in bathing her, thinking I could do it myself, consequently I did not bathe her often enough. She tends to get oily skin which I think is irritating to her. Supplements: this is where it gets kind of involved but worth it. Salmon (genuinely wild) fish oil daily. MSM daily, spirulina daily, curcumin daily, 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar a day, 1 teaspoon kelp a day, a Vit C capsule, A B-12 capsule, a probiotic capsule daily, about a teaspoon of coconut oil daily. When she was scratching a lot, I had to keep myself from running over to her and treating it because, of course, that was reinforcing. I have a spray bottle with a watered down mix of Rescue Remedy. I’ll spray that on a spot she is fussing with although I haven’t had to do that for a while. I keep it and a hotspot remedy close by just in case. That scratching thing will drive you nuts not the least of which you know they are suffering. Someone recommended Apoquel to me a while back. I instinctively was not ready to go in the ‘chemical’ direction. Glad I didn’t after reading this article. My dog has not had the itches for about 2 months, her groomer is impressed with her condition, and I could not be more pleased. She is still on all the supplements.
Stayed tuned for Part Two, Marie. It’ll help you make sure you don’t undo all your hard work getting this poor gal on the mend. Glad you questioned Apoquel earlier and this article helped solidify your doubts about it.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
Just read Part 2. Very good article. I neglected to say in this comment that I have not vaccinated my dog for several years. I plan to get titers done so that if I ever get cornered by the county dog police I can show them titers. Even so, I don’t plan on vaccinating her for anything ever again. I’ll pay the fines if need be. I think I knew on some level that skin issues are an immune issue and she needed to be supported in that area. Hence, the supplements. So far, so good.
Also, good to know about the waiver. I will certainly use the “healthy dog,” waiver if I ever get questioned about vaccinations whether it’s the county dog police or a veterinarian.
Marie, your dedication to no further vaccinations is what will make the ultimate difference. Just know that the waiver I speak of is not a legal document.
It’s a sensible thing to bring up in any discussion, but most municipalities won’t recognize it. Sad state of affairs, but important to know what you’re up against.
Your logic is sound. That of most licensing bodies is not.
First off, I too agree that over vaccinating is an ongoing issue. However this year I have witnessed the horrific and painful death of two puppies whose owners’ did not vaccinate for Parvo. So although I agree we need alternatives, these diseases exist and are contagious and KILL young puppies. What’s your solution for their protection … if suggesting no vaccines ever? The risk is high!
Let me finish my comment by saying I vaccinated my new puppy only once, for Parvo and Distemper and declined the rabies all together. Our older dogs I stopped annual vaccines years ago, without 100% proof it was the right thing for them….. Thank you for this eye opener and insight.
5 dogs +
5 rescue kitties
I do know the misery of a severely itchy dog. I also have exerienced the apparent lack of understanding, or perhaps shear lazyness of several vets who just sigh and say “yeah, allergies are tough”. Not at all helpful. We have learned after a few years of our lab mix cycling back and forth from serious itching and chewing to good health and back again that possibly it never was allergies! No vet ever diagnosed demodec mange, yet once we diagnosed it ourselves and found a non drug treatment, our guy has remained healthy. Still keeping fingers crossed that it’s all behind us, but we’re ready to re-treat should the itching begin again. He’s had the mange twice, so seems susceptible (messed up immune system) – even though one vet told us that virtually never happens, especially with an adult dog. If he doesn’t have mange why does the treatment work so well?? btw, the treatment is called Mite Avenge by Happy Dogs Naturals.
What is the main ingredient in this product, Sandra?
If it was demodex, absolutely you’ll need to focus on strengthening your Lab’s immune system.
This is from the Happy Dog Naturals website:
https://happydognaturals.com/cure-mites/
Mite Avenge’s Amazing Ingredients:
Citronella, Clary Sage, Clove, Eucalyptus, Helichrysum, Karanja Seed, Lemon, Lavender, Neem, Peppermint, Rosemary, Styrax Benzoin & Vitamin E oils, Kelp, Polysorbate 20, Purified Water, Dihydrogen Dioxide and Tender Loving Care
His immune system was completely wrecked by over vaccination, which probably happened while he was in two different shelters before we got him. We keep a close eye out for flare ups and do periodic treatments to keep the mite population in check. He’s also been on a great, locally sources raw diet for the last year.
Thanks for the terrific information, insights and humor that you bring to us on a regular basis!!
Sandra
Thanks for this, Sandra. It looks like you see this clearly: shelters > multiple vaccinations > immune compromise > demodectic mange mites overgrowing. The next step in Dr. WhiteCoat’s clinic usually reads, “Dip this dog in toxic chemicals to kill those damn mites!”
And down goes the pup’s immune system even further.
So glad you took a different track and have a healthy dog to show for it!
Readers: this product looks great if you’re dealing with mites. I’d always suggest using something topical like this in concert with a homeopathic vet helping constitutionally, and really boosting immunity with Transfer Factor by 4Life Research.
Do you sell the transfer factor? I’d like to get some for my dogs & also the people 1 for me. Thanks
Hmm.. Interesting. I’m sure the drug is helping pets but the long term effects of using are not good so I would stay away. But my dog has never really been a scratcher. I would still try to find a natural solution, and definitely re-look at diet. Keep things simple. Go back to basics.
This drug has been recommended for my itchy dog recently. Thank goodness I declined each time it was suggested. Now after many years of improving my dog’s diet, quality supplements etc with much improvement in symptoms we will try a fecal transplant.
History of antibiotics, Nina? Main problem of itch still there? You’ll also want to stay tuned for Part Two, which will help prevent this from getting worse.
We’d love to hear about your experience with the fecal transplant! Right here is a fine place to update the story.
you tell us what NOT to use for the itchiess, etc… but neglect making a positive statement. Are you suggesting we absorb some of the comments and change diet from grains. I use Blue for her. Should I just give her green veggies and an occasional bit of poultry or fis? Please do me the honor of responding.
Hi Ellen,
I’ve outlined what to do in my Apoquel Alternatives report. Sounds like you may have missed that. Diet change is one of those possible solutions, but in many cases, not enough to fix the allergic state.
Get all the details by downloading that report. It’s free.
I had a client with a Havanese that used this drug until she noticed dark spots appearing on his skin! I actually heard they pulled his drug, reworked it and put it back on the market. Hmm.
My Cocker was scratching incessantly, and chewing his feet. His white paws were stained brown from saliva. I tried changing his diet to a strictly grain free food…made sense to me. (wolves don’t eat grains, realizing a Cocker is a LONG way from being like a wolf, but the principal is the same) LONG, very long story made short, he no longer chews or scratches, and his feet are fluffy and white with no more staining at all. I am really glad I started with diet, and not a drug. It was a desperate time, but this drug is NOT something I would have tried, since I read every review I can find before I give him anything new. Thank you for your blog
Nice work, Joanne. And, a Cocker isn’t all that far from a wolf in the genes: about 99% matching! So, you were on point in your thinking and did him a big favor.
Hi Joanne, My cocker has the same exact symptoms as yours, I have changed her food to no grains, and am now making her snacks, with beef and veggies. She has been on Apoquil for about a year, and they dont seem to be working anymore. Did it take your cocker a while for the diet change to make a difference? If it did, but has made all the difference, I am willing to take my baby off these meds, and wait for the diet change to take affect. Reading all these posts, about the ill effects of this drug make my want to stop giving it to her now. Thank you in advance for your response.
Do either of your dogs have hard lumps in their lymph nodes? Unfortunately my dog was diagnosed with lymphoma after using apoquel. I’m in the process of collecting more data if there is a connection because my vet brought it to my attention (not the vet that prescribed the apoquel) my dog is a 7 year Australian shepherd lab mix and has been completely healthy and happy minus his allergies. In comes the apoquel and then the lymphoma it’s hard to not think it is related please feel free to email me at carley.angal@yahoo.com
My lab Poodle mix has been on Apoquel since it came out. She was previously on Atopica which was super expensive. She is almost 13 but over the past 2 years she has MANY lypomas appearing all over her body. A very large one in her groin area which is causing her walking issues. I knew this would come back to bite me in the butt but was hoping this wonder drug was for real. TRUTH– drugs only mask the issues. Getting to the bottom of her allergies is what I really needed to do and go the holistic route. She is allergic to grass, dust, mulch etc. No food allergies.
I think your experience is pretty typical for a lot of Apoquel users, Lori. By virtue of suppressing the immune system, Apoquel allows tumors to grow. A normally functioning immune system is what keeps us free of the tumor cells growing in us (which scientists say are arising on a regular basis in all of us.)
Best of luck striking out on a new path.
Hello! My cocker girl is doing well on Apoquel the past 4-6 months. She’s on thyroid med, and Proin, as well, and she is the only cocker (american) we’ve owned (previous were english type) that has health issues (ears get daily treatment, as she’s prone to yeast and bacterial infections due to thyroid)….. we are thankful for Apoquel, it’s been a life saver. She has been on grain free expensive dog food since we adopted her 3 years ago. (She’s 8 yrs old.) We also bathe her with Hexedene weekly.
Heather: LOL, obviously you have not researched Apoquel, you are stating your dog is doing well on it and yet you are stating he suffers from bacterial ear infections and you are attributing it to thyroid problems. Seriously? is that what your veterinarian has brainwashed you to believe?
Thank you for writing about this drug. I have fairly healthy animals in my care, but I like to be aware of what kind of drugs are being used for itchy animals and how it affects them long term. Very helpful for my clients who have animals with excessive itching. They often come to me as a last resort after seeing Dr. Whitecoat for this issue and search the net for a natural solution when the drug therapy and RX foods fail to help their beloved pets.
I too am at my last resort. My poor Chihuahua started after a flea bite. Just one flea. That started the itching and scratching and it hasn’t stopped since. Apoquil that worked awhile, steriods that did no good, vet at a loss and he’s till itching so bad he’s now chewing up his foot pads. I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve searched for 4 years and tried every treatment I’ve read online. Nothing. And now it’s flea time again and I’m scared for him.
I saw this company called Wondercide on Sharktank and ordered my itchy dog this holistic product. Spray, flea spray and soap. Better slowly.
All natural.
They’ve been part of my Non-Toxic Flea Control page (one of my most popular until I wrote this one!) for years now. Bootstrapped biz here in Austin doing great work. (Now I guess I need to learn what Sharktank is…)
Good stuff, I use it.
Why not use flea control products pre-flea/tick season and save your pet from the misery?
Just do not use any flea pills like Nexgard, Bravecto, Comfortis, etc. They are pesticide into the stomach of your pet, they will die on the first dose or in the long run, they cause gastrointestinal, neurological problems, seizures, liver failure, look it up on google, online reviews of all these flea pills, they are poison.
I just started mine on Apoquel,My Chihuahua Is 7 years old and has smelled even after baths for a couple years,they noticed she was chewing on her feet and her neck was red they put her on Apoquel and she is so much better,hair growing smells good and her white fur is white so as of now I will keep using It.
Often itching is caused by over vaccination. Mandatory three year rabies laws must stop! Our dogs only need 2 rabies shots per lifetime! Vaccines cause auto immune diseases.
My dogs need 0 shots per lifetime.
🙂
Sadly to inform you Irene past away yesterday. I am crying. What a beautiful soul and a bountiful of knowledge.
I’m very sorry for your loss. May you find comfort in the wonderful time you had together.
Dear Doc.
For yeasty situations on my dog I dilute Apple Cider Vinegar in a spray bottle… it seems to control yeast very well.
Kathy
I’ve had my dog on a
Apoquel for about three months now he stinks so bad and he’s had so many ear infections I think it’s yeast but what can I do after I take him off of the Apoquel for the itching?
Hi Kathy
Interested in your comments re apple cider vinegar. How/where in your dog did yeast infection manifest itself? What was dogs behaviours? Itching, licking, scratching etc? How strong a solution did you make up and how did you apply it? Thankyou
can i stop my dog from taking apoquel with no side effects ? the vet told me he had to be on the medication for life and i don’t want to keep my Pomeranian on this medication after reading these reviews. can anyone help me please.
I like to mix it half and half with baby oil helps the vinger stay on the hair and helps condition it this also works for rain rot on horses
How much apple cider do u put in and how much water. Thanks very much.
What is the ratio on that ma’am?
Where do you spray the vinegar?
6 year old bichon started apoquel for itching though I was helping now to find out this is probley his problem with lessions and masses under his neck legs back and now 2nd surgery why is this product on the market if its harming our pets worried now!!
Oh no! Now I’m even more afraid that I was. Just started my Apoquel now I don’t think I’ll give it to him. thanks for the info
My 4 year old gsd was on it for itching. She died 2 months later with lymphoma
My English bulldog died from these after taking apoquel for a year. He was only 3 :(((
Hey everyone! I also had a dog that was on apoquel and died of cancer shortly after taking it. I am looking into filing a class action lawsuit against Zoetis! If anyone is interested in joining me please get back to me. Aprilsgrooming@hotmail.com
I’ve had my dog on Apoquel since it first came out. I have had none of the problems all these other people are talking about. She is healthy, the only time I see her licking her paws is when she’s been outside.
We had her tested, she has 27 allergies, quite a few food allergies and certain types of grass. I make her food, mostly veggies and either chicken liver or chicken breast. She has at times gotten yeast in the ear, which I take care of promptly. I get her hair cut short and bathe her often. She’s a shih Tzu, so no long hair. I do cut the apoquel back to every other day in the fall and winter.
Exactly! The drug manufacturers started including a note in the drugs package that if your dog has cancer, not to give it to them! Every living thing has cancer but our immune systems correct it all of the time, but Apoquel suppresses the immune system, preventing it from correcting the cancer. If our vet passed on the cancer warning in the drugs package, we would have stopped using it at once. But they never included it so our 6 year old baby is now dying of the terminal hemangiosarcoma cancer and theres only a slim hope of even slowing it down. This is nothing short of criminal, and because our dog doesn’t have monetary value, no lawyer will take the case, and the vets are still selling this poison, without the warning today, and the vet board in Minnesota is joke. So please Spread the word, Apoquel causes cancer!!
I just found out today that 2 out of 3 of my dogs that I placed on Apoquel for only 6 weeks now have lymphoma. Strong coincidence?
My 4yr old Bella (yellow lab) got a bump on her leg, it appeared rather sudden. An asperated showed cancer and the tumor was removed the next day. My vet said if he got he margins, no worries, but no more Apoquel because it’s not recommended for dogs with cancer history. This made me wonder/suspect the Apoquel she’d been on for two years. Pathology came back, there were still cancer cells in the margins of the incision so I called the cancer dr….. Bella’s new oncologist agreed the Apoquel likely contributed to the immune system allowing this Mass Cell Tumor to get going. I had been afraid of the high cost of an oncologist, but it was $150 initial and $65 follow-up. One of the first things she said was,”this is not going to take Bella”. She explained everything, It was well worth her fee to hear this and understand what we’re dealing with. It’s a grade 1 Mass Cell Tumor. She is now considered at higher risk for future tumors and I have to check her often to catch any possible bumps, and pray never again. She prescribed Benadryl and Prednisone and diligence. Prednisone was $20 and her Dr is confident this will keep Bella Tumor free. A small fraction of the cost I was paying, $80 a month, to poison my dog with Apoquel. $1000 for surgery because of Apoquel.
Will great article! My dog was taking apoquel, and did exactly as you described in this article. Worked great for a couple of months, then had little or no affect. By the time we took him off the drug it was to late.
We noticed some lymph glands swelling, and took him to the vet.
They immediately suspected cancer, and drew some fluid for testing. The sample was sent to the University of Georgia for testing. The results came back inconclusive. We were very happy, but two days later we had to have him put to sleep. He had a lymph gland the size of a baseball in his neck. He could barely walk, couldn’t eat. It was the safest day of my life. There is no doubt in my mind Apoquel caused his death by weakening his immune system.
Please do everything you can to earn other dog owners of the danger of this drug. The side affects are worse than the disease with this drug.
Oh, Michael, I’m so sorry you had to lose your dog to this drug’s immune deranging effects.
How old was he?
I’m not able to sign up and create a password to get the alternative report apoquel
Maureen, please write here to get the help you need: support@VitalAnimal.com
I tried to download the alternative newsletter and was brought to three different pages and told I had to sign up for some site, I have an EB who turned one in December, last July I boarded him at my vet, put it in writing I did not want any of my dogs to receive a flu shot, picked him up and was charged for a flu shot, dog had zero allergies or hot spots prior to this, then we brought him in for yeasty hot spots we tried Benadryl, Zyrtec and prednisone, antibacterial creams and anti fungal creams with no luck, they had apequel on the counter along with an antibiotic, we said no way to apequel as we’ve read how bad it is, also the warning sheets that come with the drug also say not to handle it with bare hands! I’ve had stage 3B breast cancer RA, osteoarthritis, copd and diverticulitis, have read from fur moms that have handled this Med that they are terrified about what will happen to them from dispensing this Med to their dogs without gloves, something to look into
Check safety data sheet regarding ppe, proper ventilation and cleaning up spilled product!!!
I have just connected my French bulldog miyas shot with severe hives a week later. This shot is poison.
I’m with you. Never again will any living being in my care get a vaccine. Vaccine equals poor health, brain issues and a shorter life. Nothing good about those. I’m reading about how Juliette de Bairacli Levy cured distemper, parvo and rabies using herbs and natural methods only. She stated she never knew of a kibble or pet food dog being saved but the raw fed, naturally raised ones had no trouble coming through it. That’s my choice, too. There are no guarantees but natural is definitely best.
How cool is that, Dede? Three known high fatality diseases, and she was curing them. More importantly, seeing a huge difference in outcome based on their diets.
Thanks for sharing that. It speaks volumes.
Yep, it’s super cool, Doc. No vaccines, too. She never vaccinated her animals or her children.
My niece was never vaccinated; her parents were absolutely opposed to Dr. Whitecoat’s medicine. She’s now an adult and has done the same for her son – no toxic anything. So awesome!
I’ve never used Apoquel but years ago when we had a dog with severe allergies and were foolishly using Dr. Whitecoat, our poor girl suffered terribly. The allergies started just weeks after she got her second rabies vaccine – bam! It hit her like a ton of bricks. We tried everything conventional medicine offered with no help. We even did the injections from the veterinary dermatologist for 3 yrs. She was so bad that only steroids would stop her from scratching and biting herself so bad she would bleed and tear her skin all up. Of course, those gave her cancer and she had to be euthanized. If only I knew then what I know now. I’m so grateful for you, homeopathy and natural living information.
Oh, Dede, that scenario is so typical, and unfortunately so often missed. A few weeks or a month post-vaccination, and the immune system shows complete confusion. And, if you’re not looking for it, you don’t connect the dots.
I’m so glad you’ve kept your nose to the grindstone and learned a better way to raise your animals. I, too, had some remarkably healthy kids, all vaccine free.
Hi, I’ve been reading all this and am now horrified that I gave apoquel to my baby. We ran out a few days ago so I’ve just been giving her Benadryl. The problem is that she seems to have withdrawal symptoms. Is that possible? What can I do about it?
I don’t think there’s any need to taper the dose (like we used to have with steroids in the old days). Any symptoms returning are just that, likely: you took the artificial brake off the immune system so her allergies are starting to break through, Karen.
Download the Apoquel Alternatives Report and start in on a better, safer path. The goal: cure. Something Apoquel or any drug will be unable to effect.
I can’t figure out how to comment to you doctor, but I wanted to share my dogs experience. She’s a ten year old Maltipoo with constant chewing on her feet. We put her on this drug and progressively she was running around the house and couldn’t settle down. Up and down all night plus constant drinking and urinating. I thought it was dementia but then how could it happen so fast. She was on two times a day and I tried one time a day for two weeks. No change so I went to none. Within three weeks there was an incredible change. She can lay around like the other dogs. Sleep in her bed all night. No more excessive drinking. I feel so badly as I was ready to put her to sleep. Now she is a relaxed laid back dog. She still chews her feet so I need to figure that out, but a huge difference for the better.
Our dogs were getting vaccines but the vet skipped one because people object to unnecessary vaccines! Stress in the mouse population and 3 dogs died and the 4th sick before the vet discovered it was Lepto – easily prevented by a VACCINE. Vaccine and heart worm preventive are life savers and extenders!
Mr. S,
I totally agree with you. I had a friend that didn’t vaccinate her child and he got Polio. He lived but his quality of life is awful, he didn’t derserve it. The other children were vaccinated (split marriage) and did not get it. Sorry, vaccines save lives, not in all cases but the benefit out weighs the risk. I had to get Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Polio and a booster Tetanus, along with Malaria, to go to Africa. It wasn’t easy but after going and seeing the suffering of these people and children, I would never go without coverage.
As for my dogs, I get titers done on them and do not vaccinate unless necessary (there is a cost) but than I feel comfortable that I am not over vaccinating.
My poor dog was itching to death for months. Vet changed food, gave him cortisone. Nothing worked. Then she put him on Apoquel for a month. No improvement. I was taking him to groomer and noticed several hard masses in his throat. I ranged vets immediately. He did biopsy. My dog has lymphoma and I believe it was caused by the Apoquel. Now I am losing my best friend. What do u think about this?
Dear Barb Campbell I am very interested in your story. My dog has allergies as well and our former vet put him on apoquel three separate times in the last year. He is 7 years old and a very healthy happy dog and he too now has lymphoma, diagnosed almost a year to the day as his first apoquel prescription. It’s hard to even talk about without getting upset. Feel free to email me at carley.angal@yahoo.com
Amen to that.
Anyone who has seen polio or tetanus will realise that these accusations are wild. Percentage wise most people will be fine without vaccination. Just because you didn’t get vaccinated and didn’t get ill hardly clarifies anything. Read a scientific double blinded study and learn how to assess scientific articles rather than reading blogs.
I see dogs dying or Parvo virus daily, EASILY prevented via vaccination. I also use Apoquel on a daily basis for my patients. I have not seena single negative side effect. It is a janus kinase inhibitor, not an antiinflammatory, nor a steroid. It is a drug in a class of its own shown to be safe and not cause immunosupression. If you don’t like it, don’t use it, but if you can’t sort out that itching another way you are a negligent owner as you are causing undue stress and pain to your animal. Yes iotching has an underlying cause, but if your dog is allergic to a certain grass then good luck avoiding that for their whole life.
Find the cause, address the cause, use medication when NEEDED to alleviate suffering and buy time to address the underlying issue. If it is unavoidable then it is safe to use long-term. Argue that if you will but when your alternatives are suffering or steroids you choose the lesser of the evils. No I don’t work for any drug company, I am an experienced veterinarian who has studied alternative medicines but prefers a scientific based approach.
Don’t google medications – talk to your vet.
How did your dogs come into contact with mice? Did you not change their water daily? Or did they drink from a source the mice were in? If so was there a way you could have prevented that? Or had they gotten into the dogs’ food in a container? If so why wasn’t it discarded? Lepto from my understanding is spread by dogs drinking water or consuming something rats have urinated in. I don’t think there had to be “stress” I believe it can occur regardless. Even people can get Lepto if a grill isn’t cleaned and food prepared rats have peed on. (They move inside rarely used outdoor grills.) Living in FL we have rats inhabiting the palm trees. Rats usually only come out at night and definitely not anywhere the dogs are in daytime. I have 2 outside water bowls mounted on the fence connected to water lines so they fill automatically. I empty both in early a.m. before letting dogs out to ensure they don’t drink water a rat may have peed in. I rescue so have dogs in/out all the time and Lepto is prevalent here and all vets recommend it. As my dogs are safe from it i don’t give it as the vaccine is harsh & known to make dogs ill. Fosters are given a 1x combo vaccine minus Lepto and rabies by law. I then advise adopters NOT to vaccinate as 1 vaccine in adult dogs should last for life. If not comfortable to run a titer first. I also before adopting educate about Lepto and advise giving it ONLY if they have rats (i.e. live in rural or farm area dogs might somehow get into an unsafe water source.) Every neighborhood has rats but if adopter feels dog has no chance of contact like mine I tell them to ignore vet’s advice to give it. I do give vaccines to puppies as distemper & parvo are rampant here and puppies particularly susceptible. Harder for them to overcome disease than an adult unvaccinated dog. I also advise keeping collar on 24/7 with ID tag and all dogs are microchipped prior to adoption. I then tell adopters which is against the law but lifesaving to NOT register the dog with the county or they’ll be forced to give rabies for the dog’s life. A small fine is levied if county finds out and forces registration making it worth it in the long run for both the owner and their pet. There’s an excellent Facebook page run by Rodney Habib who educates re: holistic home remedies, raw diets and cancer. Check him out! He educates in concert with a holistic vet who’s well known on-line.
Richard,
I understand that you are a vet but there is research out there proving that Apoquel causes abdominal tumors! This is not being disclosed to people and therefore they cannot make an informed decision. Vets like you make me sick!!! How can you sit there and watch peoples animals died from medications YOU are prescribing! They should take your license away!!!!
Sorry, but vaccines can only do harm. Pure poison. Stay away. Only the body can heal – human or canine.
Has anyone experienced pronounced aggression from their dog? I have a deaf Pomeranian mix and he is already snippy if we startle him. Now he attacks my husband if he comes too close to me. His scratching so much he is raw. My poor baby.
Juliette told me that she was able to cure dogs of distemper using grapefruit juice and fasting, but she was unable to help the dogs who had been vaccinated against distemper.
I’d read this about her, Catherine. Really a damnation of what happens to the body as a result of vaccination, isn’t it?
Chris Day’s work on the kennel cough nosode showed clearly those vac’d for KC were more likely to get the disease and, once they’d gotten it, had a longer recovery than those unvaccinated.
Thanks for the reminder.
Distemper HAS no cure. All you can do is give supportive care, fluids and antibiotics not for the distemper but against any secondary infections occurring while dog is attempting to recover. Adult dogs in good health with strong immune systems can pull thru. Grapefruit juice did NOT “cure” distemper. Fact. Look it up.
Hey Lee, it’s time you dug a bit deeper. Distemper is curable, but not with conventional medicine. Juliette de Bairacli Levy cured it with nutrition and herbs and vets way back to 1927 cured it with nosodes made from distemper. Those same nosodes work today.
P.S. re: distemper – fasting isn’t required but most dogs in early stages are vommiting and won’t eat regardless. I give a pill I’m forgetting its name to protect the stomach. If dog throwing up to the point it can’t keep pills down I have vet insert a port thru which I can give in liquid form along with antibiotics. Also years back in Miami many of us were using a poultry vaccine that helped initially if given at first onset of disease called the New Castle vaccine. It didn’t help when administered in the disease’s later stages. It was being used off label with success in Europe somewhere which is where vets here had heard about it and were willing to try it. Many who dealt with rescues tried keeping it in stock but it expired if opened and not used within short amount of time so it wasn’t cost effective for vet. No idea how easy/hard it is to order and obtain on short notice and if not given early its efficacy isn’t worth trying it. Also since off label not all vets willing to even try it. Amazes me how western vets abhor holistic veterinary medicine same as medical doctors abhor chiropracters. A combined approach utilizing the best of both is what I support.
My dog experianced a really bad allergy attack last April. He had his rabies shot on a thursday and by Tues he was a very sick boy. Hives and his little chest etc was so red. He was very very sick… After reading above i now wonder if it was the shots that did this to him…. I also ahve changed his food to Kangaroo low fat ….hes still taking 1/2 an apoquel a day (very expensive drug)….and in the am before he gets it ..hes a very itchy fella….he sleeps in bed with me so wonder if my sheets are the problem….any thoughts from anyone please say…thanks
Michele & Larry (JRT )
My dog died from taking Apoquel, he developed a mass near his heart, this mass erupted and bled, all that blood was around his lungs and he could not breathe, his stomach also was damaged, it got enlarged, he died a long and painful death because of this poison. I will sue the vet and I already reported it to Zoetis and FDA , if all people with this same bad experience reports to Fda and Zoetis they will take it off the market and will stop killing dogs. Did you know they have a conditional license? that means they are still experimenting on dogs.
D-10 – Dog Shampoo – Anti-Fungal/Bacterial – “No Tears” – Produces a Healthy, Shiny Coat – 250ml this is very good for itchy skin . the vet will not tell you about it .
Sound like your dog shouldn’t have been vaccinated in the first place. Your vet needs a stern talking to I think
I very much doubt someone was able to cure RABIES with herbs, and even stating such leads me to disbelieve anyone who applauds it. If there was an even partially successful cure for rabies, an invariably fatal disease that kills 50,000 HUMANS a year, I am certain more investigation would be done on those “herbs”, even if just by the family of people infected by rabies. I call BS.
I’m so sorry, but your response sounds more like BS to me. Every adult dog I have been around (probably for decades) seems to have the dark circles around their eyes and mouth–they look like they’ve been playing in dirt–but it’s just their eyes and mouth…and they usually scratch constantly and smell bad, even if they just had a bath…nice try, govt troll!
I would love to do all the natural remedies for my dogs, but, when I go away and board them, they require their immunization records. How can I get around that?
Get a house sitter don’t board your dog! We paid to join a housesitter service. The lady that now comes to us does not charge us a penny. They put their profile up with references and we struck gold. Why not do that. Good luck. All that kennel cough stuff and injections. Keep your wee dog in its own home.
My dog had Parvo. Took to emergency vet and they called me within 24 hours and said come get your dog…he’s eating, barking, and ripping his IV out. He’s on a raw diet.
Later that vet and mine said he needed a distemper vaccine. He only had it in a combination with Parvo vaccine. He gout very sick. I’ll never vaccinate again.
Yikes!! Ever hear of rabies?
Sad that some of you have to make a living from being trolls! For THOUSANDS of years people—without being vaccinated—were so numerous WORLDWIDE that in MANY cultures, they were SACRIFICED—MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN!!! Stop lying to us about the shots, getting tired!!!
You are foolish and irresponsible. I feel sorry for your pet.
Agree
Do you like being a govt troll? How much do they pay you to “persuade” (indoctrinate) us?!
Sad little trolls…how much do they pay you to try to “persuade” (indoctrinate) us??!
Mine either… As I have been told I am a bad pet owner…. I don’t do, nor have done vaccinating, drugs or chemicals for my dogs, cattle or horses for over 25 years and unbelievably I don’t have any of the health issues I read others are having.
How old is your dog?
My pom has been on Apoquel for 40 days. He has been coughing a lot and licks his paws almost constantly when he is awake. This is something he did not do until on this medication. He also sleeps a great deal. Of course, he is 18 yrs. old but I don’t want this to shorten his life.
My Jack Russell is on his 7th day of double introductory dose of Apoquel and it worked within a few hours. He has food allergies so is on Hills Science Diet ZD prescription food, but also suffers seasonal allergies that begin in August and do not let up till our first heavy frost which can be weeks. I have tried everything for tis and nothing works. His under legs areas get raw and very yeast smelling and he scratches himself raw and chews his feet raw too. He is healed in a few days but is coughing a lot and very lethargic. I’m worried about the coughing so am considering discontinuing Apoquel. As long as he is on the ZD food, he has no problems so I though I would just keep him on Apoquel to get him through the seasonal allergies, but I’m worried the coughing during these weeks will harm him permanently.
Vaccination is only part of the problem. The bigger problem, particularly in “allergic” dogs, is commercial dog food. Commercial foods contain so much indigestible garbage that wastes accumulate in the body. The body must either store or eliminate them, so it usually does both — it stores them in fat cells (that’s why dogs are typically fat) and also sends them out through the eyes, ears and skin. The wastes irritate and inflame nerve cells as they come into contact with them, and this causes the chronic itching. The key is feeding foods that are CLEANLY digested, like those that we can still observe being eaten by wild dogs. I have a booklet on my website that will teach you how to home feed (raw) your dog properly, cheaply and effectively. My site is a labor of love intended to empower dog owners and is not monetized (NO ads, no commercial influence). NoMoreVetBills.com.
my little yorky dog has dark purple large areas under his arms.what could it be from
Please send me your email address to susie3839 at yahoo.com
My dog had pretty much the same i started feeding her chicken and rice no seasoning just a little natural butter . I stopped all scented shampoos , the scents dyes and the additives in their foods and shampoos are killing our animals , Bee bee live to be 21 with no more problems after i stopped commercial dog food and scented products .I refused to let the vet vaccinate her after that . no problems he was healthy and happy until the day she passed
If the ZD is helping then, stick with that. You said you have tried everything…? I know this sounds stupid, but is your baby off chicken and corn?
Chicken and turkey are considered “hot” foods in Chinese medicine. If you are giving your baby chickin treats they can cause this problem.
Do you give your baby a chew toy or a marrow bone? Sometimes they need to get anxiety out and if they don’t have anything, they chew on themselves.
There’s a web site, I love called pawhealer dot com
maybe they can help.
But, yes, get rid of the Apequel
My doc told me apoquel does not work on food allergy just seasonal and (like my Chihuahua) cotton etc.
My long haired Dachshund mix has both food allergies (rice, corn, white potatoes, ham, duck, and milk) as well as environmental allergies (fescue, every tree pollen on the test, and bacterial hypersensitivity to some sort of bacteria) and apoquel works on just about all of them.
Obviously, I avoid giving her any foods with allergens that I know of, but I can’t do anything about the bacteria and so she still has outbreaks that are more hive-like rather than hotspot-like, but they are much fewer.
(When she does have an outbreak, then an anti-histamine helps make her itching bearable.
And no, the anti-histamine wasn’t able to help relieve her itching anywhere near as well as apoquel when it was the only thing I could give her.)
So, in my experience (which obviously may not be what you’ll encounter if you try it on your pet), apoquel is everything that it was claimed to be.
The only side effect that I *THINK* might be attributable to apoquel is that my dog seems more prone to barking which *MAY* mean that she suffers from one of the side effects noted for apoquel, namely increased aggression.
Compared to how much she used to itch, this side effect (if it is one) is so trivial as to be insignificant.
And no, I don’t work for the maker of apoquel, nor to I get any money or any other reward to write this.
I’m sorry for all of those whose pets have had bad experiences with apoquel, but they aren’t mine and I’m glad that my dog is on it as nothing else I tried even came close to giving her any relief.
Certainly *ALL* of the holistic “remedies” I tried had *ZERO* beneficial effect.
My vet is going to a conference regarding apoquel. He is considering putting my chaweinie on apoquel. After reading these comments I’m thinking not such a good idea.
@Lewis Cole…our black lab was prescribed Apoquel a few weeks ago because the Vet said the steroids were the cause of an infection she has. I guess steroids are not good for the immune system. We haven’t given the Apoquel to her because I have been worried about it. After all these comments I am even more so. Your comments are making me lean toward it more so now. She’s almost 11 yes old, and of course she’s like our kid. We give her Benadryl nightly but doesn’t help much. You pet her and she starts scratching…We feel for her and can’t stand to see her so uncomfortable. She didn’t start this until we moved to TX from OR 8 yes ago. We will keep an eye out & the first I see any kinda of side effect…then we’ll stop.
Thanks!
Hey Mary,
I think all too often folks think there are only two choices: Big Pharma and its inherent risks or suffering the disease.
There’s a third, and it needs to be more widely known: professional homeopathic prescribing.
Big Pharma will never cure your dog. And, professional homeopathy can.
For a list of colleagues, see this post (scroll down to find the download)
My 13 year old dog has been on apoquel for over 2 years. His itching and sore skin made the decision for me. Either I try this or put him down to stop his suffering. he has thrived. Beautiful coat, sleeps all night. No scratching or sneezing. maybe it does not work on some peoples animals but Moey slept thru the night on the first dose. he has had no adverse side effects at all. Yes he is not well but that is because he has a bad heart and soon I will have no choice but to put him to rest but I am glad he has had over 2 years of happy, comfortable life.
Hello I have a Shih Tzu and I did a ton of research on Apoquel. I must inform everyone first that my dog has seasonal allergies from about December to March depending on humidity. I live in Florida.
Apoquel was not made to use every single day forever. In the pharmacological prescribing information it states to use for a short period of time and then discontinue. I give t to my dog for a few short months and not every day. I’ve skipped to an every other day regimen just to give my poor puppy a break from the itching. It’s not a cure all it just helps. Once the medication is elevated in their blood levels you don’t have to give it every day. Those of you saying you are going to discontinue, have you found any relief previous to using medication? So you are going to allow you dog to be miserable with the itching and scratching and biting and digging themselves raw? Are you saying that’s better for them. Do some more research. As stated once you give the first weeks dosing then cut back on it every other day every two days and diascontinue when they don’t need it. Most dogs have a seasonal itching you just have to figure out when it is.
I have a 5 yr old Shih Tzu I have had since he was 3 mo old. About 7 months after I got him he started scratching, digging and biting, yeasty ears, open sores from scratching constantly. I tried everything I could get my hands on that didn’t have chemicals in it. I mean everything! My Aunt is a Homeopath and a Naturalist so she really tried to help me. And I am a herbalist and we still couldn’t help my baby. Fritzie only had his puppy shots before I got him and he wasn’t doing all this when I got him so it wasn’t the shots and I didn’t get him his rabies until he was 4 so we can’t blame it on vaccines. We changed his food, I bathed him in distilled water with herbal essences in it. He was so miserable. I didn’t want to put him on steroids or medications, I just didn’t! I had him tested for allergies and found ALL kinds of food allergies so I have to special make his food everyday. He has environmental allergies so he has to wear a t-shirt and booties outside to protect him and I have to wipe down any exposed fur and skin and he STILL itched and scratched, and dug! Last January I got together with my vet to talk about his quality of life because didn’t have one and I didn’t want him to suffer anymore. (Yes I was thinking of letting my baby go) My vet told me that we didn’t want to do steroids and I agreed because I had one dog years earlier that had to have steroids and it wasn’t nice for her. He asked me if I had heard of Apoquel and I said yes and that everything I had heard was horrific. He said not to believe everything I had heard! He said we would run blood work monthly to make sure he was doing good and keep him on the lowest dose he could. So I agreed. Fritzie has been on Apoquel since then, doing his blood work every 30 days, I still do all the things I was doing before the medicine to be sure, but the digging, scratching,licking, yeasty ears all of it were gone in a little over a week because he was so bad.
I am not saying Apoquel doesn’t have side effects, but as with human medicines some of the benefits far out weight everything else.
I bought better carpet and my little dog got better.
I do think the vaccines do bother my dog. He had a
Fit for 3 days. They put him on Apoquel a week ago.
I wil Take him off. He’s 11 and 11lbs, lethargic some.
No other symptoms. I feed him only food with
Venison in it.
Get him off of it and go the holistic route to clean him up…milk thistle and google herbs and supplements to strengthen him.
I have 1 dog and 2 cats. My one dog and one cat are vaccinated with chronic issues but my 11 year old cat that has never been vaccinated has never had issues. So by experience with my own animals id have to agree!
Hey Shelly,
While a small sample size, yes, I think that supports the idea that vaccines are damaging.
The cat as a species is a well known example in holistic vet circles, and I use them to teach quite often:
When they were largely rural mousers, not seeing Dr. WhiteCoat, they were a healthy bunch, while the most popular pet, the dog, was adding to his list of chronic diseases regularly. That’s still happening, of course.
But a decade or two ago, cats overtook the dogs as the most popular pet, starting going to the conventional vets for more and more “prevention,” and all hell broke loose! Diabetes, cancer, and new to the scene entirely: hyperthyroidism! Unknown completely when I was in vet school. Now they’re even showing up with heartworm, heretofore a canine parasite.
There’s a lesson there, and I place the blame squarely on #1: vaccinations, and #2 kibble diets and flea pesticides. More “prevention” leads to more serious disease, if you’re not smart about it!
My question is WHY the need to be on the drug for life?! These poor pets likely only need to clear up what is causing the allergen so short term usage required – household products such as carpet cleaner or perfumed laundry detergent on towels/bedding, bathing shampoo with oatmeal will cause itch for those dogs with yeast infections or grain allergies (oatmeal IS a grain), yard pesticide/fertizliers, and food allergens – most dogs should avoid chicken, corn, grains. Can we believe this drug to be safe for short term usage? (weeks to a couple months tops?)
You are right! I stopped all vaccinations (except for rabies, unfortunately).
We should have the freedom of choosing what to put in our animals and kids bodies! Thank you for the information on this “money making drug”! — another one to add to the pile!
I find it interesting what the Author said about Aquacel. I also find it disingenuous because he doesn’t say what dosage causes these problems or how long the dog is on the drug. If he’d like to ad qualifiers I’d feel more comfortable buying his story.
I also question this article. He says it isn’t marketed for cats or puppies as if that is a smoking gun… newsflash, cats are completely different in the way they process meds. They lack some liver enzymes that dogs have. And there are plenty of things puppies can’t have. Makes me wonder if the author is simply being a bit sensational or maybe hasn’t done his research.
Good for you. Better to find someone who has used it. My dog takes a half a dose during the spring and summer and does not need it during the winter. He has been on it for over two years and is a happy healthy pet that I once considered having to put to sleep to release him from his suffering. I shudder to think someone would cull any medication that works and let their animal suffer.
“Medicine that works” — works by shutting down the immune system, is what you mean. If you’re happy with that, great, but save the shuddering as my readers are moving well beyond “risky drugs or suffering,” as if those are the only two choices.
I can’t believe there are still people out there that believe vaccines are BAD! How can you even begin to think such a thing?? How do you think humans have been able to live such long lives?? People who stop vaccinating create problems for everyone, there’s a reason its a law. Would you want your child getting polio or the mumps? Ever heard of rabies? You people are so quick to believe anything you read online saying vaccines are why people get autism …. cancer… shorter lives.. when in reality they aren’t even related… read up on your science and stop spreading lies… at least present a research backed argument!
Hey Missy, I’d say it depends on who you trust for your information.
The drug companies whose main goals are to make money, or the actual immunologists who have spent their lives doing research.
Here’s who I trust, from Dr. Ron Schultz;
http://news.wisc.edu/schultz-dog-vaccines-may-not-be-necessary/
Hey Joyce,
Won’t even begin to read when I see “may”. Anything can “May” work. So can not getting vaccines “may” work for one BUT in the majority it has made quality of life better for all animals and humans. Nothing is 100% effective… sorry. I stick with percentages and have seen many humans (especially children) suffer and die (meningitis, polio,tetanus, shingles) when a vaccine could have avoided a
lot of suffering.
“May” turned you right off in a popular magazine article by a foremost veterinary immunologist, but you’d like us to accept that you’ve “seen” deaths from tetanus and polio??
C’mon, Mary, that’s called a double standard. We’re not buying your argument.
Dr. Schulz’s dogs are vaccinated. He’s just saying that boostering every 1 or 3 years isn’t necessary. Regardless, they’re still vaccinated. He’s not promoting never vaccinating your pets.
I personally believe that some of the newer vaccines are definitely causing autism. People never even heard of autism 50 years ago, but now that they are coming out with all these newer vaccines for mumps, measles and whatever, autism seems to be a very common problem for many children. Nobody has been able yet to literally prove it, but at the same time nobody has been able to honestly disprove it. Maybe the vaccines are being given too soon to infants or maybe they should just be eliminated. For the very few who ever die from measles and mumps, I think it should be up to the parents to decide whether they want their kids to be vaccinated and not up to the states to make it a law.
People have only recently distinguished autism from general retardation. 50 years ago people were labeled under the umbrella term mentally retarded. Now we know it’s a different form of mental disability. Autism isn’t new, we just never recognized it before.
They diagnose it better now, there was still a lot of Autism in the past classifyied as a Mental defiances. Just like many cancers are now diagnosed early allowing for better outcomes.
A popular but misguided myth. Cruel to the moms who had a normal bright and developmentally on target child who was lost to the family and a productive life after a combo vaccine was given. Shame on you for suggesting there’s nothing new in this epidemic of man made vaccine damage called autism.
Agree, vaccines have aloud people and pets to live longer and without some fatal diseases. Are there going to be a small percentage of ppl with reactions, of course, we are not all the same. But to stop vaccinations is putting yourself, pets and others at risk of getting a disease that had been radicated. This is why we are now seeing Whooping cough again!
Actually, in animals reactions are not at all “rare” as many vets believe. In fact, immunologists have listed numerous reactions which are fairly common — many of which vets mistakenly seem to consider “normal” and not reactionary at all. This speaks volumes. Couple that with a broken reporting system which gives the information to the vaccine company via a vet who believes they have cause to report it (an obstacle in itself) or know to do so (another obstacle), and allows that information to become “proprietary”. So we actually are not allowed to KNOW the numbers of animals who have had serious reactions. Nice set up, isn’t it? Here is a list of what immunologists consider to be reactions. This is the LEADING vet immunologist in the world with over 40 years of research and publication under his belt. http://truth4pets.org/2012/07/vaccine-reactions/
Consider also that vaccine related illness is now becoming more common and recognized.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1939-1676.1996 and there has been a study out of Purdue proving that often serious health issues arise when vaccinating: http://www.omegadanes.com/purdue_university_and_hayward_foundation_study_on_vaccines.htm
Of course, it’s long been established that cats in particular have had fibrosarcomas at the sites of injections, but now a study has emerged reporting such events in dogs: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1439-0442.2003.00544.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false
One is always free to continue to vaccinate, but it’s been established that animal immunity lasts FAR LONGER than the current protocols. For my household, no more vaccines. Period. And by doing so we are following the science, not the current trends. As for not vaxxing altogether, many pursue this course with great success. Remember that vaccines have not always existed, and yet dogs are not extinct….. I get the fear, and for me and mine it’s a non issue since we adopt and will have to deal with any aftermath of health issues, but a dog with no health issues is a wonder to behold. Now THOSE are rare, sadly.
..Remember that vaccines have not always existed, and yet dogs are not extinct….
This is a very strange way of thinking.. You can use the same arguement as :
.. Remember that medicines have not always existed, and yet humans are not exinct..
or
.. Remember that descent doctors, dentists, anaesthesia have not always existed, and yet humans are not extinct..
This way of thinking puts us back to the medieval ages where plague, rabies or flue killed millions of people, animals,..
Even if there are cases where a vaccination resulted in casualties, it’s nothing compared to the millions and millions of lives it saved.
So let’s all go back to the dark ages with no vaccines or antibiotics. We will have a repeat of all the diseases and illness’ that have been stopped. (not cured but stopped) But that is a totally different discussion. We have been giving our Echo apoquel for about 3 weeks now. This week she has had diareah so bad is like water. We have been making sure she drinks water with electrolites. Her appetite has not changed. But I am going to stop giving her this drug. We tried this food and that and this shampoo and that. But I am going to start making my own dog food and a more natural shampoo.
Why keep doing what you’re doing when its not working, right?
A repeat of all diseases and illnesses? WHat are you talking about about, are these non existence? hmmm and I haven’t been informed? DAMN!
Relieved to read that you’re going to make some changes, they are a great start
This happened to my dog and it only got worse! Blood and vomit came too eventually. Hospitalized 3 times for this. None of the vets agreed with me it was from apoquel. After the third time I knew I had to stop, i didnt care what the vets said. My dog still has his issues but the apoquel magnified it SO MUCH!!!!!!!!
Really, why don’t you do the research yourself. I have researched vaccines for over 8 years. Vaccines didn’t save us, sanitation and plumbing saved us. {olio was already heading out the door before the vaccine was even released. The adjuvants in vaccines IS what is causing Autism. Stop believing the media, big pharma, and your doctors (who have also been lied to all of these years, because big pharma is who funds their education.) There is a huge scandal going on at the CDC. They lied and hid data in the safety studies. There are now more than 10 whistleblowers coming forward admitting that they are manipulating the data. Former CDC scientist, Dr. William Thompson, was recorded by Scientist Brian Hooker, admitting how they altered the studies to hide the connection to autism. He is waiting to testify in front of Congress. There is also a new group of employees from the CDC that have gotten a whistleblower attorney. Look it up. They are calling themselves “CDC Spider”. They have confirmed what Dr. Thompson said. They are tired of the corruption and lies, but they wish to remain anonymous, because they don’t want to end up murdered! Watch the documentary called “Vaxxed, From Cover up to Catastrophe”. The FDA’s own website tells you that an infant can only handle up to 4.225 micrograms of aluminum safely. The Hep B vaccine (now given at birth) has 20 TIMES MORE ALUMINUM THAN THE FDA RECOMMENDS AS SAFE. That’s just 1 vaccine! The flu shots have 50 times more than what is considered safe. Wake up people, you are being lied to!
Spend a few hours on the VAERS website reading some of the stories from parents of vaccine injured children. You will cry. It is NOT rare. There are hundreds of thousands of children, that had the same reaction as my autistic grandson. They were perfectly healthy, reached every milestone, could speak, walk, play, run, etc….then within 2 days of receiving multiple vaccines at once, they developed a high fever, screamed bloody murder, then drifted off into their own world’s, and never came back. The doctors will tell you it’s normal to run a fever and scream like that. It’s NOT normal. That is brain damage being done…inflammation of the brain. They have NEVER studied the safety of multiple vaccines at once. They have never studied the safety of the adjuvants in the vaccines! Since 1986, when they removed all liability from the vaccine makers, they have now more than doubled the vaccine schedule. Back when I was a kid, we got about 12 vaccines by age 18. Autism was extremely rare. Today, kids gets 36 by the age of 6 months!!!!! That’s 36 doses of aluminum and formaldehyde, and how many doses of mercury??? They removed mercury from the single dose vaccines, but they increased the aluminum. They did NOT remove the mercury from the 3 in 1 shots (Dtp, MMR, Hib). The flu shot also still has mercury. Look up the symptoms of aluminum and mercury toxicity, they are the same as autism. It’s NOT a coincidence.
Write to your senators & DEMAND that they hear the testimony of Dr. Thompson before congress! We the people have a right to know. Demand that they remove the toxic adjuvants from vaccines. They are endangering our children!
April, you are right on the money. Thank you for lifting the veil and truly seeing what goes on and most importantly speaking the truth.
Many years ago, before I started seeking the truth and just listened to main stream media, doctors, vets, Big Pharma and worst of all our govt; my dogs were getting cancer, I became sick as well. I started diving deep, doing research by seeking empirical data, I put my critical thinking cap on and realized the modalities of care I was providing were shortening my animals lifespans and causing cancer.
I went back to school to become a Nutritional Therapist and realized that nutrition and our environment had a huge part in all of it.
Here is the problem that I myself have run into as well as many of the rest of us. For decades we were led to believe that petrol chemicals that are basically everywhere in our environment and in many of the things we buy, were safe to use.
Introducing factual information contrary to this can be met with cognitive dissonance. after all who wants to believe that the proverbial flea and other so called medicines, herbicides, pesticides, vaccines and other environment toxins have anything to do with why we the people are dying of cancers, getting sick with autoimmune disorders, etc?
That would mean of course that we have been lied to, all for the sake of money. It is not a popular topic, as most would like to stay comfortably numb and dumb. However if we want anything to change we the people must demand it and stop buying their toxic crap and find new and proven ways of dealing with our health and those of our precious animals – after all we are there custodians.
It’s called selective reading, you definitely drank the coolaid.
Coolaid? You are going to deride people who are intelligent and well informed by misspelling Kool-aid? Wow. Now tell me, who has been drinking the ‘Coolaid’? Me thinketh it might be you.
spot on .. anyone who thinks the MMR jab is not related to the rise in Autism should talk to every parent who was interviewed for Vaxxed and tell them they are wrong.. you cannot trust the government to tell you the truth because the government is being run by big AG, Big Pharma, Big Corps – we are under corporate rule and anyone who thinks different has their head in the sand… do you remember when they told you smoking was good for you, or shock therapy was good for you, etc etc etc.. just cause they say it, does not make it so.. follow the money and find the decaying root of the problem (btw, i am not against vaccination, i am against when and how much and how often)
Very well stated!
Take a deep breath.
It is all bad. Now we have to fix the problem of what we eat and what we live with every day.
Wow you drank the fool-aid. Vaccines have never done anything except harm. I have years of research under my belt & you have none. People that know better laugh at comments like yours. I have not vaccinated my dogs in over 25 years & I feed a species appropriate raw diet & my kidz are super duper healthy & happy. I take them everywhere with me & I run a grooming & boarding business out of my house where I encourage others to not vaccinate. Get educated about vaccines, in this day & age there is no excuse to be uninformed.
THOUSANDS of years ago, people WITHOUT being vaccinated, were so plentiful that they were sacrificed in MANY cultures…MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN…so, please do YOUR research before telling us how we should live…Do they pay you well to be a govt troll??!!
❤️ Im a vet. I believe in raw diets, minimal medications and being as natural as possible and am a heretic in the profession for my thoughts. I agree that big pharma has a lot to answer for in some ways, and that there is a lot of pseudo science. But yes, my friend, you speak sense. I CANNOT believe the amount of people who think vaccines are bad. Yes it’s foreign matter. Yes some animals will have reactions (minimal) as is the case for any foreign material one puts in the body. But they have been keeping humans and animals safe for a long time. It’s absolutely ridiculous. People claim lepto is an unnecessary vac because they don’t have rats, !!!! Rats are everywhere!!! Lepto is a rare disease….because most people vac. Go to the pdsa where no one gets a vac and see the amount of very very sick animals fighting parvo and lepto. These are awful diseases. And lepto is a zoonosis -fantastic, put the kids at risk too. And rabies???? On another planet, seriously. How can people be so naieve. I went to my doctor recently and she asked me if I had mmr as a kid, I advised I had. She said she needed to be sure because there has been a massive outbreak in my area of measles because people don’t vaccinate there kids thus disturbing heed immunity. The same is happening with TB. By all means question your vet, make decisions together. I try to dissuade people fro
Long term meds’ if there is a better more natural way. But rabies cannot be cured by burning a bit of sage and shoving a bit of homeopathy at it. People need to take responsibility this is really alarming.
Hey Dr. K,
I’d suggest that, since you’re a trained scientist and a professional, that, rather than express disbelief at how many people have concerns about vaccines, you dig in and do some research: on your own patient records. Look especially at those who started their medical treatment with you. The ones you gave multiple vaccines to, like the 6 week, 8 week, 12 week, and 16 week combo shots, or what ever your favorite protocol is.
Then, see what they next presented to you for and when.
Report back when you’ve got 50 or so looked at, let us know the interval between the last shots and the first visit for itchy skin or inflamed ears or seizures or what ever it is they brought the animal back to you for.
We’ll wait. I think, if you’re truly a scientist, which means you’ve got an open mind and are willing to explore real life cases in your care to see what occurred, you’ll have some interesting findings.
Kristine,
I’m glad you said something about vaccines. I’m a nurse in the ER and I see people all the time not vaccinating there kids because of their own personal beliefs. They don’t understand that it’s THEIR kids who are going to get the diseases not the people’s kids who were vaccinated.
Anyway this website was about Apoquel so I’m going to ask you what your opinion of Apoquel is and if you had any cases of dogs dying from cancer after being put on this medication? I was already told by my vet AFTER my dog died of cancer that Apoquel is KNOWN to cause abdominal tumors!!!
Dear Missy, If you research the scientific literature, you will find evidence that infectious diseases were greatly declining well before vaccinations were developed. It is thought by researchers that this was due to the introduction of sanitation with a clean water supply, better waste control, and safer foods, etc. After vaccinations were introduced, the rate of infectious diseases did not reduce very much but chronic diseases increased in humans and in animals. Of course, there are many factors that must be taken into consideration in the development of chronic diseases such as the toxic load on our and our pets’ bodies due to the over 80,000 new chemicals that are present in our environment that were not present in years past. This information is not readily available to the layperson and it takes quite a bit of research to find it just as the possible toxic effects of medications and vaccines which are suppressed and not reported. Just search out the number of people who become ill due to prescribed medication adverse effects or die from same. It is a shame that there is no transparency about medical errors and medication side effects yet we are advised to follow the recommendation of the “experts” (Dr. Whitecoat) and it is now being recommended to make vaccinations mandatory for all people and pets which is very frightening.
I paid $10,000 over 12 years trying to heal my dogs itching. It started as seasonal allergies but he ended up itching all year round. He was finished. Bald from chewing, scratching bleeding, pus coming out of his eyes and chronic ear infections, bad yeast odor. I found a Veterinarian that was also a Herbalist. This saved his life. She gave my dog Prince Si Miao Four Marvels Formula (can buy this online) I gave a 1/4 or less amount that a human would take for 4 months (herbs must be watched not to take for long periods of time so look for any side effects like blood in stool) . I stopped all grains just fed human meat and veggies with vitamins daily added to food 15mg Genestra brand Acidophilus HVF, most important zinc, small amount of dulce flakes for iodine, Hilary’s vitamin mineral powder or similar from a pet store, 1 enzyme with bromelain and papain and Quercetin (or Super Flavonoids 1 capsule) all work together. Crushed pumpkin seeds, little bit of oil EFA. Genestra Vit D drops 900 ui/day. No rain water from puddles or park ponds, rinse off feet every time after walks during summer fall months, Al-Gen drops (Genestra). The above mentioned worked but she also added Atopica for 3 – 5 months to sustain the gut so he wouldn’t itch anymore. Its been 2yrs of no Atopica. Yeh! The vitamins actually made him strong not to get the seasonal allergies so bad.
Thank you for this information, we, too, have spent a fortune and time and tears on my dog trying to stop the itch’ but have as yet found no relief! I will try what you have suggested! What breed and size of dog do you have? Ours is a 75# German Shepherd!
My dog was on this for several months. He was doing fine on it and did feel some relief. On a follow up appointment with the vet, he was accidentally given double the dose. 2 days later he was weak and falling over. I stopped the medication and took him to the vet. He was diagnosed with insulinoma and put on steroids. I think the over dosing of this medication caused him to go on this downward spiral.
I am just finding tbis page. Our 9 yr old soon to be 10 yr old dog was on apoquel for two seasons as she would scratch until she bled then just this past october, days before halllween she fell while jumping off a bed which is not at all like her as this is a dog that would go and jump on a trampoline when no one else was there to jump with. Anyways she came out of the room stumbling and we rushed her to the emergency vet only to find that we was diagnosed with an insulinoma. I mentioned this to our vet and her response was well she was on such a small dose of apoquel I don’t think that caused this. All I could think was oh really my once extremely active energetic dog is now on steroids and other things to keep her blood sugar even remotely stable. I would love to know if zoetis has ever witnessed a dog that they love dearly having a seizure because of a tumor growing on her pancreas and then have them sit with that dog in their own pee trying to get enough glucose into the dog to stop the seizure! I’m very angry by this as this “miracle drug” has taken away too may loving pets. If I could go back in time i would have refused the apoquel but I can’t do that instead I have to live with the guilt of knowing I gave her this pill that was slowly killing her every single day and there is nothing I can do to save her but try to make her remaining days happy!
Oh, God. I’m so sorry to hear this. We trust the vets to have “vetted” the drugs they prescribe, but the sad reality is most of their choices come from listening to the drug reps who sell it. We did this in the conventional clinic I joined out of vet school, and I never even saw any conflict of interest.
I sincerely wish you all peace you can find as you nurse this sweet athlete to a smooth landing.
Thank you and now the steroids that she needs to keep her blood sugar stable are causing such horrible back end weakness it’s breaking my heart. We aren’t giving up this fight just yet but I also don’t want to see her hurt. 😢
Im so sadend , our dog of 13 yrs had to be put down last night after a severe seizure that he just didnt come out of , after starting him on apoquel about a week ago for severe allergies as well as antiobiotic and pain meds he stopped scatching within the first day. But then became a bit more disoriented and starring at walls and noticed after the apoguel he would moan for like 10 minutes or so and top of head felt tremerly , called vet asking if could be a start to a seizure ,said has never known that as a side affect so i continued even though i felt? And as you have it he went into a convulsive seizure ,heartbreaking to witness as well as my boys 18, and 14 who handeled better than i
Please tell me your thoughts as i blame myself for giving him this pill last night
Veterinarians do not know this drug, they just tell you what the sales representatives and dermatologists tell them about the drug, they do not do their own research, they do not read on drugs.com and the hundreds of experiments they show and fatal side effects of this drug, veterinarians get commission and freebies from Zoetis-Pfizer, this is a fraud, they make your dog sick with a poisonous, expensive drug and after that they rip you off more because you bring doggie back to them when he is sooo sick from ingesting this poison, you have to pay them for x-rays, blood work , hospital stay, you pay them for getting your dog sicker and causing his death, how about that for a treat? The root of the problem is the FDA for approving such poison, pharmaceutical companies, unethical veterinarians. People who have their dogs died from this should not kept quiet, the FDA will not do anything unless people speak up, only one voice will not be heard.
Exactly Christina Raymond!! EXACTLY.
I am beginning to believe this as well.
Christina,
You said it perfectly! I just contacted a class action lawyer today! Hopefully Apoquel will be taken off the market and people’s pets can stop suffering at the hands of billion dollar companies and the FDA!
The vet suggested Apoquel for all 3 of my dogs. One of my Tzus , Chyna, had a history of IMHA (immune mediated hemolytic anemia) 5 years previous. None of these dogs was crazily itching. Within 2 months, Chyna collapsed and could not stand. The vet said a relapse of the IMHA. She did not survive. One of Apoquel’s side effects is suppression of the bone marrow, which I read after the fact. I discontinued this drug for my remaining two.
My Golden Retriever who just turned 11 was given an injection of Apoquel two weeks ago. He has had allergies all his life and has been on Prednisone daily for the past five years. The vet two weeks ago told me of the Apoquel injection, which isn’t a steroid, and it sounded like a miracle drug. He gave him the injection and took him off the Pred. Now after two weeks, my Golden can hardly get up from lying down, go up and down steps and is very lethargic. Since this was an injection, I can’t do anything except wait for it to wear off. I am calling the vet today for advice, but will not have him give another Apoquel shot ever.
I read a similar paralysis case in a doberman that came shortly after the injection. Confounded a bit by also getting a bactrim injection at the same time, but I think we need to be cautious with this latest “miracle.”
As with all drugs in conventional medicine, it will not cure any disease. It will palliate while the disease slowly grows more serious over time.
And we’ll learn more about side effects the longer it’s out in the clinics.
My cocker spaniel ended up with IMHA after his 3rd rabies shot. At one point we were giving this vaccine every year.. then it was every two years.. Now it is up to every THREE years! Does that tell you anything? This should have been tested like this BEFORE the release of it! My pup taught me so much about a dogs immune system. There is proof out there that after the initial rabies vaccine and the one booster.. that alone can last the LIFETIME of a dogs life! YES that is the truth! And to prove it you can get TITER testing! And we are still vaccinating every 3 years!! And we are now giving vaccines with 8 vaccines in ONE SHOT! Basically for convenience! And we are wondering why our dogs immune systems are going haywire and becoming sicker and sicker?? SMH.. And you NEVER give a rabies vaccine with any other vaccine at the same time! EVER! It should always be given by itself! Do the vets tell you that? NO! I was never told that until my cocker developed IMHA then I found out through the Chief of Staff at the emergency hospital my cocker ended up in. You wait at least a month for the immune system to normalize after any other vaccine given.. The immune system cannot handle all that CRAP at once! The vets do it for convenience and our beloved pets pay for it! All I can say is DO YOUR RESEARCH on any drug the vet prescribes before you give it to your beloved pet. If you don’t like it or its side effects don’t give it! Ask for a better one! Just be aware of “the newer more effective drugs”. I would stay with the older reputable drugs that have been around awhile and are proven safe.. there are some out there… There are also natural alternatives … you just have to be proactive and do the research. My dogs got their initial vaccines and will not get anymore. The only ones I give are heartworm and lyme and I don’t give them according to the time frame given either and they still work fine. My one dog has a terrible itchy skin problem now as well and after giving baths with antifungal/antibacterial shampoo and conditioner and using a spray on his coat that is all natural it is working very well. I also use a oatmeal soak for him that moisturizes his skin in between baths. It takes a little longer than the harsher drugs but it is worth my dogs total health and life to me. I will never have another one of my dogs go through what my one cocker went through with the IMHA. EVER! We are overvaccinating our pets PERIOD and using drugs not fully tested on our beloved pets! And this should not happen! Just Do Your Research… Do Your Research! A few days of waiting to get all the facts before you give anything you don’t know anything about is worth it! Our beloved pets are so worth it! SMH
My 6 year old french bulldog started Apoquel on 18/3/17 he had his first seizure on 2/4/17 and passed away 4/417 I have no doubt Apoquel is to blame. I have complained to my vets and the makers of Apoquel who all say seizures are not a side effect.
Oh, Kelly, I’m so sorry you lost your youngster. What an untimely loss at 6 years old.
If there’s an immune component to seizures (and, the more we study disease, the more we find the immune system is involved in them), it’s certainly possible Apoquel had something to do with this.
I usually find vaccination to be a much more common trigger for seizures, and that observation dates back decades now.
We’ll know more (unfortunate as this sounds) as more reports come in. Remember, this is still largely a very new drug.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I have a 10 year old boxer who has had allergies and just suffered with itching, chewing of the paws. I tried so many different expensive foods, coconut oil, pumpkin, teremic, and just on and on…put her on that apoquel poison crap, and now I have real problems on my hands! She was diagnosed yesterday, cancer. Tumors, knots, skin tags just sprouting everywhere. I realize that boxers are prone to cancer (didn’t know that until after we had 3), and I also know in my heart and GUT, that the apoquel is why she has progressed so quickly. I am sick and heartbroken. I’m angry because they knew my little ones. I could go on and on, about how irresponsible the vets were at the clinic, how this and how that, blah blah blah…but what good does it do now…I just want her better..I didn’t want to hear about making her ”comfortable”..that’s what we had been TRYING TO DO when we trusted them to help us make her better!! She’s my best friend, I take her just about everywhere I go, she sleeps with me. She has me and I have her, we both lost my husband and our 2 other girls like her in 2016. ….but what I really need to know is what I can do to fix this, or slow it down. The thought of losing her, knowing this C thing is inside of her, just makes me sick at heart. Someone please advise on what to do to make her better, this vet has her on an atibiotic and ugh…predisone, which I won’t give her, I told him that I don’t like that drug and what it does, I wouldn’t give it to our other dog. Yet he still thinks because of her age, and for her to have a quality of life left…I get that..but they’re like zombies on this med. At least my other girl was, when
I wasn’t finished, didn’t edit as I rambled on about my boxer, The vet who really is as good as they get for that generation, wants to use a small dose of predisone for quality of life…because of the itching and chewing being so bad…But to me, it will just speed the cancer along…Can someone please give me an alternative solution vs predisone. What I can do to make my Milly more ”comfortable” without steriods. Any other suggestions as to food, whatever, all will be appreciated..please and thank you so much.
Sylvia- seek a vet who is well versed in western Chinese- OR homeopathy for the cancer. What type of cancer?
Sylvia cancer is not a death sentence. Look up keto pet its a sanctuary in california that treats dogs with cancer. They have a diet they will email you & believe it or not that is all you need. Add lots of turmeric & bentonite clay wont hurt. I cured my dog of cancer with no vet intervention. Good luck & don’t freak you will convey your fear to your dog. Be strong & believe.
Sylvia I forgot to mention get rid of all toxins, no flea & tick garbage, no vaccines, no heartworm prevention, no toxic laundry soap ect… And feed a raw species appropiate diet. You got this 🙂
I am so sorry about your talk, and thank you profusely for sharing your story so that others may avoid what’s happened to you. My dog has been on Apoquel for maybe 2 years now, and I have tried everything to get her off of it, but she still itches and bites and chews like crazy! I have told my vet that I think that the drug gives my dog headaches, because she sometimes jams her head between my legs and acts like her head is really hurting! I then massage her head! I have literally been praying to find a solution and your letter has motivated me to keep trying!
i gave my dog a 3 yr rabies vac the summer before last………since then hes had this”seasonal allergy. I just took him to another vet who put him on Apoquel . It basically knocked him out for a couple of hours(no scratching then) but he would shake uncontrollably like he was so cold.. Hes very lethargic now and just sleeps. I finally quit giving it to him today after he had one spell of shaking which i realized wasnt from cold at all.i wrapped him in a blanket and held him against me but no matter what he still shook and just kept looking at me with those eyes that said “MOMMMMMMMMMM’ make it stop’ . I called the vet and reported the symptons and said hes done taking those pills… After researching bout it, I wish now I had never started it. He only had about 10 pills but the shaking started immediately but the scratching never stopped like they said it would and in fact the inside of his legs got beet red and little blisters. Im so sick of vets and medical people putting us and our animals on meds that are so detrimental to our health…. anyone that thinks vaccines are safe needs to do some research ……..big time…the medical profession has its place but the pharmaceutical is out of control
Do allergy testing on your dogs and find out what they are allergic to. Simple blood test. I have a boxer who is allergic to many, many things. The only kind of meat she’s not allergic to is Lamb. If you read the ingredients on the bag of food and don’t feed them any food or treats that they are allergic to and try to avoid the environmental things that they are allergic to you are doing the best you can do. My dog has been on Apoquil for 2 years and it has made her quality of life so much better. She’s had NO issues from it. The reason dogs are having problems with allergies is because of irresponsible breeding, passing down allergy problems. My dog is current on her vaccinations and is totally happy and healthy. If not for the Apoquil she would continue to be miserable. Use some common sense people. People have allergies and so do dogs and allergies are passed down to their offspring. Don’t breed a dog that has a history of allergies.
Interesting theory, the inherited bit. I think it misses the mark, however. The epidemic of allergies in dogs is relatively recent, and it parallels the increased use of vaccines. The biggest predictor of allergies in my experience has been the owners who’ve followed the baseless conventional medical practice of annual vaccinations. Here’s where you can read more about what many have been seeing for decades now, since vaccines have been severely overused, to the damage of our animals.
As to Apoquel, keep us posted. I’d be waiting for the other shoe to drop, if you haven’t had problems yet.
My 10 year old Doberman has a very bad reaction to flea bites. Have tried everything, Advantix II, Frontline, etc. Sprayed the yard. Long story short Axel was on Apoquel, but the vet told me he could only take it for 2 weeks. Worked great, now that he has been off of it for a week we are back at square one. It can’t be the vaccines, I am so with you on those, Axel has had only one rabies shot in his life.
Paulette, the fleas will cause allergies, but these type of allergies cannot be cured with Apoquel nor Cytopoint, they can only be cured by you cleaning your house to get rid of the fleas and by you using non toxic methods on your dog to get rid of them. Research to see if you have Fleabusters in your city, research natural ways to prevent fleas such as feeding organic garlic according to his weight in his meals.
Sadly my dog is going down from CYTOPOINT SHOT. She has IMHA now and is slowing down.. This has made me sick.
How about do a titre test and see for sure?
I lost my shepherd to a rabies shot.
Dr. Falconer,
This is my group i started after my English Setter Emma was diagnosed with mast cell cancer after taking apoquel. I made this group to warn others of the dangers of this drug, and we have your articles in files. 🙂 We offer 100% natural alternatives. We discuss proper real food diet, avoiding chemicals, as well as homeopathy.
Many of these pet parents here we can help educate and guide towards true healing for their dogs, and we would love for you to join and help us in awareness.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/236562650218268/?ref=share
I have a rescue dog that’s insanely itchy 24/7. It is maddening and I try to get her the cytopoint shot every 5-6 weeks but sometimes it takes longer to get in to see the vet. When the shot wears off she goes from normal to crazy itchy and bleeding and scratching her hair off of everywhere. She does well on apoquel but I only keep her on it for a week or 2 in between her cytopoint shots just because she is so uncomfortable. I have tried everything from every diff food including prescription food to even moving over 100 miles away to a diff part of the state because I thought it was environmental or the well water I had on my property. I have tried everything and nothing works. We’ve tried about 10 diff antibiotics and antifungls, and a lot of other stuff the vet has recommended including blood tests. Nothing helps but the shot or apoquel and I don’t want to have to have her on this stuff for life. What can we do if it’s not food, environment, or fleas? This is why people use apoquel because they are at the end of their rope and can’t stand to see their pet suffer 24/7 anymore. If I had to scratch myself bloody to try to get rid of an itch 24/7 I’d prob want to die. I can only hope my dog is stronger then I’d be.
Itching can also be caused by hypothyroidism. You can pay for the whole allergy work-up only to be told your fog is allergic to an extinct fruit at endemic to Atlantis, and then out them on a no-good drug. A trainer who worked with my dog back in 2004 recognized in him the same symptoms that, in her fog, were ultimately diagnosed as hypothyroidism and successfully kept at bay by a common thyroid drug. That was a lovely black lab who seemed to be a Great Dane cross.
Many years later, in 2017, my veterinarian told me there was a new way to deal with itchy ears. My black lab/malamute/chow chow/German shepherd mix had been a recurrent itchy ear patient and I would periodically treat him for whatever the vet said it was as well as get his ears cleaned as needed. The magic new drug was was Apoquel. My dog, age unknown but in glossy, fine form, died of cancer of metastatic cancer of the spleen less than a year later.