Comments on Apoquel : Dog Drug With a Dark Side - Homeopath Vet

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 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.

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!

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?

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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!