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

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

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!

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?

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 !!!!!

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.

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

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.

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!