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

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).

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 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?

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.

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.

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.

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 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 .

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.

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).

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.

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!! ☹️

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!!!!

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???