Comments on Apoquel For Dogs? Or For Big Profits?

Hi there,
Today I googled "The truth about Banfield", and ended up here! What a wonderful site!
I got fired by my Banfield vet yesterday. I had been questioning her about putting my adopted Scottie, Rosie, on Apoquel. I have been "drinking the Koolaide" for a year with Banfield. I signed up for the Wellness program and visited often due to Rosie's allergies. We have tried various meds - none that are natural, but still we are having issues. Seems she is allergic to flea bites (at least I think) and possibly certain grasses. So 6 months ago this vet sends me home with prednisone. For some reason I never gave it to Rosie, the weather must have changed (it was December) and she must have gotten better on her own. I found the bottle a few days ago. I took Rosie in last week to once again have her skin checked to see if she had mites or what they might recommend next for her because she was going crazy scratching. She had been on Pet Armor, but it seemed to not be working. Then we switched to the Sonesta collar - but then I kept finding fleas on her, So this last trip we got one dose of First Shield Trio, and they ordered Comfortis for me. But the vet once again wanted to put her on Apoquel.
I had read some really bad things about apoquel, and had decided against it twice. This last visit Rosie was completely miserable - so I succumbed. They were out of it for her size, but promised to set some aside the next day. In the meantime I located that bottle of Pred and started thinking - although I do not like the stuff - it was what helped my other two Scotties make it through very tough allergy seasons and stopped the itch cycle. I only did it when there were no other answers and not often. I called my Banfield vet yesterday and asked about it. I told her I still had the pred from 5 months ago - couldn't I try that? If it was the "go-to" drug then - why did she not recommend it now when I did not want Apoquel? "Because I am not going to recommend a drug that is clearly harmful to your pet when there is a perfectly good SAFE drug now available. Prednisone is a killer." I sat there wondering how many brownie points she must earn with each sale of Apoquel for her to be so adamant that I purchase it? So something that she prescribed 5 months ago is now a killer? I asked for a refund on the Apoquel (that I had yet to pick up) She then said she would be happy to give me a refund & help me find another vet who Rosie might be better suited for!
Here's one more kicker for you. Several weeks ago, when I took her there for the same thing (drop off visit) - allergies - and it was very apparent that Rosie was having a reaction to something - there were little red bumps all over her belly, AND I had written " DO NOT TREAT ROSIE WITHOUT SPEAKING TO ME FIRST." When I went to pick her up and speak with the doctor I saw as I was leaving that they had given Rosie two vaccines. One being Lepto. I was furious. Why on earth would you vaccinate a dog in the middle of an allergic reaction? I sent an email to Banfield HQ about this - and the vet who had been treating Rosie called me. She never once apologized. She said I must have misunderstood the wellness plan. They must follow procedure and vaccinate her when she is there for whatever she is due for (I hate ending a sentence in a preposition!) So, in other words, it is all about checking off the boxes and just doing what is in the wellness contract regardless if the pet needs it or if their health would otherwise be better if they waited. This last visit they told me Rosie was due for an ear swab and asked my permission and I said yes. After I got home and was reading the receipt/office visit report beside ear swab it stated "ear canal issue" yet no one ever mentioned that she had an ear canal issue!!! What the ??? :(
DO NOT GO TO BANFIELD, PEOPLE! They are just there to herd your pets through and treat them as if they were cattle!
In the last 24 hours I have been searching for a vet who has a more natural approach and I think I have found one here just down the street from my office. Thank Goodness! Any advice about flea and grass allergies and how to handle naturally would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks - Denise from Virginia Beach

Do you offer a heartworm preventative alternative?
I found several online, but I would like to support you for all your super supportive holistic info to help pets live healthier and longer lives. Big pharma only cares about profits and death. Thanks again for all your help and informative holistic articles.

Don't get me wrong, I hate the big drug companies and all the vaccines that are given to pets but wasn't Wakefield banned from practicing medicine in the UK for falsifying studies? And it is widely accepted in the scientific community that no link has ever been discovered between autism and vaccines in a properly conducted scientific study.
I like your ideas and agree that there are problems with over vaccinating and feeding horrible processed foods but at the same time the "natural pet" movement needs better studies and science to back it up.
"Homeopathy" doesn't cut it for me as alternative solution to big drug companies. Study after study has shown that most homeopathic remedies in liquid are indistinguishable from water and don't contain a single molecule of active medicine: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16125589

Just read your latest blog. I guess it was just a matter of time before they put the pressure on you. Truth is no match for corruption and lies. I am indebted to you for the truth, knowledge and wisdom you impart and the support we get. If I get the chance to see VAXED then I will. (thanks for sharing that Joyce)
I have seen such healing and glowing health in my dogs being on a natural path. Now I must say they came to me vaccinated and they do suffer some ills from that, but they would be far worse if I had used orthodox medicine. I know this is the only path to health I want to be on and I'm not going to be swayed by big Pharma or Dr. White coat. Thanks to the moon and back Dr. Will! We are indeed proud of you and your voice that speaks for all of us.

Thank you Dr Falconer for all your good advice and knowledge. I have a 15 month old Border collie who has not been vaccinated for rabies at this time. Trying to fly under the radar for as long as I can. I continue to learn though you and others on this site!

I have no doubt that Big Pharma was attacking your site for speaking the truth about Apoquel. There are numerous examples of alternative health practitioners, inventors, and activists being harassed. Even here in Austin, Texas, there are consequences for people who speak out. My husband and I, along with a friend who ran for city council, experienced harassment after trying to get the Texas Legislature to pass a statewide smart meter opt out bill. The harassment is proof that not only were we advocating the truth, we were threatening an entire industry’s profitability (the utility industry, in this case). So, the fact that you had repeated website failures means that you have had an impact. Keep up the good work.

When we first moved out to CA we were recommend to a vet who was supposed to be holistic and practiced homeopathy. Of course they still pushed all of their processed foods, flea and tick meds and vaccines, however they didn't pressure me when I told them I didn't vaccinate. I was mocked by the husband (husband/wife practice) for feeding raw, asking me if I sent my dog's meals to the lab to make sure they were nutritionally balanced. I was rather shocked by his disdain and didn't say much but my thoughts were, "I don't send my daughter's meals in either for testing and she's doing just fine, thank you very much!" Our relationship with them ended when the wife diagnosed our then two year old Maltese with a breast tumor. It didn't look like any tumor I had ever seen before but I wasn't a vet and trusted their expertise. The "tumor" felt like an egg yolk under the skin and would be bigger some days and smaller others. They recommend surgery/biopsy and possible chemo. She also recommend she be spayed since breast cancer has a hormone factor. When I picked her up from the surgeon I asked when we would have the results of the biopsy. They said they didn't do one. It was a hernia and they repaired it. They never bothered to call me and tell me this and spayed her anyway. We had paid a small fortune for this dog to show her. I know with a surgically repaired hernia we wouldn't have been able to show her anyway, but we could have tried homeopathy to heal it first. Needless to say we never went back to that vet.
Our other dog is now going through Congestive Heart Failure. We had had her to two different vets, one also supposedly holistic/homeopathic (different from the previous). Neither vet was overly concerned about her heart murmur. She was showing more labored breathing at the time and not eating well. The holistic vet said she had a urinary tract infection and immediately gave her antibiotics. I asked her if we could use homeopathy or even something like d-mannose, which I've had real good luck with for myself. She said, "no" since we hadn't yet gotten the culture results back yet and didn't know what to use. It ended up she didn't have a UTI, they had contaminated the sample when they took it. That was pretty much the end of that vet too.
On Dr. Falconer's advice I found a truly homeopathic vet off of one of the web sites he recommends. She has been wonderful, homeopathic, knowledgable and supportive of raw food diets, not a fan of vaccines, and willing to try anything before resorting to drugs. She truly has the best interest of the animals at heart. I just wish we would have found her sooner, before our dog's condition deteriorated to the point she did.

When I took my 8 mo allergy pup to the eye specialist due to an accumulation of crystals on his cornea due to a couple of low rounds of Temoril P, she suggested I put him a "low protein diet." The list read like a nutritional nightmare and included the cheapest of corn flavored kibble brands. That marked the beginning of a serious journey for me. I was already reading all I could because my elder GSD had SIBO so knew the list was horrible advice. My elder has since passed, and in many ways I feel I failed her due to my ignorance, but I refused to fail my pup, who is now 4.5 and raw fed.

The member site is still down. You should assume that the attack is seeking user names (email addresses) and passwords.
I would advise not using email addresses as user names, going forward - it is a security risk.
I appreciate that people forget their user names, and wordpress is a royal pain on this, but the hackers (like terrorists and the IRS) are motivated more to attack than we are to defend.
Totally on board with you, btw.

Dr. Falconer,
I know you have heard my story before, but I'll share it again for anyone who might've missed it. My dog Allison, who is 7 years old now, was first on grocery store dry and wet food, then I "graduated" to a higher end kibble because I thought the more expensive the bag was, the better quality.. I tried a dehydrated raw food, too, similar to THK where you add water to the base mix and then add ground beef.. I always thought my dog was a picky eater and just stubborn when she would take one sniff of her meals and then look at me, then walk away and lie down. I thought if I waited her out she would eventually eat. Her stomach was always upset. Loud gurgly noises coming from her stomach. Loose stools and diarrhea. Eating grass frantically which is different than just grazing. Vomiting. And eventually my dog was hospitalized for the day with Tufts internal med specialists while they ran tests for Addisons disease and more. They said raw was bad and called a very well known vet immunologist a "quack". That really bothered me. For years and years the vets said they could not figure out why my dog was sick, what was the cause of her GI issues, it was too difficult to pinpoint, but "here's some drugs to help with diarrhea and nausea, and some fluids under the skin for dehydration" (there is no moisture in dry food and my dog was not drinking enough water.. she was always mildly dehydrated and when she had her bouts of diarrhea, it made the dehydration worse. They also wanted to sell me vet prescription diets by Hills and Royal Canin. My dog had lost so much weight from not eating at this point, I took the food and my dog ate it once, but then refused it after that. I was on an online forum for a raw feeding group when a woman suggested I talk to Jean Dodds and do her NutriScan food sensitivity test. I did it and guess what... the test pinpointed exactly what ingredients and proteins my dog was sensitive too and couldnt tolerate. It was hard to find a food that didnt' contain those ingredients but I found a commercial raw food Stella & Chewy's that my dog enjoyed and it didn't bother her because it was cleaner, and she got lots of moisture from it. She ate this while I researched Prey Model Raw and eventually I started getting food from Reel Raw, a raw food supplier in Maine, who portions out verything for me, in the right ratios, and my dog gets about 7 or 8 different proteins, so it's nice and balanced. My dog gained all her weight back and a lot of muscle as well which is important as dogs grow older. when I tell the vet what I did, instead of being happy for me, they just comment on how skinny she is, but the truth is that my dog is at her ideal weight.. She was overweight before, at 60-something pounds. Her ideal is around 53-54 lbs. They said to me " I do not want to see this dog lose another pound!" and when I told them what I was feeding, they said that commercial dry foods are nutritionally balanced and that there is no scientific proof that feeding fresh whole foods is any better and can actually be dangerous if you do not give the dog everything he needs. I am sure raw gets a bad name because some people will just go out and feed their dogs ground beef but I did my homework and I know what i'm doing, and they just acted like I was being irresponsible. They pushed the conversation to another topic: flea and tick. When I told them I'm using things like essential oils, DE and Neem, garlic, ACV, and more, they get upset. They have never heard of anything natural. About 3 years ago I was the client that bought all my dog's vaccines when they were due, bought Flea/Tick and HW prevention at the vets, bought my food at the vets, and bought pill pockets at the vets, and got my dog's nails trimmed at the vets. Well I fired those assholes and now I found a new vet who is great, she supports raw, minimal to no vaccinations (even rabies), but.. she does recommend year round HW pills and Flea/Tick but I can live with that, it doesnt mean I will do it, we have had talks and she understands and respects my choice to do things a certain way.
When I think back over the last year and a half.. I am furious, freaking FURIOUS, that the vets, even Tufts, could not help my dog, and made her worse actually with all the drugs. I am sure it was not intentional but I am still angry because a lot of conventional vets are so closed minded and they're professionals, they should be better. It's big business and no one will admit it. And a lot of families look up to their vets like a god and believe and do everything they say. One day I went back to my vet with my healthier dog and they were very skeptical about what I was doing, and were like "well it's your dog, do what you want..." Yeah I will actually. She's healthier because of my relentless effort and pursuit to make her healthy, they don't deserve any credit at all.
My friend Kimberly of Pack Fit gave me really awesome advice and that's to think nothing but clean, organic and natural for food, air, water, and antyhing they come into contact with as it gets absorbed by th skin into the body. Sick care = $$$$. It's heartbreaking. Conventional vets are educated by part of the system. And the system is set up to f*** us over. The best thing we can do is put our stuff out there for public knowledge. Social influence. Please keep making these blogs Dr. F.

I just returned home, from seeing the movie Vaxxed.
It's so powerful but also deeply disturbing for a myriad of reasons.
When you see what families are dealing with in severe autism, it actually brought tears to both my husband's and my eyes. To realize the the depths of deception that has been taken on, it reveals a very troubling truth.
I hope everyone takes the time to see it.
It made me stop to think about all the diseased states we are seeing in our animals, and how comparable the two industries are human Big Pharma and Vet Pharma.
So, now reading your last two blog entries, I'm deciding they are indeed, quite cozy companions.
I continue to be grateful for your blog Dr. Will. Keep shining the light on the truth.
We are with you, proud of everything you write, and everything you do.
Thank you.

I would so very much like to know your opinion of the scalar energy flea/tick tags. I've used one on my dog for 3 years - no fleas or ticks in a very endemic woodsy area. thanks!