Comments on Cytopoint Injection: High Tech Answer to Itchy Dogs?

My dog got the shot and now is in so much pain, even on pain meds she is in pain. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER - if anyone knows how to flush this out of her body please let me know.
I'm so sad.

My Dog is a 2.5 year old lab/pit mix. He had skin allergies, vet gave us Zyrtec and prednisone which worked but shortly after the script was up he would start itching again, always in a new spot. After about 3 rounds of this Cytopoint was recommended. We went with it, the first injection he had no side effects and itching was gone!.... about 3 weeks after his second injection we notice his tongue was pale, he was very tired, and after he got up from sleeping to greet us at the door his legs collapsed from underneath him. We rushed him to the vet, and his RBC count was at 17%.. we had $1000 worth of tests ran all inconclusive we just know he has non regenerative anemia, he was put on a treatment plan to try to rebuild his immune system... 2 weeks later he dropped to 10% and we had rushed him to an animal hospital for a blood transfusion, at this hospital they ran more tests all still pretty much inconclusive, his body is generating very minimal red blood cells. We currently have a bone marrow biopsy out to see if we can get to the bottom of this. Considering this came pretty much out of no where, we immediately asked if it could be Cytopoint and pretty much keep getting the answer that it is too new for it to be confirmed. After reading this article I will not discount that CYTOPONT caused this horrible thing to happen to our dog. Especially when the suggested side effects by the article are decreased red blood cell production resulting in anemia. Again there is not 100% proof that CYTOPOINT caused this but there seems to be quite the coincidence. We are still not out of the woods and this entire situation has been a complete nightmare, and ripped our hearts from our chests With the hopes we can make him better, and if his allergies do flair up again we will be looking into some natural remidies. With the small case study, and limited side effect info from CYTOPOINT I would highly recommend not using this drug in your fur baby

Our dog has not responded to anything else. She takes Cytopoint injections every 8 to 9 wks and gets total relief

I've not read the whole comment thread because it's so long--is anyone participating in a class action suit against Zoetis?
We made a big mistake by allowing the vet to inject Cytopoint without out doing some research. We learned a lesson in the most horrible way. The day after the injection our wonderful Bichon Frise had his blood platelet count plunge while his red cell count was high normal. Seems he just stopped making platelets, or for some reason they all started clotting, and he bled from his urine and his saliva and his lungs filled with clots and he suffocated to death. This happened a week ago. We are heartbroken--as I'm sure you all understand. All of this was supposed to help him. It's so disappointing that this poison is on the market and that vets are recommending it. USDA approved? What does that mean? Why does the FDA allow this? Is there an assumption here that our pets are livestock? They should be protected from poison like this too but we didn't get our dog in order to sell him as meat. There is a difference. Do not be a guinea pig for this company. They wanted the stock bump and soon they'll probably withdraw the drug, tweak it, and then release it again with minimal testing to needlessly kill our beloved pets so their stock will rise.

We have a 4 year old bully mix, whom was supposed to only be a foster back in June 2014. Due to all of her health issues, we ended up adopting her, as we knew she would have been dumped in a shelter again. Right out of the shelter she had 7 months of "happy tail" and mange. Then came ear infections, yeast infections, staph infections, torn ACL (surgery), hematoma (surgery), early arthritis, UTI, and allergies galore.
Her vet put her on prednisone as a temporary thing. Well temporary turned into longer and longer. We finally said enough is enough and took her off it. Her allergies seemed manageable with benadryl, but we knew that was not the answer either. During all of this, I had been doing research, as we hate giving her drugs. We tried switching food, did a raw diet with supplements, cooked for her, different supplements, etc.
Fast forward to the end of last summer and her allergies started worsening. We did allergy blood testing. Storage and dust mites, 2 types of pine, tea tree, and queen palm, is what those tests showed. I went through the gammut of washing everything dog every single week, dust mites covers were put on all dog beds, cleaning every day, no cloth toys etc. Whatever I could to minimize the dust mites (although I know they are never truly gone).
Then right before Thanksgiving, they were the worst they've ever been. We were all miserable and no one was sleeping. I had already read about apoquel and was dead set against it. Our vet talked us into it, saying she at least needed relief. Within 4 hours she stopped itching. Within a month, it stopped working. I was a bit relieved because I did not want her ln it, but we were back to an insanely itchy dog again. Right before Christmas she got a steroid injection because our vet didn't have cytopoint. We changed to a canned LID food. We went through Christmas with no relief. The steroid injection did not work. The cytopoint injection worked a little bit. I found this site and I'm thrilled.
So... Apple Pie has her first appointment with a homeopathic vet only 15 minutes from us on Thursday (thank you Dr Falconer for the great ref!) for nutrition counseling and then next Wednesday for Facts of Findings. We are so done with all of these drugs. She has to wear a cone and/or donut at all times. We've resorted to booties on her feet and sometimes a t-shirt as well because she'll scratch her belly on the rug. I have spent countless nights researching all I can, crying Because Apple is such a happy go lucky dog, but is so miserable at the same time. We want our "old" Apple Pie back and know it will take time, but we are ready. We've gone this long so we are ready to put in the work.

My valley bulldog(boxer English bulldog mix) was having severe allergies from the time I got him. He would scratch himself to the point of bleeding, hives, rashes, and was just a miserable puppy. I tried all types of shampoos, natural remedies, Benadryl, steroid pills everything. He eventually would get infections from the sores and scratching. I switched his vet out of frustration and his new vet looked at his history and saw we tried switching foods, we moved all types of things and nothing worked. He recommended Cytopoint, and since the day he had his first shot he has been a completely different dog. It usually last about three months until I notice he is itching again. So for me it has been all positive.

With Cytopoint I have my dog back. Will continue with this palliative treatment until something better comes along.

We rescued a 18 month old Pit Bull who started itching like a maniac a couple weeks after we brought her home. She scratched herself raw and had bumps all over her body. Now, I’d much rather try natural remedies than vet prescribed medications, not only due to the potential side effects, but the cost as well. And of course the pet insurance I have will not cover any skin allergies or dermatitis of any kind (it’s considered a “pre-existing condition”. Grrr!).
I tried different foods, supplements, shampoos, probiotics, coconut oil, benedryl, oatmeal rinses, apple cider vinegar, fish oils, vitamin E, flax seed, hydrocortisone sprays and wipes, and the local homeopathic vet has a waiting list thats two months out. We bought apparel that’s similar to a (onesie) body suit, which did help prevent scratching a little bit, but as soon as it came off, she bit and scratched for 20 minutes straight. We broke down and got the Cytopoint shot, and she almost immediately stopped itching and hasn’t scratched since. I’m still going to look into natural resources, but the shot is a great relief in the meantime.

Hi everyone -- I'm new here and I'm looking for some kind of advice or ideas -- I'm at a blockade. I have a 7 yr old long hair chihuahua that has not any any skin issues in his entire life. Here is what happened in the last 7 months: In June I switched his kibble to a high quality chicken type (his first time on chicken). I noticed a little scratching, but nothing out of the normal - and it was here and there - no alarms raised. In August trouble started -- I believe he picked up fleas at the groomer (he's an indoor dog) that quickly got out of control -- heavy flea dirt, crusts on the skin, obsessive scratching. He was put on NexGuard and it took about 2 weeks or so to get rid of the fleas on him and the house. The NexGuard dosage was given on August 28th. Once the fleas were gone, the scratching seemed to subside. His next dose of Nexguard was on Sept. 28 -- 3-4 days later the obsessive scratching was back, with him scratching his skin raw. Took him to the vet -- another steroid shot -- scratching subsided for about a week, but came back even worse. October 28th -- another Nexguard dose ----3-4 days later even more scratching -- this time with round eruptions, huge clumps of hair coming out, round nickel sized discolorations on the skin and skin that was peeling off of him. I panicked and called my vet -- he wanted to give him another steroid shot and I said NO -- we're treating the symptoms not the cause. I even brought him a baggie of skin crusts and scabs for him to test -- His response "you're overreacting -- this is just a systemic situation - there's no point in testing these". I walked out and never went back. Changed vets -- and by the time I brought Niko in the next day -- his skin was beet red, the sores were so hot and raised. She took one look -- did the tape test and put him on an antibiotic immediately -- as it turned out, he had a staph and yeast infection. He is currently at the end of his antibiotics, but still taking the yeast meds. We are waiting for food allergy results that should be back any day now. I also started the Douxo Sepphorhea shampoo, which helped a bit. He's doing a bit better now, but he is still scratching, causing hot spots -- but it's not as intensive as it was before. At first I thought it was the chicken.....then I thought the flea infestation caused the dermatitist.....but then I started reading posts about people that put their pets on Nexguard and the skin issues that resulted. Niko could be a poster child for everything I read. And it makes sense -- each dose (3 of them on the 28th of each month) was followed by a strong increase in the skin scratching/erruptions/flakes/steroid shot 3-5 days later. I didn't see the connection at the time - but the more I'm looking at it -- it's hard to ignore. His last dose was on October 28, which means he was at full dose/level until November 28th, 3 weeks ago. The Nexguard levels should be starting to come down now -- I only wonder how long it will take to get this out of his system. Thanks for listening --- sorry for the long post.

Our daughter's 5 year old Boxer has had increasingly bad allergies over the years. We sent him to an allergist who found he's allergic to 32 of the 60 things tested all environmental - human and cat dander, grass, and 5 different types of mold to list a few. He's had numerous ear infections which of course has caused numerous hematomas 2 of which have had to be dealt with surgically. The ONLY relief he has is through a cocktail of Apoquel, Benadryl and Claritin. We know Apoquel especially is bad but what else can we do? Quality of life comes into play here and without these drugs, he is miserable! We would most definitely prefer to NOT use them - I just heard about Cytopoint and thought perhaps we'd found a safer, better alternative, but it does not sound like it :'( ANY suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much for this information. I’m now very worried about this drug. I switched two years ago to a vet who also practices homeopathic medicine. This drug was suggested because they felt apoquel was more dangerous.
I have a 7 year Newf diagnosed with immune mediated encephalitis two years ago after routine vaccines. They thought she had a frontal lobe brain tumor. Since then I opted out of traditional treatment of high doses prednisone and vaccines. The homeopathic vet also supports no vaccines. Although her holistic regimen has helped some, she still has flare ups that are severe. She circles, falls on floors, menace response is absent during flares. It’s as if she sees thing that aren’t there. She’s afraid of doors, floors, steps, isolating and gets very hyper vigilant about other animals. She cries at dogs incessantly on walks where she couldn’t have cared before. My beautiful girl’s behavior has totally changed.
Recently she had hives the size of quarters and was told to give two days of prednisone which she doesn’t tolerate well and Benadryl. She seemed fine for about 15 days then started itching severely. Took her to the homeopathic vet and found smaller hives everywhere. There has been no change in diet or environment that can point to. The homeopathic vet suggested cytopoint saying it wasn’t an immune modulator like apoquel which doesn’t sound correct based upon this research. Since the hives, she’s having terrible symptoms again and was told any immune response will trigger flares and once she’s more comfortable hopefully the symptoms will dissipate. We’ve overhauled her diet. She is on LDN, stasis of mansion of mind, Chinese herbals, cushex and Tcyte. She’s had thyroid and cortisol levels tested and the results made them suspect she’s in the early stages of HAC per the university of Tennessee lab. Also her thyroid was in the low 50 percentile per Dr. Dodds research. I don’t think the current plan is solving her issues but she is at least off prednisone which was a nightmare.
I’m now worried cytopoint was a mistake. I wish I knew how else to help her and to get her back to her normal self. Although the symptoms aren’t always as intense as they are currently, there’s something very wrong. I hope the cytopoint doesn’t trigger additional issues in the meantime. I’m afraid as to whatever is going there will be a tipping point where she’s completely not functional and tough decisions may have to be made. I’m so glad I found this information shared. Thank you, Dr. Falconer.

My 14-year-old toy poodle has had four Cytopoint injections, about 5-6 weeks apart. His itching has been greatly reduced and he hasn't experienced any of the problems I've read about here.

So how long should we have to wait to see if the other shoe drops? If it doesn't, I am giving this thing a try because I am desperate and nothing else has worked for me :)

Thank you for sharing this great article. I was ready to try Cytopoint before I read this. I made an appointment after a friend and a vet recommended it and I was hopeful to finally find the solution for my three years of desperation with my toy poodle chewing on his paws, and pretty much everywhere. I only take the cone off to eat his two meals everyday, and to give him a bath once a week. Sometimes he doesn't even eat and goes for the paws instead. I have tried prednisone , Apoquel, tamaril P, antibiotics, and now he's on allergy shots but not even a small change. I have tried shampoos, lotions, probiotics, coconut oil, fish oil, nzymes, dynovite, honest kitchen food, cooking at home, hydrolyzed protein food, Ultamino by Royal Canine, some other holistic foods, I've seen dermatologists, stopped vaccinating to the point I can't take him to groomers because they don't accept him if he isn't vaccinated, and also I heard it's illegal in my county not to have vaccines current (every year). There is a $300 fee, so I am going to have to vaccinate him again soon. I was going to try this new drug because I am at a point where if they tell me there is something that can improve his quality of life, I will have to take some risks. He's been miserable for so long, he can't even jump on the beds because the cone is bigger than him. I was waiting for allergy drops to start working but it's been a couple of months and no improvement. Please help me, if anyone out there finds a solution, please share it with me, I will forever appreciate it. Thank you!

Have you heard of cytopoint leading to pancreatitis in a dog who is 5 . She started having issue last summer after a vaccine. Changed to raw diet cool proteins a few months later. She was good all winter and most of summer then the itching started again. Vet shot her up with cytopoint. This dog has been on prednisone in the past as well for itching. She just had her third injection of cytopoint recently but itching still happening and now she has pancreatitis. I tried to tell the owner to treat for leaky gut but she went ahead with the injections.

What a thrill to find this site. So appreciative to all the commenters. April, you and I are birds of a feather. Long story.
I'm an RN for over 40 years who has always balked at traditional medicine. Ive always maintained an organic food household, filtered, water, no fast foods, etc. No soda. NO MEDICATIONS. On and on. Everybody thought I was a nut. Our journey through holistic care for us ( first) was when our older daughter had recurrent strept throat, which started to worry me. We changed directions and started seeing a chiropractor, who we all see to this day. Daughter is now 30 and still goes. Never looked back. Stopped vaccinating our children at age 5 ( fortunately, they did not have all the vaccines then that they have now ). My own personal battle, in the work place, was when mandatory flu shots became required for health care workers. Although I was already retired from Denver Health Medical Center, I still worked as a per diem RN a few hours a month. I also worked per diem at Craig Rehab Hospital, one of the top five rehab hospitals in the country for spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury. When Denver Health refused to accept my religious waiver against the flu shot, they told me I would be terminated. I hired a top vaccine attorney and won. The hospital had to back down on their verbiage and they accepted my waiver every year. Craig Rehab didn't give a hoot about it though. They told us to get the shot or get fired. I resigned, along with 12 other top shelf health care workers, on the deadline. The day after the deadline, the hospital saw the "error in their ways" and called all of us, saying they were amending their policy and would "work with us." Sorry. Too late. I stood by that last few weeks and watched NUMEROUS pregnant nurses in tears, asking for exemptions from the vaccination. There was no mercy. I never stepped in that door again.
Our pets followed the same route. In the early 1980's, I had a Wire Fox Terrier who became suddenly paralyzed. She was 11 at the time. In a blizzard, I drove her to a neurologist, who told me she had Guillaine Barre Syndrome, secondary to a rabies vaccination a few days previous. WAKE UP CALL. A few years afterwards, we had a Rottweiler who suffered a severe allergic reaction to her one, and ONLY rabies shot she ever received, at the age of 1 year. It's very difficult, at least for me, when you own breeds such as Rottweilers ( we now own two Dobermans who are nationally certified human remains detection dogs) and people are afraid of them, although there is no reason to be. All it takes is one accusation, one dog attacking MY dogs ( mine are completely trained, off lead) and you're "in the soup" with animal control. Since these two incidences, my days of scheduled vaccinations were over. I knew I could never control what hobby breeders do ( all four of our dogs are from very reputable breeders) but I sure could control what I did when they came to MY house.
Three years ago, we switched all the dogs to a raw diet and never looked back. I bought Lou Olson's wonderful book on natural and raw diets for dogs and got on board. It was intimidating at first. Now, it is just part of our feeding schedule. The two cats are pretty much on it as well. No kibble in the house. I NEVER do repeat vaccinations ( parvo, distemper, etc) but instead, do occasional titers on the dogs. We have never done heartworm preventative. I do a periodic check, just in case. I do one shot, when at all possible, of Rabies in a dog's lifetime, and that is only by law, which I do my best to always get around. I did Wire Fox Terrier Rescue for about 20 years ( also Lakeland, Smooth Fox and Irish Terriers, Rottweilers and Whippets) and heartworm tested every dog that came into our program. Never ONCE did I have a heartworm positive dogs so I viewed this as an unlikely worry in Colorado, despite the dire warnings from vets.
My journey to this website and service is secondary to our 4.5 year old n/m Pug. He is from a very reputable hobby breeder who, like nearly all breeders, does the full puppy shots. We got him at 7 months. As with all dogs, I drag my feet on rabies so he has had only one rabies vaccination in his life. At the age of about 2 he started developing allergies, the usual symptoms. It became unbearable watching him scratch all the time and he kept everybody awake. He was also miserable. I broke my cardinal rule of NO MEDICATIONS and I could kick myself for doing so.
I have a very decent vet because he LISTENS to me and he works with me and, what I am sure he sees as a bit off, my refusal to do yearly vaccinations, heartworm, raw diet etc. He is open minded though. I bought him a copy of Lou's book and seemed very appreciative. He never pesters me about vaccinations but I think it is because he can see that I am clearly an attentive pet owner and that when they need something, I bring them in. A spay, a neuter, OFA hips, etc. So, when I brought our Pug in regarding allergies, we did all the things I wanted to do to rule out issues.....thyroid, etc. I am not a fan of allergy testing so we did not do those. I caved in and agreed to try apoquel. I never used the full dose but instead, gave it more as a PRN. It worked fantastic for that first spring summer. Fortunately, his symptoms completely go away when heavy frost hits so we could take him off it starting about this time of year. This past season though, the apoquel didn't work so well. I was now up to the daily recommended dose. This scared me. I had started reading and researching on Ron Hine's site the previous year but it appears the government stopped his communication, or that was my impression. So, recently, I started the search again. I knew apoquel was not going to be the answer and I saw this info on cytopoint ( which my vet also suggested) and I knew that had to be "big guns" so by researching that, I found this site. Wow, so glad I did. We stopped the apoquel about a week ago and are "getting by" and my fingers are crossed that because winter is nearly here, is symptoms would abate but I know they will return next year. Seemed like a great time to take the bull by the horns and get complete holistic treatment going. So glad I found this site. Love everybody's stories. Thanks, Doc, for providing such a great service to those of us who believe. I have already sent a link to two like minded friends.

Two weeks ago my Amstaff had his third Cytopoint injection. It worked for one day. The first one worked great for about 6 weeks. I was excited after him suffering for 6 years with these terrible allergies. They seem to be getting worse and there is no "season" for them. I do believe he is allergic to the world (dust, molds grass hay, etc.). He was on a prednisone/antihistamine combo pill for a couple of years that seemed to work fairly well but the steroid scared me. I am currently at a loss as to what to do. The only times I have not seen him itch was when he had surgeries. Any suggestions?

My lab first received a Cytopoint shot in May 2016, when dermatologists were the only ones allowed to administer. I was at a dermatologist because my 6 month old Labrador was itching himself raw (but he also had vomiting bile in the middle of the night and diarrhea nearly daily, sometimes bloody) and our vet was at a loss. Cytopoint worked within hours, but we also when on a food trial. The stomach issues did not stop and in August, when he was 9 months old, I went to a holistic/integrative vet. She diagnosed him (preliminarily) with IBS likely caused by vaccines, dewormers (old vet was convinced he had worms) and antibiotics. We immediately switch to a raw diet (commercially prepared) and added probiotic enzymes, colon rescue (has slippery elm). Less than 24 hours of eating raw my Archie had a solid, beautiful poop (yes, solid poop is beautiful when you have a sick pup!). We have never done a biopsy to confirm his diagnosis, but he has been treated as if he has IBD. We have been working on healing his gut from the moment we left our new vet's office. He eats raw, gets no treat that isn't organic meat/fruit/veggie defied and homemade by me. I no longer clean my house with chemicals. He gets no vaccines, including rabies. We are coming up on our 4th month post-Cytopoint shot (received one in late July as we live in Chicago and the allergens were TERRIBLE!). I also diffuse essential oils for him that reduce inflammation and help digestion. We use Chinese herbs instead of antibiotics. I totally get being concerned about this drug, but I also totally get needing your dog to stop scratching and sitting and watching them feeling helpless and crying. I made the decision that yes, we would do the shot when necessary (REALLY itching), but that I would do everything in my power to heal his gut and stop the inflammation causing the itching in its tracks! 4 months between shots is pretty good and I believe it will get longer and longer as long I keep up the routine and continue to research, ask questions and advocate for him..

Yes, my 90lb lab/shepherd mix is on cytopoint. He never had an allergy issue until we moved, and frankly, can't afford $175 visit to a homeopathic vet (not including any treatments). We have changed his diet, tried OTCs, everything we can think of. I never tried apoquel and my vet never recommended it. But, he is on cytopoint. Luckily, his first shot lasted 8wks and we only allow it when the itching is intense, not the second we see him scratching. I am hoping once he adjusts to the weather change (Montana to SC is a huge difference), and we have some treatments done on the yard that things will start weening off. No side effects. He is so much more lively once the itching stops. That being said, I also know people that use strictly homeopathic as well as a dermatologist, and warned me against this drug for the risk of cancer. 2 of her dogs have now died of cancer and a 3rd who is only 3 was just diagnosed...which also makes me doubt the homeopathic route....

I have a Jack Russel who has had 'the itch' since age 2 or 3. This 'itch' has been so bad that she totally destroyed her own tail.
We initially had a vet whos only thought was the dreaded "food allergies". Now while the dog does have a bit of a reaction if she gets a LOT of wheat.....this was utter nonsense which was proven by the fact she was tried on every conceivable product out there including a pet food which was made from Butterfly Wings! (Yup, that's what the vet said it was made of).
Finally, I switched vets and for about 18 months the only thing that would keep the household from going bananas with her scratching/self-biting and associated behaviors was steroid shots. Yes, we knew and understood it was not good by any means, but as we told the vet repeatedly, it was either that or put her down.
Apoquel came out and our dog was put on it. It took a long time to even get her body to accept it. She would be started on the drug and in about 4 days would have bloody diarrhea. Stop the drug for a week and then we would start from scratch. She finally was able to tolerate it.......but we could never get down to the once a day. Twelve hours after the dose the itching would start. Even with the twice a day dosing, it was losing its effectiveness.
Two months ago, the vet asked if I would like to try this Cytopoint . Well, I don't care if it is made out of dinosaur bones......FINALLY something works! She became our dog again and not a legarthic 'lump' in the living room. She plays.......she interacts......she is finally putting weight back on. (Has to be the only living creature I have known that lost weight on long term steroids). She has hair growing on her tail for the first time in 5 years!
Now, she still has a single dose of Apoquel daily, but the Cytopoint has been a god-send.
Will it reduce longevity? I don't know. I DO know that steroids were killing her. I DO know that Apoquel was starting to lose effectiveness. I HOPE that soon I can get rid of the Apoquel altogether and that while Cytopoint may not be the be-all-end-all, it has brought our dog back. I made peace with the fact that I would rather have her 'back' for whatever time there is than have a miserable, suffering pooch for an eon.