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

I have the same problems that everyone else has written about. My dog came down with black skin at 1.5 yrs old on all the underside of her body and legs, constant paw licking, scratching, loss of fur all underneath her body and legs. All poultry is a problem so I feed her semi raw meats only and organs. They refuse full raw to the point they'll throw up. I give her supplements of 50 Billion Probiotics, calcium from polvertized egg shell, omegas, colostrum, enzymes and a multivitamin. Not much better after a year of thIs protocol. I give Quercetin with Stinging nettles to help the itchiness. Only helps a bit. No carbs at all. Her bloodwork came back basically normal last year, showed bacteria on skin. No mange, parasites, fleas or yeast. Now her sister, on exact same protocol for a year, same age is coming down with the same "allergy". Both had puppy shots, spayed and a rabies at 1 that's it. The holistic vets where I live only use that type of training 20%. Then fall back into their western training. I don't want to use drugs but I'm at my wits end on what to try next, I just want to help my babies. Help!!

Wow! You are one of the fear mongering disseminators of false information. A fear of progress and help for pets suffering from various diseases should not make up a "professional" livelihood. Fortunately, the intelligent public will not rely on this type of false information but seek out knowledgeable information that has science to back it up rather than anecdotes which are extremely harmful to pets. You should be ashamed of yourself.

My dog's had seasonal allergies since she was a year old. Horrible allergies that cause her to scratch herself till she's raw and bleeding. At it's worse, the swelling would cause her eyelids to turn inward and cause corneal ulcers, which were so horrifying she almost had to have surgery several times. I had her on prednisone and living in a cone from April to November for years. When she was seven I put her on a prey model raw diet which didn't have an immediate result, but is a much better diet then kibble. The following year I started homeopathy, and finally her scratching eased. She's still a little itchy this year, but SOOO much better then she was. No Pred for three years, and no cone, and no ulcers! It's at least 75% better and has shortened from the end of May to the end of August. She's getting better every year, I just wish that I had heard of all this sooner, then she'd have an easier time shedding the last of this. (Or heard that it was possible to build her immune system without vaccines and avoided the problem altogether.) But she is so much happier. And as a side note, she was absolutely miserable on pred, so it wasn't just being itchy all the time.
:)

Dr Will,
As you know, my young Dogo Argentino (whose mom was rabies vaxxed during pregnancy) went through itching bouts as she reached hormonal maturity---to the point of leaving bloody spots on her short white coat. This is a raw-fed, naturally raised, "healthy" dog given only one rabies shot at five months. With your help, she rarely itches now and is more vital than ever. Just to point out to folks that there is hope, the fewer meds you use the better, and start homeopathic treatment early. It's amazing how well it can work if you take care of the whole picture!

Addendum to my post yesterday on how transfer factor helped our dog Luke. We buy the regular strength transfer factor for people. (I learned later, when I was buying my second bottle, that there is a canine formula. We are sticking with what has been working for so many months for him but there is that option. I don't know what the difference is.) We give him one pill a day. He is also on a raw bison meat and cooked sweet potato diet. Wishing everyone success with getting their dogs happy and healthy again!! Judith

Our Wheaten Terrier became very itchy starting at around 1 year of age. She has been raw fed with a variety of novel proteins, currently rabbit, allergy tested and given a custom allergy serum for the last 10 months, tested for mange, had a skin biopsy, supplemented with digestive enzymes, salmon oil, coconut oil, bee pollen, bathed every week with oatmeal and coconut oil shampoo as well as a vet supplied soothing shampoo. We have used essential oils on her feet and she has been on Apoquel for a year with the only result being decreased coat and skin quality and bloody scabs from scratching on her face legs and chest. Cytopoint has given a littermate with similar problems relief. It is very difficult not to try a drug when nothing else has worked. We even replaced our lawn with artificial turf so she would not have to walk on grass outside. It is so hard to see her suffer.

I have tried many things and herbsmith clear allerqi seems to help one of my dogs but the other is allergic to it so be careful
I give them a omega fish oil every day
I had one dog that was so bad he was bald from the neck down
He had to be on antibiotics to help heal the wounds
I also gave him a bath with neem shampoo every week on going he just love the bath
I got him a k9 top coat to help with the healing
Washed one and kept one on at all times so he could heal which he did nicely
The vet I went to was surprised to see him healing so good they aid he had mange but he did not he was allergic to just about everything leaves mold
Mildew chemicals in the lawns oak chicken but I was able to control it
Gave him organic neem powder to help with the yeast
Lovethat neem
Hope this helps

I am dealing with a very itchy dog and recently learned she's dealing with rabies miasm and itching is only one of her symptoms.

For allergies in my dog, his holistic vet prescribed homeopathic drops. Has better results with the drops than allergy shots. They're made by Professional Formulas. And he gets Household Dust & Mold mix. Grass & Weed mix, And Northeast Allersode (tree pollen). Got the drops at pureforumulas.com.

Last year, our 3 year old Tibetan Terrier, started scratching and biting day and night. No one slept and it was torture to see him in such misery. He had hot spots, flaking skin, and also about 8 raised red bumps on his body. I remember with awful clarity the first time I realized that life for him had become unbearable. He was vaccinated by the breeder and we have only done titers since then. His health was excellent up until last June. We go to a holistic vet who felt it was leaf allergy and prescribed plant sterols. These basically took he edge off his discomfort and then stopped working. Plus, there was concern about long term use and he didn't seem to be getting much better over time. Enter Dr. Falconer and his recommendation to use transfer factor. Luke responded with a few days and has been happy ever since - I think it's been around 4 months. The itching stopped completely right away, all of the bumps dried up and fell off (over a period of a few months), the flaking skin is just about normal now. One of our animal loving friends has also used transfer factor and said she didn't the see quite the dramatic results we did… But they did work for our dog! Thank you again Dr. Falconer!! Judith and happy Luke

Dear Dr. Falconer,
Thank you once again for keeping us informed of the newest release of Big Pharma's answer to curing our itchy dogs.
I succumbed to the hype last year with Apoquel and was thankful she didn't show any ill effects for being dosed daily with it for 2 months. Her veterinarian prescribed it when I took her in for the problem of itchy feet which she licks and gnaws them 24/7. The relief from the drug began almost immediately. It was if the clouds parted and angels began to sing. Shelby seemed to be at peace and I rejoiced at this miracle I was able to provide for my girl. You see, It had nothing to do with lost sleep that I cared about, it was my girl's tortured days of doing nothing but being obsessed by her itching.
After purchasing her second month's supply I began to noticed her returning to her old habits of foot licking and gnawing her poor feet. I tried all the old distracting techniques I once used. I finally had to admit to myself the brief One month honeymoon was over, kaput. The veterinarian said it happened as such with some of his patients.
At some point last year, I came across an article written by you or an associate and telling your findings thus far about Apoquel. After reading it, I promised myself to never again have my girl ingest medication without knowing all the side effects of long term therapy on a drug. In America, we all want and expect the magic bullit, the wonder drug, the cureall and we will pay any dollar amount for it. But at what price do we pay in the end?
Thank goodness we have you, Dr. Falconer, who has done the research for us and tells us about how Big Pharm is rolling out their newest cure for itchy dogs. If not for you, would I be another sheep helping to line their pockets while risking my dog's life? Thank you again and bless you for being an advocate for all of us who depend on your knowledge, honesty, and love for our precious furbabies!
Best regards,
Helen Culwell & Shelby
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Talk about being frustrated. I have two dachshunds that are 7 years old and has this itching problem since they were 6 months old. I had the allergy tests done and one vet just gave up on them and said he didn't know what else to do for them. I went to another vet and he started them on apoquel, cefpodoxime and ketoconazole. Within 5 days they were back to playing more and no itching.
This treatment is only temporary. Once they stop taking the later two medications, they start itching again within two weeks! They have been on apoquel for several months. We started them on an injection called cadi 31(??). They have been on this for three months. What I have read this may not be good for them either.

My dog gets itchy every Spring. He typically itches wildly from March to mid-June. NOTHING we've tried has worked. We've tried various allergy drugs as well as homeopathic remedies (Quecertin, nettle etc.) , allergy baths and so on. He itches his skin raw. He bleeds. He loses fur. He cries while scratching. As another poster pointed out, we can't unvaccinate him and he hasn't had any vaccinations for several years. My dog's allergies seem solely related to the season. The only drug I never tried was Apoquel because it really scared me. This year my vet told me about Cytopointe. I researched it as much as I could. I became familiar with the science behind the monoclonial antibodies a few years ago when doing cancer research for one of my other dogs. It seemed a lot less scary than the Apoquel. In desperation, after my dog came to me with blood dripping down his face from scratching it so hard, I decided to try it. $90 for a 60 lb dog. The itching stopped in less than 24 hours. We're 6 weeks out and still no itching. All of his fur has grown back and he's much more content. I don't suspect that he will need another shot until next Spring. I will for sure be following up and seeing if there are any reports of side effects from other dogs over the next year, and if there are not, by next Spring if he's as bad as he was this year, you better believe I will get him the shot again. I mean it becomes a quality of life issue at some point. What else are we supposed to do? I'd love to hear some better suggestions other than just "don't vaccinate" because we already do that. Are we supposed to just let the dog be miserable?

Thank you for putting this info out there. I'm sure they limited the study to 7 months because if it's like Apoquel, that's the point of no return. Apoquel stops working after 4 months and was responsible for my dog's death after 6 months on it. I only wish I had found your wealth of information beforehand. I just finished a microbiology course and it all makes sense, everything you have said. I will never be the cause of canine pyoderma again.

The problem is if you already have a dog that's been vaccinated several time (we adopted ours and know he was probably given the whole gamit of vaccines at least twice) what do you do about the itch. I can't un-vaccinate him. He hasn't gotten any new shots in several years (one rabies because we were travelling to Canada about 3 years ago) but he is still itchy and just got over having to get a strong antibiotic because he licked himself into a nasty infection. HELP!!

Thanks for all the valuable info you provide for us, Dr. Falconer. Itchy dogs? We have two that scratch and bite mainly at their hindquarters near the tail. One is a large, black, medium-haired mixed breed male we rescued about 5 years ago. The other is a 10-year-old mostly black with white chest Chihuahua female. Both scratch and bite in the same place, although the Chi is mainly in the house and the large dog only comes in the laundry room overnight or due to weather conditions. We've always been told they have flea bite dermatitis and have gotten a steroid shot and also offered Apoquel but I've never accepted this treatment due to your comments and my overall fear of "drugs." Both dogs got their puppy shots including rabies but nothing else since then. I've used herbal flea collars and non-toxic sprays like Wondercide on these dogs which DOES help with itching and subsequent scratching. Our other 4 dogs don't have the problem as bad as the two of them and do fine with the herbal flea collars (PetGuard or others). I also use shampoos like 4-Legger, Dr. Harvey, and ones from Dr. Becker. But I do join the pack who are wishing for some fast-acting, non-toxic wonder treatment for itchy dogs! :)

Thank you writing this. I'll admit, I may have fallen for this new "wonder drug" if I hadn't read this. I truly trust your expertise. But I am at the end of my type with my sweet mini Aussie. The breeder gave her 1 set of vaccines at 8 weeks, without my knowledge. She has had nothing since, not even rabies. She is almost 3, raw feed, and still extremely dry skin and some hives that turn into blisters if she eats something that triggers it. I was giving her quercetin with bromelain, but now that makes her itchy. I give her probiotics and have had to resort to benadryl to keep her from chewing her back to total baldness. I have recently started rubbing avocado oil into her skin and that seems to help with the flaky skin. Gahhhh! Any errors of wisdom? I could sure use your help. But, even if you can't help, keep up the great work-you are helping critters have long, healthy, happy lives!!!
Diane