Louise
Kim, I have 2 Westies ages 5 and 12. The 12 year old has always had problems with itching and licking of his paws, hot spots on his sides, and one ear chronically infected. Our Vet has always taken a conservative approach which we appreciated because I've always been careful with our Westies' diet and support them with nutritional supplements recommended by Dr. Karen Becker's website. I use Cedarcide primarily for fleas and ticks and they take a fish oil daily along with probiotics. We had allergy testing on the 12 year old many years ago and he wasn't allergic to anything according to the tests. Occasionally when he has had a really bad case of the itching we gave him temaril-P and it helped. So far, we haven't had any problems with signs of allergies in the 5 year old. This year, the 12 year old has been having more problems with the paw licking, hot spots, and one bad ear. In the Spring, I had to take him to the Vet for his senior checkup. His normal Vet wasn't available and we saw a new, fresh out of college Vet. She recommended the Cytopoint. She handed us the brochure, we discussed it, and thought that it must be safe. So, we allowed her to give him the first Cytopoint shot. He had immediate relief and it lasted for about 8 weeks. It was great to not have to constantly tell him to stop licking his paws. At the 8 week point he started to lick again and had a bad ear infection. So, we went in for another shot of Cytopoint. A few weeks later the 12 year old was very restless and didn't sleep all night. I had to run him outside at least a dozen times due to severely loose bowel movements that were very soft. The next day, he was laying in his bed looking dazed. I called to him to go outside and he acted as though he didn't hear me. I went to him and he startled when I walked up on him. He had blood coming out of the "good" ear that he never had any issue with for 12 years. I got out my ear cleaning kit and cleaned it up to see what was going on. He started shivering as if in pain. He has always been very good with allowing me to clean the other ear that has been a chronic problem. We were away from our primary home at the time. I called his Vet to see if I could get in but since we were going into a holiday weekend the office was on limited hours with limited staff. So, I made the decision to take the 12 year old to a local Vet that flushed the ear and ordered antibiotics. Over the course of a couple of days the 12 year old started acting as if he was paranoid. He wouldn't settle in his usual comfy spots, paced the house, hid behind the dining room table, and acted like he was scared. Once the ear started getting better he seemed to get back to normal. We just had a 3rd Cytopoint shot a week ago for severe itching, hot spots, and the chronic one ear issue. The last couple of days he hasn't slept much, has stood by the door wanting to go out but when taken out he's not pottying more than usual. He's been acting paranoid again with looking around like he doesn't recognize his surroundings and all of a sudden jumping like he's going to take flight. Last night, I kept him by my side in bed and just patted him comfortingly every time he popped his head up and got ready to run which was every couple of minutes. It's heartbreaking to see our loving Westie acting like this! Since I was up most of the night trying to keep him calm the thought crossed my mind that it might be the Cytopoint causing these issues. So, I started searching online for answers from my iPad. I came across this site and have read the comments from several people who describe the same issues! Never again! I just hope that our 12 year old recovers and I'm mad that I let my guard down and allowed this new Vet to our Vet's practice give him the Cytopoint to start with. I will be calling to make an appointment for him with his regular Vet who I do trust and all of these things will be mentioned. I am very angry with myself for not doing research from the start. I've always been careful and this time I let my guard down for a quick fix of the issue. Also, I have also noticed that the Cytopoint doesn't work as well with each successive shot. This morning, our 12 year old Westie is licking his paws and it's been a week. He doesn't seem to be having the paranoia or flight behavior this morning.....yet. Just be careful. There seems to be mixed responses to this Cytopoint based on some of the things I've read. I don't know why some dogs have a reaction and others do not but we will not be using it again.