Apoquel Alert: Serious Side Effects of New Dog Allergy Medication
There is a NEW drug on the market to control itching in dogs from allergies, called Apoquel.
It has been launched with much fanfare…from Zoetis..
FDA Approves APOQUEL® (oclacitinib tablet) to Control Itch and Inflammation in Allergic Dogs
Zoetis Offers a Targeted New Approach to Rapidly and Safely Stop the Cycle of Itch and Inflammation Associated with Allergic Skin Disease in Dogs
Atopic dermatitis is one of the most common allergies in dogs, affecting approximately
10 percent of the dog population. Itching caused by an allergic skin disease can be an
acute, short-term condition or can be recurrent or chronic—all which can impact the
quality of life for both the dog and its owner unless they are controlled with effective
management.
FDA approval of APOQUEL is based on results of two clinical trials conducted in the
United States which showed that APOQUEL was effective in the treatment of pruritus
associated with allergic dermatitis and for the control of atopic dermatitis.
Sounds great, right?
Having treated hundreds of dogs for allergies, it is MORE than welcoming to have a drug that works to STOP the itching without all the side effects of predisone.
But be CAUTIOUS
A small study of 299 dogs- 50% of the dogs took the placebo medication, and most dropped out of the study.
66% of dogs improved on the medication, but keep in mind that means 33% (1/3) didn’t at all.
Side Effects
Health events associated with the drug were difficult to compare between groups given the low number of dogs in the placebo group at the end of the study.
The rate of adverse events overall was low (<5%) and included
diarrhea, vomiting, and lethargy that resolved spontaneously in 90% of cases and did not
require discontinuation of therapy. Anorexia was the only adverse event noted more often
among the oclacitinib group compared with placebo (2.6% vs. 0%, respectively).
While still within reference ranges, mean serum globulin and mean white blood cell,
neutrophil, eosinophil, and monocyte counts decreased among dogs in the oclacitinib group
by day 14. Among dogs in the oclacitinib group, one dog withdrew from the study because
of the development of severe pyoderma (after day 19) and one dog withdrew because of the
development of generalized demodicosis (after day 28). Another dog required
hospitalization for the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia (after 91 days), and one dog
was hospitalized for cystitis secondary to urolithiasis (after day 80 of therapy).
(Source: Cosgrove SB, Wren JA, Cleaver DM, et al. A blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the efficacy and safety of the Janus kinase inhibitor oclacitinib (Apoquel) in client-owned dogs with atopic dermatitis. Vet Dermatol 2013;24:587-597.)
Translating the above means that for the first 2 weeks of medication the most common side effects are gastro-intestinal ( vomiting/diarrhea), BUT after 2 weeks, there are measurable blood value changes.
Apoquel is suppressing the immune system, and this caused pneumonia, mange, skin infection, bladder infection.
Because most of the placebo dogs dropped out, they really couldn’t compare the groups.
My cautious warning.
If you have a severely allergic dog, you need to be treating them.
BUT don’t consider this pill the ‘answer’
The potential for serious side effects is substantial, and that 1/3 of dogs did not respond in the study.
Here are my 7 most important natural remedies you should be considering:
1.Less Allergenic Food. Feed your dog a simple food that he is less likely to react to. I have found that a commercial diet of fish and sweet potato work very well, and with this there is less itching, and licking. Every dog is different, so you have to try different foods; there is not just ONE right food. But the principle is to think simple, minimal ingredients, avoid artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. Try the new diet for 4 weeks.
2.Adequate flea control- ensure that you are not dealing with fleas as a problem. You can use a Natural flea spray that has cedarwood oil, and a safe holistic powder for putting in the cracks and crevices of your house called Borax.
3.Regular bathing- of your dog’s feet as he comes in from outside, and of your entire dog. I am giving my own allergic dog an oatmeal shampoo weekly. In the summer when his allergic signs are more common, I am bathing him twice a week. I have also found that by wiping his feet with a damp towel after he comes in from outside, there is far less itching and scratching.
4.Antihistamines- both natural and conventional. I have used Benadryl for big flare ups of his skin, dosing him at .5mg per lb ( I give 50lb Jessie 25mg of Benadryl at night), and I’ll do it twice a day if needed. Lately I have been trying Vitamin C which has some antihistamine qualities, and his itching is decreasing. The Vitamin C dose is 100mg per 10lbs twice daily.
5.Essential Fatty Acid supplements. IF your dog has allergies, he needs to be on these. I am using my supplement, Ultimate Canine Health Formula, which contains EFA’s in the form of flax oil. The omega 3 dose I suggest is 1000 mg per 10lbs daily- this works out to giving 1 tablespoon of flax per 50lbs daily to your dog.
6.Probiotics are increasingly being used for dogs with allergies. These beneficial bacteria play a role in normalizing the overactive immune system. You won’t see an instant response, but you may see some marked decrease in allergic signs after using probiotics for 4 weeks. I am using my supplements with lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, but you can dose lactobacillus at 1/4 capsule per 10 lbs of body weight twice daily.
7.The last increasingly used ingredient for allergies is colostrum. Research has found an ingredient known as praline-rich polypeptide (PRP) in bovine colostrum; it appears to be what is helping decrease the allergy symptoms. The colostrum dose for dogs with allergies varies based on the company; I advise giving ¼ of the human dose per 20lbs daily. My supplement, Ultimate Canine Health Formula contains bovine colostrum in adequate levels for your dog.
Best Wishes,
Dr Andrew Jones, DVM
P.S. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to help your dog’s allergies, I suggest you try my supplement, Dr Jones’ Ultimate Canine Health Formula. It contains essential fatty acids, probiotics, and colostrum, but more importantly it has helped thousands of dogs. See what it can do for your dog here: http://www.thedogsupplement.com
Dr. Jones,
Quite a misleading article. Sure, it notes side effects, but the drug didn’t “cause” mange. You are using fear tactics to prevent people from using certain medications, while then offering your own pet medications/shampoos/etc.
I saw your interview, where you complained people weren’t being told about the side effects of medications. I agree. Too few veterinarians are explaining the risks. But, I did notice your office carried CET chews, Metacam, and Baytril. CET chews – with a bacteriostat impregnated. Metacam – with known renal and liver side effects. Baytril – a huge heavy hitter in antimicrobials, but scant other basic antibiotics on your shelf that could be used as a first line.
You complain about others doing certain things, but you chose to quit. Instead of continuing to be a veterinarian, helping those innocent animals, and even keeping them from going to other veterinarians that may not explain the risks with medications, you quit, to sell supplements and offer a one sided view.
Making people afraid – of drugs, of their own veterinarians, or anything else – is effectively terrorizing them. That is sad. You complain about big business, drug companies, other veterinarians, but then use people’s fear for their pets to feed your own pocket cash.
Instead of taking the heat, paying what you owe for flapping your gums when you said you wouldn’t, you took the easy way out. Good. Other veterinarians may have their short comings, but at least they are more concerned about their patients and less about their wallets. Now, just do the rest of the world a favor and drop off the face of it and stop trying to scare people into doing what you want and believing what you think is correct.
Hello Dr ” I criticize but choose not to use my real name”
This article is 100% based on FDA Veterinary ADE reports- you may want to visit the FDA site and read the stats for yourself.
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/ProductSafetyInformation/ucm055369.htm
The rest of your rant is not deserving of a reply: I chose to resign based on my personal beliefs, and I have enough guts to actually be public about it, including using my real name.
Assuming you are a veterinarian, you may want to consider being slightly more ‘professional’ in your communication …”Instead of taking the heat, paying what you owe for flapping your gums when you said you wouldn’t, you took the easy way out. Good.”… You may even want to read about the legal definition of slander: http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/slander/
And one last comment, you claim that ” Other veterinarians may have their short comings, but at least they are more concerned about their patients and less about their wallets. ” Yet in the Well Managed Practice Report authored by Wutchiett Tumblin and Associates, they state that veterinarians in their study generated $612,000/year in revenue, taking home $221,700 in salary and benefits.
I would say that these veterinarians are ‘concerned about their wallets’
Here is a link to the 2011 Study: http://creative.advanstar.com/mkdv/2011/mkdv_vetbenchmarks_email0811/images/VBMZ300_preview.pdf
Hi a few months back my vet prescribed my dog apoquel 16mg (1/2 per day) for 14 days she has a uncontrollable itching is a totally indoor princess, but does go outside to potty on a leash. She is on Natural Balance fish and sweet potato formula and same brand of treats as she is allergic to wheat, gluten, chicken and beef. If the wind blows the wrong way she starts breaking out. I have had her since she was 6 mths old and she is now an old lady at 13.
She is Am. Bull and Black Mouth Curr Mix. Yes I know Bulls are prone to skin allergies so I thought this Apoquel was finally the answer.
I started her on 1/2 tab once a day every day for the last month and 1/2. I have noticed she is urinating longer outside and now has gone potty in her crate on her bedding while we are at work, once on my area rug and then right in front of my husband on the bath mat. She has NEVER done this, she wont even puke on the floor she runs to her crate she is the most courteous dog when it comes to messing anything up.
So, my point being could this Apoquel be causing her to urinate more frequently (Also, she gets my hubby up sometimes 2 -3 times a night to go pee.
Please help if anyone knows I’m going to stop giving to her for the rest of the week and see what happens.
Yes! I only had my dog on it for 2 days and he has been trying to pee all day long but with difficulty. I took him to the vet and they catheterized him and all kinds of urine came out. He has been very thirsty too. I’m taking them off the drug.
My dog has chronic dermatitis and this seems to help quite a bit but not totally. I think I saw where it increases thirst and appetite. So I would take care to note if you see her drinking more than usual.
I am not a qualified vet or anything, just something I think might be her problem. She sounds like a very sweet dog not making a mess for you. My poodle is masterful at “holding it” in emergencies when we get home longer than planned.
I am having the same issue as Kelly noted above. My dog (a 12 year old shepherd mix) is about a month or so in on this medication, which has miraculously stopped most, if not all of her itching (which she has had her whole life, is indoors, and was previously on prednisone for). But she is now peeing like crazy and today in the house, first time EVER. Am wondering, Kelly, if you ever got any answers? Am going to phone my vet in the morning and get their opinion. Is it okay to take her off immediately, or do I need to wean her gradually? Kelly would love to know what your experience was
I have a three year old yorkie mix, about 30 pounds who is an Hospice therapy dog. Her side effects seem to be aggression toward new dogs she meets and coughing.
APOQUEL seems to be a wonder drug. It takes away the itching, but doesn’t last for a full day. I supplement benedry to keep the itching controllable at night.
Hoe often do you advise a blood panel be done.
Does anyone else experience these symptoms?
Yes I took our 90 lb great Pyrenees poodle mix OFF appoquill as after reading the FDA testing (it was only given for 14 days) and did a lot of reading and research & have known many of our friends using it for years IT CAN CAUSE CANCER , it really didn’t help either yes we tried cydo point also which @ 1st seem to help every 6 weeks but honestly now our 90 lb. Dog is MUCH better after 3 months of salmon oil and White fish oil our boy finally looks better now scratchy -ithcys and after 2 months of 3 baths a week looks like puppy skin & coat now when this batch of oil runs out we keep ours in the refrigerator @ 34° I’m going with Dr Jones krill oil & the supplement that begins with a Q. He’s 10 years old this coming July for 3 years he was miserable & I felt like a bad dad & us living on $1,200 a month often I went without my meds. So we could take him to the vet DR Jones ‘s book of home remedies REALLY works on what we’ve used on his ears when ever we took him to get groomed 3-4 days later he always had an ear infection. Dr Jones REALLY cares about our pets as they ARE family I would give anything if more vets were just like him (and my new Dr’s) he & his team just understand !!! They’re the best!!! Thomas Payne
Hi … I would get a blood panel done. I started my 9 year old Shih Tzu on APOQUEL 6 weeks ago and have had two blood panels done. Liver counts are high is some areas so we will check again in two months. If worse I will probably take her off it. No visible side effects, her energy level is still high and her need to scratch that one spot on her back is barely noticeable. I also combine it with Benadryl at night. Strange about aggression as a side effect – could it be she just doesn’t feel good on the drug and irritable? Good luck.
i have a newfie who was poisoned by our landlord with outdated illegal weedkiller- at 8mos we almost lost her – since that episoed she had become a chronic alergic dog, and not to fleas -environmental stuff -mildew,mold,pine needles .etc.
we didnt have fleas.
my point is for 3 yrs she had to be kept on prednisone and antibiotics. if taken off at all for one day she would lose all her hair in clumps and have sores all over where she licked or bit or scratched.
when this drug came out. and we gave it to her. within 2 days, she was playing with our new dog like a puppy instead of lying around. her fur has grown in and is like silk. instead of the dull molting fur.that just wouldnt grow,
the only side effects i have noticed is she is happy again. looks great but also is sseems to want more attention than usual
which is fine with me. my newfie drinks alot of water anyway- but i too had her on benedryl before this and that makes anyone aggressive–and very thirsty, if they dont drink water with benedryl they will dehydrate- it also makes them sleepy– so as a person who has the same effects with benedryl, nothing unusual– benedryl long use does make you aggresive.
and irritable. my newfie takes 1 1/2 tabs. aday because of weight– for 3 months now. nothing major yet -except she doesnt
keep me up all night and day biting,scratiching licking– she is a happy dog.
My 15 year old Cairn developed environmental allergies when she moved to CT from FL. I’ve tried everything to ease her itching, and she’s been on hydroxyzine for a few years with limited success. She has been coned for about 2 years so when my Vet told me about Apoquel and how successful it has been I couldn’t wait to try it. I weaned her off the Hydroxyzine and started her on the Apoquel. Due to her age, she’s not the best at going outside, but on this pill, she is peeing constantly. It’s the reason I looked this up and I am glad to know others have experienced this as well. She is much more alert and somewhat less itchy. It’s only been one week so I don’t expect a miracle. I will need to confine her if she continues to pee everywhere. I am going to let my Vet know.
I have three Shih Tzu on Apoquel for three months. They started having trouble.
The girl has bladder trouble. But they cant find any thing. One of my boys had a
mini stroke. Then my other boy has high liver enzyme. The vet call the Apoquel
company and they said no connections. After reading all the complants. I think they lied. I am taking my dogs off of this. My vet bills have double.
I’ve had my terrier mix dog on Apoquel for a year and a half. We gave it a try because her itchiness was causing almost a seizure like problem. The Apoquel seemed to work like magic. Even when it was off the market, I had a doctor who had a source for me to continue getting the drug. I thought I had found the magic drug. I asked at one point how this worked and was told that it lowered the immune system to keep the itch mechanism from affecting the dog. Great, or so I thought. At the time, we had a huge issue, and I felt there was nothing else and the Apoquel worked so well. But now, she has just had a huge tumor removed from her leg and it is considered to me a Mast Cell Tumor, most likely Level 3 – (we are waiting for the final lab report), but this now is very bad. Was it worth it? Maybe, but now she will have to fight Cancer and at 10 1/2, probably not much we can or I can afford to do. I’m conflicted now that I might have caused this. My comment would be to not use this unless everything else is exhausted.
I dont care what my vet says. Apoquel wont work for my pin , her itching decreased, but never stopped, and it has side effects. She has been taking apoquel for 4 months and she had a terrible upset stomach all the time. She was burping, licking her mouth, eating grass and her breath smelt very bad. As soon as I stop giving her apoquel the stomach problem stopped.
I just had my 14 year old westie Flo on Apoquel for 26 days.
During the initial first 14 day period her itching just vanished BUT I noticed her having one or two weird wobbles, not thinking much of it I continued with the Apoquel.
On day 19 and 21 i noticed she pee’d the bed when I’d been out(never ever done that before)
On nights 22, 23,25 she had huge seizures, the first waking me with loud howling and all ending with her peeing.(possibly why her bed was wet on day’s 19 and 21 too)
Took her off Apoquel and now day 28 no seizures since.
Told vet and she took bloods so fingers crossed. I’m not continuing the apoquel!
Seonaid, what dose are you giving your westie? Have had my 20 month old westie on it for the last two weeks. Itching stopped within hours but he has become anxious and fearful and this morning peed in a visiting dog’s food bowl. Very unlike him and the bowl belongs to a dog that visits a lot and he is head over heels in love with. Last few days have cut dose in half and itching is still under control. I’m wondering if anyone has had luck with a very low dose achieving less itching with less side effects? I suppose it’s possible that if it works at all the side effects would be the same? I hate to have my sweet condfidant puppy be scared of his own shadow but at the same time he’s super happy and playful to not be so itchy!
our 17 year old cairn terrier has been on Apoquel for 4 mos. the itching, decreased but never stopped. He has been lethargic, urinating more then usual. He has urinated in front of me, also not wanting to stay outside, or even go outside. which is causing more messes to clean up. He has had two seizures which he has never had his whole life. I believe it is the medication that has caused them. He takes 3.6 mg. tablets, we decreased it to 1/2, he is still having all the symptoms I have described but the seizures started at 1/2 the dose. I am very much convinced Apoquel has caused the seizures.
Hello,
I have read your comments about your pets having side effects. My westie has allergies. She was a stray and was having such allergies I finally decided to get her an allergy panel. She is allergic to beef, flax, white potatoe, corn and a few other things. I had tried hydroxyzine I think it is and now am trying the apoquel. She keeps getting infections in her anal gland area. My vet says its allergies causing it. I have her on flea meds year round, no fleas. I bathe her twice a month too. I have had her and my other dogs on a special diet but it still doesn’t help. I think I will try those probiotic and omegas…its worth a shot. I noticed that she did have some more frequent urination and she had a kind of balance issue, she just wasn’t acting right when she first started on the apoquel. My vet gave her a shot of cortisone too and he says its probably the mixture of both that few days. It does seem that the shot and the baytril will make her infection go away and allergies better at least for awhile. with all I am reading, I am not sure if I will continue her on it or not. I will search for more ideas. Thanks to all for yoru comments.
I have to admit, I may be the only one in support of Apoquel. We had our dog with allergies on Benedryl twice a day, and in the beginning it did help, but his paws were bright red and swollen from his excessive licking. This pill really worked for my dog. We finally got to take his cone off and start to enjoy walks again fully and his paws turned back to their original color–white! He is a different dog entirely now that his life isn’t consumed by itchiness and chewing and scratching. I can’t wait to see what the blood work will reveal though, it will be interesting. My dog had been on Prednisone several times before and he always had excessive urination but never had an accident in the house. He may urinate a little longer than normal on Apoquel, but nothing to worry about yet here. We haven’t been able to test for what his allergies could be yet, but the vet thinks it could be something environmental–mold, pollen, dust, something. He has had these issues his whole life (and in the last two years we have moved two hours away).
We are on the 16mg dose, but we break it in half and he is on 1/2 pill a day. No issues here. We just make sure to take him out frequently to be safe. Our dog will stand at the door if he needs to go out (he wasn’t taught that). He has been on it for one month now and doing good! Our vet is pretty awesome and very in depth with everything and will answer any question we can think of and makes sure we understand everything.
Apoquel seems to be an amazing drug. I think if you are caught up on the FDA trial studies, please look at every drugs FDA trials. You may stop using medications all together. All in all, very mild side effects as opposed to other anti-pruritic medication. Steroids… side effects include CHF, pancreatitis, immunosuppression among many others. Just choose your cases and decide if the medication risks outweigh the benefits. Lastly, I think you choose to bash a drug just to sell your supplement. That supplement contains colostrum. Colostrum is taken away from baby calves and sold to supplement companies to make money, and the calves suffer. If you are into animal welfare, you probably should stay away from those supplements. Aloha
Update on my westie. The apoquel worked so well that I tried going down to smallest possible dose. He is 25 lbs (huge westie, I know), and I have found that if I give him 1/4 pill in the morning that the side effects go away and itching is pretty much under control. About every third day I need to give another 1/4 pill at dinner as well. He also gets half a Zyrtec morning and night. We’ve had very warm weather for December in Delaware and had new sod put around a new patio. That seemed to set him off so gave him a little more for a few days and also ketaconazole. I use duoxo chlorhexadine shampoo as well as the spray. I have also found that if we keep his paws shaved or very short that helps tremendously. Plus wipe those feet after being out. It’s not a perfect answer, but with some experimentation this drug is helping us keep him comfortable and from “blowing up” and getting infected areas. It’s crazy how fast that can happen. For the most part he’s back to being our happy, playful puppy.
My 10 year old Maltese 10 pound has had intermittent allergy problems his entire life. My vet put him on apoquel a 5.4 mg dose split in half twice a day. Last night was the first dose. Early this morning he got out of bed, I thought he was getting a drink, he has always drank a lot of water. When he didn’t come back, I went to check, he had diarrhea in 2 different places. He never does that, he always tells me when he has to go out. He has food allergy tests done several years ago and is allergic to rice, peas, carrots and several other things. I cooked for him for 8 years because he wouldn’t eat dog food. After the allergy tests I gave him Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish, which he doesn’t eat much so I add other things to it. I now wonder if he had environmental allergies. My vet has referred us to a vet specialist, which I hear is very expensive. I don’t want my baby to have these terrible side effects I am reading about here. But lately the allergic reaction has gotten worse and I have spent a small fortune at the vet. What do I do?
We have a rescue dog, 3 yrs old now. He came to us with terrible skin allergies. Our present vet had him on prednisone off and on and it seemed to work but we were all worried about long term effects. She sent us to a vet that is a dermatologist 3 hours drive away. After allergy, blood and urine tests she put him on Apoquel, 2 times a day for 1 week and then one pill in morning. He has been on it for over a year now with wonderful results. He still licks his paws a lot at night is the only symptom left. Tried Benydry but it only made him groggy. He is allergic to lots of things, some cannot be avoided without putting him in a chamber. He is somewhat aggressive to a sweet little girl puppy that we got as a friend for him. He is asking to go out to pee a lot more than he used to and now has developed a smell similar to mild cat pee (no cats in our home). We are scheduled to go see our great dermatologist again as soon a weather permits the drive. I am so pleased to have Apoquel that keeps him happy and well. The other option would have probably would have been a lot worse. The doctor along with us are monitoring all. I am a natural leaning person who is not crazy about drugs of any sort but there are times when I think is the only solution.
My 5 year ol shi tzu terrier mix has terrible allergies that caused her to itch 24/7. Her white hair on her lower back turned red from her itching and got worse with bumps all over her lower back.
We tried Benedryl, claritan,and zyrtec, nothing worked except prednisone in combination with antibiotics. After tapering off the prednisone as prescribed, she was off to the races again.
The vet prescribed Apoquel and after 2 weeks she never itches. She is supposed to go from 2 to 1 a day in 3 days. I’m anxious to see what happens.
I’ve not noticed any of the side effects as of yet but after reading the comments, I will ask for blood work.
Thank you all for comments.
My 7 year old French Bulldog Grandpuppy has been on APOQUEL for 2 years (+/-). She suffered from a myriad of allergy issues… as well as lots of other issues (Chronic UTI’s being one.. we finally got “under control”) The allergy medication worked wonderfully!!! Sooooo happy with it… but… All of a sudden, she has developed a whole new set of even more significant and really scary issues: She started going “kiki” accidentally, when she would start “digging” on furniture, in bed, where ever! Seemingly startled that it happened. She never did the digging thing previously. Now, after a couple of months of this intermittent “accident” issue.. she just wakes up and if she doesn’t get out the door immediately.. she just “goes”! At the onset of all this she started behaving very depressed. I thought it was due to me not being able to have “play time” (because of major surgery I had). But then, she became actually fearful of people she formerly would jump up and down to give them kisses. Now, in the last couple of weeks.. of going to Vet… attempting to find out what is going on… she actually bit a tech who stuck her face in Fendi’s face and startled her. On top of all of this, it appears she is suddenly going blind… she bumps into things, walks into things… cannot see her water and won’t drink out of her bowls. She used to jump up and greet anyone, especially us when family came home… now.. she sleeps through that.. and doesn’t “greet” at all. I took her off Apoquel a few days ago.. And had blood work done.. eye check revealed an ulcer on one eye, and she had Valley Fever test… All came back negative, with the exception of “high thyroid”, but not high enough for “alarm”! Now we will take her to Neurologist. This is really scary.. because it is as though someone flipped a switch and she is just not herself anymore. Oh… and she totally ripped a couch pillow to shreds while we were out.. a couch she NEVER goes near! Still sweet and wants to play but, can hardly find the ball when it is right in front of her face. I have to give her water from a bottle or syringe. Anyone else having these issues? A. lethargic, depressed, doesn’t want to drink out of water bowl (to scary), peeing in the house, can’t see, everything is scary because of vision issues, and I suppose the greeting people is a result of just not seeing who or what it is! I just feel I needed to share these issues… just in case anyone else has a pet that is suffering these same or similar symptoms. We lost a dog years ago due to poison pet food.. and the world didn’t learn about the poison food issue until the day after the Vet insisted he needed to be “put to sleep” because of renal failure! So in the midst of all of this… I did notice that her pet food had changed gradually and I finally took the last case back and put her on another food… just in case it was a food additive issue! I have photos of that food… really odd changes!!!
I have a 5 yr old Yorkie/Poodle. He suffers from allergies also. He had pancratitis attack 2 yrs ago, so they do not want to give him prednisone alot. Dr. suggested apoquel which I paid 120. 00 for 2 mths. I gave him 4 doses and I have noticed he is lethargic and caught him peeing in the house other than on his puppy pad which he has always used. This is not like him.So I am going to quit giving him this med. He also had these side effects while taking hydroxyzine. I would rather give him zyrtec and deal other ways with his allergies. With these tablets he not my normal fur baby.
My 4 year old Yorkie was put on apoquel. He has received a daily dose consistently for the last 30 days. Two days ago he began vomiting, lethargy and dehydration. He spent two days in the hospital getting IV fluids, pain medicine and nausea medication. Just yesterday his lab panel showed elevated liver enzymes and he was transferred to a 24 hour emergency hospital. At this point our cost has been $2200. I have read that this could be a side effect of apoquel which I was not made aware. I am concerned because I keep discussing apoquel with multiple vets taking care of him and I am told that is not the cause of his acute illness. Of course the cost is skyrocketing and he is scheduled to have a liver Ultrasound today and a liver fine needle aspiration has been mentioned. I am convinced that apoquel is the cause and I would like to know if his liver enzymes will return to normal now that apoquel has been stopped. I encourage each and every person considering apoquel to make sure you are educated. I am a Healthcare professional and I somehow missed important information. I only hope my baby “Stoney” will be Ok. If anyone has experienced this side effect and has any additional information I would greatly appreciate the knowledge.
Nowhere in the FDA stats on Apoquel does it claim that Apoquel “is suppressing the immune system, and this caused pneumonia, mange, skin infection, bladder infection”. The reports of the studies list everything that the animals in the studies had while in the study, but a causative relationship cannot be made, merely an association. You chose to claim the issues were “caused” by Apoquel, as a scare tactic to encourage people to buy your untested and unproven to have any benefit homemade concoction of ordinary food stuff. Unlike Zoetis, when you make your claims about your “supplement” you don’t show ANY study results or statistics. Your article leads people like Lynn with the yorkie to jump to blaming Apoquel for her dog’s health issues with nothing to substantiate her claim. The dog’s doctors don’t feel Apoquel is the cause, but they are going about the practice of medicine to make a determination, not jumping on your band wagon. And Grandpuppy has a history of urinary tract issues, but after starting Apoquel her urinary tract problems are blamed on it by her owner. Just to note a couple of ignorant owners from the above blog. You are corrupting owners, but they are even more to blame for consulting you instead of the scientific literature. I hope you don’t still practice medicine. Between your irresponsible claims and your ridiculous supplement, you are a disgrace to the profession.
Hello Sharina,
You stated this : “Nowhere in the FDA stats on Apoquel does it claim that Apoquel “is suppressing the immune system, and this caused pneumonia, mange, skin infection, bladder infection”. The reports of the studies list everything that the animals in the studies had while in the study, but a causative relationship cannot be made, merely an association “
Your opinion is to ‘not alarm’ pet owners about an ‘association’ with severe side effects- Mine is otherwise.
You claim I am ‘scaring’ people to purchase my supplement..hmmm
Let’s see the drug company Zoetis reported this:
Zoetis Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2014 Results
Fourth Quarter 2014 Revenue of $1.3 Billion Increased 5% Compared to Fourth Quarter 2013
Fourth Quarter 2014 Reported Net Income of $126 Million, or $0.25 per Diluted Share, Increased 20% and 19%, respectively
Fourth Quarter 2014 Adjusted Net Income of $203 Million, or Adjusted Diluted EPS1
of $0.40, Increased 13% and 11%, respectively
Full Year 2014 Revenue of $4.8 Billion Increased 5%; Adjusted Net Income of $790 Million, or Adjusted Diluted EPS1 of $1.57, Increased 11%
Full Year 2015 Guidance Updated to Revenue of $4.8 – $4.9 Billion and Adjusted Diluted EPS1 of $1.61 – $1.68
– See more at: http://news.zoetis.com/press-release/investors/zoetis-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2014-results#sthash.hYHWSMPk.dpuf
Revenue of nearly 5 billion dollars…a pretty heft marketing budget, along with an endless array of paid consultants/lobbyists to ensure that governing bodies don’t ‘over regulate’ and allow the company to keep on selling drugs, regardless of the occasional dead dog
In the article I list a number of alternative options to take- not requiring purchase of my ‘scary’ supplement.
Every ingredient in my supplement have been ‘tested’ on thousands of dogs, with little to no side effects.
If only Zoetis would be so transparent.
You state that..
‘Between your irresponsible claims and your ridiculous supplement, you are a disgrace to the profession.’
Well then..we won’t be friends. You may want to remember the ‘golden rule’..if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.
Fortunately many other pet owners think otherwise.
Dr Jones
P.S. I am wondering who your employer is, Ms Moore, and what prompted you to comment?
Dear Dr. Jones,
Thank you for your generosity of spirit and your willingness to share your knowledge and information in an effort to help prevent harm to our innocent companion animals!
I have read some of the negative comments here and all I can say is…
“TOO BAD IGNORANCE ISN’T PAINFUL”.
Thanks again Dr. Jones. Keep fighting the good fight!
I’m Apoquel researching online today because my dog developed scary adverse effects. We went to the vet because she was quite lethargic. Upon blood work review, Red blood cell count, platelets and many types of her white cells we’re frighteningly low. RBC 26,000, PLATELETS 50,000!!!! I don’t remember her specific white cell counts. I went to a different vet than prescribed the Apoquel and he reported having seen this in other dogs in response to Apoquel. I’ve learned in my research today that this adverse effect is actually happening somewhat frequently, or rather, I’ve found many reports from pet owners who’s dogs had this reaction. I’m always sceptical of new drugs and wish I had just said no to Apoquel. My dog was only on it 2 months. I hate to consider long term effects of this drug.
We adopted a cocker spaniel mix June 2015. He is about 3 yrs old. He itched and scratched since we got him. We tried Benadryl, Temaril-P & homeopathic remedies. Nothing worked. Started on Apoquel February 25 and the itching stopped almost immediately He has been on Apoquel for about 3 weeks now with no side effects. I’m hoping this continues.
My senior Dog, was put on apoquel 2 weeks ago. She now urinate’s in the house. The Vet is insistant, it is not this drug. I know my Dog, …. no more for Her, and a new vet , too !!
Itching and licking had gotten worse. Vet said to try him on Apoquel.
He is so sick he can’t pick his head up. He keep vomiting and now can’t
stand up he’s so weak. What kind of a vet would put a dog on a drug that
has been reportedly causing so many major side effects??? I pray my dog
isn’t dying! The only thing different in his life has been the apoquel!
No vet should use this drug!!! My dog is so sick after two weeks of Apoquel
I fear he may die!
Started my dog on on this medicine 6 days ago. Working very well for paw licking, but like others, he has to pee all the time and did so in the house yesterday (something he NEVER does). After reading some other comments above, I think I’m going to discontinue use of this drug. Makes me nervous..
At first I was like, ‘I’m worried now” But its a bit of a scare tactic. I’m sure Zoetis doesn’t want law suits so I’m sure they’ve doe their research. 1.7m dogs were tested. Sounds like these ‘side effevta’ most are coincidental. I am trying the drug today onwards for my baby and I’m hoping for good results and hopefully no side effects will let you know.
Done* effects* apologies.
Apoquel is an amazing Medication, I have a boston terrier and he has allergies to oak pollen and other blooming plants in the spring, he has been on apoquel severeal times throughout the past 2 years, for this condition, yes i have tried benydryl and he eats dog food with fish in it, by far apoqeul is the best medication to treat his allergies, no more itching, clear shiny coat again and is back to regular playful self, I give him 3.6 once a day and that does it, no side effects for Him
My German Shepherd started on Apoquel about five months ago. He gets one pill in the morning and one in the evening. Initially, his itching nearly subsided after staring Apoquel however, not for long. I continued with the Apoquel thinking that if I’m patient, things would get better with time. Over the last month, I have watched my dog become extremely lethargic. His breathing labored at times and a runny nose. I took him to my vet and he put him on Doxycycline. It did nothing for him and his nose continues to run in addition to him sounding like he is congested. Took him to the vet again for a full blood workup which the vet tells me was fine. My dog has no appetite and as of today, his nose had blood coming out of it. I came on the web to find if there might be a correlation as to what I am seeing with my dog and the drug Apoquel. Although there is no way of knowing for certain if the drug Apoquel is responsible for what I am seeing with my dog, I am going to stop the drug altogether. I love my dog way too much to simply take the risk.
Apoquel has made my dog awfully ill. We have spent so much money from the side effects of apoquel. This medication is not worth your puppy’s life.
We tried everything for our dog’s itchy skin, and finally agreed to try Apoquel, although I was concerned about side effects. It worked right away and the itching was gone. However, after about a month and a half our four year old dog started vomiting and was extremely lethargic. After two trips to the vet, then being referred to a specialists, we learned his liver enzymes were off the charts. He had an ultrasound and it was determined it was likely due to the Apoquel, and he was diagnosed with liver disease. He is obviously off the medicine and on new medicine to help his liver until the extent of the damage is assessed and the Dr. can provide a treatment plan moving forward. DO NOT GIVE THIS MEDICINE TO YOUR ANIMAL. I wish I could turn back time because I have caused permanent damage to my dog, and I am heartbroken over it.
Hello, I have 2 german shepherds. One has had a spot on her left leg that she keeps licking and biting for 2 years. I have tried many things and 3 Vets, also already two operations. After I moved to Germany my new Vet prescribed Apoquel. The result was: a depressed dog with increased appetite and it did not help against the itching at all. So I stopped Apoquel after 3 weeks and she was better the next day. I have her now on a strict diet with premium dog food from Four Friends and Ropodog and the situation has much improved. Without that terrible Apoquel.
I agree witn ten second vet. This may inform but seems to be a scare tactic to sell his products.
No drug is totally safe. Our vet would not suggest this drug without it being needed and monitoring via at least 2 times a year.
It was not the first thing we tried. We did zyrtec lorantidine vistari
Tavist and chlortrimeton
Our dog scratches till she has raw sores on her stomach underarms and other
This drug works
Now there is less worry about infection due to raw shin and constant biting from our dog.
Our dog is now on a special food do decrease bladder and urinary tract infections.
This may be a consideration for our vet in choosing this drug.
Our vet may make over250,000 a year. She had her own practice. And I know she picked the profession she did because of a passion for animals. I am sure making a good living is a consideration. But by God she earned it become i g a vet is harder than med school
I wouldn’t take our dogs almost considered human to a vet i didn’t trust. People need to look at tbeir vet…what has been tried first.
I was considering Apoquel for my 8 year old German Shepherd. After reading all the comments, I have decided not to take the risk of harming my dog more by this drug. I will deal with his itching in a more safe manner. Kudos to the very few who this drug has helped, I will not be taking that gamble.
We rescued our Min Pin Buddy 8 yrs ago. He has always had a scratching, itching biting skin problem. It makes him miserable! We had tried everything, including allergy shots. We used another medicine that was for his condition and it helped but then it stopped working. The Vet eventually suggested Apoquel. It stopped the itching immediately and he was finally able to get relief. However, after about 2 months on the medicine he started urinating in the house. Sometimes he didn’t even realize that he was urinating. He sometimes paws at his bed at night and urinates like some of the pet owners stated above. I have also noted some days he does not want to eat. Reading the experiences above, I now figure that his stomach is upset. He has lost 1 1/2 lbs. I hate that we now must take him off the medicine because he has been able to live a more comfortable life, but I can’t ignore the side effects and how it’s affecting him.
I am grateful for tis kind of forum to be able to figure out what is wrong with our dog.
I have two westies on apoquel, both have problem skin. My old boy Hamish is worse. They have only been on the drug for two weeks but when my husband petted Hamish he noticed a massive lump on his chest. Hamish is very threadbare and I have been loathed to clip him. Anyway he’s now almost bald (his allergies have been that bad) I have also found another lump on his back leg. He had been on steroids and antibiotics previously.
I am seriously thinking this drug is to blame. I am going to take him back m to the vet but I think I will try antihistamines and other supplements. I will also take my other boy off this medication.
My dog was recently given Apoquel for severe itching. She would itch and get staph infections. Tried everything else. 5 days on Apoquel and she went to the kennel. The kennel called and said she had a 2 min. seizure. Vet took her and watched her for a day and said blood work came back fine. Go ahead with apoquel. I was too afraid so I gave her 1/2 dose and I thought she had a mild shake. Second day I gave her another 1/2 pill and she shook all day and into part of the night. She was totally out of it. Would not eat, drink etc. No more. Shes been fine since I took her off of it. Kind of mad at my vet that they were so casual about giving it to her again. I do think the co. may be withholding info? I have found others not just on this web site that are questioning the same thing. The bad thing is it took away her itching…yes, it worked. But not at the cost of seizures.
Wow my eyes are wide. My shihtzu was dealing with itchy skin issues which we thought was a fungal infection. The vet put her on apaquel for 4 months. Like everyone else it helped make her more comfortable at first then increased eating and lethargy. Still itching and the straw that broke the camels back was seizures. So after $1,100. For a sonogram and X-rays that showed everything is normal. I decided to stop the medication. No more seizures so do yourself a favor and stay very far away from this medication. Just like an earlier person wrote my dog was howling during the seizure. Scariest thing I’ve ever seen. We thought we were going to lose her. Fingers crossed she won’t have any lasting problems from this drug.
My 15l.b Westie has been on Apoquel 3.6mg, twice daily since Jan.2016. After 1 month she was reduced to 1 in the morning. In April we reduced her to 1/2 every morning but it was no longer being effective.I raised her dosage back to1 -3.6mg a day and she started having seizures. Brief in length, 5 minutes. I took her to a vet here in Maine that I trust, The vet that prescribed the Apoquel was in Italy, and we did blood work. Her ALT is-349, ALP-567 and billi is normal 0.1. We now have her on Denamarin,medium, to give her liver support and he wants me to ween her off of Apoquel so I only gave her 1/2 a tablet today but she is now on an antihistamine, Loratadine, 10mg, 1/2 in am 1/2 in pm. I am pretty sure her seizures are tied in with a build up of Apoquel but it’s impossible to be sure. There should be some mornings to the vets, but there aren’t. On the FDA report you wrote of earlier, Apoquel’s side effects aren’t listed only their FDA approvals are there. Is there another page that I’m missing. Thanks for your advise earlier about the beta 3. I’ll try it too. Karen
My Chow has now been on Apoquel for less than 48 hours. Within the first 12 hours he developed runny poop and lethargy.
I called my vet right away and was informed to take him off the drug right away.
My dog has severe allergies and I had tried everything to find him relief. I was aware of the risks involved with this drug and was well informed both by my vet and also by my own research before beginning his treatment. Anytime a drug is taken side effects are possible. This is the reality of pharmaceuticals. I do not blame the drug company or the sales reps that are making a living selling this drug. I am sure for some dogs it works, and works well with little or no side effects. Just not for any on this wall including mine.
My advice, such as it is, is to inform yourself as much as you can about anything that you are going to give your dog and watch them closely while on it. If they react in any way be ready to take them off the drug immediately. Have an exit plan in place with you vet before you begin and don’t question you own gut feelings.
As I write this my 4 month old puppy is in ICU getting I.V. fluids and other meds
for severe Gastro-Intestinal issues. It will cost me $1200.00 so far – I don’t have to spare but he will be O.K. (I Hope). I’m not one to complain but, I feel compelled to share our nightmarish experience with this new anti-itching drug called Apoquel.
We adopted this puppy from the Animal Defense League 2/16/2016. Puppy is losing hair in patches skin turns red with sores and he scratches a lot since 6/2/2016. Diagnosis is a mite type(Demoditic?)mange that is non contagious. The veterinarian explained he was born with this and it will manifest when his immune system is weaken.
Puppy was briefly having loose stool and some vomiting cleared up w/Flagyl- metronizone. Negative for parasites or Parvo.
Benadryl wasn’t working so Dr. prescribed Apoquel 6/9/2016. He kept saying its a new drug. 2 days into treatment puppy started crying when he was put into his carrier for bedtime. Eating and drinking well but started soiling in the house. Today my usually energetic puppy was lethargic vomiting and had extremely runny foul smelling stool (2x).
He looked miserable like he might be dying. Decided to take him to ER. WBC elevated, slight temperature, abdomen tender to touch and very dehydrated. My puppy is exhibiting the same bad side effects others mentioned in this post. I wasn’t told about these side affects nor given a handout. I found out about this drug here and on other web sites. I cannot believe his Dr. gave a medicine that might cause gastro-intestinal problems and suppress the immune system to a puppy that has a weaken immune system from mange and had recent stool and vomiting issues. I should have ask questions… I usually do.
Time to find a new Veterinarian.
Apoquel never did stop the itching. I hope we stopped this drug in time before more serious damage happens. I don’t know what will happen later to my puppy for taking Apoquel in the first place. Bit worried about that. Bit worried my E.R. bill will be higher too. Because of these problems I wouldn’t suggest anyone take the risk and use this drug.
I WOULD NOT recommend giving Apoquel to your pet!!
Today I’m contacting the FDA to self report these side effects. I hope others do the same. Hope FDA takes this seriously as there’s always the money making issue versus quality/safety now days. I’ve never had major issues with veterinarian medicines for my pets. We have 4 dogs, 2 cats and birds so we have used many drugs. For us, Apoquel is a bad drug.
Peace be with you –
Black Feather
O.K its very late and a long stress filled day…
I should have typed EFFECTS not AFFECTS. Saw right after I hit the “Submit Comment” button. Ahh me…
Somewhere all my English teachers and Professors are rolling in their graves.
I’m going to bed.
DO NOT GIVE APOQUEL TO YOUR PET. Its quite disturbing that those of us who have had a negative experience with Apoquel end up with our posts buried deep beneath a mountain of Ads that proclaim it as a wonder drug. I have an eight year old cockapoo, who has been like my third child. I got him at six weeks old, so I can say I know him better than anyone. He has always had allergies, some seasons are worse than others. This year is especially bad. other than his allergies he is healthy, happy, and spoiled rotten. My husband took him to the Vet for his routine checkup on June 16th, he got a clean bill of health as usual. But because he was itching excessively, the Vet prescribed Apoquel. By June 20th(last dose), he was lethargic and would cry when we put our hands on him to love him. Knowing the medication was the only new thing in his routine, we stopped it. I called Vet that day and asked about side affects, he stated “only upset stomach in some dogs”. On June 21st, he was trembling uncontrollably as if cold or nervous(not sure which) and would stay to himself under my dining table. He seemed afraid to move, as if it caused him pain. He had not requested to go outside and potty in almost 20 hours. He had stopped eating and drinking. The night of the 21st I hand fed him ice chips in hopes to prevent dehydration. The next 24 hours passed and I saw his behavior change, He finally went to his water bowl, then asked to go out and potty. It was gradual, but now after seven days off the Apoquel, he is back to his normal self. Active and happy. He is still itchy but will go back to Benadryl and an oatmeal bath weekly. So, does Apoquel stop itching? I say yes. Dead dogs don’t itch.
My dog was on Apoquel for several months. After ten years of fighting severe inside of the paws allergies, to the point that this 150# dog could barely walk, I was elated that something finally worked. BUT…..then it started. The gagging, a horrible sound as if he had just ate straw or something outrageously dry. Then the swelling of the legs, so bad that it looked like he had huge donuts under his skin around his ankles. Due to the fact that he is a rescue and we have always wondered exactly his breed(s), we chalked it up to him being part Shar-pei (that we knew for sure Shar-pei is part of him: Swollen hocks is a big problem with that breed)
But it continued, the swelling, around the legs, his body was swollen, around his eyes. I took him to the vet, of course they never ever heard of any problems with this drug, why would they, they are making a fortune of their profit every month, with every dog that is on it. They “assumed” that he must have a tumor, so, we scheduled an Ultrasound. VERY STRESSFUL, to get this large of a dog sedated and onto a table, he panicked as he was losing his ability to stand, the fear in his eyes made me lose it. I never, ever, leave my dogs side when they are a procedure until they are out, but this one was brutal. Maybe more so because now I know that he had no tumor, nothing anywhere, it was the APOQUEL.
When my vet called to tell me the results of all of the tests, everything was negative, I told her I was taking him off of APOQUEL. She then proceeded to tell me that in the past week she had two dogs pass, that she suspects were from this drug.
I talked with a Homeopathic vet about my dog and this med and she said that she is seeing at least 4 dogs a week that are coming to her because of reactions to APOQUEL. Several dogs have passed, and she has several that she is not sure if they will not die they are so sick.
I went to the FDA website and there is not one complaint that I can find from any vet or pet owner. Where do you find these complaints on the site? Or, where on the site do you file a complaint? We all need to do our part to get this drug off the market. Zoetis has made a fortune on this drug, it is time to stop the suffering.
My 4 year old red lab has been on Apoquel for about three weeks. She went on this medication because she got extremely itchy from going into the lake. This medicine stopped the itch and it had wonderful results UNTIL recently she had 2 seizures!!!! I took her to the vet and they ran tests which all came back negative. I’m convinced it’s from this med!!! She is a young dog from a breeder with no history of seizures. Read all the reviews on this page!! It’s incredible how this drug is not off the market!!
We have a coon hound with skin allergies. The vet recommended Apoquel “new improved antihistamine drug”. After six days our super energetic dog became extremely lethargic and will not eat, we stopped administering the drug. We are very concerned as she has been like this for four days. The vet could not detect what was wrong with her so this means a whole lot of blood test. To all dog owners WARNING do not give your dog Apoquel .
Dr Jones. I appreciate your information. We have a small medical practice (my wife is med director.)
The mission is integrative and functional. Use the best of all forms of proven, safe and effective methods to find underlying causes and correct them. Avoid synthetic drugs unless there is no other way.
By example, many that are on chemo come to us for high dose IV vitamin C (50g-150g/infusion)
Is there such a movement in the veterinary world? You can check http://www.orthomolecular.org for more research and info. Also KU Medical center, dept of Integrative Medicine. And Univ of Iowa is now under clinical trial for past 4 years.
Even though dogs and cats produce their own vitamin c, (we humans as you know do not) are you aware of anyone trying this approach in the animal world? IV or liposomal?
Just curious? Someone called us today to ask if we knew more of this approach for her dog. She mentioned the dog was also on the drug being discussed here. How we found you.
Michael (would be happy to share more in private with you.)
PS: Please keep your head down.
My 12 1/2 yr old westie has been very healthy for his whole life until last august . He has been on apoquell for a few weeks for itchy skin. He has woken up several times in the middle of the night to go outside and have diarrhea multiple times, then he strains and lays down on his stomach. Poor little guy. I have noticed he has been very hungry and is peeing a lot. I thought it might be his food, or too many treats, and last night I finally figured out it was the apoquell. I looked up side effects and was horrified. I am taking him off of apoquell immediately.
My story started a year ago last august when he scratched his jaw bloody on both sides. The vet did tests and claimed he had ringworm, which I don’t think he ever had. They treated him with holistic drugs. I think he had an overgrowth of yeast, so in february I tried nzymes.com. This is also holistic and works by making the yeast exit the body through the hair follicles. They say it can take a month per year of your pets life to work. Well after about 4 mths I couldn’t take it anymore. He kept breaking out in scabby smelly yeasty sores which would eventually turn the skin black and constantly itching and scratching. I was also giving him baths with malaseb or microtek shampoo every few days. I went back to the vet and did an allergy test where we found out he is allergic to 19 things, including fish which was what he was eating. He is now getting allergy shots and we’ll see how it goes.
One more thing I would like to say is that he was eating those CET dental sticks for about a year and a half before this whole skin issue started and I wonder if they caused anything to happen with his skin?
My dog has very bad allergies. I put him on Apoquel. After 3 pills he started having seizures. I stopped the pills immediately. He is now on phenobarbital for life because the seizures never went away. He had to have the dosage raised today after 2 seizures this morning. Vet said it was not the Apoquil. I don’t believe it. What should I do ? I contacted the makers of this pill. They contacted my vet. I never heard back because the vet told them it wasn’t the Apoquil.
Thank you so much for some holistic suggestions. My 12 year old German Shepard mix was prescribed Apoquel for seasonal allergies after Zyrtec wasn’t effective. He has intermittent hotspots and a rash. Has been on short term antibiotics and steroids for secondary skin infections. He chews at his hind quarter, scratches at his paws and ears keeping me up at night. I also wonder if advantix 2 would be responsible for his rash. His food has been changed to a taste of the Wild salmon and gets fish oil and vitamin e supplements without much relief. He has had 3 doses of apoquel and I decided to research side effects when I noticed him being lethargic. I am so glad I did and came across these suggestions. I was at my wits end after failing to relieve his itch, but I refuse to subject my love to seizures and liver damage.
My 10 years old English Bulldog Sophie has the worst allergies..Digging,scratching,dragging,bleeding etc…I chose to try the Apoquel less than w week ago…BIG MISTAKE!!!! She will not go out ,will not come out of her crate,will not eat and barely drinks…I am 100 % sure it is from the Apoquel as 5 days ago she was her normal itchy self and now she has a hacking cough,skiddish etc…DO NOT USE THIS DRUG IF YOUR DOG MEANS ANYTHING TO YOU!!!!
My 4yo Yorkie has been on Apoquel for 5 months. I’m heartbroken that I didn’t do my due diligence on this medication. I’ve taken her to the vet 4 times in less than 2 weeks. I was never told this drug is an immunosuppressent. My little girl now has ringworm, extremely high levels of protein and blood in her urine, low albumin. She now has glomerulonephritis, a form of kidney disease with a poor prognosis. I’m just sick. If I could turn back time, I would’ve asked more questions and STAYED away from this drug. I’ve been looking for others with the same diagnosis. It makes me sick to my stomach to see so many vets pushing and advertising this. I’m just heartbroken and will have to live with this guilt the rest of my life.
Let these people talk about what they think about this drug. This is where we get our information. It is just like our medication do you honestly think the side effects are listed for us ? No they are not some very serious side effects have not been listed. That’s where the court issues come from. I hearing some of the same things over and over with this drug.
We have to be careful sometimes we give this drug because it eases our mind about our dog itching and being uncomfortable . We think it’s the right thing to do. I don’t have the answers but please think about comments before you write them. We must consider what people are saying.
We need our own check list to take a survey on this drug.
Sandra
My Rocky is a Staffordshire Terrier. He has been on Prednisone since he was 10. He’s been to Cornell, and we have tried just about everything. He has symptoms of Cushings from longterm use of the Pred and he has a heart murmur. The vet started him on Apoquel and his itching stopped immediatly. He was on it for about 5 months and then he began having stomach trouble. I began coming in from work and finding that he had been sick in several spots. One morning I got up and he was shaking in his cage and couldn’t lift his head. I called the vet and they did blood work and checked him. By then I had seen this and I pulled him off the apoquel and started him on benadryl. The only thing the bw showed was that his body was basically starving. She said if he was human, they would say he was anorexic. She gave him different food and Hydroxizine, along with antinausea pills. A couple of weeks later, she called me and talked me into starting him on 1/2 dose as the hydroxizine wasn’t working. He was on it 1 week and he started terrible diarhea in my house and outside. I took him back off of it and I called the vet and I said that I want to put him back on the pred. I am still waiting for a call back. He still has the runs. I do want to note that when he first started on the apoquel, it worked really well. He seemed to be cured. After about a month, he began itching again, and it got steadily worse. No, I don’t think I will give it to him again.
My terrier-mix dog has been on apoquel for about 2 months. The first month he took the full dose of 5.4, the second month we halved it. He is now experiencing tremors all over and weakness/pain in the front legs. He can’t come down the stairs or jump on the bed. He stares blankly without focusing. He is lethargic and seems to have aged rapidly. Apoquel is the culprit. It’s poison to his body but he did stop scratching. What is the lesser of the two evils? No more apoquel.
After taking my 4yo Yorkie off Apoquel 2 weeks ago, (see my comment on 8/21) my girl’s UPC and albumin have greatly improved. Her creatinine went from 8.0 to 0.3 – almost normal!! Her albumin went from 1.5 to 1.9. Normal is 2.5 – 4.3. Her itching is in full force but we’re having some success with tea tree oil massages. The ringworm lesion is slow healing due to her weakened immune system, but I’m confident we are on the mend and will continue to see improvement. My vet is reporting my Yorkie’s side effects to the makers of Apoquel. Not sure it will make a difference or if they even care, but I hope this message will bring hope to others who are currently experiencing the downside to Apoquel.
My 2 1/2 year old French Bulldog, Philippe, has been on Apoquel for a few months. We live in Florida and this past winter he had no skin issues. As soon as spring arrived, the scratching and paw licking began. He takes 16 mg. daily and the scratching has almost stopped. Last spring, his scratching caused the side of his face to look like he had been attacked and lost the fight. I bathe him weekly and this helps. I’m concerned about his weight gain…he’s up to 36# which is big for a Frenchie. He walks daily and plays with is two sisters. We did try a restricted diet and the diet didn’t affect his scratching. He’s on a limited ingredient food (Dick Van Patten’s). I can’t wait for “winter” so I can see if I can take him off Apoquel and see if his weight goes down. My English bulldog’s vet (different vet from Philippe) also prescribed Apoquel and it works for her. Both need to go out more often to pee.
This is a awful drug. My dog died this past Sunday and had all of the Symtoms I have seen in most of this comments, he was clumsy and peed in weird places out of nowhere I knew what my dog ate and how heathy he was until this drug was giving to him. THIS DRUG KILLED MY DOG. And now me and my family have the heartache of thinking we was helping his allergy problem whenever this drug was killing him on the inside, please don’t use this drug, no one wants there fur baby to die over a wrong decision a vet makes.
My 11 Yorkie mix has had allergies…itchy feet mostly but all over at times, that we have tolerated as holisticly as possible his whole life…with the occasional Benadryl. This past year he was expieriencing anal gland infections almost every week…we were constantly going to the vet for relief…he was iching his butt, gland would fill up quickly, he was always uncomfortable and couldn’t sit still due to the discomfort kept us up all night most nights. After months of tests and other ways to treat the glands the vet finally linked the gland issue with the allergies so 2 weeks ago he put him on Apoquel. We saw great results by the 2nd day and by now his gland would have flared up and has not, we were all getting to sleep at night! BUT… 2 days ago he has started having breathing problems…never had that before. It’s like there is flem in is throat and he can’t catch his breath. The first day I thought he had something stuck in his throat but since then it hasn’t stopped so here I am… I decided to look up the side effects and found this site. He has also been drinking excessively since we started him on the drug and peeing in the house as well. I thought I had found relief for him and for us but obviously not. Thank you Dr. and for the shared testemonies…I assumed their were possible side effects but I think every dog reacts differently.
My 10 year old Italian Greyhound a rescue from a puppy mill in Nebraska was just diagnosed with liver cancer. 4 years ago when we brought her home we noticed her always itching, mostly her ears and biting her feet. She was allergic to grass and any food that was not grain free. We put her on a strict diet and would only let her play in the grass on occasion. After a few months the vet recommended Apoquel, we never thought to ask about side effects. The Apoquel seemed to stop her from itching but not completely and if we missed a dose which was very rare she would start itching again. Keep in mind she has been on the Apoquel since the spring of 2014 when it came out. In August things got out of control quickly, she went from a playful, curious dog to not wanting to
eat, no appetite, and started throwing up. We took her to the vet and they did blood work. Everything looked fine but her liver enzymes were elevated. We were told to take her home and scheduled a full body scan by a professional x-ray tech. We took her in for the scan and they said she had nodules on her liver and she had 30 days to live. We even had a needle biopsy done. It was told to us in private that the long term effects of the Apoquel could be the cause of her cancer. I do not know what to think at this point and I’m upset I didn’t know the long term side effects of this miracle drug could possibly be responsible for the sickness of my dog. It has been 32 days now and felt it was almost time for her to go, she stopped eating for three days but was still drinking some water. I felt terrible because she was still itching during this battle with cancer so I kept her on the Apoquel. Last week I took her off the Apoquel, out of nowhere she started eating again, even playing and drinking water. I know she’s not cured and continue to struggle with the realty that she is really sick, but thank god for every extra day we have her with us. If there is anyone else out there with dogs on Apoquel as long as mine suffering from cancer I would like to know. 10 is way to young for my dog to die.
When I researched this drug after a vet suggested it, the info I found said it was not safe for dogs under one year since a high percentage in the study became ill. I was suspect of this drug before I read the study.
I am reading these comments and cannot believe why this drug is still being prescribed. Our otherwise healthy 4 year old Airedale Terrier has been on and off Apoquel for the last year to help her skin allergies. She has now had two seizures. Bloods came back as normal and vet said it wasn’t the Apoquel that caused the fits. I’m not convinced and will certainly not be giving her anymore. Something has to be done about this!
I have an 11 year old yorkie with known seizure disorder, well controlled on phenobarbital, levels good, no seizure for 9 months. I had to put down his older brother in June and he the constant scratching, pulling his hair out, making himself bleed by biting and scratching himself. Vet suggested Apoquel. After one week on BID dosing he had a 5min seizure, I just chalked it up to stress. 2 days ago, on daily dosing st this point, he had another. I stopped the Apoquel.
Hi. I have a 90 pound mixed male Shar pei who has been on Apoquel 3 years now. The drug has been wonderful for the most part. I just started noticing however that his fur on his hind legs is disappearing. One leg even appears lumpy. Additionally, our dogs eyes have been filling with a night green mucus. His nose is cold and his behavior is normal, but we are very worried. Has anyone else has had similar issues? I am taking him to the Vet and will ask if this is “Black Skin Disease, or Cushings”. I hope the drug has not caused this, will see soon what it is.
Hi, my sweet grand pup was put on Apoquel about 9 weeks ago for allergies. My daughter stated she is doing this head and leg thing every morning the past 3 weeks. Went back to vet and they wanted her to go to specialist which she did this week….only wanted to run $2000.00 of allergies test…but vet didn’t even put their hands on her….. Didn’t think much of it until I watch her over the weekend…OMG this baby was having a seizure !!!! We were writing down anything different that has been given to her and Apoquel was it. We are stopping the med and taking to vet tomorrow to have full blood work done. She is a golden doodle and only a year and 8 months old . I’ve been searching all day and came across other dogs doing the same. After reading these post I’m convinced it’s the Apoquel.
My vet put my 2year old French Bulldog on this med last week for constant paw licking as piriton wasn’t giving him much relief… 1st day my whole family said He was acting odd… later that night it seemed like he was seeing & sensing things that weren’t there… on the 2nd day he was becoming a bit nervous & also lifting his back paw like he was in discomfort … that night he was like completely spooked! petrified! … was up all night with the poor little guy, he was panicking badly, jumping into my lap, whimpering, panting,he was doing a weird head stretch thing ,could not settle, drinking loads… stopped the apoquel,took him to emergency vet, had bloods etc checked & they said he was fine…. 5 days later & I still have a very very different dog… He went from an extremely confident, friendly & vocal dog who was running round & playing all the time with my other dog into & nervous wreck …& he also seems to still have discomfort in his bad leg…. THIS MED IS AWFUL & I SO WISHED I NEVER GAVE IT TO HIM!!!!
My six yr old terrier mix took Apoquel for six months this summer for his allergies. I would have preferred using prednisone as it has worked well in the past and he didn’t need to take much. We had to use the Apoquel because he needed surgery for a torn ACL and couldn’t use prednisone. He now has a tumor on his neck ( just removed and sent for histopatholgy). My Vet said it looked cancerous when she aspirated it, does not mean that it is malignant but she did sound somewhat worried and talked about the way the nuclei looked under the microscope. It was attached to the muscle and she didn’t cut into it because of the location of the tumor. We will know more next week when the report comes back from histopatholgy. I am very upset. I certainly can’t say for sure that the Apoquel caused this tumor but am quite confident that it probably exacerbated it. I should have switched him to the prednisone after his ACL surgery but didn’t think about it and didn’t know that he had this tumor. It was under the skin, wide but flat so it didn’t show under his hair and wasn’t obvious when patting him.
My 8 year old beagle/basset was put on Apoquell for itching on 10/13/16 and died this morning from liver failure and pancreatitis. This dog was perfectly healthy and suddenly went down hill. I cant prove it was the Apoquell but I was never educated on the side effects. When I looked them up I immediately stopped the drug but it was too late. Her liver enzymes, glucose reading were off the charts. Died in hospital where we had to carry her. This drug should be removed from the market.
This drug should be taken off the market! It is dangerous. And the drug company should be ashamed of there self.
Thank you all, positive & negative on Aproquel. Here is my dilemma. I took my 58#
8 3/4 yr old unknown mix (black & tan head, white with black spotted body & pink skin) to the vet after almost 8 years. Reason for delay: Vets have killed two of my pets very painfully and believe that the prior vet’s medication killed this one. We were miraculously able to revive her.
This new vet prescribed Aproquel 16mg (twice daily 14 day supply) for a chronic allergy problem, we think from the cat. It worked almost immediately. After 14 days she was as if she were a puppy again. Noticeably happier and energetic.
The pills are gone and I am unable to afford another $200+ vet visit plus a larger supply of Aproquel. After 3 days she is back to scratching, licking and bighting again with enflamed skin and a lot less energy.
I am looking for suggestions on what to do. I certainly want her to be happy but also healthy. Some of the horror stories above are frightening. Please share your comments. Seeing this dog die, eyes open, tongue hanging out, not breathing lingers as if it were yesterday. The bonding after reviving her is incredibly tight.
Thank you in advance for your response.
The vet never explained the side effects so I am thankful to you … very thankful
Apoquel is very dangerous. Our vet suggested it for our 4 yo GSD to control itching due to an unknown allergy. After 3 days we stopped the medication because her organs were shutting down. She nearly died and has never been the same since. Apoquel suppressed her immune system and allowed a serious infection to start that has resulted in severe diskospondylitis. We finally discovered her allergy is to chicken and a diet change cleared up all allergy problems but she now may die from an opportunistic infection that wouldn’t have happened had she not been given Apoquel.
Our Angel was on prednisone for quite awhile. I knew all the side effects and finally was relieved to try the apoquel against my better judgement. I read all the side effects from the study and didn’t know what to do. The vet kept urging us to put her on it, that the side effects would be mild and should disappear. We finally gave in and she has been on it for awhile now, and she does appear a bit lethargic, goes out to pee more, and she does drink a bit more water at one time. She licks at her mouth often which she never did before and sometimes she acts like she is choking on something and has not had anything in her mouth. She has bumps down her back and you cannot touch her or brush without her lowering herself like it hurts. She is licking herself just as much as she did before and she get some kind of black spots on her body, and her skin is full of small scales of dried skin which she never had before. We give her oatmeal baths and it don’t help. She also has a running nose at times and when she is laying down and resting she sounds like she is congested. She had a check up and we were told everything was good. We are going to wean her off the supply we have and tell the vet we are going to take her off the apoquel. I know that an itching dog suffers, but I will try whatever I can to give her to be comfortable, and I know between the prednisone and apoquel she is probably being killed from the inside and I cannot do that to her. The only good thing is that her appetite is still really good.
Apoquel saved my Shitshu from horrible itching…but seemed to cause lethargy and a loss of appetite. A little research showed that the Rx was twice the recommended amount for her.
I’m going to discontinue and if the itching returns, begin with 1/2 the recommended dose.
BTW, we cleaned up her diet and such, but some of the “natural” remedies suggested above are almost impossible to administer to my dog. It would be easier or me to inject her with something than get her to eat EFAs, probiotics, or administer colostrom.
Wow!!! My 14 year old Boston Terrier….my best friend in the world had been plagued by itching his entire life. We tried everything with no resolve. Recently we moved to a different side of town in a metropolitan area and needed to find a new vet. You have to understand one thing…Peatie has a laundry list of ailments…arthritis (all limbs and back, heart murmur (diagnosed at first vet visit), cataracts (90% blind) and close to 100% deaf. Aside from all of those things, Peatie still enjoys the simple things like a good scratch, peeing on everything he feels the need to and his favorite treat. When we found the new vet he said he wanted to try Peatie on a new anti-itch drug…pricey but effective. Two days after being on Apoquel, we noticed less itching. After a month we ran out and in two days the itching was back. I ran to the vet and asked for more…$55 later, I had another months supply. Peatie had made a few accidents on the floor we just attributed to senility and a new home. Two days ago (45 days into Apoquel) Peatie woke from a nap and walked around frantically bumping into things, he’s blind, but it seemed more than usual, so I picked him up and he went tight in my arms…kind of like a dog stretching, but I soon realized he was in a seizure when he urinated all over me. Stupid me…I passed it off as a fluke. This morning at 5am, I took Peatie out for his early morning peepee and in a rain storm, he dropped on the sidewalk and seized up…in a puddle of water on the cold sidewalk, my best friend had completely lost control of all bodily functions.
Beware aspergillosis infections due to Apoquel Everyone! Please listen to Dr. Jones. I’m on this site after it’s too late. My 7 year old male GSD has been on apoquel for 2+ years now for horrible scratching due to atopic dermatitis. It was prescribed by his dermatologist. I was NOT told it suppresses the immune system, but it absolutely does. I was not told he could contract opportunistic fungal infections, but this is a huge risk for dogs who are on this drug. Shame on me for not doing my research. Two days ago, I woke up in the morning and went to feed by dog and he could not walk or stand. He could barely hold his head up and would not eat or drink. I had noticed over the past few months he limped or tripped on his feet a few times, but he has hip dysplasia and we thought his hips were getting worse and that was the reason for the decline in his walking and climbing stairs. When I took him to the vet, he had 106 degree temp (above 102.5 in dogs is a fever) and they couldn’t figure out where the infection was. After 24 hours at one vet and no improvement, I Took him to a teaching hospital today and they laid it all out….he likely has aspergillosis, a fungal infection, that can either cause a nasal infection with drainage, sneezing, bleeding etc, or cause a systemic infection. My dog has the latter. He will not walk again–they think the infection is in his spine now. He ended up in shock and went into V Tach and the cardiologist put him on a procainamide drip to stop the VT and stabilize him, which worked, but who knows for how long. He has a low platelet count. His liver and kidney function tests which were normal 3 weeks ago are now abnormal–likely due to the damage from the infection. We are going in this evening to put him to sleep. A very sad day for our family. As I write this I just want everyone to know….the drug may stop the itching as it did with my dog, but it allows the immune system to weaken and your dog won’t be able to fight off the most basic thing: fungus. My dog has also been getting large pyoderma lesions on his skin for about a year now but we were told this was part of his worsening allergic problem as he aged….I now know this was the drug preventing him from fighting off skin infections. I don’t know what the answer is with severe allergies, but I would urge you all to find a holistic provider for your allergic dog instead of using this drug.
Please be aware and do your homework on this drug. Here are some dog owner experiences with it: http://www.2ndchance.info/Apoquel-Comments.htm
Read about the JAK inhibitors that protect your dog from developing immune diseases, these inhibitors PROTECT your dog, this drug turns them off.
That’s right, turns them right off, which is great if all you care about is preventing the itchiness but not so great if you want a healthy dog.
http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/wouldnt-give-dog-new-allergy-drug/
I am a regular pet owner with a 10 year old staffy with chronic allergies, but I would NEVER in my life give this drug to my dog. Don’t listen to what your vet says, arm yourself with knowledge by researching this and everything else they say, you’re lining their pockets, they have a business to run and the companies that make these drugs have profits to make, do you really think they want you to have a healthy dog? Hell no, healthy dogs mean less business.
I’m not anti vet, I just think everyone needs to do their own research.
Good luck to all.
If you’re wondering how I treat my dog’s allergies, I focus on diet. Nothing processed, out of a can or a bag, no dry food ever (it’s basically rubbish anyhow). Stella’s diet is I bunch of spinach, 4 carrots, I head of broccoli and 4 sticks of celery, raw, blitz it up in a food processor, add 5 boiled eggs, shells included. 500 grams liver, 2 handfuls of shredded cheese and I serve it up with a dollop of natural yoghurt and 2 tablespoons of Omega blend oil (vets all natural). Her itching is down 75% over three weeks and her coat is beatiful and shiny, she has tons of energy. I am so grateful to have finally found something that works and is healthy for her. If one person can try this and it helps your dog, I would be so happy for you and your dog. Just please don’t pump them with drugs, there is no magic pill but with research I’m sure you too can find a natural solution that will help. 🙂
Oh! I forgot you add the above food mix to 3kg of chicken or turkey mince. Mix all together and freeze in portions and Voila!
My dog Stella went on this pill in July 2016, she started to gain weight right away. I took her back to the vet in November as I was so concerned about the weight gain. She had gained 17lbs since July. The vet was sure it was her thyroid and we did all the tests and they came back negative. I have since taken her off of the pills and I can already see that her weight has gone down. Unfortunately the itching has started back up. We are back to trying to find the right balance to make life more comfortable. I think I will try the lady Ann’s recipe and see if that helps her. I have put her on a probiotic to see if that gives her some relief.
I paid $10,000 or more over 12 years trying to heal my dogs itching. It started as seasonal allergies but he ended up itching all year round. He was finished. Bald from chewing, scratching bleeding, pus coming out of his eyes and chronic ear infections, bad yeast odor. I found a Veterinarian that was also a Herbalist. This saved his life. She gave my dog Prince Si Miao Four Marvels Formula (can buy this online) I gave a 1/4 or less amount that a human would take for 4 months (herbs must be watched not to take for long periods of time so look for any side effects like blood in stool) . I stopped all grains just fed human meat and veggies, sweet potato with vitamins daily added to food like Genestra brand Acidophilus HMF intensive powder, most important 15 mg Zinc, small amount of dulce flakes for iodine, Hilary’s vitamin mineral powder or similar from a pet store, 1 enzyme with bromelain and papain and Quercetin (or Genestra Super Flavonoids 1 capsule) all 3 work together. 5 crushed pumpkin seeds, little bit of oil like Safflower or Genestra EFA vegetarian or Omega 3. Genestra Vit D drops 800 ui/day. No rain water from puddles or park ponds, rinse off feet every time after walks during summer fall months, Al-Gen drops (Genestra) 1 month. The above mentioned worked but she also added Atopica for 3 – 5 months to sustain the gut so he wouldn’t itch anymore. Its been 2yrs of no Atopica. Yeh! The vitamins actually made him strong not to get the seasonal allergies so bad. Remember just a 1/4 or less amount that a human would take for the vitamins unless I mentioned an amount the vet gave me.
My dog has severe allergies and has been under treatment by a dermatology vet for almost two years.. After switching up his allergy shots and exhausting medications including steroids she put Ollie on app quell.. He had a yeast ear infection when she did this.. After about a month of medication he still had the yeast infection so I looked up his medications online only to see that app quell can hurt a dogs immune system. I was angry I was never told this when she gave me the med. so I went back to my regular vet I trusted who pit Ollie on ever increasing steroids to try to kill this yeast infection. After two months and weight gain and labored breathing on steroids Ollie still has this yeast infection. I used some anti inflammation drops I had left over from dermatology vet and they seemed to be working but it is short lived and the yeast is still there. I feel apoquel has destroyed his ability to fight infections as before Ollie always responded well to treatments and now not at all. I’m at the end of the road here in my hopes for Ollie to be healthy. Ollie is a sweet beautiful springer spaniel.
I have an 8-year-old Shih Tzu who had more or less uncontrollable itching, mostly she would bite at her paws but then the itching became worst all over. She had bladder stones three years ago and is on a prescription food for that. My vet prescribed Apoquel for her and she immediately threw up and became very listless. I called the vet and was informed to “Keep her on the Apoquel and give her boiled rice and chicken for her vomiting.” I gave her the boiled rice and chicken but I immediately took her off of the Apoquel and her vomiting stopped. She is on Revolution and I have never seen a flea on her. Apoquel incidentally never stopped her itching and I will never resume the Apoquel.
Our dog, Casey, 15.5 years old ,bishon, has severe allergy problems. Apoquel helps him -100%, bur increase thirst and he urinated more often then normally.
My Shepard has bad itching and was given apoquel yesterday and I’m taking him off after two pills and reading these comments, I’d rather have a dog that’s itching than having to bury him, i’ll do the holistic thing for now until he gets relief. I don’t trust drugs and I don’t trust doctors, or car sales men, or lawyers for that matter. besides, he’s strong and healthy overall, maybe a little miserable at times but we could live with that. Thank you Dr. Jones, you’re one of the good ones.
I have two dogs, one that develops severe itching and skin yeast infection issues and the other severe ear yeast infections. They were both prescribed Apoquell July 2016 over the next few months one dog developed two small growths on his feet that were removed and one found to be malignant the other benign. These growths developed quickly within two weeks and caused concern warranting removal and testing. This same dog slowly developed behavioral problems (panic attacks) hyper ventilating, shaking, lost weight, unusual bowel movements. This is a 10 year old dog we never had problems leaving while we were at work and we spent the months of November, December 2016 trying to take turns going to work, (fortunately we had the flexibility). In late December this same dog went into panic attacks while we were gone that we witnessed via video cams in our house where he shook violently, breathing heavy and labored and he began to find ways to get out of the house. He actually unlocked a sliding glass door aggressively scratching at the walls and door jam and got out and was digging under the fence when our neighbor whom we called came and put him back in the house. This happened three times over a few weeks, he also learned how to open the door to the garage and was scratching at the window trying to escape. During this time we went back to the vet for guidance and he was put on Prozac for dogs. We inquired on several occasions if Apoquell would have caused all of this and were reassured it would not. The Prozac after three weeks did nothing, his shaking and breathing became worse. Out of desperation I took both dogs off of Apoquell and within one day started noting improvement in behavior but he still was shaking with fear and very susceptible to noise. I then halted the Prozac completely and my friend is back. It has been approximately 3 weeks since I took him off of all meds and we are completely back to normal. We can leave for work and they are both fine. I pray that there was no long term damage done. I WOULD NEVER GIVE THIS DRUG TO A PET I LOVED. I will admit that I had no KNOWN adverse affects to the second dog and the drug did clear up the infections in both. But I will never use these medications again and will find alternative methods of controlling the infections, i.e. frequent bathing, washing feet frequently etc. These past 6 months have been H-ll with our beloved pets on these dangerous medications. Sick part about it is I believe they make this drug for people too.
I’m convinced this drug killed my baby girl. The vet prescribed it and at first her allergies were better. Last week we had to say goodbye. She had a brain tumor. She was perfectly healthy and just a few weeks of the med and now she is gone, she was only 11. She was tired and started staring off so we took her to vet. She was also drinking more and having accidents. She had a bladder infection (which she never gets) and dr thought maybe cushings. But just a few days later she was falling and pacing and panting. She couldn’t eat on her own and worst, she didn’t recognize us or let us pet her. After just a few days the panting and pacing was constant, she never stopped and didn’t sleep. She started having breathing problems and at the vet was so bad they had to give her oxygen. Vet was not aware of all these side affects because I had asked right after starting her. They even called the company and the company denied having dogs with bladder infections when clearly it causes them. I never would have given her the drug if I knew how bad the side affects were.
After reading almost all of the comments on here I would think you would all exchange info and file a Class Action Lawsuit against the makers of this drug, the FDA for negligence, at least. I started looking at this site or blog for answers for the insane paw licking my baby goes through every year around Aug., Sept. I at least know for sure 1 drug I would Never Try and that is this Apoquel
After reading almost all of the comments on here I would think you would all exchange info and file a Class Action Lawsuit against the makers of this drug, the FDA for negligence, at least. They are making Millions off this.?? You wouldn’t Inject AIDS in your child, that is what this stuff sounds like. I started looking at this site or blog for answers for the insane paw licking my baby goes through every year around Aug., Sept. I at least know for sure 1 drug I would Never Try and that is this Apoquel !! Thank you all for sharing.
Dog parent of 8 yrs, we just moved from VA to NC in the winter season. Ever since this move, my dog is itching & scratching often. The vet down the street recommended Apoquel for the cure. It did work. I used it for a month. Then I searched it on the net & see all this stuff. I didn’t get a refill. And now he’s scratching like crazy again. I certainly don’t want to cause the side effects that I read. After 30 days of use, He doesn’t show any signs of them. But I don’t know if 30 days is enough. And reading “Doctors” bickering back & forth doesn’t help my decision. So I’m not sure what to do.
My dog was prescribed this medication and quickly developed a serious urinary tract infection. She went from a healthy dog to a dog that was incontinent, drinking lots of water, getting us up in the night to go outside. Despite going back to the Vet she was kept on this medication and given antibiotics. We stopped this medication as soon as we learned that she never should have been prescribed this in the first place as she had a previous cancerous tumour and also that it should not be given to a dog with a serious infection. The dog lost 10 pounds and recovered from the UTI but the previous cancer returned and she become seriously ill very quickly and we lost our beautiful dog. As another poster mentioned she was panting, in pain and suffering. Anything that prevents the immune system from functioning properly is dangerous. We had a lovely dog who frequently got ear infections and because of this drug we have no dog. We are devastated. I do not believe there was enough testing done on this drug. It is disturbing to realize that others have had almost the same situation.
Stay away from this POISON. Our veterinarian prescribed Apoquel on my doggie and she killed him. She did not tell me the dangerous side effects, she did not give me a print out of this information. Drugs.com is where I found all the horrible side effects of the drug and it was too late. I usually research medications on the internet before taking them and this is the TRAGEDY OF MY LIFE, as I did not do it thoroughly, I trusted the doctor and when I looked it up I only read one first ad that pops up , ad from Zoetis, they only list vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal problems, that right there should have been a Red flag for me, but again, THIS IS THE TRAGEDY OF MY LIFE. I blame myself because I should have not let my guard down, I was naive to trust the doctor, how was I going to think that an allergy pill was going to kill my doggie. Zoetis and veterinarians should be held accountable, how can you be killing dogs with no compassion , no ethics, no nothing. My dog had a history of pancreatitis, vet should have known this product and think this is not good for this dog. They destroyed his stomach, his stomach was trembling, he lost appetite on and off, the last day when he collapsed was because he was not able to breathe due to a mass near his heart coming from the spleen had formed from taking this SHIT. he was bleeding internally , his lungs were inundated with blood, I will sue Zoetis, and I will make this vet live the nightmare I am living everyday, she will share my pain, because I will report her to the board of veterinarians and I am talking to the supervisors of the clinic she is in, she is the Medical Director of it , how can she be so unprofessional, and just for a couple of bucks on commission she made from selling me this poison, kill my dog. She will pay for it!
My 11 year old peekapoo has been on Apaquel for two weeks.she doesn’t have any itching but now she is having resulting issues and has trouble breathing. I can help but believe the apaquel is. Making her sick.
Just a follow up to my earlier post. I took both of my dogs off of Apoquell on 01/02/17 and they are both functioning normally. The one that was having panic attacks, lost weight, had quickly growing malignant growths and bizarre behavior has returned to normal other then weight, even though his appetite is back. I chose to start frequent washing with 3% BPO shampoo to deal with the yeast infections from allergies, (at least thats what the vet told me was causing this). Both dogs are back to normal and learning to like the regular baths, (with at treat at the end). NO MORE DRUGS FOR THESE GUYS. Apoquell is not the wonder drug they promise, for us it was a curse. Ruined 6 months of our lives.
My chocolate lab has been on Apoquel for years now. It has been a miracle drug for her giving her so much better quality of life! She is 92# and 4 years old now so she takes 1 1/2 tabs of 16 mg daily. She had so many episodes of licking to the point of sores and repeating antibodies and steroids. She has had none of the issues above. (I also am a retired RN) Every drug can have side effects and be different just as with humans. I can’t say enough how appreciative I am this drug came along! Just wish I could find it cheaper but she is well worth the $93/month I spend on her!
My jack russel x has been on apoquel for only a few weeks but has quickly developed what looks like a fast growing tumour under his shoulder, do you think this could be related?
My 11 year old shih tzu has really terrible allergies once we moved from a large city to the suburbs he went downhill with allergies, it literally only took 4 hours before he started oozing green from his eyes. The new vet recommended apoquel after a while he claimed it had zero side effects and many of his patients said it was a miracle drug. I will never use the stuff again. Within a day he began acting different lethargic and mildly aggressive but he never stopped itching. Then he began acting weird one day starting with having diarrhea then he started panting, drooling, pacing, sitting on my chest I knew something was wrong and went to the animal emergency room. When we arrived at the er we learned he was having a seizure and needed IV phenobarbital. He had never had a seizure in his life and had never behaved that way. We immediately stopped the apoquel and he has never had a seizure since. However, he also developed skin growths right around that time and they will not go away.
Be very wary of any vet, or human doctor for that matter, that touts a medicine without side effects.
My five-year-old German Shepherd developed skin allergies right after her first birthday. We did food trials, we tried herbs, supplements, including Dr. Jones canine formula and none of it seem to work. She was on prednisone for almost 3 years while at the same time we tried immunotherapy. We gave her omega fatty acid’s, removed the grass out of our yard and eliminated environmental threats the best we could. Apoquel is the only thing that has worked. She has been on it for over six months now. She has had two skin infections where we had to give her antibiotics and antifungal’s, and we are diligent with flea control even though I tried using natural control and it wasn’t enough. It’s nice to see her not so stressed out over scratching and with a beauriful full coat. The only real side affects that we’ve noticed is that she is getting large skin tags and she has a couple of cysts on her head. Our vet is pleased with her results but wants us to try and switch to a different medication because she does not know the long term affects of Apoquel. It’s going to be hard to give up a prescription that has made such a difference for our girl, but I also know that our vet has her best interest in mind. I appreciate the work that Dr. Jones is doing. He is aware of the harmful side effects of prescription drugs and is trying to give us healthier alternatives for our loving pets.
Wow so glad there are others who experienced hell with this drug. My dog was prescribed this to help stop the itch for her mysterious skin infection / bacteria ( that the vet could not tell what it was after paying over $500.00). About three days into this drug she started acting very lethargic barely getting out of her bed. When we took her out to potty, she was randomly falling down and her back legs were very unstable. She was refusing to eat out of her bowl which was a red flag because our cocker spaniel is OBSESSEd with food ( I think she likes food more than she likes us ?). We actually had to feed her out of our hand or put the food on he floor because I think she was afraid of Apoquel in her dog bowl ( yes I believe pets are smart line this). We decided to continue the Apoquel until the next vet visit which was about 1 week later. When we told the vet we wanted to discontinue this because of the side effects she acted like she has never heard of anyone having hear issues before.
About three days later after her last dose, she was finally starting to act herself again and soon began eating out of her bowl. Also she was not falling down for no reason. I fear for anyone giving this to their dog. Who knows what would have happened if we continued another 2 weeks especially wth out dog being a senior. I have documented this story on my blog at atozwithashley.com
My 6 year old french bull dog was put on Apoquel on 17/3/17 he had his first seizure on 2/4/17 he passed away on 4/4/17 my dog was fit and healthy up till his first seizure. I’ve made a official complaint against the vet that proscribed this poison only to be told that seizures are not a side effect of Apoquel the vets take no responsibility for my dogs death. If you love your dogs please don’t give them Apoquel.
I have had my dog on apoquel on and off for 6 months. In that time she had two months worth of the drug. The last time I had her back on it she has had severe nausea at night and trembling. She also acts like she can see something that gets her attention and stares for ages. I am now convinced it’s the apoquel. She has kept me awake for the last few nights constantly getting up and wandering because she feels so sick. She is otherwise fine during the day this just seems to happen at night. And only started happening when she went back on the drug. She had bloods done 2 weeks ago and they were all fine so I’m hoping the last few days of the drug won’t cause any irreversible issues but she has had her last dose and I’m hoping to see improvement. She use to sleep like a baby but the last few nights has kept me awake. Last night she trembled constantly and I was extremely worried about her. My vet says it is safe but will listen to me if I tell him about this which obviously I will. It also isn’t working as well on her skin this time as it did when she was first on it. I think it could be a very dangerous drug. I wouldn’t recommend it after our issues with it and reading others comments.
I put my Labrador retriever on Apoquel and within a day his severe seasonal allergies stopped. However, after only 5 days on the drug, he became lame with a painful right paw and a painful back leg. He cried and was unable to walk correctly. The vet said she
doubted that Apoquel was the cause. I took him off Apoquel for a week and his symptoms totally disappeared; however, I put him back on Apoquel because the vet was convinced the drug was not responsible for his lameness. After 5 days on
one-sixth the normal dose (1/2 tablet a day), he was unable to walk at all, and he developed increased thirst and increased urination
(every 2.5 hours). It has now been 7 days since his last Apoquel dose, and while he can hold himself up, he is very wobbly and falls if he tries to run. His previous blood tests (before Apoquel) were normal. He is scheduled for more blood tests and an examination
to determine what has happened. He was a totally healthy dog before Apoquel! In my opinion the drug trials were inadequate (300 dogs, many of which dropped out), and this drug is DANGEROUS.
Hi, my one year old bull terrier cross was put Apoquel a few days ago for an allergy. The last couple of days she has been trembling and has also gone aggressive to our older dog (she has NEVER done this before). I’ve rang the vets and they said it’s not a side effect to this drug !! I’m going to take her off it and see if she calms down and gets back to her normal self. If not I’m going back to the vets.
Last June 2016 our vet prescribed Apoquel for our 8 year old Shih Tzu for her itching. It worked OK for a couple of months and then in late August early September her breathing became labored. Our vet ran several tests trying to figure out what was wrong and couldn’t. We ended up going to another vet and doing more tests and she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her chest cavity, this was around late October 2016. We had started a chemotherapy regimen in November which completely zapped her energy. She was starting to feel a little better we thought but then she died the day after Christmas 2016. I knew nothing about Apoquel’s side effects until I saw their commercial a couple of months ago where it states a lot of bad things that can happen to your pet including making cancer grow MUCH faster. This drug is NOT a wonder drug and can kill your pet!
My border collie always gets itchy in spring & summer. Last year we tried Apoquel. The et did not tell be the possible side effects. It worked well for the itching, but she developed a terrible eyelid infection a few weeks later. It was a blistery, painful looking infection. She ended up on 2 antibiotics and eye drop for 3-4 weeks. Luckily the infection resolved without injury to her eyelid or sight.
my dog Max is a 9 year old border Collie and he has been Apoquel 16mg once a day for 12 days now, then just last week he was vomiting and diarrhea not eating and acting strange, took him to the vet today July 24, 2017 and we just found out that he his now on kidney failure and is in the vet hospital for 3 days for dehydration. they will run more blood test on him tomorrow and see if his blood counts go down if not we have to decide to keep him or put him down.
this medication is good for a short period of time, but the side affects are far more dangerous
Hello, I have 2 dogs, 45 kg and 8 kg. I live in Israel, I want to buy
2 packs of apoquel tablets
Do you send them to Israel?
Best regards
Nadya
Had my dog on this for about a month. Her itching was better but not eliminated. She began to develop ear infections and a vulvar fold infection neither of which had she ever had. I knew the potential for problems but was willing to do anything make her comfortable, and hoped that she would not show any negative effects. Sadly, with the infections appearing after only a month on the drug, I felt in order to save her life, I had to take her off Apoquel, as I could only guess at the havoc she was going through internally from having her immune system suppressed. She is now on hydroxizine and it is at least as effective without the immune suppression and horrible risks. I feel this drug should not be available. I watch the Zeljanz commercial which is basically a very similar drug for humans….listening to all the huge long list of potential side effects….”cancers have happened” and they say it like “potential for thunderstorms”…like no big deal. No more Apoquel for my dog!
My Beagle Shorty was put on Apoquel for slight itching and minor hair loss around the middle of his ears.
While the drug helped the itching slightly it did not stop it.
He then became very lethargic, drinking quite often, and urinating in large amounts.
He has now lost hair all over his body.
His skin is scaley and flakes like crazy.
He now has lumps on his thighs and side under his skin.
His skin has recently got purple spots.
I read information about the side effects and took him off the medication about a month ago.
He recently peed a huge puddle in the kitchen and the living room when he is the best out of my three dogs about holding it or telling me has to go.
He is still dealing with the side effects of this medication.
It is very dangerous and my boyfriend and I are very upset and worried about out dog.
My vet diagnosed him with 3 different bacterial infections which I’m assuming he got from his immune system being compromised from this drug.
I can not believe this is on the market with how many dogs have had issues from it.
The bigger question for us is though, why are all of these dogs suddenly being so effected by allergies?
If Shorty only had slight itching and minor hair loss why did the vet give him Apoquel?? For slight allergies try otc antihistamines like Zyrtec. I find that hydroxyzine work best for my girl but that requires an Rx. Apoquel is NOT worth the risk if Shorty’s symptoms are mild. I am not a vet, just an educated pet owner who totally gets how frustrating it is to have an itchy dog. Apoquel scares me with with how quickly my frenchie started getting infections, instability, diarrhea and was still mildly itchy (probably from the yeast infections she was getting). I don’t think dogs are suddenly getting allergies. I just think until you have an allergic dog, “you” are unaware how wide spread of a problem it is.
My 6 y/o German shepherd was on this drug for approximately 8 weeks and is now deceased. I blame this drug. In April he received Lyme vaccine and shortly thereafter developed skin infection requiring steroids. The Apoquel was started end of May. The first 30 days there seemed to be no side effects, his appetite was good and it stopped the itching immediately upon the first dose he received. It was like a miracle drug. By week 7 he was having diarrhea and was put on Metronidazole. He was gone 6 days later. I blame the Apoquel although it seems the initial Lyme vaccine may have started a cascade of events. He’d had Lyme vaccine every year and never had a problem. That’s why I blame Apoquel. Never again will I use that drug. After autopsy I’m told he had tumor like growths in his chest. I’m starting to think all these different vaccines may not be such a good idea.
Wished I had read about this drug before using. My boy had eye infection while on this also that cleared with eye drops. He also had indoor “accidents” of bowel and bladder that he never had done in his life
My 94 pound dog has been on Apoquel for 14 days. Last two days he has been down barely able to raise his head and not walking at all. Took him to the vet today and he has kidney failure. He’s on IV fluids but not expected to live more than a week. Vet says it’s not from the Apoquel but I tend to disagree
…and my dog was also very unstable and had trouble walking when on Apoquel. I feel this is a very damaging drug with limited safety studies. Even if a dog does not show immediate symptoms that are visually seen, I feel that internal immune system suppression and damage are occurring unseen and potentially will cause issues in the future that some dogs will not be able to be recovered from.
My dog was given this because it was said to work faster. Never told that it destroyed the immune system or the side effects. Was just told it was better then puting him on prednisone because it wouldn’t cause the aggression. 14 days later he died. Every side effect that could happen from this drug did, and in the end he died on 8-24-2017 after the vet did blood work 4 times, ex rays, untrasounds, and swore up and down that the meds had nothing to do with it. The meds worked for 3 days of clearing his itching and swollen eyes but then the vomiting, not eating, stomach pains, panting, not drinking, exhaustion, completely out of it wondering and hiding in corners, didn’t open his eyes for 3 days, and death happened. Fuck this drug. 10% fatal result makes this safe? I don’t think so.. don’t use this drug!
Having read a lot of comments on this article I have my own story with Apoquel. My dog has had allergies since moving from the UK to Canada and then to USA. Over the last six years he has been on Benadryl, Prednisone and other anti-fungal drugs. None of these worked brilliantly but they did have an effect on reducing some of his symptoms. When we moved my new vet recommended the new drug that was having great results on allergies in dogs – Apoquel. We put my boy on it and yes, it did work great. He had been on it continually for about two/three years as I was I informed that there was no serious side effects and that it could be used for as long as it was working. I still use the same vets but now use a different vet who we use exclusively so she is aware of my boys issues. He is a cocker spaniel who is now just over 10 years old. He was a healthy and playful boy and certainly did not act his age!!!
About two weeks ago I went to bed on the Friday night and he was fine. Gets up on the Saturday and couldn’t find him. When I do find him upstairs he is comatose and has vomited all around the house and done a poo in the family room. In his 10 years he has never defecated in the house. He was unresponsive, although breathing. I ended up at the emergency hospital where he was put on antibiotics, IV’s and had X-rays, bloods and ultrasounds done. He was diagnosed with severe pancreatitis. Normal levels are between 0-200 – my dogs were 2,000. !!! I thought we were going to lose him. God knows how he pulled through but after 5 days he was on a turn in the right direction. Leading up to this his allergies had been playing up again and he had a cytopoint injection and steroid. He was going to go back onto Apoquel after being off it for a short time. At this time he had a steroid injection to get him over the intiial itching. Two days later he was at deaths door. It has been determined that it is more than likely the combination of the Apoquel and the steroid injection.. He also has a nodule on his spleen which will now be getting investigated.
His allergies are now extreme and he has no fur on the back of his paws/legs. He is nibbling them constantly. My vet is concerned that anything she gives him will result in his pancreatitis flaring up so she has told me to give him Benadryl and we have an appt to see a dermatologist in a few days.
I am so worried about my wee guy. He is the sweetest pup and has been through so much and I am so frightened that we could lose him next time.
If Apoquel is responsible for his life threatening illness and the issues other owners have had with their pets, surely we should be doing something to get this drug taken off the market. They would do this if it was drug which had these effects on humans.
What do we do to protect our fur babies?
Today we was at the vets, my Westie mix bison was given Apoquel 5.6grm and I gave him one today,after reading all your comments. No more and I will be talking to my vet about this. I always use salt water and E5 cream or take him to the sea side so he can put his paws in to the sea and it worked late time. I took him to the vets this time because I got lazy. But I love my dogs and if this is what happens with using Apoquel. No way will I us it.Thank you every one for opening my eyes.
I rescued a red male lab/pit mix who was sick with kennel cough. He also had diarrhea and itching. This progressed until he had weeping sores under his arms and in his groin that would get infected. The vet put him on Apoquel 16mg a day. It helped quite a bit at first but we were always fighting the dermatitis and I noticed my dog started WETTING his BED at night and smelled terrible! He also developed a TUMOR on this paw which my vet thought was malignant but fortunately it wasn’t. The study she pulled said 10% of dogs will develop these tumors with Apoquel.
I previously had him on Merrick Limited Ingredient Turkey which helped the diarrhea. I also give him on 25mg Benadryl with his food at night.
I tried weening him off the Apoquel but after a few weeks he started getting worse. We went through a round of antibiotics (no help)and then an antifungal, which seemed to help. Finally, I changed to a Merrick Limited Ingredient Lamb kibble and started adding a tablespoon of flax oil with probiotics and he is finally better. I am planning on trying to wean him off the Apoquel as soon as I feel he is stable. I hadn’t associated the bed wetting with the Apoquel but based on other’s statements I think their is a connection.
My 13 year old did has suffered from severe late summer/fall allergies for the past 8 years or so the usually end up with a lot of missing hair and her in a cone until a long freeze. This year her suffering became unbearable. At the advise of a new vet we put her on Apoquel. Like a miracle her itching and inflamed skin improved. …..for a few weeks. Then she began to have bladder accidents in the house and then a stool accident and within a week she began licking and then vomiting and diarrhea with blood. I AM STOPPING THIS MED TODAY! I am very upset after reading about this that our vet never advised to watch for side effects.
My dog is a 2 and 1/2 year old yorkies. Allergies…2 months ago prescribed Apoquel. Stopped drinking…eating…swollen abdomen (Ascites)…low albumin is to blame for swelling….proteinuria…diagnosis of Protein Losing Nephropathy. I stoped it today…im terrified. Was told her prognosis is poor. I started homeopathy and alpha stim from a holistic vet. She told me not to take the 2 bp meds and antistroke meds the traditional vet prescribes …that diagnoses the kidney problem. I’m praying I’m not too late. I saw another yorkies mom on here post the almost identical thing as my girl is. Praying her appetite comes back and this awful abdominal swelling stops.
Any advice?????
My 10 year old Rat Terrier was prescribed Apoquel 3.6 for 30 days on Oct 6, 2017 due to her itching. At first it was great because it suppressed the itching. I noticed she had to see alot, but only thought she was marking her spots. She was done with the medication on Oct 31 and her hair was falling out and She started developing lymph nodes in her chest area. We were dealing with our older Chocolate Lab on Nov 7 who we had to put down, so I forgot to keep an eye on my Ginny. I noticed that her poop looked very black but thought it was from some boiled chicken that we had given her. She was still eating and seemed a little more tired so I wasn’t alarmed. On Sunday Nov 19th, we drove to our Thanksgiving destination. When we arrived, Ginny pooped alot which I thought was because of the travel. Early Tuesday Nov 21 my husband woke me up to tell me that Ginny had let put a help and was very weak and could not stand up on her own. Her body was like a noodle. We drove her tp the vet which advised us that her pancreas was way over the chart as well as her liver enzymes and showed to have a severe infection that her body could not fight off. Her stays showed fluid in her heart area and fluid in her lungs. My Ginny was placed in ICU to help regulate her breathing. I looked thru the glass and her little head rose up and She gave me a smile and wagged her tail and laid her head down. She went into Cardiac Arrest and flat lined. We lost our Ginny girl. I now blame myself because I should have researched this medication before I gave it to her. Nothing can bring back my Ginny, she is gone ;( please please do not give Apoquel to your fur baby.
After reading the comments here I will not be continuing on Apoquel. Seems I’m out $147 for a month supply.
My Yorkie/jack Russell, around 8 years old is supposedly allergic to fleas, around 20lbs. She was given a shot of something at the vet to help with itching. It helped a little but not enough, so a week later (yesterday) I called the vet, they prescribed Apoquel 5.4mg once every 12 hours for 14 days then once every 24 hours for 14 days.
Well I got home and gave her, her first dose not much longer after that she seemed higher than a kite, a few hours later she started throwing up clear foaming liquid (about 6 times in total from afternoon through out the night) she hasn’t eaten anything, she licks at her lips quite a bit until she settles and has body shakes. We’re here at the next morning and she seems a tiny bit more alert. One pill that’s all she got! No scratching, because she was too outta it to scratch. I do not recommend this medication. Will be calling the vet on Monday, fingers crossed she goes back to herself today!
I have a 3year old german shepherd, itching like crazy Apoquel helps it keeps the itching undercontrol however he want to be outside all the time to pee, which is fine. Auggie needs this medicine this medicine needs to be cheaper and safer for his liver and kidneys
I came online tonight to look for someplace to buy this drug cheaper than the 78.00 a month I was getting from the vet.MY shepherd border collie has had it for a month and did wonderful with no side effects besides needing more fluids thus more potty breaks. I have taken him off of it for 3 weeks now due to low funds, and was going to put him back on them this weekend. The itching has come back full blown .. bumps swollen paws ect. but I had no idea so many were having issues long term. So glad I saw these posts. I guess I need to do some more research. Thanks everyone! To the author..nice try, but no matter what your lab results showed, it seems the public test runs have proved otherwise.
My 5 year old,Lab/Bassett mix, was on Apoquel,the “wonder drug”. At the beginning of Spring of this year. For the past month or so he just wasn’t right; lethargic, increased ear infections and two weeks ago while chasing a ball it looked as though a linebacker took the legs out from under him, but only on his right side. After several trips to the vet,nothing was resolved. Upon returning home from work
(I work a 4 hour shift three times/week) I noticed he was disoriented,walking into walls.He was well enough to go for a short walk. When we returned home he had trouble climbing the stairs.The next morning he couldn’t walk. Then came the seizure. The most horrible thing I was witness to.His right eye sunk in to his skull. I took him to my vet who then sent me to Emergency. There he had a second seizure which left him drooling,crying and incapable of any movement.I had no choice,I chose to relieve his pain. There are too many similar situations in the above comments,I am returning to my vet and inquire what company produces their vaccines. If Zoetis produces the vaccines that were used…well that would truly answer a lot of questions.
Euthanasia 12-5-2017
Two of my staffies have been put on these tablets but after reading all these comment I’m stopping them. Unless proof can be shown that apoquel doesn’t hurt the dogs I won’t risk it, and I’ve just paid out £260. For the prescriptions !!! Not risking it !!!
Our 3 year old Lab started taking Apoquel on 12/15/17. Within a day he had lost his appetite and was less playful than usual. On the fourth day he started vomiting and having diarrhea. We stopped giving him the poison on the fifth day. On the sixth day he could barely walk and we took him to an emergency vet hospital. Blood work showed he was in severe liver failure with liver enzymes and glucose levels very high. Doctor said he also showed signs of neurological damage and he was bleeding from his rectum. We had no choice but to euthanize him early this morning. In less than 7 days this drug killed our baby. DO NOT GIVE THIS POISON TO YOUR PET.
Please let me know what I can do to help get this drug off the market. My son just lost his beautiful 3 year old Dalmatian to the drug. Something has to be done.
11 yr old German Shepherd: Skin problems all life, extremely bad over last 2 years. Multiple doses of antibiotics for skin infections.
Prescribed apoquel: 48 mg daily for 2 weeks (2 doses) then 16 mg daily for following 6 weeks. Suddenly developed severe anxiety / up all night / only happy in open air park. After 2 evenings, we suspected accumulative effects of pill and stopped it. 2 days off—noticeable improvement. Then Vet encouraged us to continue every 2nd day which we did. After 2 further doses he went berserk again. So we are finished with it for good. Yes, it stopped his itching but at what price? We will continue with weekly medicated baths and if necessary will increase frequency of these. We only hope that he’s not been permanently damaged. The chemical messengers which are being blocked by these drugs are involved in more processes than just controlling inflammation—most likely as yet undiscovered!!! Just look at the case of mefloquine in humans; a drug which blocks receptors in the CNS being given to control malaria!!! How can these drug companies not predict psychiatric effects when they are messing with these systems????
I was prescribed Apoquel for my 9 yr old pug with hot spots when I told my vet that I was concerned about the possible long-term effects of using Benedryl regularly. I was looking for a cure for the underlying cause. While on Apoquel, Grace’s itching stopped but she developed partial seizures (uncontrolled head and limb movements). I cut the dose by half and this side effect stopped. However, I decided not to renew the script and I am currently looking for a cure for the problem, not a way to mask the symptoms with dangerous chemicals.
My miniature schnauzer had the uncontrollable itchiness and smell that went with it. The vet recommended apoquel. It worked great. That was a year ago. She has been on it off and on since then depending on her need. But it doesn’t seem to work as well anymore. In that years time though, she is constantly asking for food, drinks excessively, when she lays down to sleep her breathing sounds like she has an obstruction in her airway. She recently started peeing her bed and on the floor. Worst of all she has gone instantly blind. She runs into everything and everyone. She can’t see or smell food an inch from her nose! She can’t even find her toys unless I put them in her mouth. It dawned on me to research apoquel. The comment section sure sounds familiar. Can any of these symptoms be reversed or are they permanent damage? This is sad
We are babysitting our favorite Scottie for our dear friends while they are on vacation and out of cell range for a couple of days. She set up an appt. with her vet for a nail clipping. When we took him in, the nurse noticed bumps on his back and the vet (a new one) decides that it is a skin infection and prescribes(without permission) Cefpodoxime and Apoquel. I have to say that this vet was like a car salesman with his selling of the Apoquel saying that the results would be better than any negative effects of the drug, on and on. Let him know that I would never give this precious dog any medication without our friends permission. As luck would have it, I did a research on both meds as I normally do with any meds, and as fate would have it came upon this site. Our friend was aware of the allergy and per her normal vet was doing a process of elimination with his food, treats, shampoo, etc. Also, the little guy was not scratching. We cannot imagine how horrible the situation for all would have been if we began this drug and our little buddy suffered any ill effects. This vet is going to meet an angry mom when she gets home as her normal vet never even discussed any meds with her while this new vet just handed them to me and charged their CC for a visit, nail clipping, parvo shot and meds without her permission. Thankful that I followed my instinct as the vet made us very uncomfortable with his rapid sales pitch. Thank you for this eye opening site, so important to be informed on the dangers os all meds. BTW, these meds did not come with the normal info sheet, just directions on the bottle.
I just had to euthanize my 13 1/2 year old mi-ki due to cancer throughout his bladder with some changes to his liver. He had been off and on apoquel for the last 3 years with recently consistently for the past 3 months. I have to wonder if this caused or even added to these problems. I will never place another animal on a medication like this again.
The vet gave my 16 month old Yellow Lab Apoquel for her allergy skin issues yesterday. I brought her home and gave her 1 dose of 16 mg around 4PM. She almost immediately stopped itching and I was delighted. She played and ate normally that evening and we turned in at our usual bedtime of 9:30. About 30 minutes later, I woke up to find her sitting up in the bed just staring off into space and whining. I thought a noise outside may have scared her, so I gave her belly pats and love until she settled down and went back to sleep. Just as I was dozing off, she abruptly sat up and started crying. I took her outside to see if she needed to potty, but she didn’t really need to. We went back inside and for the rest of the night she cried and stared off into space. Being very worried, I began doing research on the Apoquel the vet had given her and was shocked to find out its an immunosuppressant with some ugly side effects. I don’t want her to be itchy, but I also don’t want her to be dead. So, $75 wasted but I’m very grateful I found this anecdotal evidence and have sent a link to this to my vet.
My guy was put on apoquel for his allergies. He was on it for 24 days and because of a loss of energy and frequent drinking and peeing, we decided to take him off it. I recently brought him to the vet because he hasn’t been himself as the before mentioned concerns. The vet took blood and urine. Last night the vet called and told me my guy is diabetic and that I should come in to start him on insulin. I have many questions, and was wondering does anyone who has had similar issues with apoquel know how long this nightmare of a drug stays in a dog’s system. I’m wondering If the medicine comes out of his system will he return to his normal form or is the insulin the only option at this point?
I have an 11 year old pit bull that has had skin allergies for years before our vet put him on Apoquel. He has been on this drug for three years and his allergies are gone. However, for the past year he has tremors throughout the day. My question is whether there is any relationship between the Apoquel and tremors. What can you tell me?
My dog started taking Apoquel yesterday. This morning I gave to him for a second time. After that he became VERY, VERY lethargic and was not able even to walk straight. He refused to eat or drink water for hours. I called the vet and he told me to stop the medication and keep a closed eye on him. Finally after several hours he ate his food and drank enough water. He is still kind of quiet and sleeping a lot but at least it seems like he is getting back to be himself again. I have never seen him like that so I won’t be giving him the medication anymore. Not taking any chances!
My yellow lab took apoquel with great success…so we thought. The itching and the lick granuloma healed. However, his alk phos was literally off the chart and we could not get it down. It has taken one year of medication, hepaticlear to even touch the level and see it slowly come down. The routine veterinarian drug did not bring it down. This made a huge difference for surgeries. He is still on hepaticlear..3 years later. But, we are seeing improvement…finally. Denise
I have a St. Bernard Therapy Dog who had allergies, itching ears and feet. Tried Benadryl which worked some, but she would get flares. Vet in the practice, (not her regular vet) approached me in the lobby and said she had a drug that would stop her allergies. APOQUEL
I thought if she recommended it, it must be safe. I put my Saint on it and it did seem to help
but she started having side effects, excessive thirst, frequent urination, barely made it out the door. She slept on my bed and had since she was 10 weeks. One morning about 5AM she woke me standing up on the bed and she froze and fell off the bed like a statue and had a seizure.
Took her to my vet who did all of the blood work etc. and said everything is normal, probably will never happen again. The next morning at 5AM the same thing happened. I called the largest vet hospital in the area where they had a neurologist and got her in thru the ER. The neurologist started her on anti-seizure meds immediately. I took her home and she was ok for a few days. Finally the neurologist did and MRI and found no stroke, no tumor, her blood vessels looked good and she was over 6 yrs old. The neurologist said by default he had to dx her with epilepsy. The interesting thing is her red blood cells were low and not reproducing. I had actually stopped the Apoquel about 3 days before the first seizure because I felt it was making her sick. Hard to articulate, more a pet parent’s knowing. She had 10 seizures in 3 months. This was very traumatic to witness in a 200 lb.dog. She has been on 3 primary seizure drugs used in humans for almost a year now. She hasn’t had a seizure no in 11 months. When we get to 12 months the doctor may reduce her meds. Not sure!
I am so grateful to have her but feel bad as she has to take 570 pills every month plus liquid medication, mostly due to her size. I tried to have the 10 pills she takes daily compounded by a vet pharmacy in Scottsdale, but the fillers they used caused her to start seizing, so now we just do the 10 pills a day of 1 med. I am certain that Apoquel caused this problem. Other than some itching she has always been healthy. It took about 3 months for her red blood cells to start reproducing and return to normal. Please read and research this drug before giving it to your dogs. I believe some of the vets push it because it is expensive. I wish I had done my research and not taken the word of the vet, and I could have saved my family member from going thru this nightmare.
Don’t give this drug to your pets. It stops the bone marrow from manufacturing red blood cells and your pet will get very ill, which may not be able to turn around.
please do not give your pets this drug. The vets are making a fortune off this drug and the injections that is why they are pushing them. Its all about the money!
This is for Denise Cunningham. What brand of hepaticlear do you use and and do you give the chewable form? Our girl is a 14 pound Yorkipoo. We stopped Apoquel today because Alk phos is very high on last two tests. Would half a chew be right for her weight?
Thank you for any help.
I wish I had researched this forum before. My 10+ yr old Catahoula?AustShepherd has been on Apoquel for about 5 yrs and his most recent senior blood work shows high ALT & Alk Phosphatase levels and it seems as if it might be as a result of Apoquel. Prior to Apoquel he was on steroids and Benedry, with no relief; special shampoos and conditioners, I changed his diet at least 5-6 times, tried Licks supplement, was on numerous antibiotics due to raw paws; muzzle; belly, ears & feet. I even had to duct tape socks to his feet. Tried Cytopoint once, with no luck. Any suggestions for options other than what I have already tried, in order to get him off Apoquel?
Gave this med to my 9 year old Rat Terrier.. now she is dead. She died in my arms on the way to the vet….My Zoey is gone and I am heart broken. She was only on med for 2 weeks, had a stroke and stopped breathing on the way to try and get her help. The only saving Grace from all of this is I got to whisper in her ear, It’s OK baby Girl Momma’s got you. I got you Zoey, it’s gonna be alright Momma’s got you. Well I think you know how I feel about this drug…It happened yesterday, I tried chest compressions and CPR and she was gone. Please, please be very cautious when using this drug on your babies…..
Our dog Aries who is now 12 years old suffered with severe itching and allergic type reactions that appeared to start in 2016. After several visits to the veterinary center and medications including certrizine, hydroxyzine, loratadine, prednisone the veterinarian suggested trying Apoquel in December 2016. We purchased a bottle with 70 tablets for $137.20 in hopes that this would provide some relief.
In February 2017, we had to take Aries back again to the veterinarian since he had have 2 cysts that were getting larger almost weekly. The veterinarian removed the cysts with Aries requiring to stay overnight under observation. Total bill for this visit was $309.95 of which $126 was for another Rx for 70 Apoquel 5.4mg
Over the following months, we started to see these “growths” appearing all over his body that appeared to be papillomas (warts) in addition to having interdigital cysts between his toenails causing him to constantly chew/lick them to the point of becoming scabbed. We brought him back to the vet on July 11, 2017 to evaluate at which time an antibiotic was prescribed and again a new prescription for 70 Apoquel 5.4mg tablets at a cost of $126.00 for the Apoquel.
In December 2017 we again returned to the veterinary center for evaluation and suggestions regarding these growths which continued to increase in number. Another prescription for Apoquel 5.4mg 70 tablets were dispensed to us for $126.00
On January 25, 2018 we had to take Aries back for a medical progress evaluation and for the removal of a “cytology mass” in his left ear, most likely a papilloma.
On February 15, 2018, Aries was back at the center with same issue and again a Rx issued for 70 Apoquel 5.4mg tabs with a charge of $138.60. The number of these papillomas appeared to be increasing. We again returned to the center on April 30, 2018 to evaluate but left only with another prescription for Apoquel for $138.60.
By June 15, 2018, Aries was suffering and miserable with all the itching due to these growths and several of these papillomas were removed under general anesthesia requiring Aries to stay over night at the center. The bill of this surgery and medication: $2536.50
Despite all the treatment for allergy/itching, on August 23, 2018 we had to bring Aries back yet again for surgery to remove “15 small masses” that were spread over his torso, paws and under the chin region. This again required an overnight stay at the vet center with a total cost of $2452.23
Since August 2018 when we discontinued giving Aries Apoquel, there are a few papillomas of small size but nothing like was spreading all over his body.
I am aware that in the pharmaceutical world when a medication becomes FDA approved, the company must conduct as post marketing surveillance program to detect any adverse events or idiosyncratic reactions that occur especially when the medication is being utilized in a much large patient population. This is the method to protect the public from unknown side effects that only appear when thousands of patients are exposed to the medication. Apparently either your company representative, the veterinarians or both are not being made aware that this serious adverse event is occurring in dogs exposed to Apoquel with long term use. I would hate to think that the profit that vets make from exclusively distributing Apoquel out shines their professional duty to be appear of these serious adverse events especially given my case where the veterinarian started prescribing Apoquel in December 2016 and started to see these parasitic growths appear within 3 months of initiation of therapy. Despite that, he continued to prescribe Apoquel for our dog until August 2018.
Janus kinase Inhibitors are on the market for the treatment of autoimmune diseases in humans including Xeljanz and baricitinib (Olumiant – Lilly) for oral treatment of adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). If these sort of dermatologic/parasitic overgrowths occurred in humans from treatment with JK inhibitors, it would certainly prompt the FDA to take action to protect the patient population utilizing these medications from these severe adverse events
Despite providing the vet center with a copy of my letter to Zoetis and their request to have the vet contact them to discuss this AE, as of 9-6-19 the vet has not contacted them. I did question the vet when these multiple warts developed on our dog if the Apoqeul could be the cause but he did not answer my question. Probably more concerned with the monthly sale of Apoquel to me rather than reporting this AE
We were introduced to Apoquel because our Red Long Haired Doxie was having allergies that were causing her to hack and cough so hard it gave her nose bleeds and it was causing anal gland problems. The vet told us anal gland problems can definitely be due to allergies. So, on Apoquel she went. It really seemed to help with the hacking and coughing and all. Great! NO. She has been on it for about 3 weeks now. I noticed she didnt seem as spunky after a week or so. Nothing major, but different. Then came the motor coordination hiccups. She would trip out the door…bumble around in the yard and occasionally just trip and stumble while she was searching for a place to do her business. This was not like her. Along with this, came the increased urination. A dog who never once peed in the house, started having accidents…when she was on a morning, noon, evening and bedtime schedule. Suddenly she was sneaking off to the back bedroom to go in-between. Not like her at all. This weekend, she developed diarrhea. Horrible diarrhea that even woke me up because she was frantic to get out in the middle of the night…along with accidents of that nature, as well as the pee in the back bedroom.. (thank goodness we have hardwood floors). I decided to look up the side effects of Apoquel, as that was the only thing that was new and I wondered if GI upset and diarrhea could become an issue while on it. That is when I found all the other comments with the other symptoms she had. All of the sudden it clicked. It has been the Apoquel doing all of this, I believe. Stopped giving it to her and in 48 hours, she is spunky again. No episodes of stumbling. Her stools are turning around and while still soft, are not the plop plop plop anymore. They are firming up slowly. Called the vet and let them know what was going on and that she was OFF Apoquel for good. I would strongly recommend considering other avenues besides Apoquel. Better safe than sorry. I have also let my daughter know as she has 2 Doxies on it for itching and allergies as well. It seems vets are putting dogs on it right and left, and while it may help with those symptoms..new ones develop that can be far worse. No more for my precious girl!
My 7 year old Dachshund was seen my a vet for allergies that caused her ears to itch severly. She was given apparel which seemed to work well. I was assured this drug was safe. She began taking it in Nov. Of 2019. The day I bought the second months prescription at the cost of $105 my dog began having bloody diareah. I called the vet but they said she must have eaten something to cause it. I searched apparel and found that this was a side affect. My dog is much worse now and has a tumor under her forearm. I think a class action suit against the makers of apparel is called for. Any one with me?
Please everyone try Natural pet! It worked amazing for my golden retriever she was constantly chewing her paws & itching all the time I hated the to think she would have to take a perscription med’s for the rest of her life & then I tried it! Unbelievable!!!
Is APOQUEL
killing your
dog?
APOQUEL (oclacitinib) manufactured by Zoetis,
CAN BE KILLING YOUR DOG, AS IT DID MINE.
This drug may stop your dog’s itching, however creating long
term side effects by shutting down immune system. According
to the manufacturer of Apoquel, this drug can predispose
dogs to infection, inflammatory disease demodex mites, and
it may even exacerbate cancer, Diarrhea, vomiting, (both w/
blood present), urinary tract infections, aggressive behavior,
and drug toxicity to the liver and bone marrow suppression,
(causing cancer (B-cell lymphoma) seizures (get a blood count
and chemistry). Drugs that suppress the immune system
can respond inappropriately, and may begin attacking the
animal’s own cells. These conditions, as a group, are called
immune-mediated disease. (Medicine service at Purdue
University) This is what I believe happened to my Baby Girl
BELLA. After this it was too late for her they said she had
mega esophagus this is where the nerves don’t’ signal the
esophagus to close keeping it enlarged (side effect).
NONE OF THESE SO-CALLED VETS EVEN
THOUGHT OF THAT UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE.
Is APOQUEL
killing your
dog?
HELP ME STOP THESE PLACES FROM
MANUFACTURING & HANDING
THIS STUFF OUT LIKE CANDY
If you want to help call: Roger 586-343-9003
E-mail: rfisher1951@yahoo.com
GoFundMe: wrongful death of my dog from Apoquel
My German Shepard Healthy and had blood work that was totally clear and healthy and had blood work that was totally clear and was on this medicine for 11/2 yes and started feeling bad and within 2 days. His spleen burst And blood was leaking into his abdomen they took blood and x-rays and found out that he had also cancer in his lungs, from the medication I would never put any dog on this medication ever and called the company and they still still will not say that the medication causes that issue even though he was healthy happy and the best dog and we had to put him to sleep at 4 1/2 years old due to him taking Apoquel. Please do not give your dog this medicine I know it makes him stop itching but the outcome is not worth it putting him to sleep, it’s like putting your child asleep. So hard to do and they don’t even care as long as they make their money at $200 a bottle take it vantage of court animals and people. Again Please do not give your animal this medicine