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Apoquel alternative for dogs???

Yoda mom

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well, as many of you know, my poor sam rottie who just turned 7 years old christmas day is ridden with allergic reactions.
His littermate brother is perfectly fine.

Sam is on seizure pills, phenobarbital 4 pills a day and Apoquel at first 2x a day.. now at 1 per day.
the apoquel worked fine for awhile but just before xmas he went back to the vet for more skin outbreak issues. finishing up a round of antibiotics, clindamycin 4 pills a day bcz of his size.. 146 lbs... and mupirocin ointment.

I am surprised even on Apoquel he still had an outbreak on his skin on his neck this time.
He is bathed with hylyt shampoo. the vet said an allergy test would likely result in false positives.
My friends dog showed allergic to palm trees... geez we live in Florida.

I just ordered another bottle of Apoquel, chewy pharmacy was kind to match my last bottle price of $150.
now I see the pills are up in price again now to $2.29 per pill ! YIKES ..and I am on the fence if it is working for him anymore. Besides being worried of the side effects I am reading about that it can even cause skin issues and i really do not want to load his immune system with 2 pills a day.

he cannot take benadryl .... had an allergic neurologic muscular awful reaction, he is allergic to Cephalaxin antibiotics, face blew up like the elephant man ..

I am curious if anyone has taken their dog off Apoquel and switched to something else ?
open to suggestions for my million dollar baby
 

Sheldon13

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Is it just girl the itching? I think dogs can have Zyrtec so you might ask your vet about that.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

JCWaellner

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This article is informative

Has your furbaby been tested for food allergies

A full blood work makeup for allergies is VERY informative!
 

Yoda mom

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@JCWaellner thank you for the great link :)

no, vet did not test for allergies. she told me honestly can get false positives and still go the treatment round of meds, so treating the symptoms.

Sam's timing of flare ups appears to be outdoor environmental which is tough. outdoor grass/palm blooming seasons. so hard to change that if that would show up in the test. He eats the same food after I switched him off Acana.
He did gain weight on Apoquel :( . so now for sometime is on Eagle Pack reduced fat. he went up to 163 on apoquel, now down to 146 and is more active. his coat and skin looks amazing,show dog shiny except for the occasional one hot spot area on neck or chin.
he does not wear a collar except for our walks and play times.


@Sheldon13 no, never itches scratches or licks. just gets localized skin hot spot in same general area random times of seasons.
was going to ask the vet about zyrtec and cetirizine. but so afraid to give him anything bcz he had awful reaction to Benadryl

he gets regular blood tests every 6 mos to check his phenobarbital levels from his seizure meds.
his blood tests come back all normal range. yah for that :)
 
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Sheldon13

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@Yoda mom I wouldn’t worry too much about a connection to Benadryl. While it is possible to be allergic to a whole class of drugs, that isn’t the case every time. Think about how some people can’t have cow’s milk but do fine with goat milk. You can definitely start him on a ¼ or ½ dose at first if you want to take baby steps.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 
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