[Dailydrool] Apoquel

[Val lbrewerzwick via Dailydrool]

Just as you have tried a host of remedies for Fitz' allergies, so too did we run the gamut for our notabasset, Ipo, whose flame red, raw legs had responded to nothing much and were a constant source of intense itching.   About two months ago we started Ipo on Apoquel and the results have been amazing.  Her legs now range from  perfectly normal to rose pink  but not itchy on any given day and Ipo's leg hair is growing back. Most  notably, Ipo's life is no longer interrupted by itches. We had none of the most common side effects (diarrhea, vomiting).

MY understanding is that Apoquel works by suppressing the allergic dog's overactive immune system. This,  of course, is both good and potentially bad because suppressing the immune system also increases vulnerability to other conditions normally fought off routinely by the immune system  (for example, warts, and maybe beginning cancers which would ordinarily have been fought off by the immune system but are now allowed to grow--in that sense Apoquel doesn't actually "cause" cancer but doesn't do the natural prevention we all have which keeps any already present  neoplasms from growing in the first place.). In a study of 240 dogs given Apoquel for a year, 6 developed cancers.  I did not see the original study, just this sentence, so I don't know the ages of the dogs or how many dogs would have been expected to develop cancer in this time period in any event (the control group).  So the sentence isn't much use, really, except to indicate that at a year of use the incidence of cancer is not super high, though not insignificant either.  To my knowledge, there haven't Been any long term studies of this drug.

So, it's a cost benefit situation. one of my good friends says she would Never give her dog Apoquel (she also does not use ingested or topical flea preventatives).  We are rolling the dice and giving Ipo Apoquel, as it so improves her daily life, which was pretty compromised before.  good luck with your decision.  Val of Hawaii vlbzwick at yahoo.com

Val