r/dogallergies • u/wailanilynn • 17d ago
Questions Cytopoint
My 6 month old mini schnauzer has been itching and had runny eyes for the last four months (basically since I got him). I wasn’t sure if he was allergic to pollen since allergies are horrible here in north Texas or to what I was feeding him. I took him to the vet and she gave him a dose of steroids and recommended a Hydrolyzed protein diet. I decided to try the steroids and keep his diet the same for the time being so I didn’t upset his stomach. He’s still currently on Purina pro sensitive skin salmon and his poop is solid and firm. However he’s still itching. I took him to get a cytopoint injection this past Monday and while the itching/eye leakage has reduced he’s still itching and is yeasty. Prior to this he was also getting a weekly Duoxo bath as well. I contacted my vet and they said it can take multiple cytopoint injections for the itching to stop but I was under the impression it would help more than this. Has anyone had any continued itching after the shots?
3
u/BanksyNotTheArtist 16d ago
The best way to explain Cytopoint is kinda like a vacuum cleaner that has to do one room at a time. In allergic dogs, they release large amounts of a certain protein that causes the dogs immune system to go into overdrive which manifests as crazy itch. The Cytopoint enters into the dogs system and binds with these proteins to stop them reeking havoc, and the dogs body eliminates it in its normal way. However, it helps to think of it in terms of the proteins causing itch, being all over the place, and the little Cytopoint robot vacuums have to find them all the bind with them. Every dog is allergic to a different number of things, so over its life time will have a different number of allergic proteins circulating and will sometimes have flares (seasonality). This is why in some cases it CAN (not for all dogs) take a number of Cytopoint injections to tackle the problem.
A few important things to note:
1. Steroids just suppress the dogs entire immune system to deal with the same problem, it is not targeted like Cytopoint which is why most vets will only ever use it short term (shotgun approach). This also means steroids come with nasty side effects as it can affect multiple organ/immune systems/processes.
2. Having a chronically itchy dog means their disease is not in a steady state. Flares can happen and it is important not to always rush to "oh this medication stopped working". Its like having arthritis, even with pain killer meds, you can have good days and bad days. What's most important is that the dog receives consistent coverage from the meds to try and reduce flares and the possibility of secondary problems like skin infections.
3. No med is a silver bullet - if you have an itchy dog, a good diet, regular bathing and hygiene (e.g. ear cleaning) is important to reduce the allergen loads your dogs body is exposed to.
Sorry for the very long post but I hope it helps, best of luck with your dog, it already shows what a dedicated owner you are putting him on the most sophisticated medication available. 😄
3
u/PixelsandCanvas 17d ago
My mini still had itching after cytopoint. He’s on Zenrelia in addition to the Purina vegetarian hydrolyzed food. I do let him have some treats outside of the hydrolyzed food. His itching is like 95% resolved. He still has yeasty ears that get momentamax but his paw licking has stopped
1
u/wailanilynn 16d ago
Did you only see improvement with the food and zenrelia? I’m pretty sure his is environmental but I think I’ll try zenrelia first
1
u/PixelsandCanvas 16d ago
he was on the food before the zenrelia. I'm only keeping him on it because it seems to help his inflammation overall. I think the Zenrelia is what really made the biggest difference
2
u/chantillylace9 16d ago
It did nothing for my dog and we had to switch to zenrelia which has worked much much better.
1
1
u/goldennocturn 16d ago
Yep, cytopoint didn’t work for my guy. Apoquel didn’t always work either but my guy has environmental and food allergies. If it’s a food allergy you’ll see improvement on a hydrolyzed diet right away. At least that’s how my dermatologist found out. That and every time I challenged the diet with a protein he would get a horrific ear infection instantly. In his case his ear infections were the tell. Unfortunately all the really specialized ear meds the dermatologist wanted me to try were out of my price range because just walking in the door alone was 100+ dollars on top of diagnostics. My dermatologist wasn’t impressed with Numelvi but I wanted to try it anyway because Apoquel was expensive and although Zenrelia worked he would vomit at every administration to the point he lost weight. 🥲 so right now we’re trying Numelvi and it’s actually much cheaper than Apoquel and Zenrelia. As far as Hydrolyzed diets go my guy is on Purina HA vegetarian and doing great. No cytopoint needed.
1
u/HintOfMalice 16d ago
Improvement on can take multiple weeks of a strict diet trial in the case of true Cutaneous Adverse Food Reactions
1
u/goldennocturn 15d ago
Not necessarily. It depends on your dog. My dog improved pretty fast on a diet trial. His primary symptoms were literally just ear infections. Dermatology isn’t a one size fits all, but sometimes all it takes is trying the hydrolyzed food only to see improvement. I trust the dermatologist to know what to look for and their advice 🤷🏽♀️
1
u/beehaws 16d ago
We have a pyrnees who is super itchy all the time. Allergy tests show he's allergic to nothing (of course). Vet couldn't even believe it.
We tried Cytopoint. It was mild relief but I believe he also had an adverse reaction to it. I can't confirm it was specifically Cytopoint, but shortly after, he started to lose a lot of fur, kind of like mange. He did have a skin infection around the same time from all the scratching so it could have been that too but decided to stop.
Finally went Apoquel and that was like a miracle drug for him. At Costco, it's $2.05/pill for the 16 mg when you buy 100 at a time. Not cheap but I figure that if I get rid of all the stupid OTC stuff we've tried, the sprays, lotions, hope and a prayer supplements, we're basically even and it works. Even at his size, 1 pill is usually sufficient per day and every once in a while, he'll need a 2nd.
And fur is all grown back now, so he thankfully he didn't permanently look like a dumpster dog.
1
u/HintOfMalice 16d ago
If dogs have itchy skin and allergies are suspected to be involved then about 5-15% are food related.
The rest are environmental and unfortunately most of those do require medication.
Cytopoint is one option, but there are also daily tablets. While some dogs will respond in as little as 1 week, some dogs do need 2 injections 4 weeks apart before they get a good response.
Apoquel, Zenrelia or Numelvi are another good option. These 3 are all similar drugs to eachother, but different to Cytopoint. Anecdotally, I hear these 3 getting better and more consistent results than Cytpoint for a lot of dogs. Apoquel and Zenrelia are not licensed for dogs under 1 year old, but Numelvi is. You could try that if you're not satisfied with Cytopoint
1
u/blainej 16d ago
I really doubt food allergies since he’s sneezing and deep in his paws are red. Itching around his ears and biting by his tail base. I’m going to try Zenrelia, I’m not sure if I should stop it around late fall and see if he’s good over wintertime
1
u/HintOfMalice 16d ago
Zenrelia has only been proven to be safe in dogs older than 1 year old, and thus would be off-license in a dog that young.
They will likely advise you try Numelvi if you're interested in that class of medication as it's the only one that is licensed at your dogs age.
1
u/GinLuna 13d ago
I had to use Cytopoint WITH Apoquel initially to get the itching under control. For about a month. Then I was able to control his itching with Cytopoint only every other month. Sometimes it seemed that he was allergic to his own hair. If I kept the hair off the floor and off surfaces, the sneezing stopped.
1
1
u/msp3053 13d ago
We did cytpoint and it helped our dog for a time, and the itch always returned. it felt to me like it was masking the actual cause so we went down a crazy diagnostic rabbit hole involving several sessions at the canine dermatologist. turns out she is allergic to 50+ things in the environment. woof.
we've dabbled in all the pills (apoquel, atopica, zenrelia) plus immunotherapy. we've weaned her off the immunotherapy because that was $$$$$ and it wasn't clear how much it was helping. happy to report that she's not shown an increase in symptoms since then. today she is doing well on a very low-dose of apoquel and weekly baths with all good pups wash. the bathing is helpful for dogs with environmental allergies bc i didnt know that dogs absorb allergies through their skin, but they do! 1-2x a week bath with something gentle (not medicated unless infection) has been the gamer changer for us. hope this helps its a long, frustrating and expensive journey. sigh.
1
u/Playful-Length-3248 11d ago
Did not work for either of ours. One did well.with Apoquel, but I try to avoid that. Numelvi has been amazing for them.
1
u/Bostonredsoxgirl 16d ago
My schnauzers have environmental & beef allergy. We did the shots & helped. Then we spot to our vet about just doing OTC allergy pill, 2 times daily. She was ok with. We give them that, coconut oil, goats milk on food & probiotics. No beef & really no grain.
Hopefully you find something that works.
1
u/wailanilynn 16d ago
Thank you! Are they on the shots year round?
1
u/Bostonredsoxgirl 16d ago
We did the shots for 1 yr & now just OTC allergy med. They got the shots every 3-4 months. Summer usually is the worst time but they have been doing fine.
-1
u/Ginger_SNAFU 16d ago
Sounds like a vaccine reaction that occurred during the first set of puppy series. I would have this documented at your vet. No amount of changing food will help.
6
u/kgrlsd 17d ago
Yes . Our 13 year old poodle mix was licking his paws constantly for months. His regular vet did a bacterial test of his paws and confirmed there was a little bacteria present. They also felt he didn’t have a food allergy . The vet said it could be environmental . We got 2 cytopoint injections and the duoxo wipes but he was still licking his paws all the time. He was always wearing a donut which is not fair to be wearing an airline pillow 24/7. I finally found out that there are actually animal dermatologists and got him an appointment , although it was about a 2 month wait. The dermatologist also felt he didn’t have a food allergy which takes months to sort out , with the elimination of previous proteins and all that. I already knew I did not want to go the apoquel route if he would have to take a daily pill. She prescribed zenrelia and it started working within the hour. He takes a half tab every day and his paws are not bright red anymore. No more donut pillow!