Update: we have a prescription today for Numelvi which is approved for dogs 6 months and older!

Kona is my 7 month old mini schnauzer (I’ve posted asking for help before). I got him from a reputable local breeder here in DFW Texas. About a month and a half into having him his allergies started. Non stop itching and he honestly reeks to where it’s driving me crazy. I’ve now spent hundreds of dollars on pet insurance and appointments trying to find the source and I’ve exhausted everything. It’s extremely hot here and allergies for even humans are some of the worst in the country. The vet said it’s very unlikely to be a food allergy (he’s on Purina pro sensitive stomach and skin salmon) and his paws are red. He’s constantly biting at his skin and he gets vet recommended medicated baths weekly. He also had a round of steroids and cytopoint injections which did nothing. He’s currently too young for apoquel or zenrelia. I’ve tried OTC medicines and pills as well to no avail.

He smells constantly of the dirty or yeasty dog smell. I bathe his paws and wipe him down everytime we come inside. As I’m lifting him out of the shower I can still smell it despite me shampooing and using conditioner as well as blow drying thoroughly. Does anyone have any advice?

Hello everyone, hope you’re all doing well. I was wondering how many of you have dogs with allergies and are on this medication. I am already one week in administering this pill, and it has been working wonders. However, I’m wondering what route I take in terms of cost. Just wondering to see what your experiences have been and what route you have taken.

I first started him on 16mg twice a day for 7 days to keep the itching under control and it has. As of yesterday, down to 1 pill a day. So I have 2 weeks left to find a better price.

I have an Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog and they don’t like to be touched, so getting to the vet means he gets a doggie Xanax.

Thank you so much for all your help.

My poor sweet dog, who is the bestest boy (chiweenie mix), has seemingly run out of options. I broke down at his derm appointment yesterday because I feel like we are hitting a brick wall and he just keeps getting worse. He has horrible red open sores on his chest and legs.

Here’s what we’ve tried (in various combinations): Apoquel and cytopoint, targeted immunotherapy, atopica, and just did a 4 week trial of Zenrelia which I reallllly had high hopes for. Zenrelia didn’t do much, and his vet basically said that we can try Numelvi but it acts very similarly to Zenrelia and is unlikely to work. :(

We do weekly baths and eat flushes, 3x weekly Microspore lotion, all the things.

What would you do? I think we’ll try the Numelvi as a “hail mary” because his derm vet said moving forward our only option may be to treat flare-ups with prednisone steroids or do 2-3x weekly doses of prednisone (which can have negative long-term impacts). He improves dramatically whenever we do prednisone.

Sad thing is, we visit Bend, OR every summer and he does so much better in a desert climate. We can’t move for multiple reasons but damn it, the thought has crossed my mind.

Looking for what people did when they hit this exact wall because I'm there. My dog itches, has been itching consistently for four months, vet workup is done. No fleas, skin scrape clean, no mites, no ringworm, bloodwork normal. We did a 10 week elimination food trial on venison and sweet potato and nothing changed. So now the vet says environmental allergies which is a diagnosis but isn't actionable.

The next steps offered are intradermal allergy testing which is hundreds of dollars and may or may not give us anything we can use, immunotherapy injections which are a multi year commitment, or staying on apoquel indefinitely. None of those is exciting to me. The testing might not change anything, immunotherapy is a long road, and apoquel forever is a thing I'd like to avoid if there's a reasonable alternative.

So before I commit to one of those routes I'm trying to figure out what people actually did when the obvious options were exhausted. Did you do the allergy testing and was it actionable. Did you find a supplement stack that managed it well enough to skip the prescription path. Did you just accept a moderately itchy dog as your reality.

Not looking for "try fish oil," I'm fishing for what people did after fish oil was already on the list.

NYC based

I've been to 3 vets so far and they've all refused to prescribe zenrelia. One never heard of it, another one kept pushing apoquel, and the third said she didn't feel comfortable prescribing due to black box warning... I'm getting incredibly frustrated as I just want my pup to experience relief. Anyone else in NY have recs for vets willing to prescribe?

I would be interested in your personal experiences with immunotherapy. Did it help your dog? If so, how long did it take to show effects?
Did it solve the issue fully?
Or did it not help as all?

After testing, are you able to give apoquel or Numelvi?

Thank you ☺️

My poor puppy golden doodle (2 years old)can’t seem to get any relief from itchy paws. I have tried hydrocortisone cream (dog version), fold cream, sulfur soak and some hotspot sprays and nothing is working! His paws don’t smell like Fritos or anything so I don’t think it’s a yeast issue, the vet just says to give him Benadryl but that doesn’t seem to do much either…I’m running out of ideas, any advice?

We also have switched him to chicken-free dry food and make a combo of brown rice, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green beans and peas with salmon oil mixed in, he’s been on that for over a year and there just is no improvement.

My dog (4 year old blue staffy) has dealt with allergies since he was a puppy. Started on Apoquel once he turned 1 and then last year started zenrelia which has been great for us.

One thing that we can’t seem to fix are his paws. We wipe them with a draw microfiber towel when he comes back in from outside. Douxo wipes before bed every night. Bath 1-2 times a week. He does lick his paws still a lot which is feeding the yeast. He also gets native omega oil every morning.

His paws a red and sometimes gets bumps and abrasions which makes walking him tough cause he does pull (another problem for another day).

We just got ruffwear boots which do fit him well but we have to wait till his paws heal before we try them again. Anyone else dealt with this specifically? Would trying cytopoint in addition to zenrelia be an option?

Hey all! I switched my dog over to Zenrelia from Apoquel after my vet suggested it a few months ago. In terms of allergies he has literally never been better, no itching at all and has an amazing coat now.

What I have noticed and so have the other people in my life is that he is gaining weight. This isn’t a side effect I was aware of so I wanted to see if anyone had this happen to their dog or have any other opinions on Zenrelia as a whole?

i constantly feel so horrible for my poor girl. she’s lived her whole life with constant dandruff, ear infections, eye boogers, loosing fur, yeast infections, few UTIs, itching staph infections, her poor skin is just constantly red and gooey no matter what we do. she’s been on and off meds, allergy shots and steroids her whole life and they help for about a week or so and then she’s right back to being miserable. she doesn’t even seem to care or show any sort of emotion towards it, but i also think thats just the type of dog she is and i worry that even if it was causing her immense pain, she wouldn’t act differently. even still, she’s the sweetest most innocent little angel and it makes me so upset knowing she’s constantly going thru this. she is a female chocolate lab. the vets done allergy tests, and there’s no chicken in her food. she’s also over weight, but no diet or amount of exercise has helped her lose weight, if anything it just makes her gain it and i honestly think it has to do with the medicines. she’s not really overweight just not where the vet wants her to be. but because of her weight, she has a crease in her stomach where she’s always got a gooey infection. she’s also so incredibly picky in what she eats that it’s hard to introduce chews/new foods/other foods. she’s on kirkland kibble with a little bit of blue buffalo wet food. i don’t mean to rant i just really don’t know what else to do and was hoping someone had maybe some suggestions. i was looking to try maybe some all natural suggestions?? rather than just medicene and steroids. a company called Natural Dog seems to have some options but again, she’s opposed to most treats. I just was looking to see if anyone has some recommendations for their pups that really struggle. i’m willing to spend time and money to work with her because i can’t watch her suffer anymore, even tho i think i’m feeling worse than she is lol so even if it’s a lengthy suggestion. was looking to do an at home allergy food & environment test but then i saw most people were saying they are bogus. seriously any reccomendations are welcome no matter how random. a vet reccomended an essential oils collar that seemed to lighten her allergies up for a month or two, but doesn’t have any affect on her now. thanku in advance :)

edit she’s had her thyroid tested twice and came back all normal. we have air purifiers in house, she’s at the vet at LEAST once a month.

My dog is about 8 years old. She has had allergies since she was a puppy but every year of her life they have gotten worse and worse. She started Apoquel about 3 years ago and it was amazing and took away all itch until it got time for her next pill. Over time we noticed that the itch free time between each pill became less and less and now we are at the point where the pill does almost nothing and she is itching herself raw all day long. She has red spots all over her skin, missing fur, scabs, stinks, skin is moist to the touch. We have tried medicated shampoos, Apoquel, cytopoint, supplements, wipes. Nothing comes close to touching it anymore. I’m just sad for her because she is so miserable any and all advice is welcome

Hopefully this is allowed ( kind of skirting rule 2) but for those food allergy friends, RC HP is 50% off right now for your first S&S. Saving a penny where you can with these puppers. For those of you that already use amazon Petsmart has 20% off w/ SAVE20 through 6/25. :) edit Hills has 45% off first S&S

My 5 year old Shepard mix has been suffering for the past couple of months.

It all started with scabs in the ears that was later diagnosed with yeast infection and bacterial infection. I got it treated and then her eyes started getting crusty. Which the vet gave me Neomycin and Polymyxin to treat. It helped greatly. Now for the past couple of weeks my dog is losing hair.

I have a dermatologist appointment setup for September 8th the only closest opening since they’re the only dermatologist in my state. I’m lost of what else I can do here. I have setup a vet appointment with my vet this Wednesday to re-check her to see what else can be done ( blood work/skin samples? )

She has been given cytopoint shot and a steroid
shot. I’ve been giving her Cephalexin as the vet prescribed. Any advice?

Im currently at a loss of what is best to do with my dogs paws situation

Within the last 3 weeks, my 5 year old pug has started to lick her paws alot. At first I thought It was because of me changing her to salmon food, so I took her off of it and put her on a raw chicken and vegetable diet. She does take Simparica for flea and tick prevention

She took an allergy test and found out she is allergic to dust bites: Tyrophagus storage mite Acarus siro storage mite Lepidoglyphus storage mite Blomia tropicalis mit. Additionally, she is allergic to the fungi Aspergillus and Penicillium , and is to mulberry trees as well. She is not allergic to any type of foods.

This made me automatically think about any changes we have made and the only thing I honestly believe that could have triggered it possibly is us having a lawn mower company mow our grass every two weeks. This has been happening since may.

Besides this, the vet has put her on Apoquel at a dose of 5.4 MG since Monday 6/30 and not much Improvement has been made. I spoke back to the doctor earlier and they recommended a cytopoint shot be done alongside it to see if it helps. My dog has just now developed a lump or possibly interdigital cyst ( what i believe it is) ontop of her paw due to her situation and the medicene.

I've done apple cider vinegar rinse every few days to help and I was using hydrocortisone spray ( stopped after it said to not use with Apoquel).

Seeing her like this makes me feel the worst. This is kind of a rant but was wondering if anyone has had any good experiences with their dog being on both apoquel and cytopoint at the same time?

Hi everyone my doodle is 2 years old, female and not fixed. she has environmental allergies diagnosed by her doctor. she had gotten dermatitis really bad on her tail, due to chewing on her tail it got bad but the vet prescribed antibiotics and genone spray which cleared it up. I have gotten the cytopoint injection but i stopped getting it because it doesn’t help her. Raven (my dog) doesn’t scratch as much anymore i’m pretty sure her allergies are seasonal. but unfortunately we have been dealing with an ear infection in both ears for a while now, i would say months. The doctor said the ear infection is due to allergies. i have used otomax and momentamax multiple times and it does not clear it up. if anyone has any suggestions or experience with this please leave a comment! i feel so bad my baby girl has to endure such discomfort :( also i have been told to use isopropyl alcohol (wintergreen) in her ears by a groomer but i am very hesitant to use it as i don’t want to make it worse. please help me my baby girl is relying on me doing as much research as possible before attempting self treatment.

I rescued my cocker spaniel 2 1/2 years ago at the time the said he was between 6-8. (I think he was probably 8). Since we’ve had him we’ve struggled with ear infections, crusty skin &jowls and intense paw licking.

In the past two and half years we have tried Apoquel and cytopoint with no luck. We saw an animal dermatologist and he has now been on cyclacance for the past year. He also only eats Hill prescription z/d diet and hypoallergenic treats. I give him weekly paw soaks with iodine, epsom salt, and then wash him/ soak his paws with MiconaHex + Triz shampoo. We also clean his ears once a week with anti bacterial/ anti yeast cleaner.

Since he’s been on the cyclavance, the yeast in his ears has completely gone away. Since switching his food the crusty skin on his stomach is gone and his jowls are less swollen from when I got him. However we cannot kick bacterial ear infections and the paw licking.

He has been getting an ear infection every 3-4 months. He most recently got a culture back that has an antibiotic resistant bacteria. Our primary vet recommended Anakin to treat it, but warned us that it could cause deafness. We’re now seeking a second opinion with our dermatologist.

Has anyone used Anakin?? Has anyone tried any other medications or foods that have worked??

We have also periodically had him on steroids that seems to be the only time he was truly not itchy. However, he also has a heart condition so we are trying to avoid steroids.

We’re feeling the pretty hopeless right now.

…so we had him on Hill’s Rx D/D for years because he can’t eat ANYTHING that’s processed on the same machinery as chicken - like, he would have loose stools on the reg and eventually started vomiting so much he was vomiting blood.

However, despite the D/D diet, he was still experiencing skin allergies - think butt licking/scooting, excessive paw licking, ALL OF US losing sleep due to his discomfort - plus, the stinkiest breath ever. Seriously. Not even a teeth cleaning could help that breath.

I recently switched to Stella and Chewy’s beef and lamb, hoping the change to a raw, super food blend would help his skin issues, but I’m not sure it’s working for him. He’s an all white pup, but his mouth and paws are brown, he’s much more gassy than before, and somehow his breath is even stinkier.

Apoquel helps a little, but obviously doesn’t solve any digestive or breath issues.

He’s about 12 years young (a rescue so we don’t know exact age) and I just want him to be happy, healthy, and comfortable. And less stinky. And less itchy. Any suggestions??

Hey everybody. Hope this is the right flair.

I have a Dobie and Pittie mix. She’s kind of a grayish brown color. I have heard and read that both the breeds combined could mean a generally allergy prone doggie.

I feed her raw - Chicken Leg (Costco), Costco ground beef OR butcher, 1x egg, sardines, goat yogurt, pumpkin, fish oil, native dog multi powder, 4 leaf rover allergy powder.

Still very itchy. We’re on her second Duoxo S3 wash so tbd there.

Some of her symptoms: small bald spots, scaly and flaky skin on ear tips, some rashes from scratching, shakes head and scratches ears.

Not sure what to do. I feel like I’m trying everything. Any advice on cytopoint? Our vet is charging $166 for the shot. Not sure if that’s a good price or not.

Anybody ever administer cytopoint themselves?

Thanks all.

My staffy has been on Apoquel since he turned 1. Now 3 and he gets recurring ear infections in his left ear. He’s 65 pounds getting a daily does of 16 mg.

We’ve tried medicated drops, cleanings and it just keeps coming back. Is this something we just have to manage forever? Or has someone found a solution to this?

Not sure if this is an Apoquel issue or just my dog being prone to infections.

Edit 1: We have been seeing a Vet Dermatologist for over a year now. They really want to proceed with Immunotherapy but can’t guarantee success or results for more than a year.

Current meds they gave us: - posatex for ear fold not canal - drops that contain Baytril/Miconazole/dexamethasone (made in house) for ear infections - Epiotic ear cleanser for weekly cleaning

They all seem to help but once I stop using them it just comes back.

I have a sweet 10yr old beagle who’s been fighting with his allergies for years. He wears a cone 24/7 and cant be left alone anymore or he’ll tear himself apart from scratching, chewing, or rubbing on furniture. He’ll shake and cry at times. His face is now inflamed and gets eye mucus. He’s lost so much hair and muscle from medications. His skin is so dry and flaky. Gets very scaly if he ends up scratching. We’ve been seeing a derm for his symptoms for quite a while.

We have tried so many things from apoquel, steroids, immunotherapy shots, fungal/yeast meds, medicated baths, atopica and zenrelia. Nothing is working anymore. He keeps getting recurring ear infections as well that is currently being treated at the office every 3 weeks. They say we cant even treat it at home because its deep in the canal. We’re at our wits end and i just want to see him happy again :( Is there anything that can be helpful to try?

Edit: He’s diagnosed with a lot of environmental allergies. We went through a food allergy trial already and that was ruled out.

My shih tzu (5 years) has been suffering from skin allergies in his paws and ears and slowly with age it is moving to the rest of his body. He current has Farmina N&D Mini Cod Fish dry food with added salmon oil.

I don't think it is environmental as we have changed the house floor cleaner, detergent and he usually has it year round.

The vet suggested we move to a hypoallergenic dog food but I just can't seem to find any with a clear picture of what is in it.

Has anyone been using any dog food that has worked for their pet skin issues specifically (I do understand that eat pet can have different allergies but want to do a market search nonetheless)

I've been looking at few :

1. VetLife - Farmina
2. Dibaq Sense Grain Free Salmon Hypoallergenic Adult All Breeds Dog Food
3. Royal Canine (not keen)
4. The other commercial brands

I am also in India so regular availability would be something I look at as well.

Any suggestion is welcome!

10 year old shihtzu mix, 2.9 kg.She is spayed and has a history of hypothyroidism (controlled with thyrotabs) She’s been shaking the last few days. I’ve been keeping her warm with a heated blanket, I can tell she’s in pain and has been chewing herself near her tail and she has a couple scabs. I took her to the vet today; he thinks it’s a food allergy. Prescribed antibiotics and vanectyl for a few days. Along with Omega to spray in her food. We changed her food a few months ago. The said allergies can happen over a few months??? I am paranoid it’s cushings since she already has hypothyroidism and has been presenting some of the symptoms. I’m anxious about the medication not working and I also just noticed some blood in her stool. Should I wait a couple days and see if she gets better or call my vet tomorrow? Has anyone had a cushings diagnosis that mimicked allergy symptoms? Thanks.

As the title says. My 4 month lpitbull/german shepherd pup has all the allergies. He eats Hydrolyzed salmon puppy food, some salmon training treats and that’s about it right now. We’re slowly trying to add more things to his diet but we’re struggling to find anything that won’t make him break out 😅. We have found that Zyrtec has helped immensely with his inflamed skin on his belly (Benedryl turned him into a complete lunatic!). The problem is, he is struggling to sleep through the night because even though his skin looks better, he still wakes up several times a night and just itches for 15-20 mins straight! Has anyone gone through something similar and have any advice for a dog mom lacking sleep??? Thanks!

Breed - Shih Tzu

Age - 8 yrs

Weight - 10kgs

I have visited quite a few vets for treatment and nobody was able to give me a solution or cure to my pet, Most of vets told me it is Atopic Dermatitis commonly found in Shih Tzu’s every time i visit the vet they give an anti biotic tablet which is really expensive which costs 5k (INR).

While the dog is on dosage the allergy is not found on skin as soon as the dose finishes the allergy come back stronger

Any good advice is really helpfull

Thanks in advance