convenia injection and Apoquel tablets
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convenia injection and Apoquel tablets
has your dog been injected with Convenia, what were the side effects? what are your thoughts. My dog has a rash under his legs and arm pits, the area is very hot and has yellow secretions, and the nearby areas has dry yellow flakes. The Dr. suggested convenia injection twice a month and two capsule daily of 16 mgs of Apoquel. He diagnosed it as "environmental allergies"?
I appreciate your thoughts and shared experience.
I appreciate your thoughts and shared experience.
Re: convenia injection and Apoquel tablets
Better of course to find and avoid the source of the allergy if possible. I have no experience with those drugs but would make every effort to figure out what the dog is allergic to.
Re: convenia injection and Apoquel tablets
We are currently dealing with an allergy in our 9 month old chow puppy as well. We've just begun a "food trial" wherein we've chosen a limited ingredient food (only has one source of protein - lamb) and it is the only thing he can have for a month or two & we will closely watch for signs of improvement in his itching. If it improves, we will know that we are indeed dealing with a food allergy & to avoid any of the protein sources he was previously on as one of them must have been the ingredient he is allergic to. His issue is presenting itself in his paws - excessive licking & chewing of them.
Until we identify & remove the allergen from his diet or environment, he is on Apoquel to subdue his urge to chew & lick his paws (he chewed a small wound in 2 of his paws so it is necessary to subdue the symptoms until we can eliminate the allergen). I am only speaking from our research & information our vet acquired for us from convening with a dog dermatologist & also a vet that is employed by the manufacturer of Apoquel, who was involved in their research studies. It sounds like that is a very heavy treatment plan for your chow. I have not heard of the convenia injections but Apoquel is a very strong drug by itself. It is an immunosuppressive drug, so it is literally suppressing your chow's immune system so that is does not have a reaction to the allergen - i.e. cause your dog to be itchy, etc. In Apoquel's research studies they found that it permanently weakened the immune system of young dogs when given in heavy doses. I'm not sure how old your chow is, but given that knowledge I would be conservative regardless of age. We have landed on a treatment plan of 2 pills per day of Apoquel (16mg) for the first 3 days, and then reduced to 1 pill per day (given half in the morning & the other half in the evening). After 3 days of 2 pills per day, his symptoms were completely gone & we were easily able to reduce it to 1 pill per day. We hope to only need this for a 2 weeks to a month at most until we identify the allergen to eliminate.
We've done a lot of research to try to figure out what he is allergic to and there are several questions I'd encourage you to think about before deciding that is is definitely an environmental allergy because there are SO many other potential causes.
- Depending on the climate you live in, did the symptoms appear & continue through 2 different seasons? (Our chow started showing symptoms in winter when the ground & everything outside was frozen & all bugs & plants were dead, and they continued when Spring started recently)
This eliminated the possibility of an outdoor allergen for us because he's had the issue during both Winter & Spring
- Have you considered having a "skin scrape" test done? They do this to test for any possible mites, etc. that could be the cause.
- Have you considered trying to transition your dog to a limited ingredient (1 protein- different than any your dog currently eats) dog food to see if that resolves the issues?
If you'd like more info on how this "food trial" works feel free to send me a message & I'd be happy to provide more detail
- We spoke with our chows breeder today & they mentioned the possibility of yeast being the issue. We've not had time to look into this yet very thoroughly, but something you might want to look into given the secretions you mentioned your chow has.
- Have you used any new carpet or floor cleaning products recently in your home? Some dogs are allergic to household products inside the home
Sorry for the lengthy response but I understand what a complexing issue a dog allergy can be and how difficult it is to identify with SO many possible factors. That is why I encourage you to value the information your vet gives you but also to challenge & question the reasoning behind your vet being set on an environmental allergen if no testing or trials have been done. It would be much more beneficial in the long run to determine & eliminate the allergen than to keep your chow on long-term maintenance drug regimen, especially with strong ones such as Apoquel.
Best of luck to you & your chow.
Until we identify & remove the allergen from his diet or environment, he is on Apoquel to subdue his urge to chew & lick his paws (he chewed a small wound in 2 of his paws so it is necessary to subdue the symptoms until we can eliminate the allergen). I am only speaking from our research & information our vet acquired for us from convening with a dog dermatologist & also a vet that is employed by the manufacturer of Apoquel, who was involved in their research studies. It sounds like that is a very heavy treatment plan for your chow. I have not heard of the convenia injections but Apoquel is a very strong drug by itself. It is an immunosuppressive drug, so it is literally suppressing your chow's immune system so that is does not have a reaction to the allergen - i.e. cause your dog to be itchy, etc. In Apoquel's research studies they found that it permanently weakened the immune system of young dogs when given in heavy doses. I'm not sure how old your chow is, but given that knowledge I would be conservative regardless of age. We have landed on a treatment plan of 2 pills per day of Apoquel (16mg) for the first 3 days, and then reduced to 1 pill per day (given half in the morning & the other half in the evening). After 3 days of 2 pills per day, his symptoms were completely gone & we were easily able to reduce it to 1 pill per day. We hope to only need this for a 2 weeks to a month at most until we identify the allergen to eliminate.
We've done a lot of research to try to figure out what he is allergic to and there are several questions I'd encourage you to think about before deciding that is is definitely an environmental allergy because there are SO many other potential causes.
- Depending on the climate you live in, did the symptoms appear & continue through 2 different seasons? (Our chow started showing symptoms in winter when the ground & everything outside was frozen & all bugs & plants were dead, and they continued when Spring started recently)
This eliminated the possibility of an outdoor allergen for us because he's had the issue during both Winter & Spring
- Have you considered having a "skin scrape" test done? They do this to test for any possible mites, etc. that could be the cause.
- Have you considered trying to transition your dog to a limited ingredient (1 protein- different than any your dog currently eats) dog food to see if that resolves the issues?
If you'd like more info on how this "food trial" works feel free to send me a message & I'd be happy to provide more detail
- We spoke with our chows breeder today & they mentioned the possibility of yeast being the issue. We've not had time to look into this yet very thoroughly, but something you might want to look into given the secretions you mentioned your chow has.
- Have you used any new carpet or floor cleaning products recently in your home? Some dogs are allergic to household products inside the home
Sorry for the lengthy response but I understand what a complexing issue a dog allergy can be and how difficult it is to identify with SO many possible factors. That is why I encourage you to value the information your vet gives you but also to challenge & question the reasoning behind your vet being set on an environmental allergen if no testing or trials have been done. It would be much more beneficial in the long run to determine & eliminate the allergen than to keep your chow on long-term maintenance drug regimen, especially with strong ones such as Apoquel.
Best of luck to you & your chow.