Apoquel

Karen from Totara Vale

Is anyone treating their dog with this drug? You need to do some research. My dog is now dying of cancer. Medium to high-grade lymphoma. All of her superficial lymph nodes are involved.

The vets sold apoquel to me as safe for breeding animals and those being treated with steroids. That is not true. According to Zoetisus.com it is not safe for breeding animals and has never been proven safe with steroids.
"—The use of APOQUEL has not been evaluated in combination with other systemic
immunosuppressants, such as corticosteroids and cyclosporine

APOQUEL is not for use in dogs with serious infections, or for use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs."

If it's not safe for a bitch in pup, or feeding pups why not??
As for steroids, if they don't know they should say so.
From their own blurb:
"After completing APOQUEL field studies, 239 dogs enrolled in an unmasked (no placebo control), continuation

therapy study receiving APOQUEL for an unrestricted period of time. Mean time on this study was 372 days

(range 1 to 610 days). Of these 239 dogs, one dog developed demodicosis following 273 days of APOQUEL

administration. One dog developed dermal pigmented viral plaques following 266 days of APOQUEL

administration. One dog developed a moderately severe bronchopneumonia after 272 days of APOQUEL

administration; this infection resolved with antimicrobial treatment and temporary discontinuation of APOQUEL.

One dog was euthanized after developing abdominal ascites and pleural effusion of unknown etiology after

450 days of APOQUEL administration. Six dogs were euthanized because of suspected malignant neoplasms:

including thoracic metastatic, abdominal metastatic, splenic, frontal sinus, and intracranial neoplasms, and

transitional cell carcinoma after 17, 120, 175, 49, 141, and 286 days of APOQUEL administration, respectively.

Two dogs each developed a Grade II mast cell tumor after 52 and 91 days of APOQUEL administration,

respectively. One dog developed low grade B-cell lymphoma after 392 days of APOQUEL administration.

Two dogs each developed an apocrine gland adenocarcinoma (one dermal, one anal sac) after approximately

210 and 320 days of APOQUEL administration, respectively. One dog developed a low grade oral spindle

cell sarcoma after 320 days of APOQUEL administration."