
07/01/2025
Hi!
I wanted to share with you a very interesting case I had today that impressed me and maybe it might be a good case for you to read and share concerning Allergies and Apoquel😉
A previous employee of mine contacted me at 1230 am on Saturday because she was very concerned about how aweful her pet was doing.
Long story short at another clinic the pet was put on prednisone ( 1 mg/kg bid which is kinda a high dose ) and antibiotics for allergies and it significantly got worse. The vet then changes antibiotics but kept pred the same …
They came to me and the dog was dragging its face along the chair, our legs etc. , skin was bright red, thickened, raised lesions, severe on abdomen and muzzle and around eyes.
Anyways, as you know I have long appointment times so I gave her 16 mg of Apoquel after I took the history ( the case didn’t really make any sense but I still believed it was allergies/atopy ) and then I did the normal
appropriate diagnostics, took more in depth history and was looking at skin cytologies and skin scrapes, etc.
Around the 35-40 minute mark, we were still talking, making a plan, reporting results, preparing meds to go home and I noticed the pet was resting quietly/peacefully. It was a huge change from the beginning of the appointment and for a second I was worried, lol.
She was getting relief that quick.
First time she felt relief in 3 weeks.
Anyways, she doesn’t have mites or fleas and I changed antibiotics to a completely different class and gave her injectable Cytopoint and sent her home with some Apoquel to use for the first week or so depending upon response. …. I told the owner if we didn’t see significant improvement in the next 24-48 hours I wanted her back for a full work up, cultures, lab work, biopsies, X-rays etc…..
Here are her photos from 4 pm today
Then
There are her photos from 4 hours later! Owner says she is happy and resting !!! And has felt good since the appointment. I am going to keep an eye on her and check in tomorrow. I have adjusted her Apoquel dose down to once a day since she is super improved ( initially suspected we may need twice a day ) but of course knowing it is not long lasting will adjust upwards tomorrow if needed while the cytopoint is kicking in …
It’s just one of those cases where you can’t help but be impressed