I have 5 dogs and 2 of them need Apoquel. One gets a lower dose, but today i asked for 60 pills per dog bc it’s a pain to drive out every month to get refills. For 60 pills, it costs about $135. Which means about $2.25 per pill. Both dogs had the same costs, even tho one is a higher dose. For me, the Apoquel does help, along with Temeril P every other day. My dogs have tried the cytopoint shots, but they were not helpful. So altho this is expensive, it helps.
I pay about C$2.00 per pill. Her per # dose is one pill a day but I give her half of that in the a.m. and while it lasts until bedtime, she’s beginning to need more - her right ear starts twitching, but she’s not scratching - but overnight she lasts until morning, so I get away with half a pill in the am. Such a relief to find something that works, isn’t it?
What is Temeril P ?
Temeril P is another allergy drug, and it has a little bit of Prednisone in it, i believe, which is the P part of the name.
It does have a very low dose of prednisone, typically provides more benefit than would be expected from such a small dose.
Apoquel is essentially the first of it’s kind product to come to the market. Supposedly very time consuming to produce, which adds to the cost. Life changing for many dogs with severe allergies, but certainly not cheap
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I have a large dog who has severe allergies and he has to have his Apoquel - it is the only thing that works. Honestly, the $49 I pay for 28 days worth of pills which pans out to $1.75/pill (during the winter I can usually get away with half a pill, spring/summer he gets a full one) is MUCH cheaper than all of my medications combined. It is also cheaper than having him get yeast infections, bacterial infections, etc when he is unmedicated and having to make several trips to the vet office and spend a lot on office visits and other meds. I don’t like having to shell out the extra $49/mo, but honestly I don’t find the cost to be that extreme especially for something that is cutting edge. Hopefully generics will come around eventually, but it is just the same as with human drugs. You’ve got to wait for the patent to expire.
Cytopoint is crazy expensive to me and had absolutely no effect on my dog. I wouldn’t waste money on that one.
I was able to wean my 50pound dog down from 1-16mg tablet to 1/2 of a 5.4mg tablet daily. I was a bit obsessive about keeping her away from her allergens, but she was maintained quite well on the tiny dose. YMMV.
My 50+ pound boxer gets half of a l6mg tablet once a day – perhaps I’ll ask for the smaller dose of Apoquel since I did not know they had one. We don’t know what her allergy is, probably grass! Can’t keep her off that.
Mine is allergic to all but 7 of what was tested… certain types of trees, grass, and weeds, human dander, lots of different foods, etc. Sadly, no keeping him away from all the allergens - but winter freezes do help him during that season. I might have to actually bump him up to a higher dose over the summer… he is already starting to itch more now that the grass is starting to turn green again. I can’t remember what dosage he is currently on, but hopefully it isn’t the highest so he can get more relief for the next 6 months or so til fall.
I had the same experience with cytopoint, no help at all. My guys issues are (fingers crossed) seasonal and I’ve been able to wean him off. It has been a great drug for him. Yes, expensive!
:eek: I pay $85 for 35 days.
My boy’s allergy cleared up nicely on prednisone but don’t want that to be a long term treatment.
The Apoquel does a decent job but he still looses his hair and occasionally itchy with darkened belly skin. No huge biting or scratch that I ever really see.
That Temeril-P sounds interesting.
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Prednisone does have side-effects you would want to avoid. But I did have an older white Bull Terrier who had pink skin and he was always so itchy rubbing his tummy raw, licking, scratching that I weighed one against the other and made him comfortable. Figured quality of life was better than the alternative for the dear old boy.
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Prednisone made my guy pee buckets. It was effective in the itchy department, but unfortunately the side effects weren’t out weighing that in the quality of life department. If only someone could make prednisone without the p! Have those of you using Temeril-P noticed it causing as much urination as Prednisone?
It is officially outdoor allergy season for my dog and I (bleh). I came home today to him scratching and slightly pink (he’s all white when not exhibiting allergy symptoms) so it looks like we’re officially back up to the full Apoquel dose. He is fine all winter on the 1/2 or 1 dose but spring/summer sometimes the full 16mg doesn’t work completely. I’m going to have to talk to my vet about what else we can do during the warm months. I don’t think there is a higher dose than 16mg.
My vet did suggest a larger dose for a week to try to break the cycle when my dog was licking her toes raw…it did let the paws heal up and then she was returned to the lower dose. You could try that as a tactic, Rock.
i had a Jack Russell who was so bad, he had to have prednisone almost daily. He had to be put down at age 13 due to renal failure, but the life he lived had better quality with the prednisone. It is so hard to have allergy dogs and watch them suffering.
Rockon-i have not noticed a problem with excessive urination, but i never noticed it with the JRT who was on rednisone. i believe it is all and individual thing.
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I’ll talk to my vet. Maybe it is something we can add in and just give it a go. I’ve had issues with Prednisone for both of the dogs I’ve had on it before… but hopefully if there is a small enough dose with the Temeril-P that it wouldn’t make a big diffference!
It really is hard to have an allergy dog. When it gets really bad I just feel so helpless and it isn’t like I can tell him “hey it’ll be fine, wait until winter and you’ll feel great again”.
My one allergy dog has allergis to dust mites and so in the winter she suffers from being inside. You can’t win. the combo of Apoquel and Temeril p has helped both my allergy dogs. They each get a daily dose of appoquel, and they each get half a temeril p every other day.
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My pet insurance covers apoquel. Thank god! Insurance is $25 per month and they cover 80%. Id ask your insurance company (if your pets are insured) to cover it!
Another itchy dog story here. Leon was on apoquel for about a year. It was a miracle. He scratched himself bloody and chews the pads off his feet before apoquel, so I was happy to pay the ransom for it.
Then it failed. No longer any response to it. Back to itchy, licking and chewing. Found a dog dermatologist in New Orleans that visits our local vet office once a month.
$700 worth of tests and scrapings and antibiotics and a single shot of Cytopoint later - perfect again. That shot lasted from Nov '17 until now. Today, $475 poorer, same tests, meds and another shot. By the time we made the 2 hr trip home he was already better. No scratching or chewing. Next shot will be scheduled in a few months, before he gets skin infects again.
This med Cytopoint is supposed to be safe, ie not an immunosuppressant that causes cancers to flourish. I lost one dog to Lymphoma from his steroids for itching, so I’m very paranoid.
Bottom line, ask your vet about Cytopoint.
Added* OP I see now you already tried Cytopoint. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. My vet suggested some sort of vaccine next if needed, I don’t know the name, sorry.
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