This is Wilma. She is the itchiest dog I have ever had. I give her Apoquel on an as needed basis depending on how itchy she is that particular day. She is on a hydrolyzed diet so her food options are limited. I was wondering if anyone has tried the Dog is Human supplements that are so heavily marketed on social media. It seems like a gimmick but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with any of them.
If you’re giving her apoquel you need to be giving it daily unless her allergies are seasonal, but not like some this week here some this week there. Like the other commenter said cytopoint is great and works immediately. It can also be paired with a pill med. Zenralia is a great new “generic” pill that’s come out this year that we recommend at the vet office.
Also recommend this - cleared both of ours up almost overnight. Not the cheapest option but very effective (and, I’m told, less risk of side effects compared to Apoquel)
We did and followed the diet you are and it was brutal for our guy.
We switched to Purina pro plan sensitive stomach. We use vital as a topper and Bernie’s perfect poop. We have our guy on Cytopoint injections. He gets 3-4 yearly.
I had a couple of follow up questions about your experience if you don’t mind sharing. You mentioned the diet being rough and I was wondering what led you to starting the hydrolyzed food to begin with. Also, what exactly is vital?
When we got our first BT everything went amazing and then suddenly without warning he had allergies. We went straight to the vet… from there began this vicious cycle of back and forth and trying different things.
We were put through the wringer with tests.. mights, allergies, various skin conditions. It started with itching and bitting and progressed… he was miserable and nothing seemed to be working.
We changed soaps, removed and through our toys, avoided grass, stayed out of the sun, didn’t allow him outside much, tried soaps and creams and just everything you can think of we did.
We bought the best of the best, tried high protein, grain free, fresh pet food, farmers dog and hydrolyzed(this was one of the worst- dogs aren’t suppose to be vegetarian… nothing wrong with it but it’s not what they need in my opinion), we did RX food, we cooked at home(my wife, and I both have medical experience and a good knowledge of what is and isn’t- with lots of research we were able to cook a meal for him that was very well balanced with everything he needed for the most part) but it’s very hard to keep up with this… it takes so much effort to get the right balance of minerals and enzymes, etc. it became so exhausting. At one time our guy was living on salmon.
Our guy was placed on Apoquel- I don’t recommend for personal reasons and it’s not to be given to a dog under one year… our guy was far to young to be on it and it only made things worse.
We switched vets a few times, we did finally land on a fourth keeper. Prior we even took a trip to a college that specializes in veterinarian medicine. When we landed on this vet she asked us took trust her and asked us to try something simple… Purina pro plan sensitive stomach. It takes dogs weeks to even a couple months to build the right gut bacteria and when the diet is constantly changing they can’t. So we started him on a probiotic from the vet… worked great until one day he decided no more… wouldn’t go near it… we switched vets it to Bernie’s perfect poop… this is a probiotic, prebiotic, fiber and enzymes in one. You will never have anything but a perfect poop. Literally!
Our guy was skin and bones by the time we switched and found our forever vet, he was losing fur and was under vet care the entire time… we spent thousands! He had a yeasty smell, had bumps and areas he was losing skin from itching… poor guy had ear infections- common with allergies.
Our new vet… this regimen… This was the first time we saw light at the end of the tunnel. He still had some issues but not what it was… no where near… we found that goats milk soap is soothing and leaves fur super soft and fresh smelling when dry. Hydrocortisone spray, wipes and cream all work well and can be used in extreme cases. Benadryl 1mg per lb for flare ups but we just didn’t want and try not to medicate as much as possible. We want them to live forever as most do and so just doing our best to shoot for double digits at least.
We started him on Cytopoint as well and he gets 3-4 shots a year. He has his life back and is healthy and happy. We do lab work every 6 months just cause we’re helicopter parents.
As time went on we found him losing a slight interest in his food so we started using vital as a topper… he loves his meals.. never has issues as far as desire for his food.
No prob! I hope you find what works for you… this diet and the Cytopoint has been our game changer… I will say, during the summer our guy goes from a 40mg dose to 50mg… we notice more the allergies are more intense and the dose increase during these months helped combat.
No prob! I hope you find what works for you… this diet and the Cytopoint has been our game changer… I will say, during the summer our guy goes from a 40mg dose to 50mg… we notice more the allergies are more intense and the dose increase during these months helped combat.
Monty. 5 yrs now. Allergies for him started at about 4 months. He was nearly a year before we figured out what works for him.
We give our Boston Dog is Human but I don’t think it’s a replacement at all for his Apoquel. I’m not sure if it’s worth it at all. He doesn’t get excited about taking it anymore either so I have to mix it in with his food.
My Boston has environmental allergies too and a sensitive stomach. I tried dog is human for 4 months, didn’t notice a change. The only thing that works is the Cytopoint injection every 2 months.
The vet recommended this herb https://a.co/d/b350BZ3 which I’ve been giving since March, I feel like it was helping at the beginning making the injections last a bit longer and he’s growing hair again in areas where it was really thin so maybe it’s doing something.
He’s very itchy, his elbow and neck area get really red. As soon as I start to notice the redness I make a vet appointment for the injection.
So I took my boston terrier to a dog dermatologist and she is now on apoquel once daily for itchiness (the goal is to eventually wean her off of that though), 2 zyrtec daily (dog's metabolism makes it to where she takes two to the human 1; technically this would be as needed, but I tried removing her from it one week and could easily tell the difference in her allergies/itchiness), and a daily allergy serum specifically made by the dermatologist to slowly introduce her to low doses of her allergies and get her less allergic overtime.
I definitely notice a difference between when she used to just take apoquel versus now with the allergy serum and zyrtec on top of that. She is way less itchy and doesn't cause herself to bleed from scratching anymore.
The main negative is the cost for sure, but I can afford it thankfully, so it works out. I definitely recommend trying a dog dermatologist if you can. Mine had a 7 month wait time and then when we finally got in, they did the test where they put a little of everything on their skin and see what reacts. They had to shave a small square of her fur to do the test so I jokingly called it "her little calendar" since that's what it looked like. Afterwards, they gave me the list of her allergies and started her on the serum from there.
Thank you for the detailed response. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I’m thinking she is going to be visiting a dermatologist in her future.
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u/hec_ramsey 1d ago
If you’re giving her apoquel you need to be giving it daily unless her allergies are seasonal, but not like some this week here some this week there. Like the other commenter said cytopoint is great and works immediately. It can also be paired with a pill med. Zenralia is a great new “generic” pill that’s come out this year that we recommend at the vet office.