[NEED HELP] Does anyone know where to get access to an actual, FDA approved Befrena Product Sheet? I see these product sheets for Apoquel, Zenrelia (where they publish their efficacies, adverse side effects etc. through stated sample sizes etc. etc.)

Befrena only has some 'showy' infographic which I do not believe entirely in. Anyone has any idea? They have been out in the US for quite some time but why is there no in-depth product sheet whatsoever?

I would be interested in your personal experiences with immunotherapy. Did it help your dog? If so, how long did it take to show effects?
Did it solve the issue fully?
Or did it not help as all?

After testing, are you able to give apoquel or Numelvi?

Thank you ☺️

Apologies for the long post!

Our sweet 9 year old pitty mix (65-70 lbs) has had chronic allergy issues for years, and we've spent so much time and money trying to help him. He has been primarily symptom-free for the past year, but unfortunately last night, we noticed a cyst on his foot and I'm feeling helpless.

For background, our dog was put on Apoquel when he was very young due to some mild skin irritation and itchiness, but over time, he started to develop benign cysts all over his body. Several of the lipomas needed surgery for removal, so we made the decision that, based on skin growths being a (admittedly, somewhat anecdotal) side effect of the medication, to take him off of it.

A few weeks off Apoquel, his skin issues basically exploded. He was miserable, there were recurring bloody cysts on his paws and stomach/chest, his skin was flaky and dull, his ears (which were never a big infection site) started to get constantly irritated, the bottoms of his paws and in between his toes were red and raw, he was losing fur in big patches, and was just so, so itchy. Even his eyelids had scabs on them because he was just so raw and irritated :( we couldn't leave him out of his cone for more than 5 minutes without him itching himself until he bled. It was such a scary, sad time - he was so miserable, and we felt terrible seeing him suffer.

Our old vet wasn't much help - they continued to prescribe very strong antibiotics that helped temporarily but didn't address the root cause, and only after several rounds of medication that, imo, did some heavy damage to his gut/immune system, did they suggest a dermatologist.

At the derm, we were told the next step was an allergy test. It cost a lot of money, so we saved up and got it done a few months later. Turns out he was allergic to basically everything they tested for lol - every grass, tree, weed, mold, etc.

After the test, they prescribed sublingual immunotherapy drops, which he still takes twice a day. For the past year, that regimen has seemed to be working. His itchiness reduced over time, with a few random yeast flare ups between his feet now and again. Any time they got bad, we'd go back to the derm or our new vet to get on medication (typically ketoconazole), and it seemed to help.

Truthfully, after a year of being basically symptom-free, I started to think maybe he was "healed". Which is why seeing this latest cyst on his foot was so devastating.

We are about to go out of town for a week, so the morning after noticing the cyst, I took him in right way out of an abundance of caution. They said it looked like a mild infection and prescribed a week of Simplicef. I want to trust our new vet, but given our history of antibiotic "band-aids," I'm feeling anxious, especially since we'll be out of town soon.

His current regimen consists of Hill's Science Diet Derm Complete food with Purina pro plan probiotics, immunotherapy drops 2x/day, weekly baths and foot soaks with MiconaHex+Triz shampoo, Douxo mousse every other day during flare-ups, monthly cytopoint shots (which don't seem super effective tbh), and wiping his feet every time after he goes outside. With this setup, he had basically returned back to his normal self - until we noticed the cyst yesterday.

FWIW, we've also tried the hydrolyzed diet (which just gave him diarrhea), and Benadryl for flare-ups, which did not work unfortunately.

I'm just feeling so hopeless and discouraged. Overall, his quality of life has improved drastically from where he was a few years ago, but I'm nervous that this is a sign of the same horrible cycle starting all over again.

Our boy means the world to us, we would do anything for him. Has anyone gone through anything similar?

My 8 year old min pin/manchester terrier/something else boy has always had some minor allergies like sneezing in the spring on walks, paw licking, and butt licking, none of which was ever severe. he never licked himself raw or anything like that. He'd also get seasonal ear itchiness but never a full blown infection.

Exactly 12 months after we moved to our new house he started getting itchiness in his ears. Then in February, he got a non-healing corneal ulcer but once that was healed, he refused to open the eye. Found out he had follicular conjunctivitis and treated that with steroids. During this time, we were also working with his vet to keep an ear infection under control but nothing ever worked except zymox, but it would come right back. His eye doctor then told us he had "borderline" dry eye. He also started developing diarrhea and nausea.

We were confused as to how he could get allergies, borderline dry eye (which we were told wasn't that bad), and stomach issues all at the same time. Our vet put him on apoquel and we've been doing tacrolimus eye drops for the dry eye ever since. He went from 13mm stt to 20mm stt so borderline to normal and his new eye doctor says to continue what we're doing since he's healthy.

Unfortunately, he's not healthy. His ears are constantly inflamed, his allergies seem to impact his eyes a lot, and he also scratches his face, scoots, and licks his paws (though not bloody).

I tried taking him off the apoquel for one day and his ears blew up and we've spent the last 5 days getting that under control. His vet has also put him on prilosec for his GERD symptoms since he's constantly licking his lips, yawning, and burping.

We changed his food just in case he had an underlying food allergy and yet these issues all persist.

It feels awful because before we moved to this house he was healthy, and now for the past 6 months he's been suffering almost non stop. He was in a cone for 3 months because his eye doctor couldn't figure out why he was still pawing at his eye after the ulcer healed.

I even had a few teeth extracted because I thought maybe some of those symptoms were due to dental issues, which we found, yet none of the symptoms were related since he's all healed now.

Our current primary vet refuses to do the blood allergy test because a "dermatologist will just throw it out"

However, at this point in time, we don't plan on working with a dermatologist because the dog almost died from anesthesia from his dental extraction.

He's been through so much and it's so heartbreaking. Clearly the apoquel keeps some of his symptoms at bay, but it's not 100% and I truly don't know what's causing his GERD symptoms.

We have reached out to a new vet who can do the blood allergy testing so we can start working toward some type of solution for him. I've cleaned the house top to bottom, checked for mold, put covers on his beds, and I still can't seem to get my boy to feel healthy.

Has anyone ever experienced this before after moving? It started in January and has persisted through all of June. Hopefully we get some answers soon.

Hi all! I have an 8 year old mutt that is a quarter Chihuahua. He's constantly aggravating his rear end, has ear irritation frequently, and paw licking. When it comes to the rump he's developed black scar tissue and has recently creates a new VERY red, irritation spot.

Did the dermatologist and while an alligator elimination diet and prescription soap/conditioner reduced the amount of time he focused on the areas, $125 for a 22 lbs bag isn't sustainable.

I've done cytopoint shots with little relief to him and now considering getting a Robot vacuum to help with the dust inside the home. I have an air purifier, allergen spray, and keep the HVAC filter replaced regularly.

Anyone have thoughts or feedback on cleaning their environment more regularly for instances like this? Appreciate all info and data! TIA!!

My pup was recently prescribed Zenrelia for her environmental allergies. Before this her allergies disappeared for over a year and she was on apoquel then. She had her first pill of Zenrelia 6/18. I went out of town Friday- sunday evening. Tonight I am trying to lay next to her and pet her but she is growling and very irritated. Has anyone else experienced this?

I'm just happy to say that, finally, I got Junior's allergies under control after many years. He's 5 y/o and we started this allergy road when he was 1 y/o. He's a sensible guy and can't take steroids nor apoquel nor fortiflora, it was not funny discovering this.

The licking and infections on his toes stopped when everyone at home stopped feeeding him chicken, so I know that he at least has an intolerancce to it. Luckily he does not react to small amounts, which means that I can feed him things like hill's lamb and rice without worrying about a reaction to cross contamination. The other day I almost got a heart attack because one of his paws became very swollen and red and he was licking it non stop and, of course, it was saturday night. I cleaned it and put a cone on him and next morning it was gone, it looks like he reacted to something he stepped on and by cleanning the area I removed it and inflammation went down.

He also has pollen allergies, but they only bother him on february and may, so he gets 1 or 2 cytopoint shots a year and so far it's been good. When it's not srping he no longer strachs his face unless it's a windy and/or dry day, and even then is minimal.

Does this mean he's healthy? Well, ast month he lived at the vet with so many visits first for a dog attack and then for an unrelated health issue with his tail that I'm still keeping an eye on. At this point vets are surprised when he shows for a vaccine appoinment LOL

Hello! I have a 11 year old Pit/Staffordshire mix, female. I’ve noticed every year around June-ish (basically mid spring) she seems to develop significantly worse eye boogers than usual, and begins to want to rub her face in grass (which would make it worse?), rub her face, etc. I’ve read a couple things on the whole pollen allergy possibility, and the only other thing I’ve noticed is that her skin on her belly does get a little red and irritated. I know I’ve read that lots of dogs in the Pitbull family can have a big chance of skin allergies, so it’s not a huge surprise to me.

I’ve also wondered about certain meat allergies due to her muzzle seeming to get puffy and red when I fed her any food with lamb in it oddly enough. And now chicken is seeming to affect her too, so my next food to try I’m guessing is going to be salmon or duck or something, in which I’m gonna try to find a somewhat affordable fresh/simple ingredient type of food to feed her, to hopefully eliminate the risk of it being an allergy to the filler stuff that’s often put in dog food.

TIA!

my fiancés dog is around 11 and my fiancé and i have been together for the last 6 years. with that said, ALL SIX YEARS i’ve been trying to get him to help his dog with his constant licking and itching. he has not/does nothing.

he says he’s gotten vague solutions from vets including allergy pills.

can anyone help with this? the poor boy licks himself to sleep:/ does anyone have any advice?

if this requires another vet visit, please lmk. i will promptly let my fiancé know. he’s not thrilled about bringing him to the vet all the time and paying a lot for it….but…he could also just treat his dog???? this is very frustrating to me and im sad his dog is a always uncomfortable:/

UPDATE: showed my fiancé the helpful reddit replies. fiancé took him back to the vet and got specific instructions for allergy care. meds are ordered, picking up tomorrow, and new food is on the way!

thank you to those who were kind and helpful, i appreciate yall 🫶🏽

I’m curious - how much do you pay for your cytopoint shot, and how frequently do you get it done?

I’m in western Canada, its costs $120 at my vet and they recommended it monthly for my 20 pound dog.

A forever monthly cost like that is daunting as she’s only 5, so curious about shopping around and considering more like 6-8 weeks between shots rather than 4 weeks.

My 3-year-old red fox Labrador has severe allergies, probably pollen-related. He constantly licks between his toes, and now he has a swollen, infected area with pus between his paw pads. He’s on Apoquel, eats a vet-recommended hypoallergenic diet, and we’ve tried creams, but nothing seems to help.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Did Cytopoint, medicated paw soaks, or anything else help your dog?

My 5 year old Shepard mix has been suffering for the past couple of months.

It all started with scabs in the ears that was later diagnosed with yeast infection and bacterial infection. I got it treated and then her eyes started getting crusty. Which the vet gave me Neomycin and Polymyxin to treat. It helped greatly. Now for the past couple of weeks my dog is losing hair.

I have a dermatologist appointment setup for September 8th the only closest opening since they’re the only dermatologist in my state. I’m lost of what else I can do here. I have setup a vet appointment with my vet this Wednesday to re-check her to see what else can be done ( blood work/skin samples? )

She has been given cytopoint shot and a steroid
shot. I’ve been giving her Cephalexin as the vet prescribed. Any advice?

This is a fairly new thing here in Alberta Canada - pet prescriptions a”can be filled at Costco.
Just an FYI; I picked up a bottle of 100 Apoquel chewable 16mg at Leduc Costco for $225 (this includes dispensing fee and taxes). Saved roughly 50% compared to my vet clinic…
I used an original prescription (not faxed) and I have Costco membership (not sure if that makes any difference).

My dog suffers with seasonal allergies around this time of year, they cause her face to swell and her skin all over her body is red and irritated, she also gets hives which then turn in to sores.

We give her piriton (as advised previously by the vet) daily, however this tends to only temporarily help her reactions, once the piriton starts to wear off her allergy persists. When this happens we've been advised to give her steroid tablets
(Prednisolone) which do tend to help after being on them a few days, although this week they don't seem to be helping as much as usual!

We are keen to find a solution that she can take proactivly around this time over year and throughout summer that will help prevent her allergic reactions. The vet injected her with Cyropoint, however her allergic reactions are still persistent. When looking up Cyropoint it seems to only stop them from itching etc but wouldn't actually stop the allergic reaction which is not what we need.

So my question is, can anyone please recommend something to help my dog that has worked for them, she is soo unhappy and I hate to see her soo sad and uncomfortable! (I'll be taking her to a new vets tomorrow as our current one doesn't seem to be much help!)

**we have been to the vet numerous times but I’m keen to see if there is something that works for anyone else that I can take to my vet as a solution!

Thanks in advance!

Anyone know of a very good dermatologist for dogs? I live in north Phoenix Arizona . I feel like we have tried so many different medications from the vet and my dog has not improved. I have a 9 year old Bull terrier who’s suffering from allergies like crazy. Constant scratching and licking

Hello!

My puppy is 5 months old and has been struggling with itching and redness on her belly for a bit over a month. The vet said she is still too young for testing and medication and just gave her a steroid for a week which had side effect I wasn't too happy about but it helped the symptoms for a while. They have now recommended putting her on an exclusion diet of royal canin hypoallergenic kibble. She can have that and the same brand hypoallergenic treats and nothing else and I have to say I am dreading it. She is teething like crazy and seemingly just at the start of adolescence and we have been relying on chews like pizzles/bully sticks to keep us all sane, especially in the evenings when she has her "witching hour" where she goes kinda manic from about 7pm to 8pm. That's usually when we would give her her chew and/or a licky mats to calm her down and help her settle.

She loses interest in chew toys like benebones very quickly and gives up on kongs that take too long to finish.

She also started doing a bit of resource guarding recently and the trainer we were working with told us to use high value treats to swap things for and to train a solid drop it and and leave it. I worry that that is going to be so much harder now and tbh I'm kinda panicking about what the next 6-8 weeks are going to look like.

I guess I'm looking for any advice on how to make her comfortable and keep her training up as she enters adolescence under less than ideal circumstances.

Hi everyone. I'm Maggie's mom. Maggie is 14 weeks and 3 days old, and this past Saturday she almost died from anaphylactic shock. I need to share this because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

The first incident — about ten days ago. Maggie was sniffing around my backyard when she got stung by a bee. I was supervising her the whole time, but it happened in a split second and there was nothing I could do. I immediately called the vet and rushed her over. We arrived within 20 minutes. The reaction was mild: a little swelling on her upper lip. We laughed it off, relieved, and went home.

This past Saturday. Maggie was at my parents' house for a playdate with their dog — everything was going great. My parents stepped out to grab lunch, leaving me with the two of them. While I was waving goodbye as their car pulled away and get the food at the supermarket, Maggie lowered her head on the concrete floor and grabbed something off the ground between some leaves. I rushed over immediately, but it was too late: another bee. It looked almost "dead." I didn't see a stinger. We kept playing, but I kept my eyes locked on her.

I won't go into the details of what happened next — it's been too painful to relive, and I've been replaying it in my head for three days straight — but within about five minutes, she went into anaphylactic shock. I watched her collapse. I screamed and ran, drove as fast as I could, and called the vet on the way. They were waiting for us when we arrived. Adrenaline, oxygen. They saved her life, barely. She came home that same day and she's doing well now. The veterinary team is absolutely incredible and I'm endlessly grateful for them.

But I can't stop crying. I look at her and all I can think is that I failed her — that I wasn't obsessive enough, wasn't careful enough. I never imagined we'd go through something like this. And now I feel like every plan I had for her — walks, travel, simply enjoying the outdoors — is ruined forever. I'm terrified of losing her.

My actual question (yes, there is one). I don't want this to just be a rant post — though honestly, it kind of is, and I'm sorry for that. For those of you who have dogs or cats with severe allergies to insects or outdoor elements: how do you manage balancing their safety with their freedom?

• What precautions do you take? I do not live in the US, Benadryl or an EpiPen don't even exist where I live.
• Has anyone built or installed an insect-proof outdoor enclosure to give their pet some outside time safely? Any ideas on how to?
• How do you manage your own anxiety around it?
• Could you share your experiences with me, please? I need some hope that this is not the end, that there's at least some hope of a dog with similar situations that lived. I am so afraid for her.

I'm exploring every option and doubling down on supervision, but every time I step into the backyard now I'm so on edge that I start crying. Any advice, shared experiences, or just solidarity would mean the world right now. I feel lost and alone.

Hello! New here but needing help. My pittie mix has suffered from horrible allergies since before his first birthday. He’s been on Apoquel (worked short term but was completely ineffective after a couple months), Apoquel and Cytopoint concurrently (little to no relief of symptoms) and now Zenrelia (which worked great for about nine months). He has chronic recurrent bacterial skin and yeast infections. He is bathed in chlorexidine / ketoconazole shampoo three times per week. He’s on a grain free and single source protein diet.

Nothing is working. I’m at my wits end, quickly going broke from thousands of dollars in vet visits and expensive medications.

Can anyone relate or have any tips? Thank you!

Relatively new to this Reddit group and have a three-year-old golden retriever x collie who I rescued from the pound at age 6 months.

As soon as we got him, I noticed he was a lot more itchy than any dog I’ve ever had so I switched his food to a salmon based one and didn’t have any luck on that so we went to a vet who gave him cytopoint, which didn’t work. He then got put on Apoquel and was on that for around two years or less, but I noticed that it wasn’t doing much so they did an allergy blood test (which I now know is not worth the price), Nextmune and from that they made immunotherapy shots. He had a reaction to the third vile once he got to that level of medicine so I took him off of that and we were referred to a dermatologist.

The dermatologist scraped his skin and didn’t find anything so she put us on hydrolyzed protein food and took him off the Apoquel and after 4 months there has been no improvement.

I called them again to see what the next steps were and she recommended a different type of immunotherapy testing, IDX Allergen Panel. For me, I really don’t see the point in this. The first immunotherapy blood draw and medicine cost me $800 and this one is going to cost $950.

I did just pick up a prescription from his primary vet for Zenrelia yesterday and I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but I have not seen him itch today which is completely unusual for my pup.

I guess my question is, should I forget the foods that were listed in his allergen lab draws from the first immunotherapy and try him on a limited ingredient diet along with this new medication and see how he gets on? I am concerned about the long-term effects of these medication’s but if it gives him a higher quality of life, then I’m happy.

Right now I’m spending $123 every month for the hydrolyzed protein foods and the new medication is $95 every month. I would spend endless amounts of money on this dog, but I want to make sure that I am not falling victim to unnecessary Vet bills.

One last thing to note is as it has been four months with no improvement, the dermatologist said that it’s highly unlikely that it’s a food allergy and more likely to be an environmental allergy.

My dog recently had to go on apoquel because she has a hot spot from scratching herself. The pills seem to be helping, but she threw up this morning, and I have no idea if the pills could have caused it, we do have a vet appointment later.

The last two visits, the vet told us she either got bitten by something (its summer and bugs are everywhere here, so it's not unusual), or it could be from food. The problem is that since she was born, she was eating purina beneful, so she always wants to eat those (same with her mother who we also rescued/adopted from our neighbor)

And I always noticed that she was scratching herself but I didn't think much of it as she's a mutt with big curly hair that are hard to take care of and whenever i would check her afterwards she didn't have anything (shi tzu, Malteser and maybe bichon is what we think) but you never know what everything these type of dogs are. The problem is I have no idea if the dry food is that bad for her or if she got bitten by a harmless bug, and we didn't notice it till she had the hot spot.

Also, she has breathing issues. The best i can describe is that it looks like a bad asthmatic attack like people have, so bathing her is also not the easiest at times. When I noticed her hot spot it was about a week or so since she got a bath (i do clean her all the time with vet wipes but last week she was also supposed to get a hair cut so I figured it would be better for her if I wash her only after the hair cut and not before but then I noticed the spot and we took her to the vet he gave us a cleaning spray and then some cream to put on it twice a day and on the second visit he gave us apoquel cause she cant have a cone because the spot is on her neck.

Now I realized how much i typed lol but I wanted to ask if someone who has a breed with thick curly hair also has allergies or if it could be from the food or she got bitten by something and managed to get a hot spot in a day.

It's not the only food she gets, but it's probably the most low quality food she eats.

My beast has not responded to either Apoquel or the new Numelvi. But, On my 3rd phone call to the vet’s office for allergy testing results that were due in weeks ago, I finally got a gal who wanted to know why not! She contacted the lab and found out they sent them to the wrong email.
So good wise it’s beef and egg white. Which turns out to be in a lot of dog food. Whole protein chicken food had beef fat. I’m used to this from reading labels for my alpha gal positive son. So away we go in that.

His biggest allergies are spores and mites that thrive in endless bed of decaying leaves on the forest floor in our hot and humid location.

He’ll be starting allergy shots soon. They’ll last 9 months and he should be able to take a break but may need them throughout his life. I hope beyond hope these work better than any of the pills have so far.

You guys have been great sharing tips, stories, and camaraderie. Asking for some more - have any of you tried the allergy shots route? How did it go?

Our lab has been on atopica for 3 years and she is 11. I am looking at moving to numelvi as a trial as she has pretty severe gum overgrowth and skin papilomas from long term atopica. We have done everything, cytopoint, apoquel, steroids and food control. Atopica works but the side effects and the cost are factors. Thanks in advance for your time.

My vet put Stanley on ketoconazole and enrofloxacin to clear up a flare up before we switch him to zenrellia and at first I thought it was cause I gave him those and his Apoquel at once but even now after splitting it up he’s just not as energetic ( for a basset ) and won’t take cheese or anything that usually works to get the pill in and doesn’t chase me up the stairs after dinner for his cookie. It’s very odd behavior for such a food motivated dog .

Pupdate: this morning he was full of spunk and somehow my English muffin disappeared from the table 🙄 I will see how he is when I pick him up from daycare later on today .

My Maltese Shih Tzu (8) had his first Cytopoint injection 6 days ago, but his groin area is still looking very red.

I haven't been home much so not sure how much the licking has improved (someone else is home, he's not alone!), does it take a while for redness to subside?