My dog has allergies. Which is better: allergy shot or pill?

The shot was likely cytopoint. Depending on the dog sometimes the shot works better and sometimes the pill works better. I even have some patients that need both to help control their allergies. If you feel like the pill worked better then I would contact you vet for a prescription of apoquel for her as well. I think it is perfectly safe for her to have apoquel on a long term basis as long as she has no other medical issues. You can talk to ypur vet in more details about whether or not she is okay to stay in apoquel long term. I hope this helps!

This is so frustrating! Luckily, there are some wonderful options for allergies. I would ask your veterinarian about the apoquel pill. Unlike anti-histamines, it does not cause drowsiness and is very effective for many dogs with moderate to severe allergies. Another option that is pretty new, but one of my personal favorites is the cytopoint injection. This is an injection given under the skin every 4-8 weeks as needed. It is not a steroid (in fact it is just a protein) so it has no effects that we know of on the internal organs. It also does not cause any sort of drowsiness. It is also very effective for environmental allergies (but does not seem very effective for food allergies). Since this one is newer, you may have to call around to find a vet who carries it. Best of luck to you and your fur-baby!

I would recommend the following to see if you get improvement without having to get these allergy shots. These can be quite beneficial and I've seen many dogs on these alone for allergy relief. 1. Douxo Calm PS shampoo 2. Essential 6 spot on by dermoscent 3. Krillex krill chews 4. Redonyl ultra soft chews I hope this helps! You can also use an antihistamine such as Benadryl along with all of these if the symptoms are still bad. ( https://www.petcoach.co/canigive/dog/benadryl/ )

Thanks for visiting Petcoach. It sounds like your vet would like to start allergy shots. In the past these have been utilized with some major challenges for pet owners. They can take anywhere from 6-12 months or longer to work in many cases, they can fail, and the pet will continue to have outbreaks that must be treated as you go along with the shots. Many owners today elect to go with an allergy pill (Temaril-P or steroids shots (Depomedrol) for cats) as needed to help reduce the symptoms of their pets allergies. Also trying Heppa filters in your home as well as minimizing dust by periodic cleanings can help remove the stimulus altogether. I would elect to treat as needed and since steroids are well tolerated in cats, it is not a bad start to helping maintain Apple's allergies. I even have some cats who can go 1-6 months in between steroid shots, so they can be few and far between. You did not mention a food allergy or having done a food trial as well. This can rule out concurrent food and environmental allergies. Here is a website link that can help you get started. https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951526 This should be done too because if there is also a food allergy present, this will likely cause continued allergies despite your other treatments. My top hypoallergenic food to try is Royal Canin Rabbit and Potato or Royal Canin Ultamino. Discuss this option with your vet and see if you'll can come up with an agreement that is feasible and can produce the best results for Apple's ongoing allergies. Best wishes and take care.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. Allergies can be quite annoying for the pet and pet owner so I am sorry to hear you are going through this frustrating condition. If you have not tried the Cytopoint injection, I would give this a try. It is a fairly new treatment and it is an antibody that is being injected to block one of the factors that triggers the allergy cascade (that is the simplified version). Check out the cytopoint website and see for yourself and ask your vet about this. You may need to go see a veterinary dermatologist. The allergy shots you speak of are a hit or miss in my experience with most patients not responding very well unfortunately. Heska runs a allergy panel called Allercept and provide you with vaccines against the found allergens. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this with Sarge. Allergies can be just miserable for everyone involved. Allergy hyposensitization injection can take up to 12 months to work, but it is less likely that you will see a significant improvement if you haven't seen anything after 6 months. I am including more information on allergy injections below. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2430 Apoquel is certainly expensive, but steroids are not, so you may consider steroids temporarily. You may also ask your veterinarian about a Cytopoint injection which will be more expensive than steroids, but might be a better option. https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/cytopoint/ Unfortunately, allergies are going to be a lifelong problem for Sarge if you are dealng with environmental allergies, so it might be worth the time and money to consult with a veterinary dermatologist to find the best long term solution for Sarge. Hopefully you can find a dermatologist near you here. https://www.acvd.org/tools/locator/locator.asp?ids=16_Find_Dermatologist Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Hello, and thanks for your question about Mya. Allergies are very common in dogs, and they can be frustrating to control! I recommend asking your vet about Cytopoint, which is a monthly injection, and Apoquel, which is a daily pill. These are very effective non-steroid allergy medications that can either be given individually or (in more severe cases) together. For young dogs like Mya, I usually prefer the cytopoint injections, and then add Apoquel if necessary. If the a strict feeding trial with the Royal Canin Ultramino diet didn't help, then her allergies are less likely to be related to food, and are more likely environmental. Of course, also make sure she's kept current on a high quality flea/tick preventative, to make sure an external parasite can't be complicating things! And if a skin scrape has never been done, that may be advised as well - I've had skin mites get misdiagnosed as allergies before! If it comes to it, I've certainly had patients who did best on steroids - and that can be done pretty safely if you're weaning to the lowest effective every-other-day dose. Hopefully this helps! Of course, I'd defer on all points to a vet who has seen Mya in person!