Why is Apoquel so expensive?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, it works very well for our dog, but it's over $2/pill. Benadryl is less effective, but it's much cheaper.

Is there an alternative that works as well a Apoquel but is less expensive?

[Anonymous]

Have you tried a Cytopoint shot? It’s not inexpensive but you might find that one or two shots is all your dog needs. I want to say our vet charges maybe $70 for the shot, so not super cheap but for my dog, more effective than Apoquel.

[Anonymous]

We buy on chewy via the auto ship so it’s much cheaper than buying from the vet.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for cytopoint. We go every 6 weeks in late spring-early fall, then nothing the rest of the year. It’s a quick appt and very effective

[Anonymous]

The best remedy is a mix of Apoquel *and* Citopoint. I know that doesn’t fix your problem, OP, and I’m sorry. But, a mix of both is the only thing that helps my Bulldog anymore.

The vet said they both affect different things, so a combo is best.

Thankfully, I have Trupanion, so I pay only 10% of the total cost.

[Anonymous]

We're using Apoquel for our cat. Liquid form. Fun times.

[Anonymous]

Because there is no generic and it works so well.....Dog allergies are cytokine based instead of histamine based, so that is why Benadryl is not as effective.

[Anonymous]

We also use Chewy because it's convenient. You can sign up with Zoetis (the manufacturer) for rebates, although they send you a pre-paid Visa for vet care only. We do the monthly Cytopoint regime, too. Earlier this year our new vet dermatologist put our German shepherd on a lupus medication so we're doing a drug/shot combo that would cost about $150/month if we didn't have pet insurance.

[Anonymous]

I tried cytopoint for my dogs and swear it did nothing. The vet said it was rare for that to happen. I didn’t want to try apoquel because I didn’t like the potential side effects. We ended up doing a 30 day bath (bath dog every day for a month) with hibiscrub followed by an rx skin moisturizer for dogs and it worked to quell the allergic dermatitis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for cytopoint. We go every 6 weeks in late spring-early fall, then nothing the rest of the year. It’s a quick appt and very effective

Same. I think I pay about $129 for a 56 pound dog. He got one in March, one in June, and needs one again early September. This will probably be the last one he needs until next spring. He is fine in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried cytopoint for my dogs and swear it did nothing. The vet said it was rare for that to happen. I didn’t want to try apoquel because I didn’t like the potential side effects. We ended up doing a 30 day bath (bath dog every day for a month) with hibiscrub followed by an rx skin moisturizer for dogs and it worked to quell the allergic dermatitis.

Oh that's interesting -- the hibiscrub. Is that for animals or anyone? I have heard of hibiclens for humans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I tried cytopoint for my dogs and swear it did nothing. The vet said it was rare for that to happen. I didn’t want to try apoquel because I didn’t like the potential side effects. We ended up doing a 30 day bath (bath dog every day for a month) with hibiscrub followed by an rx skin moisturizer for dogs and it worked to quell the allergic dermatitis.

Oh that's interesting -- the hibiscrub. Is that for animals or anyone? I have heard of hibiclens for humans.

It’s an anti microbial surgical scrub I bought it in Walgreens. It’s for humans but it got the green light by the vet who said they use it in their clinic. I believe it’s the same product by a different name. It stopped the itching but you need to bathe them daily for a month and follow up the bath with a moisturizer.