Ketoconazole Safety-Dr. Doug and Others

[Crowe]

Jesse's skin continues to be an issue. Atopica stopped working completely and the Apoquel isn't working as well as it used to. Our vet gave him a shot of Convenia yesterday as his skin is infected and he doesn't tolerate antibiotics all that well, and wants us to start him on Ketoconazole for a few months to see if that helps his skin. I know in humans that Ketoconazole can cause liver failure but from what I've read this is rare in dogs. Thoughts, comments, etc. are encouraged and welcome!

[skipro]

One thing that has helped our dog's skin issues is feeding him Dionvite. Adding this to his food has helped with so many issues. The fur came back on his tail, coat is soft and full, and his energy level is up.

[Crowe]

Have you tried Benadryl?

In the past but it didn't appear to help much. It could be I didn't wait long enough. Probably a good idea to try again.

[Edd505]

Have you tried Benadryl? I have a service dog allergic to way too many things. Dr. put him on Apoquel + Benadryl nightly, one tablet per 50lbs. Use an Allow soap, don't recall the name right off.

[Crowe]

Thanks Dr. Doug! That helps my comfort level. The old biddy pharmacist gave me a 10 minute dissertation about its dangers even after I told her it wasn't for a human.

Tacswa3, Jesse doesn't itch much despite the skin issues but thanks for the info on the shampoo & Cytopoint. He's on a "lopsided" dose-he gets 1/2 a big pill and 1/2 a small pill so unless I cut them into quarters it will be hard to split the dose.

[Tacswa3]

I have a dog that is allergic to virtually the outdoors and indoors. Have battled skin issues with him for a long time and (knock on wood) he doing good now. I got allergy testing done to find out what exactly he is allergic to.

I too experienced Apaquel losing its effectiveness. Try giving 1/2 a pill in the morning and the other half in the evening for a more "spread out" effectiveness. I bathe him once or twice weekly with Malseb shampoo. That really helps with yeast/fungus and finally what I found is the current ticket is a new injection out called Cytopoint. Safer then Apaquel and works for 6-8 weeks against itchiness. I should add he is on weekly allergy shots as well.

[dturm]

I've used ketoconazole fairly regularly while in practice and with careful monitoring I haven't encountered many issues. It certainly can help with the chronic skin that has secondary yeast/fungal component.

Doug, DVM