Chewable Dog Medication Sends Two Cats Into Kidney Failure

SATURDAY, Aug. 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Two cats were rushed to a North Carolina veterinary hospital after eating dog allergy medication and suffering serious kidney damage.Both cats recovered with dialysis, but experts now warn that chewable Apoquel, a drug meant for dogs, could be dangerous — even deadly — to cats.Dr. Tyler Johnson, a fellow in advanced emergency and critical care at the N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, said both animals developed acute kidney injury and needed hemodialysis, a process in which blood is filtered when kidneys are not working normally.“Previous reports of very high ingestions like this have resulted in death,” Johnson said in a NCSU news release. “The incidence of Apoquel ingestion-related toxicity has increased at our hospital since the release of a chewable formulation that, for some reason, cats seem to be inclined to eat. Both of the cats we treated actively sought out the medication.”Apoquel is used to treat itching and inflammation in dogs. The drug recently became available in a chewable pork-liver flavored tablet, which, it turns out, cats also find appetizing.But too much of the drug can cause kidney injuries in cats, and what quantity constitutes "harmful" is currently unknown.Symptoms can include vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, facial swelling, and liver or kidney damage.In severe cases, cats may need to be hospitalized and treated with hemodialysis.“We believe that households with cats should rely on the original, nonchewable form of Apoquel or be extra diligent in keeping the chewable form away from their cats,” Dr. Shelly Vaden, a small animal expert at N.C. State, said.At N.C. State’s veterinary hospital, each cat received four dialysis treatments. This helped their kidneys rest and recover, Johnson explained.“I don’t think that our treatments for either of these cats did anything to remove the medication that they ingested, but what it did do is support their injury well enough that they were able to have a pretty quick recovery,” he said. “What we essentially did with dialysis was intervene for the kidneys that weren’t functioning well and allow time for those kidneys to recover enough to heal themselves.”One of the cats, named Cheese, had been given decontamination treatment at his local vet but was still very sick and needed more care.“In the future as an older cat, he might have kidney disease, but right now it’s like nothing ever happened,” Johnson said. If your cat swallows a potentially harmful number of chewable Apoquel tablet:Call your vet right away.Decontamination may include inducing vomiting and giving charcoal.Severe cases may need hospitalization or dialysis.Johnson is writing a case study on the two cats, which he hopes will guide future treatment protocols.“The scientific literature is very sparse,” he said. “We talked to poison control centers to see what they have amassed, and they will follow up with some of these cases to understand what happened to them. That’s where a lot of the information is coming from right now. Our case study demonstrates, at least for two animals that were severely affected, how we can successfully support them through it.”More informationPet Dermatology Clinic has more on the side effects of Apoquel.SOURCE: N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine, alert, Aug. 5, 2025 .What This Means For YouIf you have both cats and dogs, talk to your vet before bringing chewable dog medications such as Apoquel into your home..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Chewable Dog Medication Sends Two Cats Into Kidney Failure

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