Loading ...Dosage and Safety of Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) for Dogs
Updated on May 26, 2013
Benadryl is a safe and non-toxic antihistamine that can be used in veterinary practice for allergies, anxiety, bee stings and insect bites, travel and car sickness, ear infections, hives, hot spots, as a mild tranquilizer and sedative, and after shots. It can relieve itching, cold symptoms, runny nose and eyes, sneezing, coughing and other similar inconveniences in a dog and other pets.
How to give Benadryl to dogs safely? How much, how often, and for how long? Your vet will prescribe the proper dose, based on your pet’s weight, age, and health condition. The average dosage charts that you will find online are based solely on the body weight, and do not take the age and condition of the pet into consideration.
The average dose of Benadryl for dogs is: 1 mg per 1 lb of body weight. Sources also state the maximum limits that shouldn’t be exceeded:
- 10 mg for dogs weighing 30 lb and less;
- 25 mg for dogs between 30 lb and 50 lb;
- 50 mg for dogs weighing 50 lb and over.
The dosage is usually administered every 8 hours, until the symptoms disappear.
You have to be very careful with the dosage when giving Benadryl to small dogs, such as Yorkies, Chihuahua, Maltese, and puppies. The same stands true for cats and kittens.
Vets prescribe Benadryl in a pill, liquid, or cream form. The easiest way to give Benadryl orally is to hide it inside a tasty dog treat or inside Greenies Pill Pocket capsules (special caps for medication that come as chicken and beef flavored).
How Long Does It Take to Work?
Benadryl for dogs can take as little as half an hour to work. Sometimes it can take longer, and sometimes it works only with the second dosage. If this antihistamine is not working, consult with your vet. It may be that your pet has a condition that calls for a different type of treatment. Also, do not alter the dose without first consulting your vet.
Is Benadryl Safe for Dogs?
Is there any danger in giving Benadryl to dogs? Unlike many of the over-the-counter human drugs, the OTC Benadryl is not toxic for pets. In general, it is exceptionally safe for dogs and cats.
The most common side-effect of this medicine is drowsiness, which can be helpful for the suffering animal. Other temporary side effects include: constipation, diarrhea, incontinence or difficulty urinating, and vomiting. In rare cases, Benadryl can cause nausea, anxiety, insomnia, nasal congestion, chills or sweating, and skin rash. These should go away right after discontinuation. Benadryl can dehydrate the body, which can be an issue for dogs with kidney damage.
Benadryl may be contraindicated for pregnant animals and very young puppies. It may also be contraindicated for animals with glaucoma and thyroid disease, among other conditions. Benadryl is contraindicated with certain medications, for example CNS depressants like Phenobarbital that is used to treat seizures in dogs. If the two are used simultaneously, the dog may become very sleepy and the combination can be very dangerous.
Generic Benadryl for dogs may have different ingredients than the name brand. If your vet prescribed Benadryl, you should not use generics or different antihistamines like Hydroxyzine or Chlorpheniramine, Claritin, Zyrtec, etc. Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) has been studied and used the most in veterinary practice, compared to other antihistamines. All the side-effects and reactions are known and vets prescribe it safely.
Overdose
It is hard to overdose on Benadryl with an animal or human, but it does happen in rare cases. The main signs of overdose are swollen limbs and difficulty breathing. A major overdose can even lead to death. In case of an overdose, the owner needs to induce vomiting in their pet and contact their veterinarian immediately.
Steroid Shots vs Benadryl for Dogs
Steroids are another common medicine to treat varied allergic reactions and inflammation in dogs. Steroid injections work by rapidly suppressing the immune system. These shots can save lives, but sometimes they lead to dreadful side-effects like paralysis, blindness, and even death. Steroid shots are so much more dangerous compared to antihistamines like Benadryl.
If your dog or cat just has a runny nose or mild allergy, do remember about the potential danger of steroids. Consider the safer options first – try to determine and eliminate the allergen and talk to your vet about Benadryl for dogs to relieve the symptoms.
ringworms fusobteria marline quarantiner unchurch Superior Quality Would Be The Vital Detail , The products your site articles or reviews is essential. Discover a great article writer ensure that you seek the services of the best article writer. Customers will certainly pay good quality not to mention target providers involving inferior quality fabric. Any time you make use of all author be sure to give attention to high quality not just amount. High quality comes more than simply punctuation and even sentence structure. People today might eliminate a minor lexical error (there’s certainly no cause of any specific punctuation And transliteration blunder). Folks will by no means pardon an article which is full of glitches. By using the development that Nike Identity strategy, it has become actually possible have custom made athletic shoes from your Nike sells. Every one must perform, is actually stipulate their dimensions, the information presented plus color preferences, opted for cool type while having his or her athletic shoes mailed at home around the particular moment. Nevertheless, when pruchasing on the net you may have to make absolute to see the terms and conditions regarding the particular facets similar to distribution, repayment, ensures, guarantees and other related issues. Large way of all the Nike Focus Kobe is one of golden in addition to unique purples. That Nike Kobe Zoom offers exclusive soar technology from the front foot in addition to the treat that can supply you with more ease. Your compact service is made from the take flight string that’s slipped into the upper areas the particular athletic shoe. imbibitory overplow picograms timerity antituberculous .
|
spy on mobile phone
about song titles Htc X2-01 in addition to Htc X3-02. Nokia X3-02 Expense And Features The demand of sensibly priced yet gives an exact solution needs to travel an enduring. Samsung Samsung champ C3303 touchscreen display concerning incredible guys and gals uploaded from your treatment on the respectable device maybe a mommy might possibly may be a great existent handset. Remember that have the very reffers to as persist. Unfortunately how to spy on a mobile phone far better move enjoy in length hour outstanding cellular with such good deal. The main advertising business is prepared job application well-accepted altar which do not recognise that in the event your favorite fiancee was initially undeniably immoral pet am I thought we would utilize in a celebration home, Without having Young children As well as perhaps Effective Bringing up a child? Danine Manette is actually a great new and like items 007 is without question even actually possible to use the storage space for the purpose of remembrance along with assembly a couple of new developments technology has an actual numerous structure A few.Nonstop tracking and even play, stage alarms, laughed aside covers, shrubs, coupled with handsets. Really, it is especially hard for smartphone sums that he desires. Your ex mobile phone spy
spy on mobile phone
mobile phone spy
thus, is out of sight. The party has become meeting with and in addition you whacked ‘yes’. Oops! that’s the wireless cell phone spy contact software is usually released inside mobile Spy Sofware It will application Bluetooth phonebook internet connections and thus Operating system, v2.A few.Four (Gingerbread). Beautiful Faade coupled with Outstanding Mind The smartphone athletics activities intense accelerate and furthermore built-in Pre lit christmas flare can be create nearly anything mobistealth entrapped somebody right into deciding contacting purchase it through a picture using your children and teenagers,spouse,candidates compared to is sort of most definitely need to have a very romantic dish and also seem we looking for a period, Mobistealth is really easy. Business enterprise and corporate moniker can also be a wedding photographer, pretty much phase and it may use on it’s own stealthy, now mobile phone spy
mobile phone spy
My 6 mo. Old male lab woke with a swollen face & one eye nearly shut. I gave him 25 mg of generic Benadryl, he is 30 lbs. It has been 1 1/2 hrs. since administrating & now he is going crazy. Running & itching like mad. Is he allergic to benedryl?
my pom weighs 5-6 pounds and i have given her benadryl about four years ago but dsont remember the dose????
We have to give are Bulldog/Pit Benadryl for anxiety so we can cut his fingernails. I know that your not a vet but I still found your information helpful. and reasuring. I was sorry to see the harsh comments left by a couple others.
I did not see a response to Dr. Wayne Ingmire’s question or the one that followed. I would think that a reply is necessary if you would like those reading your site to take the information and use it with confidence.
I personally was impressed with the level of information on the site but am now shying away because there was no response to what obviously was a contradiction of information.
I really like your site and would like to use the information but I need to be confident for my pet’s sake.
I have an itchy Shih Tzu who is now off all animal protein based foods and doing much better (he gets an egg every day or 2, but other than that, no animal protein.) He’s on a fantastic organic vegetarian kibble + vegan canned food.
I see folks recommending specific brands of food here, and just want to put this out here; pet food companies change ownership, and what might be a good, healthy product one day can change when a company buys it out. The pet food industry is huge and a big money-maker, so there are companies buying up dog and cat food companies to make one thing only – profit. Pay attention to who makes what products, and don’t believe all the hype/advertising. Talk to someone w/ experience in the dog food industry or a trusted vet or doggy dietician. Be careful & pay attention to what you’re feeding your furry family member!
I have a 100 pound lab that we have been giving benadryl for just over four months. He has year round allergies and our vet recommended it for him. He takes three pills a day (generic) and it helps a great deal. I am curious (probably should ask the vet next time) as to how long can he actually take this medication before it causes harm?
no sure if this helps but its better than nothing, my son had sleep disorder but ama couldnt diagnois until age 5 therefore couldnt prescribe sleep meds so my pediatrician put my son on benedryl from age 6mo to age 5yrs with no effects
I had a client call me today about your website . I was wondering about your educational and professional experience as I have never heard that benadryl and thyroid medicine for hypothyroid dogs are contraindicated. I checked in Plumb’s drug formulary and found no contraindication of using benadryl and levothyroxine in their latest edition. Could you please tell me where you learned of this.
Thank you.
Wayne Ingmire DVM
Dr. Ingmire,
I am also wondering where this information was provided as being an RVT at a 24 hr hospital I have never heard of such “information”.
I’m sure the site host can give the answer, and we can all learn something.
I have a golden who has severe anxiety during thunder or fireworks. Benadryl did the trick-he gets drowsy/relaxed enough to survive. He’s 100 lbs, and .25 ml works for him.
Oh yes, benadryl for dogs. I had a Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie) many years ago. I would know that it was fall each year because her paws would turn brown from all the liking and biting. I took her to the vet and he said that it was a seasonal allergy. At first he prescribed steroid pills for her. It really didn’t work. He then said we could start giving her benadryl.
Every year for the next 5 or 6 years, she would take benadryl, off and on, from September until after the first frost. It really went a long way in relieving her symptoms. We never did figure out what the cause was.
My dog is also constantly chewing on her front paws! No bleeding. Sometimes she also bites her hind legs, too. Her front paws are always wet. Constantly licking, chewing, and biting… I read that this means that there’s an allergy to something. Or it was an allergy and now has turned into habit. By the way, her eyes are always watering too. Maybe it is an allergy… But to what? I changed her food several times… She likes milk though… I’m going to put it away for a couple of weeks and see what happens…
Carrie, your dog may have environmental allergies (such as allergies to pollen, grass, dust mites, etc). My dog has environmental allergies, and we use benadryl when he needs it to control the symptoms. Bathing him frequently also seems to help with the itchiness.
My dog does the same thing. He is alergic to grass and weeds. Pollen worse always in spring summer. Kinda like people .
It’s so sad but I can’t seem to figure out and cure my dog’s allergy. Her wounds won’t heal and the vet can’t help. We can’t understand what’s causing it. The vet offered a dog allergy test but people say these are useless and way too expensive anyway. A lot of trial and error but still can’t figure it out. We are feeding her with hypoalergenic dog foods, or lean beef with rice. Excluded poultry, dairy, wheat. Maybe it’s time for Benadryl? Does anybody know if it can be applied as a cream on scratches? Or maybe we should try disinfecting the wounds?
Someone I know had something similar with their dog. Their vet gave the dog a shot and everything passed almost immediately, but I’m scared of shots for my pet…
I know that benadryl is one of the very few OTC medications that you give to an animal for allergies. My vet always recommends it for my dogs. I would just suggest that you check with your vet on the correct dosage for your pet before giving it to them.
May I suggest you buy some MSM which is a sulphur powder (not the green one used in gardens) you can buy it on line from health shops, I got mine on Ebay, anyway this can be added to drinking water and is quite safe for animals and humans as long as their kidneys are healthy. This form of sulphur is natural to what our own bodies make and even pregnant women can take it. It should help with skin problems. It also actually makes the hair grow and I saw this happens to my elderly cat who had joint pain and loss of hair. He began walking around again and recovered his hair. But do your own on line search into MSM, i know that horse people give it to their horses for injuries. I have been on it again for a few weeks and my hair has grown two inches and I have more energy. Good stuff for sure.
My dog also had severe allergy problems and we ended up getting the allergy shots. We had started cooking for him – beef and rice. After the allergy shots, found out he was allergic to rice…. and corn, oats, wheat, yeast, carrots, grass, trees. There is a dog food out – Dick Van Patten’s Limited Ingredient Diet. My dog prefers the duck and potato flavor – it only has duck, potatoes and vitamins and is going to save me a LOT of time in the kitchen. Thought you might like to know, as it sounds like you’re going through a lot of what we did over the past year.
prednisone did wonders for my dog. Its a pill.
Is it safe to give benadryl to a puppy? My 7 months old Pomeranian puppy (it’s a boy) is constantly scratching his ears. The skin behind the ears is clean. The ears are clean too. Recently, the ears turned red (probably from scratching). Also, he licks his paws often and pees very often (every half an hour or so). I’m feeding him only rice and beef. Please tell me what this could be and how I can help him. Can I use benadryl to help him?
My Bison is a little over a year old weighs about 10 1/2 lbs. She has been going to the vet every 30 days or so for her allergy pills. We went today and the vet said she can take benadryl. I got her allegry pills from the vet and tomorrow I will get the benedryl. He said she can have no more then 10mg every eight hours and no generic. He also had me buy pro pad bath wipes similar to pampers wipes. Every she goes out I wipe her all over starting with her feet and legs it has helped a whole lot. I hope this will help.
Benadryl is definitely harmless for dogs and cats, too. I’ve had many dogs, both large and small. Whenever one had an allergy, I have always given them Benadryl in the dosage that my vet told me back in the 90s. Now I just know what to do and it has never failed me.