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My dog accidentally ate another dog's phenobarbital. What to do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Wrong dog ate Phenobarbital accidentally. Took one and a half tablets (16.2 mg tablets). What should I do?

4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Andrea M. Brodie, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on July 3rd, 2015

Unfortunately you do not mention the weight of the dog which received the phenobarbital. A normal dose would be 2-3 mg of phenobarbital per kg (2.2 lbs) of dog. If your dog is much smaller than 6 kg (13lbs) then you need to watch it closely for the next few hours. Your dog will most likely get very sleepy. If it sleeps so deep you cannot wake it up or if you think it is not breathing properly, you will need to take it to the emergency room. If the ingestion occurred within the last hour and the amount ingested was a significant overdose, you should consider taking your dog to the emergency vet so that vomiting can be induced to get the drug out of the system. Also if your dog has liver disease, please take it to the emergency clinic.

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109Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Other Answers

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    Answered By David Elbeze, DVM, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on January 1st, 2020

    There is no reason to worry if she only ingested this dose once, do monitor her as she may experience lethargy, dizziness and vomiting, if any of these symptoms seems to get severe or do not resolve within 12 hours - take him to your vet to get it checked.

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    Answered By Claudia Fioravanti

    Veterinarian

    Published on September 7th, 2017

    Are you sure that it is 1.5 gram ? If so yes I would advise you to make him vomit either yourself if you feel you can do this safely and effectively or by taking him to a local vet where sickness cane be induced just with a simple injection. The phenobarbital starts to have his effects within 4 hours so you have to be quick. Let me know if you need any more help or if you find that the tablets are a lower dosage. His starting dose would probably be in the region of 60mg, so one off administration around that dosage would be safe and wild just make him sedate, but 1.5 g. Is more than 20 times higher.

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    Answered By Amy S. Eutsey, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on June 23rd, 2018

    Hello. This is not a life threatening mistake. Your dog should be able to process and metabolize this medication without any serious issues. Since she is not used to taking Phenobarbital, it may make her drowsy for a few hours, may cause her to be thirsty, hungry or pant more than usual, but these effects should wear off as the medication gets out if her system.

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