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Can I give my dog Benadryl and Melatonin together for storm fear?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | American Pit Bull Terrier | Female | spayed | 5 years and 6 months old | 51 lbs

Can I give my dog Benadryl and Melatonin for anxiety at the same time. It’s raining really bad and hard. Hurricane Delta is heading out way.

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on October 8th, 2020

I'm sorry that Belle is suffering from some anxiety. Unfortunately Benadryl can have the opposite effect on dogs; instead of sedation, it can make them more anxious. In addition, I cannot legally recommend giving her either drug without seeing her in person. Put her in a dark quiet room by herself to self-soothe. You can also turn on the TV or music to block out the sound. One important thing to do to when your dog acts scared is not to reassure her. We think we are comforting her when we do that, but it's actually reinforcing the behavior and telling her it's ok to be scared. Give her vet a call to see if you can get something prescribed to help with her anxiety. Best of luck.

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2Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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My 8 pound girlie mix is a little over a year old and terrified of storms. Ice given her half of a children's benadryl but it's not helping to calm her. Can I give her more? If so how much? Half was given nearly 2 hours ago. Thank you Tanya Doyle
Benadryl is a very safe medication but I can't legally give you a specific dose because I haven't seen your pet in person. However, if your dog has severe anxiety in the face of storms, benadryl is not an appropriate medication to use because it is not designed for anxiety/fear/stress--it is an antihistamine for allergic reactions. In the future, you need to visit your veterinarian and ask for anxiety medication like Lorazepam (off label) that works very effectively for this purpose. Benadryl will likely never work well for your dog for this purpose.
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My dog has anxiety seeing other dogs. He isn’t aggressive, he just wants to play. He whines, and sometimes barks but very rarely. We have a trip to fly to Vegas this summer. I heard Benadryl is safe for him for anxiety and motion sickness. Is this co
I find that for over the counter products, melatonin works much better than Benadryl for most dogs in my experience. The product I would recommend trying for Marco is NaturVet Quiet Moments Calm Chews with Melatonin, which can be found online or at your local PetCo quite easily. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.
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Hi, my husky has anxiety when it comes to loud noises and has developed a fear of the vet as well where she gets paranoid and a bit aggressive making it difficult to preform tests that she needs. We typically give her a benedryl before bad weather/fi
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So I have two dauschunds one has a bit of anxiety when it comes to loud noises. With Fourth of July coming up what is best to give her? I have heard Benadryl or melatonin. Which is better for them?
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It's pouring rain all day today and my 11 year old dog is showing fear. How can I help her?
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Hi I have a question is all dogs afraid of thunderstorms because Zoey she has me up right now because of it and my nana's dogs are afraid of thunderstorms. Is there anything that I could give them amd it taste good to them over the counter Thank you
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Hello. You would need to give a lot of Benadryl to calm a dog, & even then, it probably would not work. I would try to make sure that your appointment is at as quiet a time as possible. Call ahead to make sure there are no unexpected wait times & that you can get in & out as quickly as possible. Bring a highly valued treat, even if it is cooked chicken or a can of CheeseWhiz & give him plenty of treats going over. Make sure the technician takes a few minutes with Lance to get to know him & feed a few treats. The same goes with the veterinarian. Bring enough to share. If this is a pleasant experience, while it will not take away all anxiety, it will help in future visits. If Lance just goes ballistic, then reschedule the visit & ask your vet for some Trazodone that you can give 30 minutes before the visit. Hopefully, things will go smoothly. Thanks for using Boop by Petco.
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My dog suffers from extreme anxiety. I hate the idea of putting him on an anti anxiety prescription. I have read about melatonin for anxiety in dogs. Is this safe to try first?
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