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Why is my dog's vet-recommended Zyrtec dose higher than a human's?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Golden Retriever | Male | unneutered | 1 year and 1 month old | 72 lbs

My vet just recommended Zyrtec for my 72 lb golden retriever at the dosage of three 10 mg tabs daily for 7 days. That seemed a high dosage but I read an online source that said 1 mg per kg of body weight so that checks out. Why would a 72 lb dog take three times the one 10 mg daily recommended dosage for full grown humans?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on January 17th, 2020

Your vet is correct in this dosage. Zyrtec dosage for a pet this size is a little over 30 mgs daily. : ) Pet dosage and human dosages are different based on our metabolism differences. Also your pets weight converted into kg's is 32.7 kg's. Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Take care : )

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