My dog ate phenobarbital. Is this amount safe for my 7-year-old dog?

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.

A single dose for a dog half the bodyweight is unlikely to cause any significant effects. I would not be overly concerned but monitor for any nervous system signs and report to your vet if you notice any abnormal symptoms

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Opie will be fine. He may show signs of sedation, lethargy and sleepiness for 8-12hrs but there should not be any more worrying signs. Please, continue with the next dose of phenobarbital as normal.

Hello, thank you for your question. Without knowing the weight of your cat it is very hard to know what possible side effects are expected. Generally, phenobarbital when giving at a higher dosage than expected can lead to sedation. You may also notice that your cat is drinking/urinating more and has an increased appetite. If your cat develops any symptoms such as severe vomiting, sedation, weakness, or collapse I would recommend seeking veterinary care. Hope this helps!

Phenobarbital therapy in dogs is begun at 2 to 4 mg/kg twice daily. So for a 33kg dog that would mean 66 to 132 mg twice a day. We always try to start low and increase if needed but he was essentially really underdosed in the beginning with taking 30mg twice a day. He is now on a more appropriate dose. Sedation is normal when therapy is initiated but once the dog's body gets used to the drug (after about 2 weeks) he should become more like himself. If you are really worried, you can ask the vet to run a phenobarbital level blood test to see if his dosing is too high and it can be adjusted accordingly. Please be aware that dogs will never be completely seizure free even while on anti-seizure medication. Breakthrough seizures are common but they should be pretty infrequent. If he continues to seizure or does not do well on the phenobarbital there are other medication options so please work closely with your vet.

While you certainly could see symptoms at this dose it technically is within the dosing range. This dose of phenobarbital could cause sedation and/or lack of coordination. If Cinnamon seems very sedate or if she’s having trouble breathing you should head to an emergency clinic. If it’s at all possible that she ate more than one tablet or if you can’t monitor her through the night you may want to consider the ER now.

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Molly should take phenobarbital to avoid further seizures, which is a priority in this situation. You should continue with the dose she has been prescribed. Many dogs are lethargic after the first few doses of phenobarbital but then are back to normal. Please, get in touch with your vet on Monday to confirm that Molly is on the right dose of phenobarbital. If the lethargy and lack of appetite persists, your vet will likely decrease the dose or change the medication. Molly will probably stay on anti-seizure medication for life.