My larger dog accidentally ate my smaller dog's phenobarbital. Is it safe?

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.

Thank you for reaching out to Pet Coach. This should not be of major concern but may cause some mild sedation in your dog that ingested that dose unnecessarily. If your dog is on medications as well, phenobarbitol may or may not be OK to combined with those medications so that is something else to consider. As well as dogs that have decrease in liver function may process this drug a bit differently. If your springer is otherwise healthy and not on any medications, then sedation (if anything) may be the only problem.

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!

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.

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.

The risk of overdose is extremely small due to the range in dosing for phenobarbital. Discuss having the medication compounded into a more convenient form, such as a chewable, with your veterinarian. He or she may already work with a veterinary compounding pharmacy.

Hello. Phenobarbital can be absorbed very quickly, so it possible that some has already entered the bloodstream. If Luna's seizures have been well controlled up to this point, then missing one dose will not be harmful. Just redose at her next normal scheduled time. If she continues to vomit or act unwell, see your vet quickly to have her liver & phenobarb levels checked to make sure all is well. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.