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My dog has congestion and mouth breathing. Can I give Benadryl?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

I just found a dog on the side of the road, 5 days ago. He is very healthy all considering no illnesses aside from a salivary gland that was drained thru his cheek. He is taking amoxicillin 125mg bid for it. he's been suffering from congestion. Normally it's very mild but tonight he's been breathing thru his mouth and unable to breath at all thru his nose at times. Would I be able to give him benadryl? I tried using the bathroom as a steam room and I have a humidifier running

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Eryn Taormina, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on November 14th, 2018

Hi there! You can give him some benadryl (diphenhydramine) at 1 mg per pound. The tablets usually come in 25mg. You can go a tad higher too and it usually won't hurt anything. For example, if the dog is 10 pounds, I'll just have owners give 1/2 of the 25mg tablet which comes out to 12.5mg, or if the dog is 5 pounds, then 1/4 tablet which is 6.25 mg, etc. If your dog is really small, you can pick up the children's benadryl and use that to get a more accurate dose.
The benadryl may or may not help, but it can't hurt. I think it's worth a try until you can get him in to see his veterinarian again. I would have him seen though since he has started medications and it still seems to be getting worse.
Just be sure to check labels and make sure the only ingredient is diphenhydramine (or diphenhydramine hcl). Some of the benadryl products can have pseudoephedrine in them, and you don't want that.
I hope this answer was helpful! Best of luck!

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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