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Can a dog OD on benadryl?
My dog is being really weird. She started last night and this morning she's even more weird. She keeps licking her foot and I've seen her lick her vaginal area a few times. She's also dry-heaving. I'm not sure what's going on, but I was thinking about giving her a benadryl to see if that helps. The problem is that she's only 5 pounds and all I have at home are gel capsules so I can't cut it in half. Ideas or advice are more than welcome. I'm trying to avoid the vet if I can since I have a 6 week old baby at the house. Thanks!
Re: Can a dog OD on benadryl?
I suppose I didn't explain the weirdness very well. She's been licking/chewing on her foot since yesterday. I know she got a flea or 2 while we were at our IL's this weekend, so that's why I was thinking benadryl (the vet told me to do this with our other dog at one point). I don't see any other issues with it, but she was groomed yesterday and maybe a toenail was cut too short or something, I can't tell. The vaginal licking wouldn't concern me but it looks like she may have licked herself rather raw at some point, or possibly has a scab from something else, not entirely sure.
When she dry heaves there's nothing coming up at all. I keep waiting, but it's nothing. She was doing it pretty often for about 15 minutes, but now she's resting on her pillow. When she's not laying on her pillow she seems super restless, and that's unusual for her. She usually has some sort of goal or destination, but seems like she can't figure out what to do or where to go.
I'm going to try my best to watch for drinking and bowel movements, but with the baby I'm leaving the doggy door open for her in case she needs to go while I'm nursing or whatever. I'll be sure to offer a treat later to see if she'll eat it. She threw up some of her dinner last night so I'm going to pay close attention to her eating today.
Okay, that makes more sense.
Did all of these issues start after she was groomed? I might be concerned that she's having a reaction to something they used. Like PP mentioned, if she's dry heaving and threw up some of her dinner, AND she's itchy in multiple spots and restless, it sounds like it's a systemic reaction. If it's allergies, I'd think it was more likely to be something she ate to be affecting her like that, rather than fleas. But honestly I'd take her to the vet, especially where she's so tiny. But, I'm also paranoid. In the meantime, I'd just really make sure that she's hydrated - she can go without food, but water is essential. I'd still avoid the benedryl because other than the dosing issue (and yeah, i'd worry about giving a whole gel cap to a tiny dog), it will probably make her sleepy, and might mask what's really going on. Plus her stomach sounds like it's already irritated, and I'd think that wouldn't help. Maybe you could just call the vet, and explain the situation, and see if they have any advice?
Sorry - just guesses mostly. Any of those things on their own could be a symptom of something (dry heaving could be kennel cough, spot licking could be a flea bite, etc), but together it's hard to tell what's going on.