How to Pre-medicate Dogs Who’ve had a Vaccine Reaction Before Their Next Vaccine

What you’ll need:

• To know your pets body weight in KILOGRAMS
• Regular Strength Benadryl (pill form, 25mg tablets) or Children’s Benadryl (liquid form, 12.5mg/5ml), ***NO EXTRAS/”Plus” anything!*** i.e. ingredients on bottle should be Diphenhydramine HCl!

If you already know your dogs Benadryl dose, please give the prescribed dose of Benadryl by mouth the night before and the morning of their vaccine appointment, you will need to continue this dosing every 8 hours for three days (yes, you pup may be sleepy from the effects of the anti-histamine).

If you don’t know your pets Benadryl dose, the best thing is to see us to help determine your pets “target body weight” (which I base all my drug calculations off of) or if we have a current body weight we can help with this calculation over the phone (call us at 587-635-5333). If you have all the information and feel comfortable calculating the dose at home please see calculation below.

How Calculate Benadryl dose: current body weight in kg of pet x 2 and then x 4 = low and high end of DOSE RANGE in mg of regular strength Benadryl (I usually shoot for the middle, but ultimately the dose given will determine on how well the pills split etc.). ECVC or a pharmacist will help you do this calculation, if you’re unsure DON’T PUT YOUR PET AT RISK, CALL US. Repeat this dose every 8 hours for at least 48 hours and up to 72 hours as directed by your veterinarian after each vaccine is given. Remember to use regular Benadryl with no other additives.