Weight-based dosing

How much CBD for your dog?

Slide to your dog's weight. We convert the doses used in actual clinical trials — not marketing suggestions — into milligrams, milliliters, and drops.

Dose calculator

Anchored to published trial doses — not vet advice

Your dog weighs

30 lb

4 lb120 lb

Starting dose

— mg

First week — twice daily

Begin low to check tolerance (soft stool and drowsiness are the common early signs).

Standard daily

— mg

Ongoing — twice daily

The range most controlled trials used for daily support (1–2 mg/kg).

Single event

— mg

Once, ~2 hours before

The dose the separation & car-travel trial used (Hunt 2023). Test it on a calm day first.

With a bottle:

standard daily dose ≈ — mL (— drops)

Sources: 1–2 mg/kg twice daily (Gamble 2018; long-term safety at 4 mg/kg/day, Bradley 2022) and a single 4 mg/kg pre-event dose (Hunt 2023). Start at the starting dose for a week. Talk to your vet first — especially alongside other medications. See the studies.

The full weight table

Doses in milligrams. "Starting" and "standard" are per dose, given twice daily. "Single event" is one dose ~2 hours before the stressor, from the Hunt 2023 protocol.

Dog weight	Starting (0.5 mg/kg)	Standard (1.5 mg/kg)	Single event (4 mg/kg)
5 lb	1.1 mg	3.4 mg	9 mg
10 lb	2.3 mg	6.8 mg	18 mg
20 lb	4.5 mg	13.6 mg	36 mg
30 lb	6.8 mg	20.4 mg	54 mg
40 lb	9.1 mg	27.2 mg	73 mg
50 lb	11.3 mg	34.0 mg	91 mg
60 lb	13.6 mg	40.8 mg	109 mg
80 lb	18.1 mg	54.4 mg	145 mg
100 lb	22.7 mg	68.0 mg	181 mg

Three rules that matter more than the exact number: start at the low end for a week and watch for drowsiness or soft stool; give it with food (absorption is far better); and talk to your vet before combining CBD with any other medication — CBD competes for the same liver enzymes many drugs use.

Written from primary literature by the research desk Every claim cited & graded Updated July 6, 2026

Dosing questions

Why does the calculator dose by weight, not by product?

Because every clinical trial doses in mg per kg of body weight. Product labels ("for small dogs") are marketing simplifications — a 6 lb chihuahua and a 24 lb beagle are both "small" and need very different doses.

How long before a stressful event should I dose?

The separation/car-travel trial dosed 2 hours before testing. CBD reaches peak blood levels in dogs roughly 1.5–2 hours after oral dosing, so plan backward from the fireworks or the car ride.

With or without food?

With food — especially something a little fatty. Canine studies show substantially better absorption when CBD oil is given with a meal rather than on an empty stomach.

How do drops convert to mg?

A standard dropper holds ~1 mL ≈ 30 drops. Divide the bottle's total mg by 30 to get mg per mL, then by 30 again for mg per drop. A 600 mg / 30 mL bottle is 20 mg per mL — about 0.67 mg per drop. The calculator does this for you.

/// with food, not on an empty stomach /// peak effect ≈ 2 hours /// start low, go slow /// vet first if on other meds