Is There an Ozempic for Dogs?

There is no FDA-approved Ozempic, Wegovy, or any other GLP-1 receptor agonist for dogs as of April 2026. Veterinarians cannot legally prescribe human GLP-1 medications to dogs. The dosing, safety, and metabolism are completely different between species. The closest things in development are two separate cat trials: Okava Pharmaceuticals' OKV-119 implant (the MEOW-1 trial, an exenatide-releasing implant) and Akston Biosciences' AKS-562c, a once-weekly GLP-1 Fc-fusion injection running at Cornell University. Dogs are the next planned species for both companies, but there is no announced clinical timeline yet.

If your dog is overweight, the question every vet will tell you is the same: it's almost always a calorie problem, not a metabolism problem. A weight loss food, portion control, and structured exercise solve the majority of canine obesity cases. The minority of dogs who need medical intervention have other underlying conditions (Cushing's, hypothyroidism, pain limiting movement) that need their own treatment, not GLP-1.

Why You Can't Get Ozempic for Your Dog (Yet)

Semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) is FDA-approved for humans only. Three reasons it isn't prescribed off-label for dogs:

1. Species-specific dosing has never been studied for dogs. Human dosing scales by body weight, but GLP-1 receptor density and incretin response differ significantly between species. A 'safe' human dose could be sub-therapeutic or unsafe in a dog of any size.
2. Pancreatitis risk requires careful evaluation in dogs. Dogs are predisposed to pancreatitis, particularly certain breeds (Miniature Schnauzers, Yorkshire Terriers, Cocker Spaniels). GLP-1 medications carry pancreatitis warnings even in human labels. Combining the two without canine-specific safety data isn't something any vet will sign off on.
3. Veterinary GLP-1 development is several years behind human GLP-1 development. The first canine GLP-1 won't be a copy of Ozempic. It'll be a purpose-built molecule like Okava's OKV-119 implant or Akston's AKS-562c injection.

What's Actually in Trials Right Now

Okava OKV-119: The MEOW-1 Trial (Cats)

Okava Pharmaceuticals is developing OKV-119, a small subcutaneous implant designed to slowly release exenatide (a GLP-1 receptor agonist) over approximately 6 months. The current trial, called MEOW-1 (Management of Excess Overweight cats With OKV-119), enrolls at least 50 cats: about two-thirds receive the implant, the rest serve as controls. Owners track their cats over a 3-month observation period with an optional 3-month extension. Topline data is expected summer 2027 (a 3-month primary weight endpoint with an approximately 6-month full evaluation, with cats dosed from mid-2026). Dogs are the next planned species but no canine trial has been formally announced.

Akston AKS-562c: Cornell University (Cats)

Separate from Okava, Akston Biosciences is running a feline trial at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Their candidate, AKS-562c, is a once-weekly GLP-1 Fc-fusion injection: a different molecule and a different delivery format from Okava's implant. The Cornell trial is enrolling 70 cats with the option to expand to 140, over a roughly 3-month period. Akston announced trial initiation in November 2025.

Realistic dog availability: Even in the best case, neither company would have an FDA-approved canine product before 2028 or 2029. Veterinary drug development from Phase 2 cat trials to FDA approval for dogs typically takes 3-5 years.

What You Can Actually Do Right Now (If Your Dog Is Overweight)

The good news: canine weight loss without medication has a much higher success rate than human weight loss without medication. Dogs don't have the willpower problem. They have the portion problem. Fix the portions, fix the dog.

1. Confirm your dog is actually overweight. Use the Body Condition Score (BCS): a 9-point scale that vets use to assess body composition. Most owners can't tell their dog is overweight by looking. Free Dog Weight Checker tool.
2. Switch to a weight management food. Vet-formulated weight loss dog foods reduce calorie density while maintaining protein and nutrients, so your dog still feels full. See our weight loss dog food guide for the top vet-recommended options.
3. Calculate the right portion. Many overweight dogs are eating more calories than they need. The food bag's instructions are based on active adult dogs at ideal weight. Your vet or a feeding calculator can dial this in based on your dog's ideal weight, not current weight.
4. Add structured exercise gradually. Don't take an obese dog on a 5-mile hike on day one. Start with shorter walks twice a day and build up over several weeks. Joint pain is common in obese dogs: be patient.
5. Re-weigh regularly. Vets generally recommend safe weight loss in dogs at roughly 1-2% of body weight per week. Slower is fine. Faster than that can cause muscle loss and other complications.

Get Notified When Pet GLP-1 Launches

We track Okava's OKV-119 (MEOW-1 trial) and Akston's AKS-562c (Cornell trial) progress, plus any other veterinary GLP-1 developments. When the first canine GLP-1 hits the market, we'll send one email letting you know how to access it. No spam, no other emails.

Semaglutide for Dogs

Semaglutide is not approved or studied for dogs. It's the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. Veterinary research on semaglutide in dogs is limited to a handful of pharmacokinetic studies, not safety or efficacy trials. There is no published canine dose, no FDA pathway active for canine semaglutide, and no veterinary supplier is producing it. Compounded semaglutide labeled for 'research use' sold by gray-market vendors carries documented contamination and dosing-guesswork risk; giving it to a dog is dangerous and your vet cannot help if something goes wrong.

If a canine semaglutide product is ever developed, it will most likely come from one of the major animal health companies (Zoetis, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health, Merck Animal Health, Elanco). None of whom have publicly disclosed a canine GLP-1 program as of April 2026. The realistic first canine GLP-1 candidates remain Okava OKV-119 and Akston AKS-562c, both currently in cat trials with dogs as planned next species.

Tirzepatide for Dogs

Tirzepatide is also not approved or studied for dogs. It's the active ingredient in Mounjaro (diabetes label) and Zepbound (weight-loss label). Tirzepatide is mechanistically distinct from semaglutide. It activates both GLP-1 and GIP receptors, producing greater human weight-loss efficacy than semaglutide alone. Whether the dual-receptor approach translates to dogs is unstudied, and the same regulatory and safety concerns that apply to canine semaglutide apply to canine tirzepatide.

There is currently no veterinary trial of tirzepatide in dogs, no published canine pharmacokinetic data, and no FDA pathway active. Anyone offering compounded tirzepatide for dogs is operating outside both FDA-CVM rules and any standard of veterinary care. Don't.

What About Compounded GLP-1 for Pets?

The rulebook here is FDA guidance for industry #256, "Compounding Animal Drugs from Bulk Drug Substances", made final on April 14, 2022 (87 FR 22212). It describes when FDA does not intend to bring an enforcement action against a veterinarian or a state-licensed pharmacy that compounds an animal drug from raw bulk substance. FDA characterises that discretion as applying when no other medically appropriate treatment option exists. The guidance never names GLP-1 drugs, and an overweight dog with three proven prescription weight management diets available to it is a long way from having no medically appropriate option.

Gray-market vendors sell 'research-use' peptide vials to dog owners regardless. Those vials arrive with no veterinary oversight, no purity guarantee, no dosing standard, and no emergency protocol if your dog reacts badly. Wait for OKV-119 or AKS-562c, or use conventional weight loss methods that are proven safe.

August 2026 update: FDA's draft GFI #256B

On August 28, 2026, FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine published draft guidance for industry #256B, "Compounding Animal Drugs from Bulk Drug Substances: Compounding under CGMP in Federally-Registered Facilities" (FDA guidance page). The notice of availability ran in the Federal Register the same day as document 2026-17580, volume 91, number 166, pages 55602 to 55606, under docket number FDA-2018-D-4533. The comment window closes on November 27, 2026.

What it would do once made final: add a third category of compounder to the same enforcement discretion policy. Final GFI #256 covers state-licensed pharmacies and federal government facilities. Draft #256B extends similar treatment to what FDA calls federally-registered facilities, which the draft defines as facilities registered with FDA under section 503B(b) or section 510(b) of the FD&C Act. In plain terms: outsourcing facilities and registered drug production sites working to Current Good Manufacturing Practice. The scope covers compounding from bulk substances for nonfood-producing animals, with or without a patient-specific prescription, plus certain bulk substances used as antidotes in food-producing animals and as sedatives and anesthetics for free-ranging wildlife. FDA says it will merge the document into final GFI #256 once the work is done.

The phrase in that scope worth reading twice is FDA's own: "either with or without patient-specific prescriptions". Compounding from a bulk drug substance means starting from raw active ingredient rather than from a finished approved product. Doing it against a patient-specific prescription means one preparation made for one named animal. Doing it without one is office stock, held on the shelf before any particular patient exists, and that is the difference between one-off preparation and batch production. It is worth understanding because it is the mechanism by which a compounded veterinary drug could ever reach scale.

Two things stop that reading from running away, and both are in the notice itself. Office stock compounding for nonfood-producing animals is not new and is not open ended: FDA already maintains a published list, "The List of Bulk Drug Substances for Compounding Office Stock Drugs for Use in Nonfood-Producing Animals", and a substance has to be on it. FDA writes in this notice that it "remains concerned that compounded office stock potentially exposes large numbers of animals to drugs of unproven safety and effectiveness", and it is asking for comment on whether to widen the list rather than announcing that it has. The second thing is the size. FDA's own paperwork estimate says that of the approximately 98 federally-registered facilities doing any compounding in the United States, about 8 specialise in both human and animal compounding, and it books 8 recordkeepers and 119 hours a year against the new #256B population, next to 7,500 recordkeepers and 111,126 hours for the pharmacies and federal facilities already covered by #256. FDA adds that to its knowledge no facility registered under section 510(b) currently compounds patient-specific prescriptions at all. This reaches roughly eight facilities today, not the veterinary compounding market.

So does any of this change what your vet can prescribe for your dog? No. GFI #256B addresses which facilities FDA would decline to act against, and it leaves the question of which drugs a veterinarian may reach for exactly where it found it. There is still no FDA-approved GLP-1 for dogs or cats, so there is nothing approved for one of these facilities to compound a version of. The date worth writing down is November 27, 2026, when comments close. FDA has announced no date for a final version, and until one exists this page keeps saying what it says now.

For the drug class itself rather than the brand names, including why both companion-animal trials went to cats and what is actually in the canine pipeline instead, see GLP-1 for dogs.