Carsick dog

[JoannaLesley]

We are new dog owners. Millie is our first ever dog and is about 15 months old. We plan to take her with us whenever we go anywhere with the caravan, including abroad. The problem is that she is car sick within quite a short distance of home. We have a harness which fits into the seat belt catch and she has a blanket under her.
Is the only solution to give her a pill each time we take her out? What do others do?
Any hints and tips are very welcome. We see other people with dogs in cars all the time, so it can't be that common a problem.

Jo

 

[JimD1]

Hi Jo,
Our 1st Dog, Ben (now sadly departed) used to get terrible travel sickness in the car. The only thing which helped was ginger. We used to give him a ginger snap biscuit 1/2 an hour or so before travelling, then every hour or 2 if it was a long journey.
I know it sounds daft, but it worked for us, & hey, it doesn't cost much to buy a packet of biscuits & try it

Cheers,
Jim

 

[Gybe]

We've had three dogs who've suffered with travel sickness in the car. Our first dog was always sick in my wifes mini 35 years ago, when she traded the Mini in for a hatchback the dog went in the back with the parcel shelf removed instead of travelling on the floor.
After a couple of trips in the new car we realised that the dog was sitting up looking around and she had not been sick. We've always had dogs and found with two others that as soon as they were put in a position where they could see out the sickness stopped.
When we had a people carrier car with a high window level and children filling it the dogs had a raised platform in the boot so they could see out and the travel sickness sufferer of that time was fine unlike when she first travelled down on the rear floor.

 

[Royston]

Our kerry Blue terrier used to be travel sick when we owned a Ford escourt estate, the breader advised us that she used to give her show dogs that were travel sick qty 1 sealeg tab 1/2 hr before setting of on her journey.
We tried the same and it worked, whilst we had that car, since changing to a vectra estate , she is no longer travel sick,She has always been in the estate part of both cars , why i can only assume it must be connected to the differnt types of suspension of the cars.

 

[otherclive]

We had a dog who was sick within seconds of getting into the car (estate) yet he was no problem getting into the car. It was anxiety so we just used to take him out to the car and he'd jump in and we just spent time with him whilst the car was stationary. Then after a couple of weeks of this we'd close the doors and start the engine etc. Then we'd drive a short distance up the road, open the doors fuss hime etc. After a while he got used to the car and traveled without any problems. But it took a couple of months, so perhaps a mild trave; sick tablet or sedative could be used to get him used to the car more quickly.

 

[AbbeyOwner]

This might seem horrible,but I cover my dogs ears and eyes with a blank with his basket in the back so that he doesn't ssee or hear anything, he soon settles down

 

[bagpuss40]

Hi Jo

We have had the same problem with our 2 yr old rough Collie - whilst he is no longer car sick he still gets quite anxious therefore I give him a few drops of the bach rescue remedy along with some travel biscuits that i got from a very well know pet shop that it is in most retail parks. He loves the caravaning side just not the journey. - Also we brought sun screens for the back windows that you usually have if you have small children and they appear to block out the bigger vehicles that pass us on the motorways.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Anyone who is car sick will know what a misery it can be, and it must be the same for animals. The big difference is that we might be able to rationalise the situation and that can help to quell anxiety, but animals probably can't apply the same logic, so it must very unpleasant for them.

Being able to see out in the direction of travel helped my youngest daughter, so she was fine in the middle seat of a people carrier but not so good in a saloon car or coaches where the seat in front blocked her view.

As for medication, I know that vets can suggest or prescribe tablets for animals, but I would be very careful about using human tablets for animals. Not only may there be an adverse chemical reaction for some animals, the dosage could also be wrong. If you need top use medication than I strongly suggest you run it by your vet first.

 

[catherine2]

Our younger dog was very car sick until he was about 11 months old.
we tried all the advice such as gradually acclimatising him to the car and making sure we went somewhere nice for him, but to no avail
Then we went on holiday with my parents. My father and I sat in the back seats with both the dogs for the 250 mile journey, as the luggage was in the boot area and later my mother's wheelchair.
True to form, Philip was sick and drooled excessively for the first three days, then on day four - nothing- completely cured and fine ever since.
We put the cure down to the fact that he was in the car every day, with people he liked and going to places where he had fun. I believe that taking him out four days in a row for quite long periods did the trick so I advise you to just keep trying and hopefully your dog will either grow out of it or, as in Philip's case, the penny just dropped and he realised there was nothing to be frightened of.
GOOD LUCK

 

[Mel]

I suppose it is important ot decide if the dog is sick because he is anxious or because it is actual motion sickness. Motion sickness will respond better to "travekl sickness" medication and covering in a blanket, whereas anxiety would respond to gradual acclimatization and anxiolytics like rescue remedy. Don't know how you would tell the difference but it might be a good idea to see if there are similar behaviours in non-motion settings; this would point to anxiety.
mel

 

[Danddandy]

I used to take my dog on my commute to work,(a 90 mile round trip). He was ill every trip for 10 days. On the 11th trip he was fine and during the next 14 years he travelled with me with no problem.

 

[JoannaLesley]

Thank you to everyone for your helpful comments. We hope that we may have cracked it. We did a long journey to our daughter's on Thursday and back on Sunday and Millie was fine. We took her bed and she stayed in it on the back seat with my husband beside her. She was also "plugged" into the seatbelt catch for safety. I drove (as smoothly as I could and it was mostly motorway) and she was fine - no drooling and no sickness. She didn't quite go to sleep, but was getting there. We think that a few times more and she will be fine.

Thank you for all your helpful advice.

Jo