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Car Sick Dog


mini girl
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Any suggestions on how to get a dog over getting car sick. She is over a year old now and still gets car sick. Have suggested to owner not to feed several hours before a drive but not always possible - have googled it and find some medications reccomended but mostly from USA.

Any suggestions - I know pups are quite often car sick but this one turned one in July and it is still happening.

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Any suggestions on how to get a dog over getting car sick. She is over a year old now and still gets car sick. Have suggested to owner not to feed several hours before a drive but not always possible - have googled it and find some medications reccomended but mostly from USA.

Any suggestions - I know pups are quite often car sick but this one turned one in July and it is still happening.

I have an 11yo blue heeler, who has been car sick pretty much since we got her at 12 months of age. She came home from her previous owner's home in our car and nothing happened, but then the next time we took her out and it started. We now give her a phenergen about 15-30 minutes beforehand and minimise what food she can have before a drive. No more accidents as the phenergen relaxes her enough to actually look out the window or curl up for a sleep.

Maybe a half tablet might be enough for a youngster but check with your vet (as we did).

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Any suggestions on how to get a dog over getting car sick. She is over a year old now and still gets car sick. Have suggested to owner not to feed several hours before a drive but not always possible - have googled it and find some medications reccomended but mostly from USA.

Any suggestions - I know pups are quite often car sick but this one turned one in July and it is still happening.

One issue may be that the dog is only taken for long drives, or stressful ones (like to the vet) or very exciting ones (like to the dog park); perhaps the owner needs to work on desensitizing the dog to the car. I suggest the car is parked inside the property and all doors left open for an hour or so -- I get car sick if I get into a car that has been closed up because of the fumes that come off the vinyl upholstery when the car is sitting in the sun -- so I'm sure a dog could suffer too. So, with a well ventilated car, the owner should play fetch the toy out of the passenger floor side -- when the dog is happily jumping in and out of the car, try feeding the dog on the passenger floor so the dog is in the car for 5 minutes or so. The next step is to close the door, start up the car and then turn the engine off -- so the dog is not alarmed by the sound of the car engine. At this time the dog could also be accustomed to whatever restraint will be used. Don't make a big fuss when dog gets out of car. Next step is to just reverse the car for a few metres so the dog becomes desensitised to the motion -- you get the picture -- the owner just gradually builds up the dog's experiences with the car so it is no longer a stressful time. (You didn't think a one year habit would be cured overnight, did you?)

I would suggest to the owner that he/she aims to do 5 minutes a day, every day, to change the dog's attitude to the car, before trying medication.

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Dogs don't just grow out of being carsick unless they go in the car a lot to places they like. Puppies need to have as many trips as possible, at least several times a week to get them out of it.

The above suggestions are all very good. I find dogs travel much better in a crate than in a harness but have never really had a serious problem with carsick dogs because they are all seasoned car travellers by about 12 weeks. It is harder to work with an older dog but not impossible.

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I used Blackmores Travel Calm ginger tablets with my 5 year old GSP. At least it stopped the constant standing and dry heaves. However we recently changed cars to a Ford Territory where she travels in the back not the back seat of the previous car and it has all gone- no need for any medications at all. We think it's because the sides are higher and she feels more contained. A bit like a covered crate which was never possible in the other car. Whatever the reason we are all very happy with the current situation.

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Will let the pups owner know these things - she is a pretty calm dog overall - I bred her and she went to a home but the person returned her to me - all a bit traumatic to be honest but we took the dog back and then best friends of ours fell in love with her and took her - she has settled in so well and now has a wonderful home - I remember her father used to get a bit of carsickness until he was older so not sure if it is really stress related - she is a happy and lively dog and her new owners love her to bits - she stays with us when they go away and shows no signs of any stress - I do have a crate big enough for her may lend it to them to see if it helps - they would like to take her for about an hour and a half drive away for a couple of days but they get so sorry for her when she does throw up. The first owner told me no matter what she was car sick no matter where she sat etc. but maybe some of the medications suggested may be worth a try especially the ginger or Blackmores travel calm. She shows no anxiety about getting into a car at all.

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my comment is that the solution might depend on whether the dog gets sick from an anxiety cause or from a physical response to motion bothering the inner ear / equilibrium. Different solutions!

Plenty of responses here about the anxiety cause so I won't add to that. I do have a little malt X who regularly got carsick until I raised her up to be able to see out the window. Might have been the motion making her ill and she could not see out for a reference to regain her equilibrium. I had a sedan then and got her a booster seat. No problems once I got that. I now have a van and she is in a little crate up at window height. Also no more problems. I am fairy sure her issues were with motion as she would rarely get ill on a long trip on the highway (straight roads) but would often get ill on short trips with lots of corner turns. She was always quite keen to get into the car so not anxious about the vehicle.

Good luck

Jo

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Dogs don't just grow out of being carsick unless they go in the car a lot to places they like. Puppies need to have as many trips as possible, at least several times a week to get them out of it.

The above suggestions are all very good. I find dogs travel much better in a crate than in a harness but have never really had a serious problem with carsick dogs because they are all seasoned car travellers by about 12 weeks. It is harder to work with an older dog but not impossible.

That's weird, when I got my puppy at 12 weeks I signed him up for 3 different puppy classes, and for the first week or two he was fine. Then suddenly he threw up one day, and has pretty much thrown up every drive since then, no matter how short.

So despite the frequent trips as a puppy, he started getting car sick. He's now 2, and still gets car sick. I'm now working on desensitising him to being in the car, because I suspect that him stressing about going in the car (due to associating it with being sick) is part of the reason why he throw up.

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That's weird, when I got my puppy at 12 weeks I signed him up for 3 different puppy classes, and for the first week or two he was fine. Then suddenly he threw up one day, and has pretty much thrown up every drive since then, no matter how short.

So despite the frequent trips as a puppy, he started getting car sick. He's now 2, and still gets car sick. I'm now working on desensitising him to being in the car, because I suspect that him stressing about going in the car (due to associating it with being sick) is part of the reason why he throw up.

That's exactly what happened with my blue heeler ... she was fine in the car in her early days with us but then started throwing up from when she was about 18 months old. We tried desensitising her by taking her for regular little trips around the block in the hope that we could build these up to longer trips, but no luck. In the end our vet recommended she have a very mild sedative in order to relax her for any journey. So we stopped taking her for short drives and sedated her for long drives. Hey presto, no more vomit.

Over the last year, I have had no choice but to take her in the car on short trips to see the vet as she is now getting on in years (11) and needs more regular check ups. I was probably way more stressed than her about the first one I took her on as I fully expected her to throw up as she'd had no phenergen. But wonders of wonders, she was fine ... a little quiet in the back but thankfully not sick. It now seems that she can cope with car trips unsedated at long last.

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That's weird, when I got my puppy at 12 weeks I signed him up for 3 different puppy classes, and for the first week or two he was fine. Then suddenly he threw up one day, and has pretty much thrown up every drive since then, no matter how short.

So despite the frequent trips as a puppy, he started getting car sick. He's now 2, and still gets car sick. I'm now working on desensitising him to being in the car, because I suspect that him stressing about going in the car (due to associating it with being sick) is part of the reason why he throw up.

That's exactly what happened with my blue heeler ... she was fine in the car in her early days with us but then started throwing up from when she was about 18 months old. We tried desensitising her by taking her for regular little trips around the block in the hope that we could build these up to longer trips, but no luck. In the end our vet recommended she have a very mild sedative in order to relax her for any journey. So we stopped taking her for short drives and sedated her for long drives. Hey presto, no more vomit.

Over the last year, I have had no choice but to take her in the car on short trips to see the vet as she is now getting on in years (11) and needs more regular check ups. I was probably way more stressed than her about the first one I took her on as I fully expected her to throw up as she'd had no phenergen. But wonders of wonders, she was fine ... a little quiet in the back but thankfully not sick. It now seems that she can cope with car trips unsedated at long last.

Did either of you change cars at the time the dogs got sick? I know I personally get carsick as a passenger in manual cars but not autos. I was always carsick as a kid and the cars were all manuals then. I thought I had outgrown it until I had a ride in a couple of friends manual cars in more recent years and put 2 and 2 together.

None of the 10+ BCs I have had owned or regularly transported to shows over the years, ever got sick beyond occasionally the first ride at 4-5 weeks and my JS only got threw up for about the first three rides after I got him. One BC I used to borrow to show, was fine in my wagon in a crate but not in her owners car if they put her in a seatbelt.

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My dog used to get very car sick. I couldn't feed her before any long trip - ie more than 20 minutes long. Like not even the night before.

She figured out for herself that if she lay down on the seat with her head down and shut her eyes she didn't get sick. I think a covered crate low down in the car would also help.

I figured out if she sat up and was drooling you had about 3 seconds to pull over (dammit - why is there no shoulder on the side of this hill). I also used to carry lots of newspaper to shove under her mouth so she'd up chuck into that and clean up was as simple as carefully folding the newspaper and putting it in the bin.

Kibble almost always came back completely unchanged. Home made dog food would not reappear. Things like chicken wings - really really bad.

We used to drive about 1.5km to the local dog park every morning - just to keep her used to the car. I think she was 18 months old before she could sit up and look out the window and act the least bit excited about that trip. And then I had to train her to stay on the seat and not bark her head off (stop the car worked).

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Our Border Collie, Peter, years ago used to get carsick, even tho' he loved going in the car. It always happened a certain distance from home.... where he'd go glassy-eyed and still. Like another poster said, this was time to stop, get him out of the car, where he'd throw up. Once that was done, he'd be fine for the rest of the journey.

Years later, a breeder told us that chewing a gingernut biscuit would've helped him. We were also told that both people and dogs are less likely to get carsick if they can see the horizon line all the time. Obviously we never had a chance then to try those out.

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Did either of you change cars at the time the dogs got sick? I know I personally get carsick as a passenger in manual cars but not autos. I was always carsick as a kid and the cars were all manuals then. I thought I had outgrown it until I had a ride in a couple of friends manual cars in more recent years and put 2 and 2 together.

None of the 10+ BCs I have had owned or regularly transported to shows over the years, ever got sick beyond occasionally the first ride at 4-5 weeks and my JS only got threw up for about the first three rides after I got him. One BC I used to borrow to show, was fine in my wagon in a crate but not in her owners car if they put her in a seatbelt.

No, we hadn't changed cars - it was the same automatic Subaru wagon we brought her home in that she later started throwing up in. And then, nine to ten years later, she stopped throwing up in. Go figure. :-)

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Hi have had great success with a product called DAP u can buy online or at Vets. just spray in the crate they are travelling of the area they will be sitting. and always allow fresh air into the vehicle on a regular basis, we do about every 40 to 50mins, just wind the window down for a few seconds. Good Luck.

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