Car sickness is more commonly seen in puppies and young
dogs. Often, as their bodies mature puppies will grow out of motion
sickness. Some dogs however will never outgrow the nausea and
sickness.
Motion sickness occurs when the body, the inner ear, and
the eyes send conflicting signals to the brain.
The most obvious symptom of car sickness of course is
vomiting. Other symptoms your dog may display just before vomiting are:
Keep an eye out for these symptoms and you may be able
to stop the car at an appropriate place before vomiting actually occurs.
Give your dog a break from the car before continuing the journey. Make
frequent stops if possible. The length of time a dog can travel before
nausea sets in varies greatly from dog to dog. Get to know your dog's
pattern. If you know your dog vomits after about twenty minutes in the
car stop before twenty minutes and let your dog out and let him have a
walk around.
Ginger - A Natural Remedy for
Car Sickness in dogs
Gingerhaslong been a remedy that humans use to combat car sickness.
Ginger comes in capsule form and also crystalline form. Dogs seem to
like ginger so there shouldn't be a problem getting your dog to eat it.
Many dog owners report that giving their dog ginger
cookies or ginger snaps prior to a car journey works well in controlling
car sickness. Two plain ginger cookies or ginger snaps should work well
for a medium-sized dog. Your dog may even be receptive to accepting a
small piece of the ginger plant root.
Medicine for Car Sickness in
Dogs
Cerenia,
made by Pfizer was
developed just for dogs. It is a safe and effective medicine that
prevents vomiting caused by motion sickness. It works very well with a
success rate of up to 93%. Give it to your dog (or puppy over over the
age of 16 weeks) 2 hours before traveling. It is non sedating so your
dog will reach your destination fresh and alert. Cerenia is available by
prescription from your veterinarian.
More Tips to Prevent Car
Sickness in Dogs
Car sickness becomes worse with frequent stopping, turns
and bends. Try to drive smoothly.
A simple method for relieving car sickness in humans is
chewing. Give your dog a bone or a dog treat to chew on during the
journey.
Fresh air always helps with car
sickness. Partly open a window so that your dog can benefit from the
breeze.
To help prevent vomiting do not feed your dog for
several hours before travelling.
Seeing the landscape whiz past out of side windows only
makes car sickness much worse. By allowing your dog to see the road
ahead by any means you can devise is beneficial. Consider a harness in
the middle of the back seat where your dog can see ahead of him. For
small dogs a booster seat is an option.
If you have to put your dog in a crate make sure the dog
is forward facing. Place a cover over the crate in a fashion that the
dog can only see forwards.
A friend reports she uses static discharge strips on the
bottom of her car to prevent her dog from being sick. She says it works
perfectly. I am including this tip only as a suggestion as I have no
knowledge whether this works or not.
Desensitization
Take your dog on frequent short trips that always end in
fun. For example, drive to a park that is fifteen minutes away. Ideally
have someone else in the car too, to soothe the dog and distract him
from the drive. Keep him happy all the way to the park. Once arriving at
the park have plenty of fun time, playing ball, running around etc. The
drive home should also be made to be enjoyable with a reward at the home
destination.
Repeat this process as often as possible slowly
increasing the length of the journey.
Protecting your car from dog
vomit
If the above advice for prevention of car sickness fails you can at
least protect your car's upholstery from dog vomit. Consider placing a
plastic tarpaulin over your car seats.
Place towels over the tarpaulin to soak up the vomit and
carry extra towels to replace soiled ones. Carry with you plastic
garbage bags in which to store the soiled towels.
