Help For A Car Sick Doggie!

[beenie]

Hi,

thanks for your replies!

I will look for some of the herbal and homeopathic remedies and try those this time and see how we go. I think I'll also change where she sits. ATM she goes in the back of the SUV (cargo area) and lies down. I'm going to see how she goes in the front footwell, and also on the backseat facing the front - there seems to be some who prefer to see out and other who don't! ATM to see out she must be sitting or standing, and that's not really stable for her in the back. Perhaps lying on the back seat (squished between the two kids booster seats :haha:) will be better as she can lay down but see out??

TBH the vomit aspect doesn't worry me so much, that's easy cleaned up, it's that she's miserable

Anyway, thanks for all the advice, and sympathies!

Beenie

[SwaY]

Junket tablets, ginger, ginger snap biscuits.

[ellz]

You may have better results if you STOP her from seeing out.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Pfizer have brought out a new tablet for this, it was advertised at my vet recently and I picked up a leaflet for a friend whose dog can't go for more than about 10 mins without a vomit. I don't think it's cheap so will only suit if you put them in the car every now and then. Ask your vet, can't remember what it's called now.

[beenie]

Happy to report some success tonight!

I put a box in the gap in front of the middle of the back seat - like a little bridge for her to rest her paws on - and sat her there in her harness for about 5 mins giving her pats and praise, and some liver treats. She seemed to relax quite well, lay down etc, so I put the car on and sat for a while. She wasn't fussed by that and was 'smiling' not looking sad or scared. So I backed the car down the drive. She stood up and tried to climb into my son's carseat, so I stopped for a few mins and just waited for her to settle. Then I took a very slow and sedate drive down the end of the court and back again. She seemed happy to sit up looking out. No excessive slobbering, no mournful looks, not trying to escape.

I plan on doing this again tomorrow with the kids in the car. No further, just down the end of the road and back. Then maybe tomorrow night I'll take her for a 5 min drive and see how we go.

Kind of like a speed version of the method recommended by previous posters Hopefully that works and we have a semi successful trip!

Beenie

[westiemum]

Excellent work beenie - thats exactly the way I got my Sarah to tolerate the car. Although a five minute drive might be too big a step - maybe try 1 minute there and one mninute back = 2 minutes in total and build by a couple of minutes... I felt like a real turkey driving this dog such short distances but that, combined with the Blackmores and elevating her on a hard foam cushion on the front seat (tethered of course) really did the trick. She quickly realised we went nice places in the car - not just to the vet!

Good luck and have a great trip.

[curlygirl]

A dog trainer I know swears by static strips ( black things that hang down and touch the road when the car stops). Her dog has stopped being sick since she put them on her car. now when the dog does get sick she knows its time to replace the static strips.

[curlygirl]

A dog trainer I know swears by static strips ( black things that hang down and touch the road when the car stops). Her dog has stopped being sick since she put them on her car. now when the dog does get sick she knows its time to replace the static strips.

[Pointers Rule]

Junket tablets, ginger, ginger snap biscuits.

Ditto to that, plus honey works well

[becks]

Took my boy on a pretty horrid jpourney at the weekend - lots of snow and ice! He had a Cerenia tablet and this time I also dosed him several times with Rescue Remedy and he was much happier (and a little merry!) by the time we got to the destination.

[beenie]

Becks,

how much was the Cerena tablet? I rang my vet to ask and was told I'd need a consult to talk about options (fair enough) but I'm not keen on spending $40 just to find out that the medication costs $80 for two doses! If I can achieve success without it that'd be great, but it would be good to know how much Cerena is for how many doses etc,

TIA!

beenie

[becks]

It was about £7 for me, so that would be about $14 each??

[beenie]

Thanks Becks,

obviously I'm not paying enough attention, I didn't realise you were in the UK! I'm quite smitten with your Mini Schnauzers, they're beautiful!

I am just about to go out and get some of the Travelpetics product which another poster recommended, but if we have no luck with it, I'll visit the vet and try some Cerena as it's not too expensive to use on longer journeys everynow and then

Beenie

[beenie]

Well, we're home from our holiday, so I thought I'd let you know how we went in case anyone else was thinking of trying Travelpetics. http://secure.naturapetics.com.au/details/2350714.html

We gave Willow the drops maybe 5-6 times during the day before leaving for mums (basically every 45 mins or when I remembered) and she made it a full 1 hour 45 mins without vomitting. She did look reasonably happy and lay quietly on the backseat. Unfortunately there is about 5kms of gravel road just before Mums' place, and that was just too much for poor Willow after nearly 2 hours in the car - she did vomit but I think without that gravel section she would have been ok.

Coming home she didn't have breakfast, gave her drops about 1 hour before leaving and this time she made it home without vomitting!! ;)

Definately worth a try if your dog suffers car sickness, and at $20 it's cheaper and gentler than medication/sedation IMO :D

Beenie (and a happy Willow!)

[becks]

Good news! Glad you have found something to help.

Thanks for your comments on the dogs!

[Jen21]

Personally I tried every herbal and medical treatment available, but having a dog with a anxious tummy meant that he always ended up sick from one end or the other.

The best advice I got from his trainer was to perservere with the "pleasant trips" training, and my dog has gone from one that ran away from the car and threw up 5 minutes into a journey to one that jumps into the backseat, and hasn't even salivated in our car trips in months.

These days he's in the car for anything from a 5-30 minute journey at least 4 times a week, most of the time to an offlead park or somewhere fun, and he now associates the car with good not bad (which was how it was at the start when you're only taking them to the vet, etc).

It took a few months and we did lots of jumping in and out of the car only, eating treats in the back, and short journeys along the way, but it's much easier to know he wont have to take any kind of medication and is generally pretty happy to travel now.

We recently did a 3 hour Christmas journey and with a couple of planned stops along the way for a walk and toilet stop, he travelled without any issues, which I never would have thought could happen 12 months ago.