Car Sickness

[Inevitablue]

Does anyone have a dog that grew out of car sickness?

None of my previous dogs have suffered, and this young girl was fine until she turned about 16wo. For the first month I had her she came with me in the car everyday, and now goes for about 3 car rides a week.

It appears to be genuine motion sickness, because if we are on the freeway she drools a fair bit, but it's not until we leave a freeway and come to the first set of lights and stop that she vomits. Once she vomits then she is perfectly fine.

I have stopped feeding her breakfast before a trip and that has eased the amount, but she still drools like crazy. I have fresh air in the car and if she is preoccupied then she also seems ok.

I would rather manage the vomit than medicate her. Can I also add that she always has had positive associations with a car.

So, please someone tell me that their dogs grew out of this!

[kezzzza]

Mum use to give one of our girls either some ginger or junket to settle her down before she went in the car.

[oakway]

Sorry but is far easier on the both of you to go to the vet and get the new medication available.

[best4koda]

Hi, yes we had a GSD that suffered with it greatly. He would vomit for a 5minute ride to dog training. He was so bad that the GSD club gave him an award for it. But yes he did eventually grow out of it. We wouldn't feed him in the morning or night until after the required trip. And he still would vomit. But slowly but surely he got used to it. He would dribble in the car and would sit quietly as he got older. My solution was putting a vinyl mat down in the back of the wagon so it was an easy clean up job.

[Scarlett Dog]

My girl used to get car sick then we took her to the chiropractor and her neck was out. Apparently it's called the atlas bone and it can cause motion sickness. Have it checked out. Since being realigned she hasn't been sick once! We go back every 1-3 months depending on her activity.

[coogie]

Alfie gets carsick but is gradually improving, we recently went on a long trip and I was worried about how he would cope. We borrowed a bigger car as we were delivering a rescue dog - he seemed much better lying in the hatch area than he has ever been sitting in the back seat. He was on a tether but not as restricted as he is in his harness,have you tried him in a different area of the car if you are able?

[mumtoshelley]

My Shelley suffered car sickness when she was a 14 week old puppy, Every dog is different Shelley seemed better ifshe had a bit of food in her stomach its weid. If Shelley didn'y have any food she would get sick only happened in the car. As time went by Shelley out grew the car sickness, Now i can take her in the car without worrying about her throwing up. Also what i found work was having the window down a bit where Shelley could just stick her nose out which seemed to help alot. I've also heard putting ginger in the car helps alot, I've also heard of people feeding ginger biscuit before traveling.

[dancinbcs]

You didn't change where she sits in the car, did you ? The only one I have ever had that got carsick, only did it if she was in a harness. In a crate or loose in the back of the wagon, she was fine.

[Inevitablue]

Thanks guys for the replies. Im going to try the new tablets for times when I'm taking her to a show etc. The chiro thing is interesting, but alas she already goes to the chiro to keep her in order with all her rough and tumble antics. She is going tomorrow, so I will mention it (something I never would have thought to mention! thanks )

She still rides in the same place in the car, the only thing that has changed has been the length of journeys. When she was a pup I wouldn't drive more than 30min at a time, but now with trips to Erskine Park and Austral its over an hour.

I considered anxiety, but she still gets drooly on the way home from a show etc. The only time now that she is not drooling is when she is asleep, and she never crashes after a show, just after herding.

I just didnt want to be medicating her up to 3 times a week!

[Inevitablue]

i just gave her 50mg of Cerenia so hopefully all is good tonight in the car.

talking about it today at work, we also thought the change at 16wo could have occured because she could see out the windows now at the moving objects.

[Scarlett Dog]

i get motion sickness myself and use ginger. I works in dogs too!

[Dagmar]

Does anyone have a dog that grew out of car sickness?

None of my previous dogs have suffered, and this young girl was fine until she turned about 16wo. For the first month I had her she came with me in the car everyday, and now goes for about 3 car rides a week.

It appears to be genuine motion sickness, because if we are on the freeway she drools a fair bit, but it's not until we leave a freeway and come to the first set of lights and stop that she vomits. Once she vomits then she is perfectly fine.

I have stopped feeding her breakfast before a trip and that has eased the amount, but she still drools like crazy. I have fresh air in the car and if she is preoccupied then she also seems ok.

I would rather manage the vomit than medicate her. Can I also add that she always has had positive associations with a car.

So, please someone tell me that their dogs grew out of this!

If she was my dog I would walk her before a car trip (to make her tired), no food obviously (you already learned that lesson ;) ). Have you ever tried Australian Bush Flower Essences? A good start would be the Travel Essence.

Dagmar

[goldielover]

My old girl used to get carsick. Fortunately she did grow out of it at around 2 years of age. I tried junket, ginger biscuits/ginger tablets - nothing worked. The homeopathic tablets 'Be kalm' helped a little. I have a young boy here who is starting to grow out of it now thank god. I give him 1 Avil 1/2 hour before traveling and that seems to work with him.

[*Oscar*]

My Golden boy would be sick every time we got in the car.

I started with ginger tablets from the pharmacy and only having 5-10 minute drives (this is how long he could last without being sick). Eventually after a month or 2 he started to improve and now I can drive him without a problem.

I suggest investing in a good car seat protector though

Good Luck

[Rascalmyshadow]

My little rescue boy used to get bad car sickness, I think it was one of the biggest reasons his previous owners didn't want him.

I have almost cured him, I started by crating him on the floor in the front, with a towel over so he was in complete darkness, as soon as he stopped getting sick I removed the towel. Once he was ok with that I let him ride on the passanger seat with the window down a little.

Now over a year on he is fine in the front with fresh air, but if he is put in the back or the windows are closed with the heater on, he will spew.

[Inevitablue]

Thanks for all the advice

One suggestion made me piece back when the car sickness actually started.

She had her first show at 16 weeks and just before that someone pointed out that she looked tight through the back and wasn't driving as well as normal. So I went to one chiro who looked her over and adjusted only her neck. I wasn't quite happy as the problem was between her pelvis. Off to another chiro who treated her back and she was definately moving better (infact won Baby in Show).

I take her to this chiro fortnightly just to keep ontop of her back. Its all self inflicted as she plays like a maniac, even just by herself in the yard. We don't overdo her young body so it's just her back that we adjust.

Anyway..... last week when I asked the question chiropractic adjustment was suggested. We were going to the chiro that night anyway and I used the Cerenia (which worked great). Wow! he had a good feel of her neck and it was out in a weird way. One week and four car rides later, varying between 30min and 1.5hrs and NO SPEW! Im still not feeding her just before travel but touch wood, fingers crossed hopefully its sorted.