One of my dogs gets very bad travel sickness that i can only take him 10 mins down the road and he is puking!

I have tried some herbal ginger tablets from the vets as they said the other option was to sedate him but i don't want to do this everytime i take him out!!!

I am planning to take my dogs away for a long weekend (see other post) and need some ideas of how to get my dogs there without the distress it may cause.

I take them out regularly to see if he gets used to the travelling but it hasn't worked.

Anyone got any suggestions or tips that have worked???

sea legs!! they do work

Bach Rescue Remedy is also good, from chemist or health food shops

Brown wrapping paper used to be a very old fashioned remedy & it worked with a BC I know but don't ask me why !

Did you feed the paper to the dog or wrap it up in it ?? ;)

Daisy

I Think MM means to sit him on it not wrap him up LOL

lol!! thats what i wonderd,as paper bags allways helped me in my travel sickness, but only for throwing up in to!! and thats me not the dogs, and didnt last long as they became to soggy very quick!! no to be honest now, i have never heard that about paper bags but love to learn new stuff!!

Travel sickness is a sore point for me, one of my bitches suffers from it in a bad way, any more than 25 minutes in a car and she is sick, it's stopped me showing her, but i will try the bach remedy , you never know ?

Sarah
x

My younger dog used to have travel sickness (not actually sick, but drooling). She was always better in my husband's car than mine. She was also a lot better when she was not in a cage, as well. I have heard from other people that dogs are often better in certain types of cars :)

Daisy

LOL yep they sat him in his cage on brown wrapping paper & he stopped being sick

My dog also suffers from time to time with travel sickness and I was considering a herbal rememdy.  As a matter of interest how do you administer the Bach Rescue Remedy?  I understand it comes in spray and drop form? Can you get tablets? Cheers

Valerian is supposed to be good for travel sickness. Dorwest do both liquid and tablets, the liquid acts quicker but the effect of the tablets lasts longer. I got some for my new pup as it was a long drive home, I only dosed him once and he slept all the way. He has turned out to be the perfect traveller so I don't know if it actually works but could be worth a try. Apparently very few dogs are actually sick because of the motion of the vehicle and it is usually because of anxiety and the valerian helps prevent that. :-)  They were very helpful when I contacted them about which to use.

www.dorwest.com 

Just out of interest how does your dog travel in the car? When we used to put Leo in a cage in the car he was sick everytime but since we changed him to a harness on the back seat he has been fine.

Snap - see my post :)

Daisy

My pup is now 10 weeks old and I have had him for 2 weeks and he travels in a cage. All of mine travel in cages. :-)

One way of trying to help, without resorting to medication, is to try sitting the dog in the car for a few minutes, without the engine on. Then take the dog out of the car back into the house. Try this for a few times each day for a few days. Then, when everything seems ok, and the dog is calm and happy, put the dog in the car and turn the engine on BUT DO NOT MOVE THE CAR. Do this for a few days. Then put the dog in the car, turn the engine on and move the car a little. Either just out of the drive and then back in again, or to the top of the road and back. Do this for a little while each day for a few days. Once everything is ok take the dog further each time. It does take a long time and a lot of effort, but it usually works in the long run. ;)

One of my girls used to get car sick we tried everything listed above <<nothing worked>> she used to drool just standing next to the car!!
We decided to put her in her cage but cover it so she couldnt see out whilst travelling the difference was amazing we did this for a little while then gradually started to lift the sides up on the cover  she seems to have grown out of it,we think part of the problem  she got so worked up when she knew she was getting into the car she made herself sick, straight into her cage she was fine.She now travels in the back of the jeep without the cage but always faces back.
Worth a try.

I have a 11 month old who is being sick , first time ever I have had this problem. I am thinking it is because I took a bit longer to get him in the car , he may have been several months old..OR it could be that he was actually born in the car ;-))

One thing interesting with mine is he is never sick coming home from anywhere just going :-)

There seem to be many reasons why dogs are sick. My younger dog was used to travelling in cars as her breeders took the litter out for trips to get them used to cars. When we collected her, she did a 250 mile trip in a pet carrier on the back seat of hubby's car without being sick at all. As soon as she went, in a cage, in my car, even for a trip of a few miles she was drooling badly :( She was never sick in hubby's car. When she was old enough to travel in the boot of my car without being in the cage (we tried it one day just to see what happened), she was fine. The cage was the same one that she was used to at home, so she was usually happy in it. So we have come to the conclusion that it is the combination of the cage and my car :). She now travels in my car in the boot - I accept the risk, but we never go far in my car, only a couple of times a week.

Daisy

Maybe I can offer some insight from a human perspective. I suffer from car sickness. Especially when my sister is driving. I know it is her gear changes that causes it (sorry sis!)she doesn't "bunny hop" the car, but they are noticible. I find that if I'm in a car with someone who let's say isn't the best at gear changes I'm always car sick. However with automatics I don't have a problem. But in any car the heat must be off and usually the window opened a bit. Who know's maybe dogs feel the same. Before I get any pelters, I am female and I wasn't having a go at female drivers (Just my sister, I love her really) lol.

Lube   

Lube,I sympathise as I suffer from any kind of travel sickness, not just in the car. :) However, I don't if I am driving. Do you think we should maybe let the dog drive? ;)

Hi Lindylou

Same here, I don't get car sick if I am the one who is driving. I think it must have something to do with concentrating (or maybe we are just wonderful drivers lol). I think dogs would make better drivers unless of course they saw a cat!!

Lube

Stugeron from the pharmacy.....has worked for me an all my vomiting HWV's and many of my puppy owners.
Good luck
Diane

Heard that quells or sealegs for a chemist is supposed to be good for travel sickness in dogs, amount depending on size,trial and error,  and give some time prior to travelling. Don't know from personal experience maybe someone else has heard something similar, but still worth investigating I feel.

Bazza

I have used Quells and sea-legs in the past (both for me and the dogs) I found they worked for a time, but the feeling came back if on long journeys. Going to shows in England can be a nightmare if I'm in the back of the car! The dogs I have now are great in the car. They just fall asleep. I didn't keep one puppy as he was terrible in the car. I was trying to decide between two and this was the deciding factor. His new owners spent a lot of time with him and he now loves the car. Taking them to somewhere nice and exciting, like the beach, or the park, can also take their minds off the sickness. Watch out though, you may end up with a different problem. Temporary deafness :D

Every dog seems to be a little different.  When my Beardie boy was a pup, right from bringing him back from the breeders. he whined yelped and vomited in the car - oh yes drooled as well but that wasn't have as bad as the rest.  His first 2 hours journeny was so bad he made me vomit.  Luckily I was the passenger. 

We knew we wanted to take him with us in the car, as we had all our other dogs, but the noise and smell was just too much. This went on for about three weeks, we were praying he would grow out of it.  We did all the suggested tricks, which do work for some, feeding in the car and making it a nice place all to no avail.  A friend then suggested a herbal remedy.  It came in a green tube and was called Nelsons Rhus Vom I think.  The vom bit being a nice play on words.  It is a tiny white pill that the dog doesnt even know he is swallowing - fits well inside a treat. 

I am pretty sure a dog cant experience the placebo effect and so I am convinced that the change we saw in him was due to the herbalist remedy.  Not car sick any more, no noise, no drool.  After a month we stopped giving the remedy and he hasnt had any problems since. You can now get these remedies from big chemists too.

just went on a four hour trip with my dog who get car sick got him some travel-eze tablets. he was fine he slept some of the way and was not sick. and that was both ways there and back he only 8 months can get  them in any vet store

I had a dog that was sick within minutes of getting in the car and as I travelled from Cornwall to Berkshire every few months to visit family it was something I needed to get sorted. I was advised that ginger biscuits worked. So I stocked up for the journey and fed a quarter biscuit every 10 mins at the start and then every 15 mins and gradually made the time gap longer. It worked a treat and for the first time ever he managed a long trip with no drool or vomit. Now I always have a pack of gingernuts in the car although they are not needed with my lot now.

I have a whippet who eats absolutely anything, except ginger biscuits & he is car sick! They do work, my GSD was cured of his car sickness with them.

OK, well, I'm a lurcher, 4 & a bit years old, I have been travel sick since the day i left the rescue center.... might have been brought on by the horrendous journey I had, as a 6 week old when the the rescue center (in norfolk) brought me from Wales with my 11 other brothers and sisters.

My Owners (i love them dearly) have tried various remedies, all the usual stuff... ginger buscuits (I loath them!), gentle introduction to the car followed by short journeys to interesting places (that was fun when i got there but i still got unwell.... and if the journey was more than 20 mins....my breakfast/lunch/dinner did a reverse journey), and after the journey i felt crap for several hours.

in the last 18 months I have been given CERENIA tablets (half a 160mg tab) 2 hours before we travel.... these seem to work, and are good for the day (i.e. if the journry is out and back in one day.... we don't get to to see my meal again)...

now i'm older i'm very happy to get in the car, (and i'd rather that then be left at home on my own)... and recently i have managed a 60 mile round trip without honking once, (without a tablet) which i'm told is 'a result'... you know... lots of the 'good boy!' and 'clever chap' stuff...

now my 'owner' (i let him think that) has found this forum.. it looks like a bit of a poncy pedigree place... not the sort of place a lurcher would be seen dead in... but it has an interesting thread about travel sickness... so i'd better let him carry on looking... you see..these CERENIA tablets cost the earth!... and 'he who must be obeyed' (unless i see a rabbit) is a tight git... and is looking for a better/cheaper/more effective (preferably all 3) remedy.

Personally... i don't have a problem seeing my lunch again... and on occasions i actually put it back where it came from... apparently this behaviour 'isn't the done thing' in the back of the volvo or 'she who must be obeyed's' (unless a passing cat comes into view) toyota... and it doesn't seem to matter which car i'm in...or who's driving (quite frankly i don't think either of them are that good a driver)... it seems to be the bends and roundabouts and twisty country lanes that do me in.

We (when i say we... they will buy them... i'll be taking them... clumsily wrapped in a couple of dogchocs... as if i don't know... what do they think i do with a nose 8 times bigger than theirs!! ) are going to try a few of the solutions discussed here... initially i'm told... the Bach Rescue stuff...

if anyone has any other brilliant ideas (that don't include brown paper!) i'm all ears (quite literally actually)

thanks in anticipation
MONTY.

Hi Monty, you may not want to hear this, but not having any brekkie until after you arrive at your destination helps a lot to stop you feeling really ick.

My latest 'poncy pedigree girl' showed signs of travel sickness and I started spraying the car and crate with Adaptil spray.  This is a smell that would remind you of your Mum when you were a baby nursing and make you feel good and more peaceful.

I first used it in case 'Poncy pedigree' pups Mum might feel stressed by her aeroplane journey to go long distance Romancing in Long Island New York.  She seemed to take the journey really well, based on not worrying at all on landing and when we flew back she was happy to go in her airline crate, off with the nice men to be loaded.  She used to drool and feel icky when a youngster too, but grew out of it as we do journeys of at least 100 miles each way about once a month, so she can be strut her stuff and admired (she is very vain) at dog shows.

'Poncy pedigree pup' threw up three times on her first long car journey to Wales, but since remembering the feel good spray she has hardly drooled.

Hello Barbara, Thank you very much for your suggestions... first i think i should apologise for refeering to this site as catering for'poncy pedigree' types... it was more by way of being flippant...

As a lurcher (mum was a Whippet, dad a GSD).. I'm considered a handsome chap and Lurchers seem to be getting a better 'press' these days... quite the fashion now...

I can usually tell if we are going somewhere in the car.. (well, us dogs, we know whats going on a couple of seconds after the thought arrives in our owners feeble bonces) as brekky fails to appear.....

That smelly stuff sounds a possibility... hope it doesn't upset 'them'... I think we'll probably be giving it a go
Thanks
MONTY

Awwww, poor you Monty. The "tight git" you mentioned could try giving you a comfy crate ( although this will en-tale an outlay of a monetary nature ) and use a cover over it so you can't see out,which can work really well, he will have to make sure you still have a good air flow though, nothing worse for the " urka gurkas " than a stuffy car. Or, and this may appeal to you more, " tight git " could allow you to travel in the back seat, suitably decked out in a harness attached to the seat belt of course, travelling in the body of the car rather than in the boot will mean there's not quite so much rocking about, and it might be enough to keep your dinner in your tum, it will also give you the opportunity to indulge in a spot of back seat driving and you can correct your owners rubbish driving technique. If " tight git " is worried about the upholstery being festooned with half digested meaty chunks, he could put his hand in his pocket and buy a hammock ( I kid you not, I have one for my 2 and it's fantastic ) which will attach to the head rests and keep you safe and the back seats puke free.

WOW!  I'm utterly muzzlesmacked at the quick replies, thankyou... I do in fact travel on the backseat in preference to the rear of the volvo (which is like a football pitch).. i settle a lot better on the seat... and these days i lie down and doze (with or without gold plated tablets) for most of the journey.

I'm intrigued with the 'hummock'... must look into this a bit more....

as an aside... I'm just back from the Vet's.... nuffin to do wiv car sickness... was out for a walk (well, 'he' walks... i run (dunno why... it's a lurcher thing)
and i happened upon a rabbit burrow.. so i just HAD to do the lurcher thing... pointless attempt to dig the occupants out... and, norfolk soil being full of flint... result ... blumming great gash in me pad!... so now i'm lying by the woodburner wiv a dirty great blue wodge of plaster on me foot.. (oh how i HATE my feet being mucked about with) hey ho...it's a dogs life

MONTY (with a pronounced limp)

> it was more by way of being flippant

I took it in the same light tone it was meant, LOL :)

Yes it might seem strange but having a small space so your not tempted to move around making the motion sickness worse is definitely the way to go, not looking at things whizzing by is also good. 

My car has a second sunroof just over the rear seat/boot area so I always have this open for the canine gang, otherwise having the rear windows open a few inches for extra air even if ti's cold helps.

Oh dear, double poor you, I believe sausages have a healing effect on cut pads, at least that's what I've been told by my two.

In the mean time, give your owner this to have a butchers at http://www.overthetop.co.uk/shop/Waterproof_Back_Seat_Hammock.html there are cheaper ones, which do the job, I've had this one though for about six years and it's still going strong.

Welcome aboard Monty and your servants too!
Loving the dry witty humour!
I have three whippets and they don't do bends, roundabouts or country lanes either! They'd much rather i just drove in straight line, preferably one built by the Romans!

I made a booster cushion for the back seat and she was much better, she could see out through the windows and through between the front seats and windscreen.

Thank you all so much for your informative replies... The hammock looks amazing and definitely worth a try, even if it doesn't cure the travel sickness it'll stop my brekky/lunch/dinner getting on the car upholstery... (can't see the problem myself.... smells quite good to me).

Unfortunately... here in norfolk it's difficult to find a road with more than a passing resemblance to straight... it is said that the road builders in this region kept the sun on their backs all day when laying the roads!.

with regard to my rather insensitive remarks about pedigree hounds.... of course... i number quite a few pedigree dogs amongst the best bottoms i've sniffed... and thus great friends.

Anyway... the foot seems ok... but i'm told i've got to put up with the plaster lump for another 3 days and walks limited to the bare essentials.... most unsatisfactory... the rabbits will be getting out of hand without my constant attention.

Monty

Your Skinflint Dad might want to try boots like the SAR dogs use when searching disaster areas. 

They will protect your owie now, but also may be an idea on your rabbiting trips on flinty ground.

You have to leave off digging for them though, your a lurcher a 'sight hound' so only go for the ones in the open, it's only fair to leave off once they go to ground. 

Failing that get Dad to get some ferrets and they can chase the bunnies out for you, with landowners permission of course.

We have got ourselves a trio, and hubby has the nets and ground sorted, so we are looking forward to Rabbit on the menu for both humans and four footers this year.

Thanks brainless... not sure about the boots.... have to see about that...............  i'm really impressed with the Ferrets and nets etc. that could be a possibility in the long term... or go out with the local 'rabbit man'
thanks

I had the hammock for my small breed dogs and my male would dig and scrape at it before settling down, he must have weakened the fabric because one day whilst driving along there was a strange noise from the back seat, the fabric had ripped and he had fallen through the hole, quickly pulled over and rescued him as he was still attached to the seatbelt by his harness, I released the hammock from the front head rest and tucked the surplus under the back seat.

Hi have been having major problems with my pup having her bowels  open on every car journey outwards and on the return journey she dribbles like mad, and by the time we get home she is soaking wet. I have tried your suggestion along with a couple of drops of Rescue Remedy before we go out, ( fingers crossed ) at the moment it really works It really is worth spending just that little extra time in the car before we start the journey. Thanks for the useful information.
Haveaguess