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Car sickness

4K views 32 replies 12 participants last post by  Mountain mom 
#1 ·
CC is almost 10 months old and still gets very carsick if we don’t give her Cerenia. My breeder said she would grow out of it, but when? Anyone else having this problem? She loves everyone and every dog, but it’s so difficult to take her anywhere. Any help would be appreciated. Don’t want to keep medicating her. Thank you in advance.
 
#3 ·
My Mia had car sickness issues. She does better on an empty stomach. Have you tried that? She also does better with a car seat harness. If she gets queasy in a crate, she freaks out. I think because she does not want to vomit all over herself in the crate so she wants out. Also, if your dog vomits after a certain period of time, you could try shorter trips so she can be successful and help her disassociate the car with vomiting. I never used Cerenia. It suppresses the dogs tendency to vomit, however if your dog ever eats something bad and needs to vomit, she will not be able to and this could cause serious problems.
 
#5 ·
My boy is almost 3 now and has not grown out of it. Cerenia did not help him, he was actually sicker. He loves to go in the car and wants to go,but 3 miles and I can see him starting to feel the motion. Sometimes not even 3 miles. He seems to do better with a small meal a few hours before the ride. I'm baffled and have tried pretty much everything except for a sedative my vet suggested.
It has side effects that scare me like a tendancy to overheat easily. We live in Florida and it is hot most of the year(not today!) and he is usually going to the groomer.
I've given up really but he has done maybe 5 drives over a mile where he did not get sick. I am no help.
 
#6 ·
I really feel bad for you Tere. Dog car sickness is almost as frustrating as a dog peeing all over your house. Hang in there. Sounds like you did everything you could. Mia finally got over it but it took years. We have property 2 hours from here and go there at least one a week. Not going was not an option. And doing shorter trips to build up to two hours was not feasible. The roads are windy and hilly. She finally makes the trip fine. We are moving there later this year so we will not be doing as many trips on windy hilly roads. Looking forward to that.
 
#7 ·
Yes, it really does suck! That little guy could be having fun times meeting and greeting new people, going to new places if not for the car sickness. He would actually make a wonderful pet therapy dog. I did this with my previous dog who loved to go and be friends with dementia patients at a nursing home. We did it for years til he got sickly. Shadow would actually be better at it than Romeo was. I would love to take him home to meet all of my friends and family but 1600 miles of puking puppy is not fun. I was considering flying with him but that would involve a few long car rides to/from the airports.
I so wish there was a good answer. Cerenia was not it for Shadow, he did better with Bonine. At least, it worked sometimes.
 
#9 ·
Not deodorizer, nothing much other than window cleaner(and that isn't often inside). He got sick on rides with the breeder(2 different vehicles) every ride he went on with her. If he doesn't get sick in the car, he gets sick once he gets out.
I don't think it is any scent/cleaner since I use a lot more in the house. He is not a puker other than car ride related. Once in 2 years that was not car ride related.
Kind of amazing for a dog who can run fast in circles endlessly!
 
#11 ·
I feel your pain. As you probably know already, there are many helpfully old feeds on this very subject. I combed through every one of them trying to sort our this very issue. My pup had horrible car sickness up until 7 months or so. As you might have read, it is hard to distinguish between the anxiety w/ associated behavioral patterns and a physical issue. I found it to be the most helpful to take my pup on many many super short rides with fun destinations- nothing elaborate - just a walk in a local park which is close where we live. We did this at least three times a day for months. I use a Gunner crate with a soft doggie bed inside of it secured with cam straps on the back seat of my SUV for safety reasons. I would give him a tiny piece of Honest kitchen beef jerky every time I put him in the crate to the park and before we headed home from the park. Anything longer than 3 minutes in the car and he would get sick. So we did this for months and very very gradually I was able to increase the time to 10 minutes. Now we are up to 30 minutes and he no longer has excess saliva either. I did use 1/2 tab of Bonine given 1.5 hours before a trip to the vet dentist which was 40 min away and he did fine with that. The pheromone sprays did not help but perhaps my intent did. If I have to drive further than 30 min with him, I will likely give him 1/2 tab of Bonine again. More than anything take a ton of super short trips with a little treat and a fun destination. You can even start by going in and out of the driveway, then build up to going around the block and just play at home if you don't have a fun/easy destination. Breaking the mental association of car=sickness takes a lot of work to build new associations, but you can do it with dedication and repetition. Best wishes to you and your pup <3
 
#25 ·
Thank you so much! I tried Dramamine today and it worked! We went to the post office in our tiny town and she was greeting everyone. It was so good to see her enjoying everyone and her surroundings. I don't like giving her anything, but it's better than Cerenia and not eating. As soon as she is excited about getting in the car, I will slowly wean her off of the Dramamine, IF I can. Want to take her everywhere with me and she would be a great therapy dog, according to our trainer, but have to clear this hurdle first&#128522;
 
#15 ·
Our Duke is 13 weeks and has this issue too. Whenever we have to take him somewhere, we carry him in a soft puppy carrier with a potty pad at the bottom.The first few weeks he threw up every car ride (sometimes several times). I think the issue is that the carrier is small and a bit confining and because he doesn't have much room to move around in there while we're driving, the motion of the car makes his dizziness and sickness worse. Last car ride we tried opening the top of the puppy carrier so he could stick just his head out and it worked! He didn't throw up once. We'll have to see if this is a permanent solution but for now, being able to move his head around (maybe so his ear equilibrium doesn't get "off") seemed to help.
 
#17 ·
No haters please......My Lu gets sick every time she rides in the back seat and especially if I have her contained. So my solution has been to lay a blanket on the front seat, let the air conditioning blow on her, and to open the window.She rarely gets sick. I think for Lu it is excitement to be going out and car sickness. If my son is with us, she sits on his lap snuggled in and quite happy. She does not get sick if someone is holding her so I think anxiety could be part of the issue.
 
#18 ·
Regarding comments from the haters...I have had to deal with that too. I believe they mean well and are simply concerned about the dog's safety. Mia absolutely loves being in a crate at home, however she also hates being in a crate in the car and always vomits. I keep her tethered to the seat belt in the back seat and she lays in a bed facing forward. I think some restraint is critical. By tethering to the seat belt the dog has some freedom and some level of safety. If your son wants to hold the dog, she could be tethered to your son's seat belt. There are other ways to restrain a dog that are safer, however it is also important to preserve the sanity of dog and owner. Stress can kill you too. I personally prefer experimenting with various riding arrangements vs resorting to drugs to get them to be good riders. Once they can ride without vomiting, safer riding arrangements could be explored.
 
#19 ·
@Mountain mom ... is your dog in a crate? Being able to see outside helps carsickness in general, as well as, being in the front seat. Our Havanese has never been car sick, but we have a Golden-doodle that use to get sick. She finally go over it. We take her on long travel trips and eventually she settled down. With the Doodle I think it was a whole of anxiety.
 
#24 ·
I've tried crate, tether, facing forward, no food, treats, no treats, air conditioner, open window and CERENA. Kojo will be a year old Feb 8 and I only take him in the car to the vet and groomer, always on empty stomach. Treats just give him something more to throw up. He always salivates or he is heaving bile or dry heaves. I tried just tethering him facing forward and just starting the engine, feeding him yummy treats. He doesn't seem at all bothered by being in his crate or sitting in car even with the engine running. Back down my steep driveway and one turn and he's is vomiting. I really don't know if it's motion sickness but really doesn't appear to be anxiety. I have seen his anxiety attacks indoors when doorbell rings on TV and he is barking his head off, not vomiting. I have not been able to drive 5 minutes to park without vomiting. So instead of repeating this, I have decided to only go in car when necessary. So far, I take him for walks around the house. He loves it. So that is where I am at age ONE YEAR.

The bad new is my sister has an 8-year-old Springer Spaniel who still gets carsick. Never found solution and never grew out of it.
 
#26 ·
I am so sorry to hear this...very disheartening. One year old is still very young. Mia took years to get over hers. It was sort of a gradual improvement. It is a shame he starts vomiting before you can get somewhere fun. I will keep my fingers crossed for you. I know how frustrating this is. I also know that dogs can pick up on our anxiety. It is important for the owner to stay calm but I know this is easy to say but not so easy to do.
 
#31 ·
car sick

CC is almost 10 months old and still gets very carsick if we don't give her Cerenia. My breeder said she would grow out of it, but when? Anyone else having this problem? She loves everyone and every dog, but it's so difficult to take her anywhere. Any help would be appreciated. Don't want to keep medicating her. Thank you in advance.
Perry is almost 4 and still gets car sick. We have tried most of what was mentioned - empty stomach (can usually go 15-20 minutes without vomiting but then will vomit when we get out of the car); bonine on an empty stomach (sometimes works, sometimes doesn't), Cerenia (the best so far, but he still has occasionally gotten sick when taking it).

He does travel in a sherpa bag - we're in rental cars a lot of the time and I can't risk him throwing up. I have been thinking of getting a car seat instead to see if up and able to look helps - but that wouldn't help us long-term with travel to/ from airports since I couldn't easily pack the car seat with us.

Since I've been wondering how much of this is anxiety versus motion sickness, I discussed it iwth the vet and she said that some dogs have luck with gabapentin (even though that's a nerve pain med, apparently it also works for anxiety) - has anyone tried that?
 
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