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Travel Sick Pup

Rosie

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Having had a good old read of the FAQ on this subject I still have a few questions :blink:

Skye is sick every time we go in the car and in between times drools a lot and looks thoroughly miserable but not anxious :( . She is worse on an outward journey even if she has eaten as long as 4 hours previously but on a return journey settles faster and if I'm lucky sleeps all the way and as long as I don't reverse up the drive :blink: manages to make it home. If I reverse she wakes up, drools and pukes almost instantly :- " .

It is manageable although not much fun for her or me but we are going away in our camper in August so I want to try out remedies in case she hasn't grown out of it by then. I think it will be a miserable holiday for everyone otherwise as we will probably travel every day and over a week or so with the sickness I think her condition will suffer :( .

So, is it just trial and error with the remedies to see what suits her or is there a feeling of which are the best things to try? People have recommended Sea Legs but does this make them drowsy and would it be safe for her to potentialy have one every day for a week, bit worried about that.

Which herbal remedy would you recommend I try first if Sea Legs isn't an option?

Thanks in advance :thumbsup: :D

Just to add it doesn't make a difference if she is in or out of crate and she is well padded and cosy in there :)
 
Hi

We tried all sorts for Daisy when she was a pup, ginger biscuits, not feeding etc.etc. but in the end she grew out of it, she huffs and puffs and makes cat noises but she no longer vomits :D not much help I know but maybe a little hope
 
Aw bless you.... firstly :huggles: it is so heart breaking seeing your pup like this.

I have been where you are and we too are planning on going away in our camper during this summer holidays.

Ben is our sickness problem pup.

We've tried everything..... the one thing that has worked takes a bit of planning but we don't feed him and give him a stugeron junior pills 2 hours before we need to go out... there will still be some drool but the sickness should be ok.

We find keeping him busy with his favourite ginger nuts while you are on the move helps too.

We leave the camper back door open during fine weather and Ben will follow Sidney in it to have a lie down and we have started the engine and he was fine with that.... have also gone up and back on the drive way all fine so fingers crossed he should be ok when we go away.

I hope that helps :thumbsup:
 
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So sorry little Skye is like this Katie what a shame.. :( One of mine Kobi has not grown out of this and he is 3 years old now. Ive been recomended sealegs for him to take...but I havnt tried them yet.

I must admit we dont have a lot of need to take them in the car that often, as we have such great walks round here...but I do like to take them to the beach and the forest now and then.

On our next outing...Im going to try the sealegs, Im sure they dont make them drousy at all, but dont hold me to that.

He is usually sick at about the 3 mile stage... (w00t) and if its a shorter journery...the drooling starts after about 15 mins...

Ooops meant to add Ive also bought some DAP spray too, its supposed to calm them..its a herbal remedy.
 
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I've used Stugeron with good results. If we were going to a show, I would give one the night before and another an hour before traveling, I found this worked well and the ones that were car sick grew out of it by the time they were 6 to 9 months old. I used the standard ones, and they don't make them drowsy.

I made a mistake with my first car sick whippet, went to the vet, the pills he gave me had them asleep for hours!!!!!!!!!!!!! They weren't sick, just slept! Never gave those pills again, they were sedatives.

:cheers:
 
bertha said:
I've used Stugeron with good results. If we were going to a show, I would give one the night before and another an hour before traveling, I found this worked well and the ones that were car sick grew out of it by the time they were 6 to 9 months old. I used the standard ones, and they don't make them drowsy.I made a mistake with my first car sick whippet, went to the vet, the pills he gave me had them asleep for hours!!!!!!!!!!!!! They weren't sick, just slept! Never gave those pills again, they were sedatives.

:cheers:

I echo this completely - we used Sealegs. All the same stuff anyway
 
We used "Ginger Tablets" for motion sickness on our pup, she did a lot of car and sea travel. They are sold at Chemists for human travel sickness.

Before we started using them Nockie was sick on most "departing" trips but was fine on the return. Once we started using them she was not sick again.

They were 100% effective in our case. Used them for years for sea sickness on the kids when they were young, very good. They are 100% natural. Only thing is you will need to be good at slipping them to the back of puppy's tongue with one finger for them to be taken

I have found pups seam to get their sea legs quicker the more they are exposed to travel.
 
Ozzy was really sick everytime we went anywhere in the car - even to the end of the road! and would start to drool as soon as the car door was opened :x . I tried all manner of things but he did improve with the Stugeron and I sprayed his crate and bedding in the car with DAP. Then I tried skullcap and valerian tablets as it seemed more anxiety with him than motion sickness.

Funny thing is that since he fell and banged his head - he doesnt get sick at all in the car (w00t) but I certainly [SIZE=14pt]wouldnt[/SIZE] recommend this as treatment so "dont try this at home folks" :thumbsup: :rolleyes:
 
Many years ago my parents had a spaniel that was very travel sick. Someone suggested half a paracetamol. This worked great. I would check with a vet before trying this or anything else though. :thumbsup:
 
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They do grow out of it sooner or later. My Callista was the worst of all the car sick dogs I ever had; she only stopped when she was over 18 months old. So i was very worried about handing her pups to their new owners. They came with carsickness kit of paper towels and plenty of plastic bags - :b , well, 6 of the 7 are gone and not a one single one was sick! Not even the one who went 300km.

Frequent short trips, not feeding before travel, small easily to digest meal at least 3 hours before the journey, traveling in a crate placed on the front passenger seat and plenty of fresh air during, were the most successful ways to control carsickness in my experience.

If you cannot have them on the front seat, the back seat would do, but never further back.

:luck: :luck: :luck:
 
All of you with car sick dogs try this tip i was given , the man would like to see a lot try it and see if he is right

layer the area the dog will be travelling in with a large amount of broad sheet newspapers making a thick layer , then place a small blanket over the layers , this is s`posed to soak up some of the car motion and works a bit like the things you used to see under cars? this should also work on car sick kiddies , sick them on 2 or 3 complete newspapers and have their feet also on at least a couple of layers too

try it , it may be a very good cure :thumbsup:
 
All of mine have been sick as puppies (except dear old Poppy) and I use Sealegs which dont make them at all sleepy. One the night before travelling and one on the morning, they work brilliantly :thumbsup:
 
Covering the crate up on three sides with a blanket or cage cover so he can just look forwards might help, particularly with motion sickness (which they tend to grow out of eventually).

Also a lot of pet shops now sell a range of 'HomeoPet' products which you could use every day if needed as they are non-sedating. The one for 'Travel Anxiety' is good, (costs about £9). You just put five to ten drops into their mouth an hour (or even half an hour) before travelling. It worked for our little one (along with the cage cover) when all else failed! :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for all the tips everyone and for the dap link Janis :thumbsup: .

We're off to see my parents on Wednesday and I'm going to try Stugeron and take it from there after seeing how she is :))
 
Oh - that could ruin things for the holiday. Have you tried her in the camper yet? I wonder if it will make a difference?

Leia isnt a good traveller - fine on short journeys but as soon as we hit the motorway she goes to pieces - I've seen an improvement in her with a piriton tablet an hour before travelling. This also helped another dog of ours. I do remember one K9'er saying their dog had a bad reaction to this so it might be worth speaking to a vet before hand.

:luck: with 'little' Skye :wub:
 
I would say that it's mostly anxiety rather that motion sickness for most dogs that I have ever encountered. Monty was sick a few times when he was a pup and up to the age of one, but now he just seems unimpressed with the car rather than sickened by it. A few car trips to the pub and being left in his cage in the car while we ate, then coming out and giving him a reward of some juicy left over steak seemed to sort him out :- " . It was a case of teaching him that car journeys can be rewarding.

He still isn't keen on the car (holds his tail between his legs) but he doesn't throw up any more. He even travelled home from a family holiday 100 miles in the back of my Mondeo a couple of months ago instead of in my parents Land Rover and he was quite happy, slept all the way, and I don't exactly hang around when I'm driving.
 
Motion sickness occurs when the brain receives conflicting messages from the inner ears (which control balance and equilibrium) and the eyes. As the child or puppy matures the brain coordinates and the carsickness stops or is greatly reduced.

To stop dogs feeling anxious about car travel, i simply drive them to our parks (one is 1/2km from here, the other almost 2km) there is no time to get sick and of-course they love going there. They get to love going out in the car, but some still were sick on longer journeys until they grew out of it.

Another thing is that driving straight ahead is better tolerated than going on winding roads, or just having to turn left right left right. I used to go visit my daughter with a whole litter of pups. Most of the $80km is a straight freeway run and the pups were fine, but once we got off the freeway, the last couple of km had lots of turns and they regularly puked just as I turned into my daughter's street :x . But I discovered that if I went slightly longer way, but without having so many turns, and drove very slowly in the last few hundred yards through the turns, we managed to get there without problems. :thumbsup:
 
I think that your Skye is a similar age to mine Rosie and all you have mentioned sounds very familiar. However, I have had a bit of a breakthru which may interest anyone who travels their dog in a crate in the car. My crate has reasonably rough surfaced plastic tray in it which I cover with a vetbed type pad and up 'till a few months ago Skye was sick daily. However following a tip, I bought some rubber carmats which go under the vetbed for about a pound from Wilcos. This has cut the vomiting down by about 90%. Skye now readiliy lies down which she never did before and obviously feels more stable than she did do. It's not foolproof by any means, particularly if we have a journey which involves going over rough roads, or if I have to make any sudden stops; also it's obvious that Skye still loathes the car BUT the effect of the carmats on the sickness was virtually instant.
 
We had this with Diesel but he would howl as well. I thought we were never going to crack the problem. I tried the Dap Spray, sprayed in his bedding about 15 mins before we set off. I would take the spray with me to use on the return journey but never did. We cracked it in 3 to 4 journeys and have never looked back.

It is quite expensive but this is the cheapest place I have found:

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page...yword=dap+spray

Hope this helps.
 

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