Travel Sickness

Shazanne

Hi,
I'm sure I'm not the first one to seek advice on this but I'd really appreciate some advice.
My dog Max (a basset hound cross) is a really bad traveller. We resuced him just over a year ago and in the early days he seemed fine. We even brought him on holidays to Cork (two hour drive) and he was grand.
But a few months back he started being sick in the car and now he gets sick every time we travel and it's putting me off taking him places as I feel it must be miserable for him.
We had him in Galway a few weeks back and I took him to the vet while there and got him him some travel sickness tablets so he would have a comfy drive home, as well as a DAP spray to help him relax. He didn't get sick but he was drooling, so I know he didn't feel too good.
Since then I've just used the DAP spray but its not working at all. Yesterday he got very sick and continued to be sick after we arrived home. He also got diarrohea pretty bad when we got home.
What should I do? I am at my wits end. He is due to travel again on Friday and Saturday (about an hour each time) and I feel cruel sunjecting him to it when I know he will be miserable.
My other dog could travel in a space rocket and be fine! They both travel in individual carriers, well ventilated and very comfy.
Thanks in advance for any advice.:)

borderlinemeath

First thing is, the continued sickness is probably brought on by stress. If he sees he's going into the car he might start getting stressed without even having the engine started. Maybe put him into the car and bring him around the block and give him a treat if he's ok afterwards. Try this a few times and he might see the car as ok and not something that stresses him out, just little short trips at first or even to somewhere that is a favourite walk, so he'll figure out getting into the car is ok and doesn't have to end in him getting sick.

I know my girl didn't like the car at first. When we brought her home from her breeder we had her in the boot of an estate car, but she got sick on the way home. We discovered she was fine if she was in the car itself, either in the front or the back seat, but just not the boot, whether it was the proximity to the exhaust fumes or the stress of her first journey away from her family we'll never know. But now she is a fantastic traveller, always jumps into the car for a trip away.

scarlet_mandy

Hi, ours is a bad traveller too, getting better each time, but we learned that with the travel sickness she too was ok with someone in the back with her, windows open preferably. What we found worked the most though was being careful when we fed her. If she got fed even 2 hours before a car journey she would still be sick, so if we were going early enough we would just hold off and feed her when we got there, and that seemed to make a huge difference

Robinwood

Its obvious that some of the dogs get sick while travelling ! i guess its not a big deal ! Even my puppy had gone trough the same thing and i was very scared looking at him at that time and he had even had vomits .. but when i had taken him to VAT then doc said that its quite natural for some dogs to get sick or something like tat while travelling and its nothing to worry !

piperh

Oh op i feel your pain, my little girl is a terrible traveller drools quite literally from the second she jumps happily into the car. If she has been fed that day even a treat she'll be sick and i've known her to be sick at 11am after not eating since 8pm the night before!! Its a shame cus she jumps into the car happy and knows we're either going for a nice off lead walk or to play class. I've tried travel sickness tablets and the only thing i've found that occassionally works is ginger.

Kali_Kalika

I know your discussing dogs and my story is cat related - but I think car sickness is car sickness really! My cat is the worlds worst traveller! My previous 2 cats loved the car! They'd both ride in the back window and watch the world go by - but this one - it starts with drooling before we've fully reversed down the drive - he then poo's himself in under 2 minutes of travelling time - and from then on its just drooling, howling, moaning and puking. Never a fun journey!

I'd tried everything out there possible for him (and myself!) to make car trips more bearable - but nothing worked. I skipped feeding him before any trips, did help with the puke (nothing to get up!) but did nothing for the drooling or pooing. Tried all the rescue remedy things, the tablets (pet store ones and ones I bought online and even some from a vet!) - Got the feliway de-stressing spray - did nothing but give me a headache from being in the car with it for 2 hours. NOTHING WORKED.

I moved house and thusly had to change vets - after arriving in with a drooly, silmy, yowling poo scented cat did he finally have the best suggestion ever. I'm not at home at the very minute to check the name of it - but if you are interested in it PM me and I'll give you the name of it when I'm at home again. Its basically a pre-anesthetic they give to cats/dogs/horses - it calms them down and lets vets work with them prior to surgeries and for just generally difficult patients.

Its a toothpaste like gel - just dab a blob on your finger about 30 minutes before travel time - its liver flavoured so he loves the taste of it! If you are aware and have seen pets post anesthetic you'll understand what happens to them. To anyone who hasn't understood - my simplest explanation is its like taking a nervous flier to the airport bar and literally dumping a bottle of Powers Whiskey down their throat! Mine will start stumbling around, walking into table legs and just being a complete drunk - I know then he's ready to travel so I'll pop him into his carrier and barr one drunken meow as the hatchback closes - there isn't a peep or a whiff out of him. So - again - that's no drooling, no pooing, no puking - just a drunken, sleepy cat in a carrier. He still doesn't like the car - but he's just too b*lloxed to care! So he just snoozes the trip away. He travels about 3 times a year. Once to the vet's and 2 times to the pet minder. The vet trip is 20 mins each way. And the pet minder is 2 hours! The gel does take a long time to wear off (approx 6 hours) before he's 100% himself again - but at the destination (or home after the vets) I always ensure he gets put into a darkened room with lots of water and a small bowl of crunchy food and his litter tray - and just let him come down in a bit of peace and quiet.

This stuff has literally changed his life when it comes to car trips. The vet said it is a bit heavy duty but since I had literally tried everything else out there possible for cat car sickness - it was probably the only step left. He said that it would be far far less stressful for him (and myself!) to just take that step and have car journeys be less traumatic and all of that.

Again - I know the problem is with your dog - and this can be used on dogs as well - the dosage would just be different. Dogs are on the box/tube and mentioned in the directions - so its defo dog friendly as well. If you've tried every car sickness remedy out there - this might be your last resort so to speak! If you are interested in it - please PM me and I'll get you the name of it so you can talk to your own vet about it as well.

Shazanne

piperh wrote: »

Oh op i feel your pain, my little girl is a terrible traveller drools quite literally from the second she jumps happily into the car. If she has been fed that day even a treat she'll be sick and i've known her to be sick at 11am after not eating since 8pm the night before!! Its a shame cus she jumps into the car happy and knows we're either going for a nice off lead walk or to play class. I've tried travel sickness tablets and the only thing i've found that occassionally works is ginger.

Ginger? I remember vaguely hearing about using ginger for pregnancy sickness so it rings a bell. How and when do you use it?

ISDW

Shazanne wrote: »

Ginger? I remember vaguely hearing about using ginger for pregnancy sickness so it rings a bell. How and when do you use it?

I just give my travel sick boy half a ginger nut biscuit:D

Shazanne

Kali_Kalika wrote: »

I know your discussing dogs and my story is cat related - but I think car sickness is car sickness really! My cat is the worlds worst traveller! My previous 2 cats loved the car! They'd both ride in the back window and watch the world go by - but this one - it starts with drooling before we've fully reversed down the drive - he then poo's himself in under 2 minutes of travelling time - and from then on its just drooling, howling, moaning and puking. Never a fun journey!

I'd tried everything out there possible for him (and myself!) to make car trips more bearable - but nothing worked. I skipped feeding him before any trips, did help with the puke (nothing to get up!) but did nothing for the drooling or pooing. Tried all the rescue remedy things, the tablets (pet store ones and ones I bought online and even some from a vet!) - Got the feliway de-stressing spray - did nothing but give me a headache from being in the car with it for 2 hours. NOTHING WORKED.

I moved house and thusly had to change vets - after arriving in with a drooly, silmy, yowling poo scented cat did he finally have the best suggestion ever. I'm not at home at the very minute to check the name of it - but if you are interested in it PM me and I'll give you the name of it when I'm at home again. Its basically a pre-anesthetic they give to cats/dogs/horses - it calms them down and lets vets work with them prior to surgeries and for just generally difficult patients.

Its a toothpaste like gel - just dab a blob on your finger about 30 minutes before travel time - its liver flavoured so he loves the taste of it! If you are aware and have seen pets post anesthetic you'll understand what happens to them. To anyone who hasn't understood - my simplest explanation is its like taking a nervous flier to the airport bar and literally dumping a bottle of Powers Whiskey down their throat! Mine will start stumbling around, walking into table legs and just being a complete drunk - I know then he's ready to travel so I'll pop him into his carrier and barr one drunken meow as the hatchback closes - there isn't a peep or a whiff out of him. So - again - that's no drooling, no pooing, no puking - just a drunken, sleepy cat in a carrier. He still doesn't like the car - but he's just too b*lloxed to care! So he just snoozes the trip away. He travels about 3 times a year. Once to the vet's and 2 times to the pet minder. The vet trip is 20 mins each way. And the pet minder is 2 hours! The gel does take a long time to wear off (approx 6 hours) before he's 100% himself again - but at the destination (or home after the vets) I always ensure he gets put into a darkened room with lots of water and a small bowl of crunchy food and his litter tray - and just let him come down in a bit of peace and quiet.

This stuff has literally changed his life when it comes to car trips. The vet said it is a bit heavy duty but since I had literally tried everything else out there possible for cat car sickness - it was probably the only step left. He said that it would be far far less stressful for him (and myself!) to just take that step and have car journeys be less traumatic and all of that.

Again - I know the problem is with your dog - and this can be used on dogs as well - the dosage would just be different. Dogs are on the box/tube and mentioned in the directions - so its defo dog friendly as well. If you've tried every car sickness remedy out there - this might be your last resort so to speak! If you are interested in it - please PM me and I'll get you the name of it so you can talk to your own vet about it as well.

Hi. Thanks for that reply. I am certainly interested and will PM you. Only difficulty I have is that he is going into kennels this weekend (for only the second time but I have no choice). I would not particularly like to have him zonked out if I am not going to be with him. But, if he is coming on holiday with us or travelling somewhere where I wont have to leave him, it sounds like a possible solution. Just wondering though if I was bringing him to the beach for a walk (about a two hour drive) or to the mountains etc., he wouldn't be able to enjoy it properly if he was sedated.
Probably just me being a "fussy mother" but I would worry about him if I am not there to look after him.

piperh

Like ISDW i just give half a biscuit about 15/20mins before we're due to travel. I was told ginger root itself works as well but its just as easy to give the biscuits.