car sickness

[janaldworth]

Hi can anyone help me? I have a 7 month old rotti, he is great in every way and we want to take him everywhere with us the trouble is he get's very car sick, and dosen't like getting into the car, any suggestions on what to do.

[ArmaniMink]

Hey there.
I posted this same question a while back, and came up with this...

I have the same problem with my now 6 month old female rottie. She usually gets really scared whenever I take her for rides longer than 5-10 minutes in distance. She will climb in the truck just fine, no problem. She even likes to ride sitting up in the front seat watching out the windows and sticking her head out for a short period of time ONLY. Then all of a sudden she will just vomit on the floor. Just out of nowhere.. It really pisses me off everytime she does it because I have tried everything possible to avoid this. I even make sure not to feed her and to let her go potty before we leave. So here I am driving and I have to stop on the side of the road somewhere, anywhere to find a spot to pull over to clean up the stinky mess.. But hey I Love her to death and i do it.. I have been told she will out grow it, when I initially posted when she was 3-4 months and she still hasn't. Then I was told to take her on several short trips to get her used to riding. Well that failed too. She doesn't do it on the short trips, but she's never used to any of the longer ones either.Then I heard I should avoid curvy roads and excessive speeds while she is riding with me. I don't speed, and I go into turns rather slower than usual to comfort her.

Now I am convinced "This dog just simply would prefer to only ride for about 5-10 minutes tops and then she's done".. I just don't take her on any rides longer than that, unless I make several stops in between to allow her to get out, relax and calm down then off we go again. It makes the ride much longer for me of course, but at the same time it's easier on her and a lot less mess in the end for both.. Hope this helps..

[bliss7373]

I had a long-term foster that did this as well. I did a lot of work to make rides fun, not stressful, just like the post above explained. It took a long time, I added length to the trips very gradually. We started with getting into the car and getting out immediately, then progressed to having the doors shut for a second, etc. - I never added more than 5-10 minutes to the trip at one time. It did help eventually. I also found these management techniques to be especially helpful for longer trips (some repeats from above):

1. Limit food/water consumption on day of long trips. An empty belly isn't good, but only a small snack at most.

2. Nice long walks before the trip, to make sure the dog is empty and tired.

3. Keep the window cracked a bit during the trip. The fresh air helps me when I'm feeling carsick, figured it couldn't hurt him.

4. Consider a non-edible toy for the trip, something to distract the dog from it's nervousness.

5. Keep the speeds and turns consistent. My husband had problems with this!

6. On longer trips, stop every 30 minutes for a 5-10 minute break. Get out, let the dog stretch and potty if necessary. It adds time to the trips, but I think it was REALLY important in avoiding vomiting.

[cerulean]

For humans, ginger is an excellent anti-nausea herb. I don't know but I would think it would be fine for dogs.... find an animal herbalist or naturopath to ask for certain.

I've used it in the crystalized form (yum, just nibble all during the trip) or in a strong tea, or put the powder in gel caps and swallow one hour before the trip. I'm an avid sailor who gets seasick and this works great for me and my friends. I hope this gives you a useful idea.

[TrinaJ]

I was told ginger biscuits will do the trick, just as cerulean has mentioned above.

Somewhere in the back of my mind i recall being told camamile (sp?) tea also can work.....I never tried it though, I personally dont drink tea.

[janaldworth]

Thanks for all the advice, I think we've cracked it, We have an estate car and we were putting him in the back, but he didn't settle and was very sick, so I now sit with him on the back seat with the sun roof and windows open, and give him a nice cuddle, he is less stressed and so far hasn't been sick!! I however am covered in gooba!!