<p>We normally only take our dog on one car trip a year, a four hour drive at Thanksgiving, since we know he struggles with carsickness. He is a Rescue dog, small mixed breed, mostly jack russell. About 13 pounds. He is well behaved in the car, tries to sleep the whole way, but we know he doesn’t feel great.</p>
<p>Due to unusual circumstances, we need to take him with us on a 7 hour car trip to the beach in August. We are certain he will have a grand time discovering the beach and meeting all the people and other dogs, but also realize the long trip will not be pleasant for him.</p>
<p>Any ideas about timing his “last meal” before getting in the car, and pros and cons of feeding/watering him along the way. We plan to medicate him that morning.</p>
<p>Any practical advice is appreciated. We will travel in a gmc safari van, and not sure if laying him in his bed on the floorboard vs. having him up on a bench seat would make any difference.</p>
<p>No personal experience here, but I volunteer at a shelter and recently overheard an adoption counselor talking to a customer about this.</p>
<p>She said that although many people think car sickness is mostly a stomach issue, it is actually an anxiety issue from which an upset stomach is often an outcome, just like a person. Frequent small amounts of food and water rather than a single meal were recommended , but more important was the management of the anxiety. Medications to calm (not only for the stomach) work well, but she said that the best way to address it is to take short, frequent trips in advance of the long trip. Essentially, teaching the dog that it’s OK, getting him/her comfortable with the space and the movement, showing them that there is an end in sight, etc. Material items (such as a blanket or bed or toy that smells familiar) or verbal cues that normally calm or assure the dog when not in the car would be helpful. Our shelter’s retail shop sells a dog jacket that is meant to be worn snugly, like a hug - she said some find that comforting, others find it too constricting. </p>
<p>Hope this gives you some ideas - good luck.</p>
<p>I wonder if some anxiety is related to the motion, vibration and sounds combo and not being able to see out. Maybe you give him a cushion that raises him enough. And, as my grandmother used to tell me, explain the trip to him. (Ha.)</p>
<p>Speaking as a person subject to motion sickness, anxiety exacerbates motion sickness but the cause is motion. For example, I’m in a moving car, I’ll reliably get motion sickness if I try to read. Reading doesn’t make me anxious-- in fact it calms me-- but the difference between what my eyes see (a fixed book) and what my ears feel (movement) will make me sick, first with a headache and then with nausea.</p>
<p>I find that twisty roads always make me sick, the twistier the worse. Straight freeways are not a problem for me. Again, a twisty road is not more anxiety-producing, just more sickness-producing.</p>
<p>^ Cardinal Fang, the way I overheard it explained was not unlike the way you detailed it. The uneasiness of the motion causes the anxiety, and the anxiety the sickness. When you read, it’s sort of like when you close your eyes or are in a dark room - your other senses are hightened, so you are “feeling” more than if your eyes are adding perspective to the movement. At least, that’s how I understood it.</p>
<p>There are drugs for dogs - I’m not sure if they are a Dramamine type of drug, or something like a Benadryl to calm them. Sounds like the OP has them. </p>
<p>My recently departed Izzy was the only Labrador we ever had that HATED the car. She would shake, cry, and cling to someone the entire time. </p>
<p>We finally found that putting her in the cargo area of the SUV calmed her down a lot…dad thinks it’s because she felt more confined and thus safer. Just something to think about. She still didn’t enjoy it, but less crying and apparent anxiety.</p>
<p>By your explanation, if I were to close my eyes, my motion sickness would worsen. That’s the opposite of the truth. When I’m a passenger in a car on mountain roads, I get extremely sick. If I close my eyes or cover them completely with a mask so I can’t see, I have no trouble. The issue is not anxiety. It is a disparity between what my eyes are seeing and what the balance center in my ears is feeling. If my eyes see nothing, there is no problem.</p>
<p>This may be the reason that HGFM’s Izzy felt better in the cargo area of the SUV (if that cargo area was dark).</p>
<p>I believe this is true. It actually is a physical phenomenon, even without anxiety as a factor. Fortunately, my beautiful sweet lady (our dearly departed yellow lab) never got car sick or even phased in the least. Our golden doodle doesn’t vomit, but he pants profusely the entire time, never stopping, whether or not it’s a short drive or 5 hours.</p>
<p>I thought the car reading issue was that your eyes are working harder to focus on the words, because of the car movement. On a small boat on rough seas, I was told to look at the horizon, not something on the boat. (Macro vs micro…) A brain thing, as it tries to adapt, it ignores the need to monitor the stomach, similar to cramps. All this goes back to jr high info, for me. One of us should google.</p>
<p>Have you talked to your vet? I would think a veterinary anti-anxiety med–alprazolam is what I use for thunderstorms–would allow your dog to sleep through the trip.</p>
<p>DS has a dog who hates the car, frequently vomits, and used to drool terribly on even short car trips. Unfortunately, DS lives 12 hours away by car. Over time, dog has become accustomed to the trip, but DS would give the dog Benadryl before the trip. The dog would generally sleep the whole way, with just one or two stops to go potty. </p>
<p>I can feel miserably motion sick even before I get nauseous. And dogs that pant during an entire car trip also probably feel quite awful. I urge owners of dogs susceptible to motion sickness to find some drug to alleviate their animal’s suffering if they must take the dog on a long car trip. Just because they’re not vomiting doesn’t mean they don’t feel terrible. I suggest some kind of sleeping meds, if the vet approves. </p>
<p>Our Vet recommended that we give our dog a Benadryl if he had any trouble with motion sickness on a long car ride. So far the dog has been fine on longer car rides so I’m unsure if it would work or not. </p>
<p>UPDATE…Dog did very well today on our 2 hour trip. Made a couple of stops, plus we were out of the car at camp for about 15 minutes. We made sure he could see out of the car, and realized he also enjoyed the smells coming in through the A/C vent. He slept a lot, even though we didn’t medicate him beforehand. He didn’t get sick at all, but we know it still wasn’t his favorite thing.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. We do plan to medicate the dog before we embark on our long drive.</p>
<p>I wasn’t going to respond at all…but if this pooch is THAT anxious, and THAT prone to carsickness, why couldn’t he stay home with a pet sitter? </p>
<p>It’s a “perfect storm” of all his special people who can care for him are unavailable. Staying home with strangers will be just as anxious for him as coming along with the folks he loves. Dog is a rescue, was abused, and we understand and love him through his quirks, his anxiety during thunderstorms, etc. As I said in my original post, it is unusual circumstances, and we are making the best choice out of the options available to us.</p>