Help - Puppy with HORRIBLE motion sickness

[CharlieBsMom]

Hi everyone.

Now when I say that my dog has horrible motion sickness, I mean it's horrible. He can only last about 5 - 10 min. in my car, then he starts vomiting, has diarrhea, urinates, drools, and whimpers. At first I thought it was fear based, so I took him everywhere, hoping he would get used to being in the vehicle. It did not work. I've taken him to the vet's and she suggested that I give him Gravol. I'm just not comfortable with giving him any, especially after what it did to my son when I had to give it to him when he little.

I was wondering if anyone knows of an alternative product, or knows of a different method to relieve motion sickness. I would truly appreciate any advice.

[sugarcatmom]

There is a new product by Pfizer called Cerenia that you may want to ask your vet about. I think it was recently approved in Canada for treating motion sickness in dogs so your vet may not even know about it yet, but perhaps they can look into it for you. Sounds like your dog has a pretty severe case so I'm not sure of any natural remedies that would work well enough.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/64179.php


ETA - Forgot to ask how old your pup is as he needs to be 16 weeks or older with this med.

[CharlieBsMom]

Thank you.

Charlie is old enough to take the meds, he's nearly 9 months. I researched Cerenia and it seems this is the type of product that he would need. I'm a little concerned about some of the side effects though. I'll give my vet a call tomorrow and find out if she has heard of it and what she thinks.

I'm almost willing to try anything at this point, because it's awful watching him go through it, he just suffers.

[Purpledomino]

When you travel do you put Charlie in a crate? If you don't, you could try that and cover it with a towel so he can't see out the windows as the car moves. It would be safer anyway, and by the sounds of it he may feel more secure. Just an idea.

[CharlieBsMom]

I have tried putting him in his crate, it just created a confined mess.

Now all I do is put a pee pad on the seat and hope for the best. I only take him for short distances and only when I have to, but we have a 4 hour drive ahead of us when we go camping and that's why I'm trying to find something that might work.

[luckypenny]

Don't know if this would work with Charlie, but I'd recommend you don't drive anywhere with him until he's been totally de-sensitized to the car. You can start out by just making jumping in and out of the car a game at least once or twice a day (think of it as training). Throw the yummiest treat in, let him go get it, and then let him jump right back out again. You can gradually increase the time that he's in the car without driving anywhere. It can take quite some time for some dogs but it has worked for our Penny as well as for some foster pups we had that would get ill in the car.

Once Charlie is comfortable just 'playing' and able to sit for a few minutes, you can start the car and let it run for 30 seconds or so (praise and give him treats) gradually increasing the time to 2-3 minutes. Once he's alright with that, just move the car to the front of your house. Slowly increase distance, ie., around the block, to the corner store, and so on.

[Dingo]

My puppy had the same problem. I had to carry paper towels, wet wipes, windex, a towel and plastic bags everywhere. Putting him in a forward-facing kennel solved it. He hasn't thrown up in a couple of months.

[CharlieBsMom]

Originally Posted by luckypenny

Don't know if this would work with Charlie, but I'd recommend you don't drive anywhere with him until he's been totally de-sensitized to the car. You can start out by just making jumping in and out of the car a game at least once or twice a day (think of it as training).

Great advice luckypenny. I hadn't even thought of that. It would also be a good way of finding out if it's actually motion sickness or if it's just fear and stress that causes his tummy to turn on him.

I'm going to start on it today.