Carsick Puppy

[glrbackes]

Any suggestions for a puppy that throws up almost everytime shes in the car for longer than 30 minutes? We're moving to Alaska in a few weeks and I'm worried that my puppy will have a hard time with the drive.
Not feeding her before doesnt work because she'll just throw up bile.
I'm also a very cautious/slow driver, going 5m under speed limit most of the time. She seems to get most upset with stop and go traffic or windy roads, unfortunatley those are not things I can aviod during the trip.



Appreciate the help in advance

[Dax]

Let gingerale go flat and give that to her to drink instead of water.

Start taking her for longer and longer drives now. Put her in a crate so she can't see out the window.

Worse case - talk to your vet about giving medication for the road trip.

[UnDun*]

My dog's breeder gave me this homeopathic medicine from a regular health food store. Starts with an "a", I am at work but will let you know what its called when I get home. It's amazing, I don't use it all the time, hardly ever now but I did when she was a pup. Her breeder uses it for her pure wolves and it works wonders.

[bulletsnbait]

Gingerballs (cheese and powdered ginger) is good, but equally, my dogs LOVE gingersnaps the cookies!

There's also a liquid that you can give, I think it's called rescue remedy, but I don't know how well it works.

[glrbackes]

Dax- How much gingerale would you suggest and how often? Shes 3 months and about 14 lbs

Bulletsnbait- Is there any kind of cheese you recommend or is it all good?

Thanks for the tips everyone

[bulletsnbait]

I use a teensy bit of brie.

[~WelshStump~]

Have you tried a Benedryl?
And although I've heard Ginger is REALLY great for these things, do experiment BEFORE you hit the road. Ginger snap cookies make Jinjo VERY ill! If you just hit the road after feeding, it would be hard to tell if it was the car or the snack. Also, if you do have a health food store (or I think some Walmarts have it), they also make pure "ginger pills".

[Pitbull Lover]

Carsick Puppies

Lots of puppies get carsick in moving cars, but fewer adult dogs. It’s likely the immature ear structures of puppies contribute to motion sickness. Human children have this problem, too.
Many puppies take a lot of car rides to places such as dog parks and doggie day care programs. Every trip carries the risk that something will happen to traumatize the puppy about riding in the car. When the dog is getting carsick on each trip, you may get a conditioned effect of nausea associated with the car. Either trauma or conditioning can cause carsickness to continue after the physical reasons for the nausea have been outgrown.
We need our dogs to be able to ride comfortably in cars, and no one enjoys cleaning vomit. If you have a carsick puppy, let’s look at ways to minimize stress and mess, both now and when the pup is older.
Precautions
Start with a careful physical evaluation by your veterinarian so you can make the dog as comfortable as possible. Particular areas to look at are ear and orthopedic issues (hip dysplasia, osteochondritis, panosteitis, injured knee ligaments, etc.).
Dogs hide their pain, and growth itself can hurt! So even if no specific physical problem is found, don’t rule it out. Keep watching your dog carefully for symptoms, and take precautions that will help if your dog does have something going on physically.
To reduce orthopedic pain or fear of pain that your dog might have, fix every surface in the car on which your dog will rest or move so that it is non-slip under the dog’s feet. Rubber-backed throw rugs are one good way to do this—washable ones. Secure the dog whenever the car is moving so the dog doesn’t get thrown around.
You can reduce nauseating sensations from immature ears by opening windows two or three inches to equalize the air pressure inside a moving car with the outdoor air pressure. Keep the air inside the car cool.
You can help the dog’s eyes override the sickening signals from the ears by positioning the dog to be able to see forward in the direction the car is going. A dog car restraint in the front passenger seat will do this. Putting a dog in the front seat of a car with air bags is a risk you need to be aware of, though. The safest place for a dog in a car is a crate.
Your veterinarian may be able to help you determine the best way to handle positioning your dog in the car. It depends on your vehicle, the nature of the trips, the size of the dog, and possibly other factors. What you might be able to do is use the front seat restraint method just until the dog is solidly past the carsickness problem. Then you could switch to a crate or a dog seat belt in the back seat.
Looking out the side or back windows of the car will make motion sickness worse for some dogs. Restraining the puppy in the car will also help prevent the habit some dogs develop of leaping around and interfering with safe driving.

[glrbackes]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Ginger seems to be the winning product

[saluki-sue]

One of the tips I've gotten and haven't tried yet is to put a thick layer of brown paper on the seat or in the pan of the crate where the pup is going to ride. Everyone who's done this says it works great.