puppy gets very car sick - Page 1

 My new puppy (14 wks old) get very car sick. I am pretty sure it is motion sickness since he shows no fear about wanting to get in the car on go with me on rides. His puppy classes are 10 min away and even this is too much for him. The vet said i could give him dramamine but thought i would ask here first. Has anyone used this and would it make him too sleepy for class.  Thanks, Carol

Hi Carol,
I have had several puppies that have got car sick,
I find Ginger Biscuits are a good remedy
Try giving a small biscuit 1/2 hour before car ride,
Also do not feed for 2 hours before car Journey

 myfanwy  Thanks I'll try the biscuits first before the drugs  His class is tonight so he'll get lunch but no dinner before class!!

How do you drive...lol
Just kidding, sorta.
Keep the puppy up front, less side to side motion than in back, keep a window open, fresh air is better than A/C.
Withhold food before travel more than just two hours.
Give water freely.
NO DRUGS!!!!
Most dogs will grow out of it in time, mine did.
Keep some towels and wet wipes handy....:)
And drive gently.

 lol  I do drive slower with maverick in the car but the back country roads are just to twisty turny. lol I will put him up front tonight on the way to class and also do the other tips. thanks

Two Moons - glad your dog grew out of it.  Mine still gets car sick and he'll be 6 in December.  He has gotten better but not 100% reliable.  He gets that "1,000 miles stare" off into space and the drooling starts.  That's usually when I know he's going to be sick.  Poor guy.

Funny thing is - he loooooves to ride.  Once he gets into my SUV then I usually can't get him out until a bathroom break.  No joke.  I can't even coax him out with treats or toys.  It's the weirdest thing.  I do withhold food from him before his trip. I keep the windows down for him and I never leave home without my papertowels, extra bags and Nature's Miracle.  

Some people recommended Ginger Snaps but I haven't tried those.  Withholding food in our case works best.  If I'm leaving on a long trip - I don't feed him 12-18 hours before the trip.  I hate doing that but I hate seeing him get sick even more.  He's made a long trip without incident and then gets car sick going 5 minutes to the vet.  Go figure.

The only way one of my males could ride was with his head out the window, close the window and he'd get sick.
Maybe it was trying to look through glass, I think he hand better perception hanging out the window.
It did go away, took a year or so.

 Well I made it to puppy class and back w/o Maverick getting sick but that was with my daughter driving and me holding him in the front seat. I know this isn't safe and i don't plan to make a habit of it but it's a start!! I am thinking some of the sickness was due to anxiety so we are going to take short rides on our back roads with me holding him for the next few days to see how he does. Thanks Moons for the front seat advice!

Redjasper,  Short rides are an excellent way of conditioning a puppy out of carsickness. Use very short rides at first. I had one puppy who got so sick I could only back the car out of the garage then drive back in at first. I too used open car windows with the  puppy in the front passenger seat.  She eventually grew out of it, but before she did I used fasting, ginger, homeopathic motion sickness remedies and once did resort to dramamine. It take a while and you have to be dedicated to working with the puppy every day on it.

Dramamine does make them sleepy, so if you are going to a puppy class it's probably not a good idea.

One thing I noticed with my young male when he was a carsick puppy was that he would fix his eyes on one object outside the car and watch it go by, then after we passed it, he'd get disoriented, drool worse and vomit. I found if I could make him keep his eyes moving around so he didn't fixate on one object that he was less likely to vomit. 

Good luck with you puppy and remember that most of them do grow out of it.