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Has anyone got any ideas of how to prevent travel sickness in dogs? We have a 9 month old border collie bitch, she has always been travel sick, since the day she picked her up from the breeder.

We took her to the beach today, which is only a 20 minute drive and the poor little pup was so ill. Its lovely to take her out with us but we don't want her to have such an unpleasant time travelling.

Any ideas? Thanks, Lisa

Several questions, I'm guessing you don't really want to sedate her.

It could be your driving style... Try gentle(r) turning, acceleration and braking (Not suggesting you're racing anywhere!) She may have a sensitive inner ear. Rapid changes in speed,altitude and position confuse the cochlea (Inner ear) and induce nausea. (A tip I used when learning to drive ambulances with poorly patients was to practice with a shallow bowl with a ping pong ball ball in it on the seat next to you...if the ball comes up the side of the bowl, you're driving too aggressively. It is amazing how much difference this makes!).

Does she have sight of the horizon/outside when you drive her? Allowing her to see the horizon may help her cope with the journey as it gives a point of reference for the brain to register her relative position.

Is she in a cage? A harness can often stop the nausea due to having sight of the horizon.

Old wives tale: Sit her on brown paper (not sure how this is supposed to work, maybe the paper has a calming smell?)

Medicate as a last resort, These use Ginger and Valarian root: http://www.petspantry.tv/acatalog/Vets- ... 18595.html

Probably what you don't want to hear ... perseverance.
My last dog was sick every time she went in the car, but after several trips (with an empty stomach) she got used to it and stayed that way for the rest of her life.
The same happened with my present dog, she too was travel sick at first but after three or four trips on a daily basis she grew out of it. Now she goes everywhere with us, in fact try keeping her out of the car even when just taking the car out of the garage to do some work. She gets so excited that she knows that when I put my slightly more presentable clothes on, it means we're going shopping Now she is even fine on a rough overnight ferry trip.

So I would recommend short trips, maybe just a few hundred yards to start with, on a daily basis if possible and gradually getting longer to get her used to the car motion. (plus a cover on the back seat and several sheets of newspaper)
Good luck.

I second Odsox's comment.

My dog was sick the first few times she travelled (we go by bus) and when i took her to the vet she puked in the gangway of the bus...I had to frantically clean it up while this Chinese bus driver was shouting at me. My friend said that he wasn't angry, he didn't want me to think that he was complaining, otherwise I'd think he didn't like dogs!!

Then she was sick in a taxi...

Now she's fine. She's travelled a few times, and flown for a couple of hours and her travel sickness seems to have stopped.

Maybe see if you can get the dog to lay down and possibly go to sleep (if there's more than one person travelling, get the other person to sit with the dog and calm it down). Nucks is great if she's sleeping. If she's awake she tries to talk to everyone...

Have been trying to get her used to travelling but she's still no better. We have had to visit the vet and he's given us a sedative to use so she sleeps for the journey. We have half an hour drive to Rosslare harbour, then 3 and a half hours on the ferry, then 3 hours or so in the car to Wiltshire. Hopefully she will be ok , she's a very dear little dog and its awful to see her in distress whilst traveling.

We're going to persevere with trying to accustom her with the car after her trip, we live so near to so many beautiful beaches and mountains, its a shame not to be able to take her out with us.

Thanks for all the tips, Lisa x

Potter's Farm wrote: We have half an hour drive to Rosslare harbour, then 3 and a half hours on the ferry, then 3 hours or so in the car to Wiltshire. Hopefully she will be ok , she's a very dear little dog and its awful to see her in distress whilst traveling.

We're going to persevere with trying to accustom her with the car after her trip, we live so near to so many beautiful beaches and mountains, its a shame not to be able to take her out with us.

I didn't realise that Ireland was that close! When you put it like that, I might have to take a trip over!

our ( my parents ) dogs( all border collies ) were allways car sick as pups but they allway grew out of it.
we would feed them their dinner in the boot of the car( while its parked ) so they got used to it and they're not scared to go in. if the dog is nervous about the car/travelling that can make them carsick.
and only traveling on an empty stomach prevents them throwing up and making a mess.

We have just returned from our trip. We ended up going to the vet and using Sedalin gel. It worked brilliantly with only a tiny dose and our pup perked up very quickly afterwards.

I was chatting to a friend whilst away who works for a vet. She said that border collies tend to suffer travel sickness, but that they can grow out of it. I'm going to keep on taking her on very short journeys and see how she gets on.

Thanks for all the advice, Lisa x

Hi, My collie was the same and the vet where I worked told me to give her some kids car sickness pills! It is perfectly safe.
In the end we just used to take her in the car for 10 mins and then walk her or do something that she really enjoyed doing. Just keep building up the travelling time each time. It relly worked and she is always the first one in the car!!

Hope it works!!

Nucky travelled in the basket of my bike to the vet the other day. She was absolutely fine all the way! I hope this means she's grown out of her travel sickness now.