# Car sickness and vomiting in my new puppy



## missy's mummy (Apr 7, 2011)

Hi everyone.

Im a new dog owner and my baby is called Missy  she is 5.5 months old and is a adopted Lab x Kelpie ( we think kelpie ). We got her from the RSPCA, here in Western Australia.

She is an absolute delight and part from the normal puppy mischief, she is going just wonderful, except for one thing. She throws up every car trip, even as soon as only 5 minutes into the ride. It is so bad that she is very nervous of getting in the car and hates it. In the space of 15 minutes last week, she threw up 3 times!!!

Our vet suggested anything ginger, but she doesnt like it. The vet also said to try human travel sickness tablets. I did that today and we went on a short car trip, 8 minutes. She wasnt sick on the way, but was on the way home. It is so bad we have to make her get in the car, and she hates it.

We need to get her to dog training very soon but its a 20 minute drive and the stress and worry is getting to me.

Please, can anyone help me with suggestions? We live in australia so if there are any recommendations of medications etc, we may not be able to access them here.

Thank you so much

Laura and Missy


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

missy's mummy said:


> Hi everyone.
> 
> Im a new dog owner and my baby is called Missy  she is 5.5 months old and is a adopted Lab x Kelpie ( we think kelpie ). We got her from the RSPCA, here in Western Australia.
> 
> ...


Welcome to my world!!!

Apparently car sickness is very common in puppies and, sometimes, they grow out of it. There are a few things you can try but I'm sorry to say that if your pup is like mine, it's pretty much just a "cross your fingers and pray" sort of thing.

1.) Is she crated? If not, try crating her.
2.) Where is she positioned? Try the floor. Try the seat. Try the front seat. Try the Back seat.
3.) Cover her crate.
4.) Uncover her crate and open ALL windows in the car.
5.) Stick to straight/smooth roads when possible.
6.) Crate her 30 min before you are leaving so that when you put her in the car she is still drowsy and half asleep; this helps calm her down.
7.) No food/water 2 hours before driving.

These are all things that were recommended to me. Every dog is gonna be different... The key things for mine are no food/water, give him a nap and wake him up right before leaving so he's relaxed, and windows in the car must be open. That gives me the best chance of him not getting sick....

Still, I always travel with windex and paper towels :\


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## missy's mummy (Apr 7, 2011)

Hi lisak and thanks ever so much for your reply. No, Missy isnt crated at this time. She is an outdoors dog so crating isnt something we have thought of. Wow, it looks like this could happen for some time. As much as the smell and mess isnt nice, its more how she is feeling that worries me, being nauseas is a horrible feeling, I will pnder some of your ideas and see how we go.

Many thanks

Laura


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## Conard10 (Sep 25, 2010)

We had car issues with our last dog! While she would get excited to go "bye bye" and happily get in the car....once it started moving she would get that horrible look on her face, start to drool and then throw up! While it wouldn't happen on all trips, it did on most. 

I agree with lisak, that you just need to try different things. For us, our dog would always throw up if she had a full or an empty stomach. So, we would not feed her a meal before a car ride and but we would give her a couple biscuits just so her stomach wasn't empty. 

While I dog got better over time, she did randomly throw up as an adult. Sorry you're going through this, I know I stressful it can be to have a sick dog in the car. Hopefully your pup grows out of it!


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## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

Ask your vet about Cerenia.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

I have had a few pups that get sick in the car, thank doG for leather seats lol lol. But Izze & Jo never got sick. When we brought her back from the shelter she rode in the back seat & slept the whole way back & so it has been ever sence.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Mia was AWFUL as a puppy! Just a minute down the road and she'd puke everywhere. Luckily she outgrew it and no longer gets sick at all. (She can go on a 6 hour trip and be fine).


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

Casper will throw up if we drive for more than half an hour or so and he's not in his crate. It's safer for him to be in a crate while the car's moving anyway, so I put him in there when we go on car rides. He will still sometimes drool (I think it's nervousness; he really doesn't like the car) but he has never thrown up in the crate. I try not to feed him for a couple hours before we go in the car.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

I second the Cerenia. It should be available in tablets in Australia, ask your vet.


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