Car sick, help.

[Thorny]

When Gunnar was 8 weeks old I took him on a 3 day car trip and he did fine. No sickness at all. He was crated in the back part of the cab in my crew cab truck.

When he was 10 weeks old I took him on a few 1 hour car trips on the floor in the back of my truck And he did fine.

When he was 11 weeks old I took him across town in my truck and he puked on the floor after 15 minutes. At 12 weeks old he did the same thing on the same trip, but I gave him a play break at a park after only 10 minutes. But he still puked after about 15 minutes of total car time. I thought maybe it was the city trip with lots of stop, go, turns that made him sick.

Yesterday I needed to take him an hour away. He puked after 15 minutes, again 20 minutes after that and again after another 10 minutes. But not at all on the ride home.

All the times he's thrown up he has still had food in his stomach from his lunch. Sometimes lunch was an hour beforehand, other times it was 4 hours before. Is it possible that his food is not right for him? Is it just a developmental thing that he will grow out of? Might it be nerves?

[msvette2u]

Yes, work on desensitization, and administer 1mg/lb of Benadryl about 30 min. before travel.
You can use 2mg/lb of benadryl if 1mg/lb doesn't make a lot of difference.

So a 50lb. dog would get TWO to FOUR 25mg. tablets.
A 25lb. dog could have 1-2 tablets (25mg.) tablets.

[doggiedad]

back track a little.
> give him 5 minute rides.
> place him in the car and start the car but don't move it.
> put him in the car and move forward
and backwards a few times.
> feed him in the car with the car running but don't move the car.
> take a 3 minute ride. give him a very small treat.
> put him in the car and play with him (car running and not running).
do all of the above with the dog in different parts of the truck.

[Walperstyle]

lol, the root of the problem is something about driving around is causing him to be nervous. You shouldn't need to drug the dog.

If you have a significant other, get them to drive, and spend time with the dog in the back, making it an enjoyable experience. Also, if you drive more to dog parks and fun places, the dog will start to think the car is awesome again. Car = fun!

With cookie, for the first few car rides he got sick so when I was around I had the wife drive while I played with him in the back of the SUV. Its not exactly safe to not be wearing a seat belt, but it shows him that if we are not scared, he shouldn't be either.

cheers.