Car sick puppy

[MisguidedAngel]

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend who hasn't (yet) discovered the world of knowledge encompassed by Mumsnet.

She has a five month old labrador puppy who was very very sick on his first car journey - when she went to fetch him. Since then he's sick every time he's in the car even for a short time.

I was allowed to have a dog of my own when I was 7 (we already had two). Exactly the same thing happened to her and she had to go into kennels every summer holiday while the other two came with us - that made me very sad.

Has anybody got any tips for my friend?

My dog now 1 suffers from terrible travel sickness I've done everything from daily 1 minute journeys gradually increasing the time in the car, to a small fortune in anti emetics/sedation/and other medication including homeopathy nothing helped don't waste your money. There is IME only one way to stop them actually vomiting all over the car don't feed them for 16 hours prior to travelling, 12 is not enough. I have rather surprisingly found he is slightly better in the boot and it has improved with age but its still not great.

Oh dear, I thought that might be the case. Thanks for your help, it will certainly save her trying all that medication.

We give all our puppies a childrens travel sickness tablet(joy ride) before they go to the vet for check up and eyes and hearing( the last one being a two hour drive). They are the only litter there not covered in sick and smelling .
They also have one before they go to there new homes and they are never sick.We give it to them the night before they are traveling.

My dog had spontaneous diarrhoea every time he went in the car. I was hysterical as I feared I'd be trapped in the house forever. It started on his first journey home - like the OP's friend's pup - and then he associated the car with feeling ill.

Then I tried him on the seat a very little way. Success! He yawned (a sign of impending vomiting...) and cried, but nothing happened. I got a harness, and now he sits up looking out of the window as right as rain.

I definitely think being able to look out of the window helps. Imagine if you were sat in a cage in the boot swinging round corners. If one has a propensity towards car sickness, that can't help matters.

Thanks for all your replies. I'm passing them onto my friend. The diarrhoea sounds worse than sick!

Ours had car sickness until he was about 4/5 months but has been fine since, he travels much better in a cage in the boot than on the back seat in a harness.