Long journey with dogs - advice please!!

[Marnie]

I am going on holiday to Devon in 2 weeks with horse and 2 dogs (horse in trailer, dogs in car). When I went last year, I only had one dog and he travelled fine in his cage on the back seat of the truck, when I stopped to water Marnie, I let him out for a pee and some fresh air.

I now have his sister, and she doesn't travel very well, even on very short journeys (e.g. a mile!) she is sick. When I took her to mum and dads at Christmas, I didn't feed her after 7pm the night before, just let her have water, she was sick once and then seemed to settle. Again, both pups were in the cage, but this time in the back of the truck (LWB Pajero). This journey is going to be at least twice as long and I want to make it as easy on her as possible.

So, my questions! Do you think they would be better in the cage on the back seat or the back of the truck? I think that air circulation is better in the back seat, I can either put the air con on or open the back windows. Is there anything that I can give her to make the journey easier for her, is it worth asking my vet?

I have got some padded, disposable towels that I am going to line the cage with so that if she is sick I can just take them out and replace them. Not taking her isn't an option really - I am going for 2 weeks and neither pup does well in a kennel situation, especially for that long.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[henryhorn]

We used to do the 350 mile trip with two horses, two dogs, three kids and a nanny!
I don't know about dogs but ginger capsules work really well on humans. You would have to check with your vet but we take them the day before then every six hours before and during the journey.
I think you may find being on the back of the truck scarey if it's an open one, the back of the car is better but if it starts being sick try anything!
You can get a sedative from the vet which will make her sleep most of theway, or if you do a search someone promises to cure any dog of car sickness by a herbal remedy (probably ginger....

)
Where in Devon are you going to, as often the dogs/kids etc are fine on the motorway, it's the last few miles on windy lanes that does the nausea (so many holidaymakers ended up here with kids covered in sick when arriving at the cottages..

).

 

[maddielove]

You can get travel sickness pills from the pet shop (Johnsons or whatever) they have ginger in them. Gave them to our pooch when we went on our "Beverly Hillbillies" style holiday (mum's words not mine )
But then again Scruff is a good traveller and has only ever been sick once while travelling..

 

[CAYLA]

As henryhorn suggests ginger or peppermint are good natural remedies...also skull cap and valerian tablets are good for some dogs..just give them in plenty of time before the journey so they can be digested and won't be chucked back up

Try tiring the both out before the journey to help them settle and try covering the cage to lessen the motion, someone once suggested placing cardboard beneath them as this is meant to help with travel sickness.

 

[bt1609]

Hi, there's an anti-emetic tablet you can get from the vets thats just been licensed for motion sickness in dogs. Its called Cerenia and i believe it should be quite effective, am a vet nurse and dont have any experience of it for motion sickness, but its extremely good as an anti-emetic so think it probably shoud be. Give ur vet a buzz and ask them.