Puppy car sickness

[Nudibranch]

13 week old rough collie, lovely girl, very calm and confident but her only issue is extreme car sickness. Even a 5 minute journey makes her vomit. I was hopeful she would grow out of it asap but her older siblings apparently vomited to 12-13 months.

Have tried not feeding, but even a 4 hour gap resulted in 3 separate episodes on a 20 minute round trip. And she needs 3 meals a day so much longer than that isnt really feasible. Having a view or not makes no difference, nor having all the windows open.

Is there anything left to try? At the moment she's happy getting into her crate but I don't want her to become car phobic. Travelling in an enormous crate in the back of the pickup rather than inside the cab or in my car seems to result in slightly less vomiting and she can then avoid it getting all over her as well. But if anyone has any tips I'd be very grateful!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

We had a Lab who had to have travel-sickness tablets from the vet. She grew out of it by about 12 months. Most others pups who have been travel sick have grown out of it by the time they were a few months old. I think practising very short journeys is the key for most pups.

 

[AmyMay]

Daisy used to get car sick as a puppy. Most seem to grow out of it.

 

[Sandstone1]

Ginger biscuits might help.

 

[pippixox]

My mum in laws Shetland sheepdog girls were both terrible as puppies. Now they can drive all the way to Europe and on a ferry with no problems!
They just gradually got better

 

[Blazingsaddles]

Inactivate front passenger airbag and harness her in front passenger seat. Might make a difference.

 

[splashgirl45]

i had a whippet /collie cross many years ago and she was sick as a puppy, tried all the usual getting in the car,no engine was fine, then with engine was fine but the minute the car moved she started dribbling and retching....this was my first experience of a car sick puppy, i used to drive literally less than 5 mins to the forest for a walk thinking the good association would help. no it didnt... i was going for a short holiday with my mum and the dogs had to come with us so i got a sedative from my vet which didnt knock her right out but she was more relaxed. the journey was 4 hours with plenty of wee breaks and she just dribbled a bit but wasnt sick. once we got to our destination we went out in the car a few times without the sedative and she was fine. we came home (4 hours again) and she was fine without sedative.... i think in her case she was scared but once she had the sedative she realised she wasnt hurt by the car and after that she travelled all over the country in the horse box or in the car and was always fine.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

My lot puked all the way from Essex to home, dribbled and puked for about 2 weeks after but then started managing short journeys to the yard (15 minutes), so I’d say very little and often. It’s awful for them and horrible to have to constantly stop, clean, repeat, but I do think most grow out of it. Just a waiting game.

 

[PapaverFollis]

My smooth collie never grew out of it unfortunately but she did learn to use a sick bowl!! We didn't do much car travel with her though so perhaps she just always kept the association and it was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[Tiddlypom]

You’ve tried covering the crate completely with a blanket? That trick, which I picked up on here, transformed my confirmed puker into a model traveller.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

there are various things that seemed to help Quarrie-his crate was mostly covered so he could only see out front, he had a fan (cheap one from amazon that plugs into USB/fag lighter doojit) and the Johnsons pet travel sickness tablets. we also fed him in the car without taking him anywhere and played with him in it so it didn't become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He had grown out of it after 5 months or so-he's the worst I've had. there is a sedative but from memory you can't give it to pups less than several months old. He travels fine now.

 

[Moobli]

Any pups I’ve had have tended to grow out of it fairly quickly thankfully. We do have a working collie here though who is dreadful. We’ve tried all sorts but he’s still sick and scared. He’s now 4 so don’t think he’ll ever get better. He will ride the quad though (unhappily but still ..) and will run behind it so there’s not an urgent need for him to travel in a car/truck. He’s quite a highly strung dog and is panicked by lots of things - gunshot, lightning, traffic noises , so my guess is it’s at least partly genetic with him. I also found a few dogs of the same line are similarly bad travellers.

 

[Nudibranch]

Interesting posts!

We've now had 2 trips in the pickup with no vomiting. I wonder if not being able to see out of the back is having the same effect as covering her crate with a blanket?

We will carry on with the short trips in the pickup and I will try feeding her, etc, in there too, that's a good idea. Fingers crossed this is the start of an improvement...

 

[silv]

Ginger biscuits might help.

This, well worth trying.

 

[paisley]

13 week old rough collie, lovely girl, very calm and confident but her only issue is extreme car sickness. Even a 5 minute journey makes her vomit. I was hopeful she would grow out of it asap but her older siblings apparently vomited to 12-13 months.

Have tried not feeding, but even a 4 hour gap resulted in 3 separate episodes on a 20 minute round trip. And she needs 3 meals a day so much longer than that isnt really feasible. Having a view or not makes no difference, nor having all the windows open.

Is there anything left to try? At the moment she's happy getting into her crate but I don't want her to become car phobic. Travelling in an enormous crate in the back of the pickup rather than inside the cab or in my car seems to result in slightly less vomiting and she can then avoid it getting all over her as well. But if anyone has any tips I'd be very grateful!

The Nissan Micra as the 'Vomit Comet' for the whippet as a puppy, I never travelled without industrial strength paper towels and we also had the Puking Song.
What helped was a quick pre-walk (for a little less high energy before a trip) positive association (very short trips to a walk, also just hopping in the car for a biscuit and out again), breaks when the dribbles/lip licking started, and travelling on the back seat where he could lie flat.
Its probably like the blanket on the crate thing, but he was always worse with twisty roads and roundabouts, so sometimes its just where they sit in the car and he liked the whole back seat to himself. Still does, with added cushions!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Depends what is causing it, stress, separation anxiety, genuine motion sickness. Mine would saturate his legs as a pup with drool, was nothing to do with how much food he'd had or when. His old owner was a van driver, he travelled up front and I do a lot of miles and he was in the back, he grew out of it eventually but he has always been a little highly strung.

My trainer was able to tell me he was drooly as a pup by observing his behaviour as a young adult dog.