Car Sick?

Wow . . . it’s been a long time since I’ve last posted! My apologies . . . I’ll try to be more disciplined!

One of our customers came in telling us about how her little fellow, Rocco, always got car sick on his way anywhere in the car. It wasn’t a situation I had personally encountered before so did some research and came up with some surprising information:

1. Of course, always talk to your vet. Especially before you give any sort of medication. There’s some thought that Dramamine and Benedryl could be supporting medications, but I think it’s always best to check with the vet before administering any medications.

2. Try opening a window. I know this works for me when I’m car sick and apparently it works for dogs as well. The pressure inside the car could be a problem for the dog and so by opening the window a bit, you help alleviate some of that internal pressure.

3. Make the car a “fun place” of sorts for the dog. Try having the dog associate the car with a positive place (e.g. a special toy that’s only available in the car). Over time, if the dog continues to get sick in the car, it’ll always associate sickness with the car and so will always be problematic in the future.

4. Consider special harnesses that force the dog’s attention forward. There is some nuance to this solution though in that it may not be the safest for the dog if an airbag deploys. Be sure to read any instructions carefully before trying this one out. Again, this is something that commonly helps people with car sickness.

Rocco’s owner had tried all of the above to no avail. There was one last solution that we found that seems to be working and I wanted to point it out for it’s creativity: SUGAR!

Be extra careful that whatever you give doesn’t have the synthetic sugar Xylitol, but a quick dose of sugar (e.g. a Jellybean) before the ride seems to diminish the impact of car sickness. They’ve been trying it out and it seems to be working. Who knew!?!?