Puppies and Motion Sickness
One of the most frustrating things for both a breeder and a new puppy owner is dealing with motion sickness. You pick up your puppy and attempt the long drive home or even a short drive and your puppy drools, maybe vomits and looks generally miserable. This is not how you want your first trip together to go. Lucikly there are some ways on both the breeder and new owner’s end that can avoid most if not all of this scenario.
It is believed that the reason why many puppies experience motion sickness is because the part of the inner ear that controls balance and equilibrium is not yet fully developed. The inner ear is not fully developed until at least 6 months old which is why most puppies will outgrow motion sickness by the time they reach one year of age.
It is also likely that the ones who don’t outgrow it are not truly motion sick at the point of adulthood but instead of behaviorally conditioned to get sick in the car based on past experiences. The goal then is to prevent motion sickness as much as possible while still developing a good mental relationship with car rides as a very young puppy.
Here are some ways to prevent car sickness as a BREEDER:
By the age of 3 or 4 weeks, start. bringing your puppies into a car and spend time just giving them small treats while sitting in the car. Next time turn the car on and do the same. Next time move the car a few feet then park again. Next time go up the driveway and back. Next time drive around the block. You get the idea. Let the association with the inside of a car be a good one. Maybe even feed them a meal or two while sitting in the car once they are eating mush that is less milky and won’t make a mess. By 5 weeks this can easily be done.
By the time you take your puppies for their first Vet visit, the car is familiar. The anxiety of being in the car is less.
Once the puppies are older, build value for the car. By 6 to 8 weeks offer treats when around the outside of the car, when the car door is open, when they gesture to want to go in the car, when you place them on the seat, when you place them in the car crate. Praise, treats, done for the day! It’s not hard and it only takes a few minutes of your day.
Prior to your puppies leaving, fast them from the night before on the day of pick up. Provide Cerenia from your Vet as this requires a prescription. If you can’t get Cerenia for their ride home you can give Meclazine or Dramamine but please consult with your Vet first for dosage and to OK this for you. 30 minutes prior to leaving I offer a slice of apple and a small amount of fresh ginger or a small piece of a ginger snap cookie that I have made myself to ensure safe ingredients OR half a ginger capsule poured out and mixed with a tiny bit of a crumbled Stella N Chewy patty.
None of this will solve the issue of an underdeveloped inner ear but it can drastically reduce symptoms and make the long ride home more pleasant while you are waiting for the inner ear to mature. Prevention of an awful experience is the goal here. So what can you do as an owner to make this trip home even better and how can you continue to bring your puppy out during those critical 16 weeks of development without sacrificing socialization and experiences? I have some tips for you!
FOR THE FIRST RIDE HOME AND ALL SUBSEQUENT RIDES UNTIL CARSICKNESS IS OUTGROWN:
Bring a crate for your puppy pick up and make sure it’s the correct size. The puppy should be able to stand and turn around. Placement of the crate in your car is important. Being higher up and facing forward is key. You do want your puppy to be able to see outside. This helps their eyes and vestibular system coordinate what is happening during travel. Place your back seat down to get more height and put your crate in the middle behind your central console with the door facing forward. If your crate is a wire crate then cover the rest of it. You’ll want to prevent your puppy from being able to see motion from the side and allow them to only see the direction in which you are driving. Make sure the crate is secure and can not slide around.
Crack windows on both sides. This will equalize the pressure inside the car. Also fresh air helps.
Provide a distraction like a large bone or bully stick or a frozen Kong with pumpkin puree inside. Also provide a toy.
Give your puppy plenty of breaks and on those break have fun! spend a few minutes playing tug or taking a short walk. Always offer your puppy water!
For all future rides once your puppy is home continue to follow steps 1-4 but also follow step 4 from the list above for the breeder suggestions! I like to use chewable Meclazine which I get under the trade name Bonine. I give half a pill for puppies under 15 lbs and 1 pill for puppies over that 2 hours prior to the ride. 30 minutes prior to the ride I give a ginger capsule with a slice of apple. FASTING at least 8 hours is key! Ideally you would want to fast 12 hours. This will take some planning. I use the overnight hours as my fast and then do our activities in the morning. Of course that is not always plausible so you may need to plan more around your fasting and travel times. Fasting ONLY pertains to food. Fresh water should be accessible at ALL times.
With these tips you should be able to minimize motion sickness. The reason some dogs are motion sick as adults is often due to anxiety and not true vestibular issues. When your puppy just has to deal with getting sick in the car they usually will develop an aversion to the whole car experience. It creates a cycle of anxiety around the entire car thing and they will often not even want to approach the car, drooling before the car even starts to move. This can create a behavioral response to the association of having been sick before. If they know they will vomit in the car, then the sight of the car and being in the car will trigger that response even when no true motion sickness is present. When we say our dogs have car anxiety, this is what is actually happening. This is what you want to avoid and this is what all of these steps are designed to prevent. Once the inner ear is fully developed then, car sickness should be a thing of the past.
It is important not to rush this process. Just because you see improvement or no sickness in your puppy doesn’t mean you should stop the protocol. By doing so, the car sickness can return and you will have undone weeks of behavioral work. I suggest sticking with this until the puppy is at least 6 months old prior to dialing back on the protocol. When you do get to this point, start by slowing stopping the medication, then decreasing the fasting window, then stopping the ginger, then moving the crate to the back of the car. I do not recommend Meclazine daily. We do not bring our small puppies out daily, we do make sure they go out for a drive 2 to 3 times a week however. That is plenty for a young puppy. Always consult your Veterinarian before giving your puppy any medication or herbs. This post only reflects my own opinion.
