If your furry passenger is feeling the effects of car sickness, you are likely to be familiar with a few of these common symptoms:
- Excessive whining, drooling, licking lips, or yawning
- Unable to get comfortable and clear signs of discomfort
- Vomiting or dry heaves
This guide discusses some of the key symptoms, causes, and solutions to dog anxiety. Our hope is that the information below can make car travel much easier for your and your furry friend. Let's get started.
4 Tips to Help Your Dog's Car Anxiety
1. Ride on an Empty Stomach
Feeding your dog right before a car ride can aggravate motion sickness, especially for dogs prone to nausea. It’s best to let your dog’s stomach settle for at least 2-3 hours before the trip. If you have a longer journey, avoid giving food during the ride as well. For some dogs, motion sickness can be triggered by even small snacks or treats, so allowing them to travel on an empty stomach may help reduce discomfort.
2. Take Short, Frequent Rides
Gradual exposure is key when addressing car anxiety. Start with very short trips, such as driving around the block, and gradually increase the duration as your dog gets more comfortable. This method helps your dog become accustomed to the motion of the car and desensitizes them to the sensation of travel without overwhelming them. Repeating these short rides often will help your dog build confidence, reducing their anxiety over time.
3. Use Positive Reinforcement
Reconditioning your dog’s response to car rides is a vital step. Begin by rewarding calm behavior in the car, even when the vehicle is parked. Once your dog is comfortable with getting in and out of the car, start taking short, quiet drives. Reward them with treats and praise for staying calm. Over time, you can work up to longer trips, ensuring that your dog always associates car travel with positive outcomes.
4. Incorporate Fun Destinations
To change your dog’s association with the car, aim to make trips enjoyable. If your dog only experiences car rides when going to the vet or other stressful locations, they’ll associate the car with anxiety. Instead, take them to fun, engaging destinations like the dog park, a favorite friend’s house, or a scenic walk. The positive experiences of going somewhere fun will help your dog learn to love car rides instead of fearing them.
An Overview of Dog Car Anxiety
It is important to understand that car sickness in our canine companions is usually a combination of factors. The first is motion sickness, something that many people also suffer from when riding in cars. If you have ever felt nauseous from being on a boat, riding a roller coaster, or trying to nap in the back of a moving car, then you are familiar with what your furry friend is feeling. Needless to say, it is not very comfortable!
Pet owners say their dogs have truly benefited using CBD oil on car rides.
However, over time, repeated experiences of car sickness can cause car anxiety for our dogs (as can other situations such as trauma from a car wreck or only getting in the car to go to the vet). It makes sense: If every time you got in the car you got sick, you would probably dread car rides, too. Unlike you, your dog doesn’t understand why, and may simply develop a phobia of car rides as a result.
So, the first step in such cases is to stop nausea that is causing the problem to begin with, followed by working on the dog’s anxiety that may have resulted from repeated episodes of car sickness.
Medications for Dog Car Anxiety and Motion Sickness
Until recently, many people turned to common over-the-counter medications for dog nausea. However, the side effects of these medications, which are potentially serious, have left others concerned about their safety.
Benadryl
An over-the-counter anti-histamine, this drug is sometimes recommended by veterinarians for dogs who show signs of motion sickness, mostly because it seems to have a sedative effect. However, drug overdoses have been known to occur and include the potential for extreme sedation, seizures, respiratory problems, coma, and even death.
Cerenia
This powerful anti-nausea medication is potent and lasts for 24 hours. It is available by prescription only and is administered by injection. One of the well-known side effects of this medication is the possibility of an allergic reaction, including swelling so severe it restricts your pet’s ability to breathe and can cause seizures, coma, and even death if not promptly treated.
In addition, even the product label warns that prolonged exposure may lead to “skin sensitization” in your pet. Some think the risk outweighs the potential benefits of the gains, particularly when there are natural alternatives that can treat nausea just as well.
Acepromazine
A pharmaceutical-grade tranquilizer that also reduces nausea. This dog sedative for car travel anxiety depresses the central nervous system and is thought to block dopamine receptors in the brain. While some vets and dog owners do find the extreme sedation effects helpful for severe cases of motion sickness in dogs, the downside is that once your dog gets to the destination, they are likely to be “out of it” for several hours.
Does CBD Oil Help Dogs With Car Sickness?
If you are concerned about finding something that will help your canine companion without dangerous side effects, potentially life-threatening adverse reactions, and sedating your pal to the point that he won’t even be able to enjoy the fun at the other end of the car ride, then you may be delighted to find out about a natural product that may help.
Many pet owners and holistic vets are turning to high quality CBD for their dog’s car anxiety, a natural product that can help calm both mood and tummies in dogs in the face of phobias such as fear of car trips.
Can a Natural Product Help with Car Phobia in Dogs?
If you are interested in trying CBD for a dog’s car sickness, consider Lolahemp full-spectrum hemp oil for dogs. Our oils are made from certified organic hemp plants sourced from a family-run farm in the U.S. and are always lab tested for purity & concentration.
We also make CBD calming chews for easy administration, which include other natural calming ingredients to promote relaxation in even the most stressed pups.
