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Car Sickness - Meclizine Or Benadryl?


Guest PiagetsMom

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Guest PiagetsMom

DH and I have a road trip to Tennessee planned for next week, Piaget is going along, and I'm dreading it!

 

DH travels with his job quite a bit, and I try to go along as often as possible. We always planned to take Piaget with us - I really don't want to have to board her when we travel - but that's not working out so well.

 

A couple of months after we adopted her, we took a trip to New Mexico that she did very well on. Since then, she's developed terrible car sickness. We're traveling in the same vehicle, a Suburban.....we lay most of the 2nd seat down where her bed and blanket fit comfortably, and I ride in the small seat next to her - comfort isn't the issue, nor is companionship or reassurance.

 

We just got back from Chicago (we flew), and boarded Piaget Mon-Thurs. The trip to the kennel was 15-20 minutes, and I gave her a ginger capsule 45 min-1 hr before and Rescue Remedy 30 min before. As soon as she's in the Suburban, she drools uncontrollably and she still threw up before we got there and had diarrhea when we arrived. Yes, we've also tried Ginger Snaps.....and every day car rides graduating in time to no avail.

 

This road trip will be two 6-8hr traveling days, and I've had 2-3 tablets of Benadryl (25 mg) 30 min before travel recommended as well as Meclizine (25 mg/ not sure of the dosage) recommended. Anyone have experience with one or the other, and if so, do you have an opinion of which might be better to use?

 

:crazy Help! :dunno

Edited by PiagetsMom
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I have a treatise :rolleyes: on carsickness, but I will spare you that. I personally don't like what benadryl does to humans and dogs alike, you know the dopiness. We use one 25mg meclizine (non-drowsy) with breakfast before the day of a trip. We also try to travel during the day.

 

My choice is the motion sickness pill rather than the knock out pill. Good luck for a puke free trip.

Colleen with Covey (Admirals Cove) and Rally (greyhound puppy)
Missing my beloved boy INU (CJ Whistlindixie) my sweetest princess SALEM (CJ Little Dixie) and my baby girl ZOE (LR's Tara)

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Guest greytlady

I had a whippet that was horrible and would shake, shiver, drool and vomit after about 10 minutes. After trying several things my vet recommended giving her half of a 5mg valium about 15 minutes before leaving. Her next trip was to Dewey and I tried the valium and while she shook for awhile she evidently calmed down and no vomiting and she has been fine every since.

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Guest PiagetsMom

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll try the Meclizine first and if that doesn't work, resort to the Benadryl. After doing a search here, I realize that I really should have done that first :blush, as this is obviously a much discussed/frequently addressed problem.

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Guest crazy4greys
This road trip will be two 6-8hr traveling days, and I've had 2-3 tablets of Benadryl (25 mg) 30 min before travel recommended as well as Meclizine (25 mg/ not sure of the dosage) recommended. Anyone have experience with one or the other, and if so, do you have an opinion of which might be better to use?

 

:crazy Help! :dunno

 

Is Meclizine a prescription from the vet or can you buy it elsewhere?

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Guest LindsaySF

Do you think Piaget had some anxiety because she knows that car rides = going to the kennel (or vet)? Do you ever take her in the car and bring her to a "happy" place?

 

Teagan used to get very car sick when I first got him, mostly because he refused to lay down. :rolleyes: I tried feeding him cookies on the ride and he was actually worse. I stopped feeding him breakfast when I knew we had a car trip that day, and he drooled a lot but did not vomit. Now that he lays down and goes to sleep, he can have a tiny breakfast before we leave and he'll keep it down.

 

I also brought him to the park (3 minutes from my house) pretty often so he associated the car with fun things like walks.

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

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Guest PiagetsMom
Do you think Piaget had some anxiety because she knows that car rides = going to the kennel (or vet)? Do you ever take her in the car and bring her to a "happy" place?

 

I don't think that's it because her trips to the vet and kennel have been few and far between and the majority of her car trips were destination/traveling trips. We've got a park within minutes of our house as well, and while that sounds like a good idea, there are too many loose/stray dogs there for me to want to do that.

 

I tried the "in the car for 5 minutes for a week, then gradually increase the time" routine, but it made no difference and she didn't seem to be de-sensitized by that at all. :dunno I'm thinking she's just not an easy traveler, but we'll keep trying until we hopefully find something that works!

Edited by PiagetsMom
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