Dog Travel Sickness: Symptoms & Medication Reviews

Motion (trave or car) sickness is an illness in which there is a disagreement between the vestibular sense of motion and the visually thought motion. Depending on the cause it also is referred to as travel sickness or car sickness.

Motion sickness is also common in dogs, more especially in young dogs. However, as the dogs grow the condition may stop occurring, but if it persists, please take your dog to the veterinarian for medical examination.

What is dog travel sickness? The dog motion sickness is similar to human gastrointestinal distress, and it makes the dogs develop a feeling of sickness while on a car, air, or train trip.

The dogs get a queasy stomach when traveling via any means of transport.

Dog Car Sickness Symptoms

The main symptoms of dog car or travel sickness are over-excitement, dehydration, and nausea.

When left untreated car sickness may lead to vomiting material that the dog has eaten and this risk is increased by feeding them on long journeys or not giving enough water to drink whilst traveling.

If your dog suffers from sarcoidosis then this may also cause an increase in its anxiety levels which would make it more prone to getting motion sickness.

Here are some things you could do try help reduce their symptoms of motion sickness:

• Give them something tasty before starting your journey
• Feed them high-quality food containing higher omega 3s content before the journey starts
• Provide water at every possible opportunity during the

Dog Motion Sickness Medication & Tablets

When you take your dog to the veterinary, he or she can prescribe the correct medication that can quickly heal your dog from motion sickness.

However, the most used anti-nausea medication and drugs for dogs include Dramamine, Benadryl, and Cerenia, which you must receive from an authorized veterinarian, otherwise, you will be sold fake ones.

Dog Car Sickness Dramamine

Dramamine is the same medication that human beings suffering from motion sickness receive. Medical professionals have studied and proven that this drug also treats the condition in pets including dogs.

However, you are advised to monitor the doses you are giving your dogs carefully. Typically, we are advised to give 25 to 30 milligrams of the drug to dogs that are medium to large in size.

Small dogs should be given 12.5 milligrams of Dramamine. Also, of great importance is that you should make sure that you give the medication to your dogs at least an hour before traveling.

Several people give the dogs the drugs a few minutes before they start their trip or when they are midway through their trip. In such cases, the drug may fail to function.

RELATED: Dramamine dosage for dogs.

Dog Car Sickness Benadryl

Does Benadryl help dogs with car sickness? Yes, Benadryl is an antihistamine that suppresses the sickness by disallowing the signals sent to the vomiting control unit in the brain.

It may also assist in keeping the dog calmer. When you decide to give this medication to your dog, make sure you do it 30 minutes before you travel.

Just like Dramamine drugs, make sure you don’t overdose your dogs with Benadryl as that can result in serious side effects.

Usually, it is recommended that you give your dog a 1mg/lb dose of Benadryl. However, if you are not sure about the dosages, you can consult with the veterinarian.

Dog Motion Sickness Cerenia

Cerenia Tablets are also an effective medication for your dog’s car or motion sickness. You will be happy to learn that Cerenia is an FDA-approved medication for the treatment of nausea and vomiting in pets associated with motion sickness.

It increases gastric motility and limits gastric pH buildup which leads to more rapid emptying of stomach contents so it’s not retained when traveling.

It also neutralizes histamine released by mast cells when they interact with sperm cells found on the border of the esophagus, leading to decreased release of histamine in humans under different circumstances.

Dosages are measured at 0.1 mg/lb every 8 hours until there is no discomfort for 12 hours or longer after taking an aminosalicylate compound has been administered over 6 days time.

Dog Motion Sickness over the Counter

While skilled veterinarians usually administer most of the anti-nausea medication for dogs, sometimes you may not have the opportunity to meet them when there is a need.

In such cases, you are advised to buy over-the-counter drugs, since they can also assist in managing your dogs’ motion sickness.

Nevertheless, we are also advised to make sure that when buying the over-the-counter drugs, we do it from authorized stores.

Some stores may sell you an expired or fake medicine, which may worsen the condition of your dog after giving it the drugs.

Therefore, be careful and if not sure about the store, you can ask for the licenses to confirm that the store is legal.

Dramamine, Benadryl, and other over-the-counter drugs have been demonstrated to be effective in managing dog travel/motion sickness.

You should never be worried about your dog, just make sure you get the medicine and administer the correct doses to treat your dog.

Dog Travel Sickness Reviews

Those who have been in the use of the dog travel/motion sickness tablets can agree that they are effective in treating the disease. Here are some of the reviews given by the frequent tablet users in treating their dogs:

“Have really helped my poor dog but need to give 1 hour before travel, not 30 minutes as it says on box!”

“I give my dogs tablets at least 30 mins before traveling- 2 tablets if it’s a longish journey. If I don’t give the tablets, they get sick.”

These two reviews by different individuals who are frequent users of tablets prove that indeed using the tablets can treat your dog.  Make use of the tablets to treat your dogs and be happy!

Dog Car Sickness Natural Remedy

At your home, there are several products in your kitchen, or gardens, which you can use to treat dog motion sickness. Some of these natural remedies include peppermint, ginger, and valerian.

Dog Car Sickness Ginger

For several years, ginger has been in use as the natural remedy to dog motion sickness. It specifically treats and manages some of the severe symptoms of dog sickness such as upset stomach and nausea.

However, just like the non-natural medicines, you should give correct doses of ginger to your dogs. It is recommended to give them the ginger at least 30 minutes before traveling.

RELATED: Best natural remedies for dog travel sickness.

Dog Travel Sickness FAQs

The following are the frequently asked questions about the travel/motion disease in dogs.

Can I give my dog travel sickness tablets?

Yes, you can give dogs car sickness tablets as long as you ensure that you give the correct doses according to your dog’s age or size. Overdose has severe implications for the health of your dog and may fail to work in treating motion sickness.

What can you give a dog for motion sickness?

There are several remedies both natural and non-natural, which if you give correct doses you will be able to manage the motion sickness.

Some of the natural remedies include ginger, valerian, and peppermint, while the commonly used non-natural ones include Dramamine and Benadryl.

Can I give my dog human travel sickness tablets?

Yes, you may give your dog Dramamine tablets as long as you have been advised on the correct dosage by a veterinarian. Although this is common practice, it is not recommended on the grounds of safety.

It’s fair to say that many dog owners have had some experience trying to stop their dogs from vomiting on their car seats on the way home from an animal-friendly vacation.

It can be almost impossible for people who are driving or sitting in the back seat if there is no one else driving that has a good long coat long enough to reach down and clean up all of your dog’s vomit, so it’s easy to see how these sorts of pills would come in handy with traveling pets.

However, keep in mind they are intended for humans, not animals with different stomachs!

Dog car sickness Benadryl vs Dramamine

Both Benadryl and Dramine are effective medications for dog travel sickness. However, Benadryl is often the go-to medication for both humans and animals alike.

Benadryl can be used to treat certain allergy symptoms, hay fever, acne, runny nose, itchy skin, etc. It also has many off-label uses including car sickness!

Generally speaking, you should try both at different times of your day to see which one alleviates your symptoms the best before concluding that you need both for relief.

Be sure to speak with your doctor or veterinarian in regards to any medication use in animals in order to make sure there are no complications.

READ MORE: How to use baking soda bath for itchy dog’s skin.