Car sickness can be really annoying, and even more so in dogs because they can’t just stop the car when they need to vomit. With that, here is how to treat car sickness in dogs naturally.
Motion sickness is annoying, especially when you’re a person who enjoys being adventurous during travels. This is more so when you’re a dog and belong to someone who loves adventure. If you and your fur friend love traveling but are hindered by car sickness, then we’re going to give you tips on how to treat car sickness naturally.
Medication for animals can be expensive, and hard to keep stock of. Instead of spending thousands on medicine, then you might want to check out these natural remedies before your next big trip.
Dogs are the best pets to bring when you want to take a long drive to the beach, but car sickness can really make the trip less exciting. Instead of canceling all your adventures, you should focus on finding different remedies that can ease the motion sickness for your dog.
We love seeing dogs on the beach or on hikes, so we hope that these natural remedies can make it easier for your fur friend to travel around with you. While you do have the option to leave your dogs at home, it’s always nice to be able to take them on trips with you.
Let us know if these tips are helpful!
What Causes Car Sickness in Dogs?
Before we cover holistic remedies to alleviate your dog’s car sickness, let’s talk about what can cause it in dogs. Unfortunately, dogs have a different system in their body, so we can’t just chalk nausea up to not being used to the motion. Here are the possible causes of car sickness in dogs:
- Conflicting sensory signals: Most motion sickness in dogs is caused when the sensory signals of the brain are conflicted. While this is hard to completely stop, you may want to consider some natural remedies to soothe your dog’s brain.
- Physical or emotional trauma: Another common cause of motion sickness in dogs is when they have trauma from car rides, or if they’ve had a traumatic experience with a car. It’s important that you help your dog get over this trauma, or help acknowledge the needed treatment.
- Age: Finally, motion sickness is most observed in puppies because their inner ear is not fully developed, which can affect how they deal with motion. The best thing about this is that they can outgrow this with age, and begin to feel better about traveling.
Now that we know what causes car sickness in dogs, we hope that you have a clearer idea of what you can do to make traveling easier for dogs. Since they can’t express their symptoms, as well as humans can, you should observe these signs in your dog before they take them on a long trip.
Best Home Remedies: How To Treat Car Sickness In Dogs Naturally
While we can easily drink medicine to combat motion sickness, that’s not the case for animals, so we have to do our best to cure them without the need for medication. We understand that motion sickness can make traveling a hassle, so here is how to treat car sickness in dogs naturally:
- Train your dog: Like all things, you can train your dog to get used to long car rides by taking them on short trips. We don’t mean just driving them to the vet’s clinic, but actually going on short trips with them.
- Using pheromones: Another natural remedy you can use is spraying Dog Appeasing Pheromones (DAP). This will make it easier for your dog to associate the car as a safe space.
- Using aromatherapy: An easy remedy is applying lavender or chamomile to a cotton ball and leaving it in the car 30 minutes before you travel so that the car is filled with a soothing scent.
- Catnip: While this may come as a surprise, catnip is not just helpful in soothing cats, but it has shown a sedative effect when it comes to dogs. However, you shouldn’t get them catnip seeds, but rather leaves and flowers because they’re safe for dogs to consume.
- Ginger: Last but not the least, ginger essential oil is said to be helpful in soothing nausea in both dogs and humans. This shouldn’t be used in dogs who recently underwent surgery because it can contraindicate blood thinner medications.
Key Takeaways:
Now that we know the causes of motion sickness in dogs and how to cure them, we hope that you’re able to apply it to your dog when they are prone to getting car sick. Traveling with your dog is a fun adventure, and we know it’s always so difficult to find a sitter when you want to take a long drive.
If you’re wondering how to treat car sickness in dogs naturally, we have some tips. However, you can also ask a vet for medication if you feel like these treatments are not sufficient in treating your dog’s condition.