Travelling and Travel Sickness

Anxiety, excitability, nervousness or simply apprehension are the most common cause of travel sickness in dogs and cats rather than true motion sickness which is relatively rare. This nervousness and anxiety can especially affect young dogs and cats when travelling and for whom it is a new experience. Positioning the animal so that it can see out of the window can be very helpful, as can accustoming it to the car by first being used to being in a stationary car, then a car with the engine running and finally being driven for short journeys to build up confidence. To enable a dog to accept that the car is part of it's normal environment it has been found helpful if it is encouraged to sleep and also be fed in a stationary car occasionally.  All these methods have proved useful and are certainly worth adopting from an early age. It is advisable not to give food before a journey. Give Scullcap & Valerian tablets to relieve anxiety, calm and relax the animal and to reduce excessive salivation during the journey. Two doses should be administered at around 12 hours and again 2 hours before travelling using the higher dosage rate. If a journey has to be made with little advance notice, then the Valerian Organic Compound can be used as this quickly calms and relaxes and so is ideal for emergencies on a short term basis. For travel problems which are not associated with apprehension or anxiety, give Digestive Supplement tablets to settle and soothe the stomach about two hours before a journey commences.