my family and i r taking our dogs on a 14 hour drive for vacation. will they get sick? what r some ways to keep them comfortable in the car?
Dogs can have a lot of fun traveling in the car as long as they are properly taken care of during the drive. A rule of thumb is to stop every 2-3 hours and let the dogs take a potty break and a few minutes to walk around on a leash for exercise. Additionally, they should be offered small quantities of water during the drive. Before you take the long trip, try driving your dogs around for about 30 minutes to an hour and see how they react. You may decide to crate them if they get too nervous. (Crating a nervous dog in the car can help soothe them). Or, you may find that your dogs naturally take to the driving and you won’t have to do anything special for them.
I would also recommend taking a test drive with your dogs before the major trip to see if they will be car sick. If they are, you may want to call a vet and see if you can get a pet sedative. The day of the trip, take your dogs for a long walk to wear them out, and feed them small, frequent meals instead of one or two large meals.. (This can help prevent stomach upset during travel.)
Don’t be surprised, though, if your dogs get an upset stomach. This is pretty common for travel. You may want to get an anti-diahrrea medication from your vet to take with you on your trip as a precaution.