For Memorial Weekend, my friends and I decided to go to Orlando for the holiday weekend and my bf's birthday. I have yorkie, Biggie and my girlfriend has a maltese, Tasha. We live in Michigan and decided to make it a road trip so we could bring our dogs (neither of us have had our babies on a plane). Even if it was about 18 hours, we agreed it would be more fun taking a road trip.
I never have had a problem with Biggie in the car. We've gone to Chicago (5 hour car ride) and Up North (3 hour car ride) and Biggie never had a problem... he actually gets excited during car rides, even if they're just down the street to PetCo.
We left during the evening, we rented a mini van, Biggie, my boyfriend and I in the back. The seats were "stow and go" so we took out the middle seats. About an hour into the trip, other than Biggie's normal panting in the car, he started making a hacking noise. He had severe shortness of breath. I gave him water, hoping to calm him down and make him cooler, but it didn't help. Then, Biggie began to throw up. He threw up the water I had just given him along with a white foam substance. We pulled over, and let Biggie walk around and calm down. He then continued to throw up the white foam substance. Then I get worried and decide to call my emergency vet. They tell me to give Biggie Benadryl (kids) and not to give him food. They said he was nauseous and had anxiety. So we give him Benadryl and continue on for an hour. THEN, Biggie continues to have shortness of breath and the hacking noise. He throws up, we pull over again after an hour on the road. By this point, we were gone for 5 hours and only made it 2 1/2 hours away from home. After contemplating our options for about 45 minutes at 3am, we decide to turn around and go home.
The entire 2 1/2 hour car ride back, Biggie was continuously panting and hacking. He also threw up again 2x. Once we get back to my house, he's perfectly fine. He even jumped back into the van while we were unloading our luggage. We ended up leaving Biggie at home and had my friend house/dog sit. We flew out to Orlando the following day.
Anyone else have problems like this on a car ride???? Biggie ALWAYS pants when he's in the car, but this time he was panting, having shortness of breath, and throwing up. The vet said it was anxiety and motion sickness. If he's never had this before, why did this happen? I can't even think about bringing him on a plane. Do any of you give your dogs medication before a car or plane ride?? Any help and advice is much appreciated. I love bringing Biggie along on our trips, but this horror story makes me think twice now about bringing him anywhere.