Seasickness and Dogs . . .

[Seahunter]

Originally Posted by scook1

My dog asked if girlfriends get seasick.

Absolutely, that why there's a drain by the wheel or tiller.

[sj01]

Originally Posted by MsActiveCaptain

They can absolutely get seasick just like us people.

For those bad days, we gave him Bonine, an over-the-counter medication. It worked great. Stopped the symptoms but mostly made him drowsy so he just slept - not a bad thing when conditions are poor. But make sure you check with a vet to determine the proper dose. Dogs are not just little people, they metabolize meds different and you can kill them.

So we developed a routine, if I took my Stugeron, he got his Bonine.

Now the two we have now do not seem to get seasick - knock on wood.

+1 on the Bonine
Not only have we humans gotten a bit green around the gills (we use the Bonine too), but two of the three dogs have as well. NOT pretty. Bonine works GREAT. I use the child dosage or less. Have not yet tried ginger because if I have something I know will definitely work,...I didn't want to er.."Rock the boat" Will try the ginger sometime in the near future...but have the Bonine on hand in case..

[simonmd]

Since my first post in this thread earlier this year, 'Harvey' has had much more proper sailing as he was with me when I delivered my 30ft Catamaran in the summer. On the first day, he was indeed sick but over the rest of the week he wasn't sick again as he must have become acustomed to the motion of the boat.

I myself felt a bit green on the first day as well but like Harvey, soon got used to it. Therefore in general, I can sumise that that they react to motion sickness very much like humans.

[Amapola]

Our cats sometimes get seasick on day one, but they usually get their sea legs by the next day.

[Sunnyside]

Our 11 yr old yellow Lab, Bud, started turning green in the rough waters through the Galveston jetties (18 knot winds) last week. Our first trip for the whole crew into the Gulf of Mexico but once out there, it smoothed out, but no one could go down below without quickly returning, nope cannot do it.

Bud panting when he was not asleep and stayed in the cockpit with us. The golden retriever had no problems and took the waves like a champ (she might be part dogfish). It felt like riding a bucking bronco for a couple of hours.

[Pblais]

We have had 4 different dogs aboard over the years and they all seem a bit different as far as sea legs go. Some just do better but we had one that got car sick so we were worried. You can give a dog benedryl prior to a trip to act as anti sea sickness. It helps but it's by no means a cure. Once they get sick it's all over. We also had a dog that normally did fine but we got nailed in as T Storm and was pitching and rolling a lot for a period of 15 minutes. He did OK but that same night he was sick but fine in the morning. Sort of a delayed reaction. Some dogs just love the stuff. They ALL would rather be with you than be left behind. It's the one thing you have going for you. You might try benedryl when you can expect trouble and want an edge. They make other prescription drugs for dogs but you need to give it to them well in advance. There isn't much you can do once they get sick and that is pretty much true for people too.