Motion sickness in dogs, like in humans, occurs when your dog has trouble tolerating “motion” – for example in cars, boats, or plane rides.

Symptoms of motion sickness include nausea, vomiting, panting, drooling, and diarrhea.

Motion sickness is caused by overstimulation of the vestibular apparatus. The vestibular apparatus is located in your dog’s ears, and it aids your dog in processing and maintaining orientation and balance. It is thought that your dog’s vestibular apparatus can become overstimulated while in a moving object such as a car because there is a mismatch of sensory perceptions – your dog’s eyes see that he is in a vehicle and that nothing in the vehicle itself is moving, yet his vestibular apparatus is detecting motion. This mismatch can make your dog feel nausea and otherwise unwell.

Sometimes, motion sickness can also be caused by anxiety. Your dog’s anxiety can be so severe that it causes him to be sick.

Motion sickness is easily diagnosed as your dog will become sick when in a boat, car, or other moving vehicle.

Once your dog has motion sickness, the only surefire way to immediately treat him is to remove him from the moving vehicle. However, there are many preventative measures you can take to help reduce the likelihood that your dog will get motion sick on his next trip.

The following actions can help prevent a bout of motion sickness. If possible, get your dog acclimated to the idea of the moving vehicle. For example, if you will be taking car trips, introduce your dog to the car gradually. Sit with your dog in a parked car while you pet him and praise him calmly. After several times, turn the car on while still parked. Again, pet your dog and talk to him calmly. You are trying to show him that the car is not a scary a place to be. Start by taking him on small trips and gradually work him up to longer journeys. Positive petting and massaging can be performed to calm an anxious dog during motion.

If it not possible to acclimate your dog to the idea of the moving vehicle or if he continues to feel unwell, there are several other actions you can take. Leave the windows open a few inches to allow cool fresh air to circulate and to equalize the pressure. Stop every thirty minutes to allow your dog sometime outside the moving vehicle. Also, you should never let your dog travel on a full stomach. Ideally, a dog should be fed a few hours before travel.

If none of the above actions are possible or do not seem to cure his motion sickness, your veterinarian can recommend an appropriate anti-motion sickness or anti-anxiety medication for your dog. Pfizer produces an FDA-approved motion sickness medication for dogs called Cerenia™ which is designed to block dogs' vomit reflex whether the reflex has been triggered by anxiety or by problems processing and maintaining orientation and balance.

For all anti-motion sickness medications it is wise to conduct a "dry-run" of the medication. Before you travel, give your dog the prescribed dosage of the medication, and use this dry-run to monitor how your dog reacts to the medication. That way, if the medicine causes an adverse reaction you will be able to contact or visit your regular vet instead of trying to address the situation somewhere along the highway, on the open sea, or up in the air. Likewise, you should be very careful about giving your dog any sedatives if your dog is going to be traveling in the belly of a plane or in any other form of transport in which you will not be able to monitor him. Sedatives can cause several unintended side effects including hypotension (lowered blood pressure). If you are not able to monitor your dog, you will not be able to help him should he have an adverse reaction. In fact, if your dog needs solely an anti-anxiety medicine to help alleviate motion sickness, an antihistamine such as Benadryl will give your dog a calming effect without the potential for many of the side effects of a “true sedative.” However, before giving your dog an antihistamine –or any medication – you should consult with your vet.

No, you cannot contract motion sickness from your dog.