Don't know about dogs but ginger stops my travel sickness to a large extent.

From experience, its good to have diphenhydramine 25 mg (benedryl plain, with no other ingredients) on hand to give in case of an allergic reaction. I had my dog get stung by a bee while out hiking and was able to give a benedryl to stop the allergic reaction before it started.

Also, carry something you could use to stablize a broken limb on your dog and an ace wrap and if you can find one, one of those instant cold packs. All things that would have been great to have when my dog broke her leg.

Sterile eye wash, you can get this at most drug stores to wash debris out of the eyes and also works well to wash debris out of small wounds.

If you are going to carry a pain killer, get it from your vet. Go in and tell them you are putting together a first aid kit and ask them to prescribe you three or four doses of a doggy NSAID according to your dogs weight. Most vets will be happy to do this and its much safer than giving aspirin. NEVER give your dog tylenol (acetopminophen) advil (ibuprofen) or aleve (naproxen sodium) all of these will kill your dog, and it will be a slow agonizing death. Two years in an animal ER I've seen it all. Trust me, its not worth the risk. Get an NSAID from your vet. Keep a card in your first aid kit with doses on it for the antiinflamitory, antihistamine, and any other medication you carry. Also carry your vets number and the number to an emergency vet in the kit.

If you can get any of those disposable rubber tourniquets from your doctor those do well to stop bleeding from major arteries.

Carry some styptic powder (not sure what its called in the UK but its called quick stop over here, its a yellow powder that stops bleeding, particuarly toenail bleeding)

Q-tips and cotton balls. A small bottle of ear cleaning/drying solution (you can get this from your vet or you can find it from pet supply stores online)

An extra collar and lead. A soft muzzle. In a pinch the extra leash can be used as a muzzle. Any injured animal can bite out of pain and fear, even if your dog is quite friendly.

A thermometer

A card with a dogs normal vital signs written down.

Temp range 100-102.Farenheit (when stressed can creep up to 102.5 but much more than that and your dog can be considered febrile) Spraying alcohol on the dogs paw pads and rubbing it on the insides of the ear flaps can help to cool a dog quickly.)

Respiratory rate (number of times your dog breaths in and out in one minute) Most dogs when injured, will be panting/stressed, which is fine, it works to keep the dogs body tempereature from rising too high. Watch for signs of respiratory distress, gum color brick red, muddy brown, greyish, white or blueish are all signs that your dogs cardio pulmonary system is not normal, and you should seek help right away. Resiratory rate lower than ten breaths per minute, or a respiratory rate that is decreasing with every breath (longer and longer between breaths) when accompanied by unconsciousness in a dog is also a sign of distress and you should make haste to a vet right away.


Heart rate: Normal is :Small dogs: 90-120 bpm
Medium dogs: 70-110 bpm Large dogs: 60-90 bpm. The best way to check your dogs pulse is the femoral artery on the inside of the dogs hind leg. Stand the dog or lay him on his side and sit facing away from his head/shoulder. Using your middle two fingers gently feel your dogs inner thigh on the up leg or the leg closest to you. run your fingers to the top of the leg where it meets the abdomen. The femoral artery runs pretty much right down the middle of the leg, so just feel around until you feel the pulse. You should practice this on your well dog, so that you can do it in an emergency. Tachycardia (high pulse) and bradycardia (low pulse) are both cause for concern and you should go to a vet right away.

Capillary Refill Time (CRT). This tests how well blood is being circulated in your pet. Lift your pets upper lip to reveal his gumline. Note the gum color. Take your finger and press firmly on the gums (causing the gums beneath your finger to blanche white) remove your finger and count how many seconds it takes for the gum color to return to normal. Normal CRT is 1-2 seconds. Longer indicates inadequate bloodflow and your pet needs to be seen by a vet.

Try to remember your pets temp, respiratory rate, heart rate and CRT so you can tell your vet when you call them while you are on your way to see them.

Here is a good tutorial on canine CPR. http://www.dogpatch.org/doginfo/cpr.html

Ginger biscuits work too!

Ginger is very good and has been use by the Chinese for centuries . It is good for car sickness in dogs and car sickness/pregnancy sickness/ to settle butterflies in the tummy with humans.
Ginger biscuits don't contain very much ginger at all. Rocks Organic Ginger Cordial from the health shop is good.
I make a mixture by grating ginger root/squeezing the juice out and making it into a syrup with a little honey. This can be added to a little boiled rice and given to dogs a little while before a journey if it has genuine motion sickness, (preventing the dog from looking through the window helps too).
Ginger capsules are a new thing to me but probably contain quite a lot of ginger so should be effective.

As I said earlier 'anything else I have around the house' and that includes ginger 'bicarb for bees and vinegar for 'vasps' 'salt/St Vincent Arrowroot, honey and a number of other natural cures for very minor ailments.
If in doubt it is best to seek a vets opinion rather than to delay and try to treat something yourself , delaying seeking a vets advice can be fatal in some instances.

Thandi, surely giving Mars Bars to a dog is dangerous, chocolate made for human consumption being very poisonous!

Im sorry to hear about your puppy, sounds very lucky, my Rippo died from one bee sting to the throat many years ago now.

Lol Jess's favorite treat is a Ginger buiscut, she goes nuts for them (no pun intended)

Great to hear they are good 4 her too!!!

Thank you for your excellent advice Muttzrule.

I am so pleased I have gooton the above advice for you, I have never used Ibruprophen but it is good to know just how dangerous it is.
I think I will lock all my painkillers up when Jess cant get to, just in case!

Excellent advice and information given there Muttzrule



Didn't know piriton could work for car sickness, might suggest that to Helen as one of her dogs' is a terrible traveller though she would probably prefer a ginger biscuit