A vet has urgently warned dog owners against using a viral social media hack if your dog suffers from travel sickness.
Dr. Anna Foreman, from Everypaw Pet Insurance in Hertfordshire, urged people to avoid the viral trick, which suggests tying a plastic bag around your dog’s head to avoid illness and prevent the car from becoming messy.
The clip shared on TikTok has been viewed some 69.5 million times and liked more than eight million times, but “is not safe in any scenario” and could lead to “strangulation” or “suffocation”, she warned.
It comes as online searches for ‘cure for carsickness’ have increased by 55 per cent since June 2023, while ‘cure for carsick puppy’ has increased by 200 per cent in the past three months alone.
Dr Anna said: ‘Car sickness is common in dogs. If a dog vomits in the car, an owner should pull over safely as soon as possible to clean up any mess and comfort the dog, as they are likely to be distressed.’
A video shared on TikTok tells dog owners that tying a plastic bag around your dog’s neck can keep your car clean if the animal is sick – but a vet has warned this could kill your dog
‘A dog, like a baby or young child, cannot understand why an object is stuck to its head.’
The vet warned that the viral trick poses several risks, which could cause the dog to panic and injure itself.
She said dogs with a bag around their head are at risk of strangling or suffocating themselves because the bag can get stuck.
Not only is it risky for the puppies themselves, but it can also be dangerous for those in the car who could be injured if the dog panics and attacks the people around them.
“In a car, they can also cause deaths of others through distraction, which can lead to an accident,” she explained.
Instead, Dr. Anna suggested several other, much safer methods for dealing with dogs feeling sick in the car.
In the photo: the hack is being tried out on a dog. Dr. Anna said there are much easier and less dangerous solutions, such as simply opening a window or doing desensitization work with your dog.
One method is ‘desensitization’, which involves taking the animal on shorter car journeys, which can help familiarize the dog with the vehicle and increase its tolerance for travel.
‘A dog should initially be taken somewhere as a reward (for example on a walk) for short journeys in the car, and slowly build up to longer journeys,’ she advised.
Just like with people, a flow of fresh air can do wonders. Dr. Anna suggested keeping a window open for the dog, while making sure they were properly secured so they couldn’t escape.
In more severe cases, vets may prescribe medications such as anti-sickness tablets to help with longer journeys, although this can be expensive if used regularly.
Dr. Anna stressed: ‘This drug should only be used in extreme circumstances and should not be relied on.’
Another option may be anxiety medication, which can help stop the cause of the distress, she added. These can also be prescribed by a veterinarian.
“However, these medications are often less effective if used occasionally rather than daily because they often have a cumulative dose effect in a dog’s system,” she noted.
What Dr Anna says is crucial when supporting dogs with motion sickness is not to warn them.
“Don’t tell the dog because he won’t associate being sick with an exclamation point and will likely become confused and stressed in an already difficult scenario,” she urged.