Dog folk with ingenuity, help needed for car travel!

[Katika]

I've made a couple of posts lately about both my dogs and my potential, cross-country move.  I've got a 12-year old, geriatric and significantly arthritic Malinois (the past three years have not been gentle for her as far as health emergencies go, and between her achy body and a pretty deep-seeded fear of where car rides will deposit us, she's developed quite a bit of travel anxiety) and now my 3-year old GSD/lab has been diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia (missing almost the entire front wing of his hip joint).  Our potential move is literally halfway across America (the coast-to-coast way), and we've got a few months to work on behavior modification to re-acclimate my older girl to relax in the car (and I do feel as though I've got that side of things under control).  What I'm needing help with is how to protect their hips, backs and legs in the process.

Moving sucks.  Staying still in cars sucks.  We currently have two vehicles (pretty sure that's not changing before the move); one sports car and one sedan.  We usually use the sedan for dog hauling, by using one of those canvas hammock seat covers in the back seats, and we have harness-type seat belts for both of our dogs.  Up until recently, that has been all the stability my dogs have seemed to need.  However, I'm worried about the length of time they'll be sitting/laying on those seats that aren't really specifically designed to comfortably let arthritic dogs lay down.  I've been looking at other model seat covers and have even tried out one of those quilted/padded ones (waste of money... there's zero traction to it against the seat itself, so it slides everywhere, making it dangerous, in my opinion), trying to find something that would offer better support. 

I've played around with trying to wedge their orthopedic beds under the hammock, but so far have been unsuccessful with getting the beds to lie flat enough to let the dogs actually get comfy on them.  I'm thinking I may have to bite the bullet here and get a couple beds and then cut them into the shape of the seats to get the job done, but am a little intimidated with the idea of doing that (since those suckers aren't cheap and I'd hate to make a mistake!).  Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing or know of any manufactured product that would possibly suit my needs?  My dogs always ride in the back seat on long trips for safety reasons related to air bags, but having them both in the same car while we move is not mandatory, if it'd be easier to split them up to make this work. 

I have no idea where else to go looking for this sort of thing and don't even know the best way to Google it, lol.  I figured with as many animal lovers and crafty folk as we have here, this may be my best bet to get ideas   Thanks, everyone!

[cloud_weaver]

Have you tried a Thunder Shirt for the anxiety?  My parents used it for one of their dogs who got car sick, and it worked wonders for her.    It's the same concept as swaddling a baby, the tight pressure helps them feel sad and relax.  They really do work!

http://www.thundershirt.com

Not sure on the hip support though.   

[Katika]

Have you tried a Thunder Shirt for the anxiety?  My parents used it for one of their dogs who got car sick, and it worked wonders for her.    It's the same concept as swaddling a baby, the tight pressure helps them feel sad and relax.  They really do work!

http://www.thundershirt.com

Not sure on the hip support though.   

I've been wanting to give a Thundershirt a go (fortunately, both of my dogs would wear the same size... the one that has travel anxiety is fine in storms; the one that has storm anxiety is fine in cars.  We'd totally get double use out of it!), but my husband's always a pretty tough sale on "alternative" therapies.  Even pointing him toward the scientific research behind this sort of thing still doesn't convince him.  He has to see it work for himself, but then he grumbles about spending $35 on an "experiment."  They have a guarantee with them, so I don't know what we have to lose.  I may just go out and get one without him one of these days

[Chrissytree]

I don't have any suggestions for the medical side.
Car anxiety I have dealt with. It's a slow acclimatisation process. Sit them in the car for five minutes and reward generously and slowly build up the time. Give them meals in there. Sit in there and read a book if they're relaxed. Then when they're more comfortable take short rides and have the destination a place where they have fun.

[DazzleKitty]

I sort of skimmed through your post so sorry if I missed anything, but have you thought to ask your vet for sedatives or an anti-anxiety medication for them? One of my coworker's dogs is prescribed Xanax for storms. That stuff is powerful and will help with anxiety (I've had to take it myself).   And a sedative will help them sleep. I know it's the easy way out, but it's a suggestion. We're traveling with our little Chihuahua mix soon. It's a 14 hour drive both ways. My vet gave me some sedatives because she's kind of wiggly in the car. I know it seems cheap, but I know sedatives work at calming a dog down.

[Ivaness]

I sort of skimmed through your post so sorry if I missed anything, but have you thought to ask your vet for sedatives or an anti-anxiety medication for them? One of my coworker's dogs is prescribed Xanax for storms. That stuff is powerful and will help with anxiety (I've had to take it myself).   And a sedative will help them sleep. I know it's the easy way out, but it's a suggestion. We're traveling with our little Chihuahua mix soon. It's a 14 hour drive both ways. My vet gave me some sedatives because she's kind of wiggly in the car. I know it seems cheap, but I know sedatives work at calming a dog down.

This was going to be my suggestion, actually.

But, I also wanted to comment on the Thundershirt. My parents had that for their incredibly energetic basset hound (say whaaaa?) and it really did work. My parents actually stopped using it because of how calm it made her. It freaked them out. HAHA.

As for using their already special beds, anyway you could put like those shelf liners that help things not move around under them? Maybe glue a sheet or 5 to the bottoms of the beds?

[kaoskat]

We got the Thundershirt for our dog's storm fear and separation anxiety and it did nothing at all and was a complete waste of money. It really seems to depend on the dog whether it works or not. You may want to talk to your vet. He may be able to suggest something to deal with the anxiety and possibly some slightly stronger pain killers (than what I imagine they are already on?) to help with their comfort, especially if you can't figure anything else out.

[Katika]

Medications are sort of a tricky thing with my pack... the younger dog I'd feel comfortable throwing stronger pain meds or even sedatives at, but my older dog has pretty much the most fragile immune and digestive systems of all time.  We almost lost her three years ago to bloat, and after that, there's seriously like three edible things she can consume without an emergency vet trip and she's limited to a very small range of natural supplementation and four tried-and-true by her medications (Clavamox, Panacur, Simethicone, and uh... can't remember what we gave her for anti-nausea). 

I'm more worried about joint/hip support for this trip than anything else at this point

[melodys_angel]

Im not sure..sounds like you need some kind of extra padding and such to make it comfy for her. Maye find something that naturally cooling (bamboo fabric maybe?) and make something?

[Sukey]

You could try egg crate foam that is used on top of mattresses and you can cut it to size. You can also use glucosamine chondroitin and baby aspirin for pain/arthritis/joints.

[Roccoriel]

For the car seat, what about buying foam similar to what is in orthopedic beds and having it cut to the right size and shape? You could maybe use a cheaper twin bed foam pad, and cut from there. It might be cheaper than buying two dog beds to cut.